Splat 1.5/4 |
Agnes Martin: With My Back to the World (2007) |
"A sluggish documentary about reclusive painter Martin, who died in 2004 at age 92." |
Ariella Budick |
Splat 2/4 |
Astro Boy (2009) |
"Strictly for small fry." |
Frank Lovece |
Tomato 3/4 |
A Scanner Darkly (2006) |
"The risks Scanner Darkly takes both with its subject matter and its method make it difficult to dismiss." |
Gene Seymour |
Splat .5/4 |
Abandon (2002) |
"One sloughs one's way through the mire of this alleged psychological thriller in search of purpose or even a plot." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 3/4 |
Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story (2007) |
"The temptation to juice up the squalid elements of this story would be hard to resist for most filmmakers. Yet, for the most part, [the directors] manage to balance the story's jolting, world-shaking elements with the more intimate details." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
About Schmidt (2002) |
"Even while playing in a minor key with low-to-moderate tone colors, Jack Nicholson can knock your socks off." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Across the Universe (2007) |
"There's so much to like, even love, about Across the Universe that you're even more exasperated about its faults." |
Gene Seymour |
Splat 2/4 |
After Midnight (2004) |
"On its surface, this slight, light, Italian comedy about cinephilia emits the kind of whimsical vapors that give whimsy a bad name." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Agnes and His Brothers (2006) |
"There's fierce energy and -- thanks to the performances -- affecting emotion in the movie that almost makes you forget that Rainer Werner Fassbinder told a similar story much better 28 years ago with In a Year with 13 Moons." |
Gene Seymour |
Splat 1.5/4 |
The Air I Breathe (2007) |
"With any luck, The Air I Breathe should be the last gasp of the faux-Altmanesque school of serendipitous storytelling." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Al Franken: God Spoke (2006) |
"Proves to be an illuminating (if perhaps unintended) demonstration of how hard it is to keep one's sense of humor when mixing it up in the political mainstream." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato |
Ali (2001) |
"The most impressive and persuasive rendering of a late-20th-century icon since Anthony Hopkins turned on that old Nixon charm in Oliver Stone's 1995 biopic." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 3/4 |
Aliens of the Deep (2005) |
"We go 'ooh' and 'aaah' with these guys and gals." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
All About Lily Chou-Chou (2002) |
"Poignant Japanese epic about adolescent anomie and heartbreak." |
Gene Seymour |
Splat 1.5/4 |
All the Queen's Men (2002) |
"Let's hope -- shall we? -- that the 'true story' by which All the Queen's Men is allegedly "inspired" was a lot funnier and more deftly enacted than what's been cobbled together onscreen." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) |
"The sight of enhanced Alvin and the Chipmunks in the movie of the same name is far less squirm-inducing than one might have feared." |
Gene Seymour |
Splat 2/4 |
Amen (2003) |
"Costa-Gavras' political thrillers used to jab and thrust with lethal efficiency. This one just pounds against a heavy bag, huffing and puffing all the way." |
Gene Seymour |
Splat 2.5/4 |
American Dreamz (2006) |
"Everybody's so good, you find yourself wondering why the movie isn't funnier -- or riskier." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 3/4 |
American Hardcore (2006) |
"Filmmaker Paul Rachman and writer Steven Blush make an impressive case for a grass-roots movement of mostly white, working-to-middle-class misfits who thought rock-and-roll needed to be rude, abrasive and somewhat scary at the dawn of the Reagan era." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
An American Haunting (2006) |
"Using alleged 'actual events' as a template, writer-director Courtney Solomon fashions a crafty mystery with a lot of joy-buzzer jolts sliding through its somber mood." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
American Wedding (2003) |
"[Dylan's] bare-bones approach may trip up along the way, but it keeps the funny stuff in the foreground." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
The Amityville Horror (2005) |
"The movie is a procession of unregenerate B-level goosing. But there's definitely a smirk beneath the muck." |
Gene Seymour |
Splat 2/4 |
Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (2004) |
"One presumes [the original's cast] had better things to do than revisit old saw-toothed friends. Unless you have some empty hours to fill with swampy slush, you may decide you've better things to do as well." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film (2006) |
"To say that this may well be the best biographical film we may ever get about its subject does not in any way diminish the achievement of documentary maker Ric Burns." |
Gene Seymour |
Splat |
The Animal (2001) |
"There's a whole lot of stuff like The Animal to the point that there's no longer anything outrageous about its outrageousness." |
Gene Seymour |
Splat 2/4 |
Annapolis (2006) |
"Annapolis resembles Top Gun and An Officer and a Gentleman only in their infrequent indulgence in cliche, contrivance and crowd-pleasing flourishes." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato |
Any Given Sunday (1999) |
"Bombastic, overblown and -- despite its many flaws -- compelling entertainment." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 2/4 |
Aquamarine (2006) |
"You can't begrudge its earnestness or even its corny puns -- None of it keeps Aquamarine from being as sweet and disposable as the gummy snakes its eponymous heroine loves so much." |
Gene Seymour |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Are We There Yet? (2005) |
"Why can't anyone in Hollywood find something more worthy for the lovely, talented Nia Long to do besides play a simpering single mom? This isn't the first time I've asked such a question, and I'm sure it won't be the last." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Aristocrats (2005) |
"The ante is upped and reupped by what has to be the most crowded and eclectic greenroom of comedians ever captured by roving handheld cameras." |
Gene Seymour |
Splat 2/4 |
Ask the Dust (2005) |
"Farrell and Hayek seem too luminous for their downbeat surroundings. But they persuasively work through their characters' knotty emotional threads." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 3/4 |
Astoria (2002) |
"Efteriades gives the neighborhood -- scenery, vibe and all -- the cinematic equivalent of a big, tender hug." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Asylum (2005) |
"Benefits from barbed exchanges, gritty period detail and its fine cast." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Automne (2004) |
"If you're in that select demographic of moviegoers who lose sleep over whether a synthesis of Kyzysztof Kieslowski and Quentin Tarantino could ever be forged, you can relax at last." |
Gene Seymour |
Tomato 3/4 |
A Tout de Suite (2005) |
"Tight little drama." |
Jan Stuart |
Splat |
ABCD (2001) |
"The bad news is that [Jaffrey] leaves us a little hungry for people whose destinies matter to us more than the ones served up here." |
Jan Stuart |
Tomato 3/4 |
About a Boy (2002) |
"A shrewd (if uneven) hybrid of American savvy and British savoir-faire." |
Jan Stuart |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Absolute Wilson (2006) |
"A brisk and invigorating portrait." |
Jan Stuart |
Tomato 3/4 |
Adam's Apples (2007) |
"For all its roughhouse antics, Adam's Apples is almost improbably sweet: a rude comedy that the devout and heathen alike can hold to their breasts." |
Jan Stuart |
Splat 0/4 |
Adored - Diary of a Porn Star (2004) |
"There is little for an American audience to adore about the film's star- writer-director Marco Filiberti, a breathtakingly self-idolatrous artist who makes Roberto Benigni look like an avatar of humility." |
Jan Stuart |
Tomato |
The Adventures of Felix (2001) |
"A nuanced road picture that juggles issues of family, racism and identity as smartly as any film since My Beautiful Laundrette." |
Jan Stuart |
Splat 1.5/4 |
The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002) |
"A listless sci-fi comedy in which Eddie Murphy deploys two guises and elaborate futuristic sets to no particularly memorable effect." |
Jan Stuart |
Splat |
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000) |
"By the last half hour, you may feel zombied out yourself." |
Jan Stuart |
Splat 2/4 |
Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl in 3-D (2005) |
"Rodriguez, whose prankish production design was the real star of the original Spy Kids, has become a prisoner of his 3-D mandate." |
Jan Stuart |
Splat 2.5/4 |
After The Wedding (2007) |
"Crisply written and acted soap opera from Susanne Bier, but vague in its intentions." |
Jan Stuart |
Tomato 3/4 |
Agent Cody Banks (2003) |
"This elaborate and good-natured entertainment is never as funny as it should be, but it's also never wanting for energy." |
Jan Stuart |
Splat 1/4 |
Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London (2004) |
"A nonsuspenseful and painfully unfunny series of comic stunts that try to have sport with the image of the garrulous American abroad." |
Jan Stuart |
Tomato 3/4 |
Air Guitar Nation (2007) |
"A favorite on the film festival circuit, Alexandra Lipsitz's exuberantly funny documentary follows the triumphant path of an American air guitarist as he rises from U.S. East Coast champ to the top rankings of the international air guitar festival." |
Jan Stuart |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
AKA (2002) |
"AKA has the ruthlessness and compassion of someone who has been there, done that and emerged with a heightened understanding of our shared sense of fraudulence." |
Jan Stuart |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Akeelah and the Bee (2006) |
"Where Spellbound generated crackling suspense in its competition climax, Akeelah is virtually suspense-free, even with an attempt to wring a twist on its pre-determined outcome." |
Jan Stuart |
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