Tomato 3.5/4 |
L'Enfant (2006) |
"There is a probing awareness and conscience in the Dardenne films, without schoolbook lessons tapped onto our thick foreheads, though the emphasis on ethics could put their work on a shelf near the elegant works of Eric Rohmer and even Robert Bresson." |
David Elliott |
Tomato |
L.I.E. (2001) |
"Cox is a wonder as Big John." |
Arthur Salm |
Tomato 4/4 |
La Dolce Vita (1960) |
"Roman opera, a nocturnal vision demarcated by dawns, purring a siren's call of temptation and dissolution." |
David Elliott |
Tomato |
La Vie Promise |
"The landscapes are lovely, and Huppert rises to her usual high form." |
David Elliott |
Splat 2/4 |
Ladder 49 (2004) |
"A certain grave respect was owed firemen even before Sept. 11, 2001, but Ladder 49 doesn't earn the piety it wants." |
David Elliott |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
The Lady and the Duke (2002) |
"The laser-projected paintings provide a spell-casting beauty, while Russell and Dreyfus are a romantic pairing of hearts, preciously exposed as history corners them." |
David Elliott |
Splat 2/4 |
Lady in the Water (2006) |
"You win points for sticking with vision only if the vision adds up, but despite fine imagery by the Hong Kong ace Christopher Doyle, we get trite monsters and cheesy spooks." |
David Elliott |
Tomato 3/4 |
Ladykillers (2004) |
"You can enjoy the Coen-ucopia of doodles." |
David Elliott |
Splat 2/4 |
Lagaan (2001) |
"There is only so much baked cardboard I need to chew." |
David Elliott |
Splat 1.5/4 |
The Lake House (2006) |
"This is the first time Reeves and Bullock have been paired since the 1994 hit Speed, where they were stuck on a bus that would blow up if its speed dropped below 50 mph. There's no danger of that kind of velocity here." |
James Hebert |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Lan Yu (2002) |
"Lan Yu is a genuine love story, full of traditional layers of awakening and ripening and separation and recovery." |
David Elliott |
Tomato |
Lantana (2001) |
"Lantana has more than the usual dramatic quota of unhappiness, but it's alive in each scene, beautifully shot, and directed by Lawrence with fierce care for subtleties." |
David Elliott |
Splat 1/4 |
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) |
"The movie is an embarrassment of asinine riches." |
David Elliott |
Splat |
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) |
"It's for people (young ones) whose taste in entertainment was formed by comics, channel surfing, video games and theme parks." |
David Elliott |
Tomato |
The Last Castle (2001) |
"Obvious but involving." |
David Elliott |
Splat 2/4 |
Last Holiday (2006) |
"Instead of deft comedy with a depth charge of feeling, we have now a contraption festooned with cute sparkles and tiny heart grabs." |
David Elliott |
Tomato 4/4 |
The Last King of Scotland (2006) |
"The key achievement, in this vividly shot and superbly cast drama, is to make us fear for the slightly contemptible Garrigan but feel mostly for Ugandans, even (a little) for Amin." |
David Elliott |
Splat 2/4 |
The Last Kiss (2002) |
"Director-chef Gabriele Muccino keeps it fast -- zippy, comin' at ya -- as if fearing that his film is molto superficiale." |
David Elliott |
Splat 1.5/4 |
The Last Kiss (2006) |
"The Last Kiss uses a lot of cellphones, but it never gets the wake-up call to become a real story." |
David Elliott |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Last Samurai (2003) |
"The movie has breadth and beauty, and a Japanese zeal for quality in details." |
David Elliott |
Tomato 4/4 |
Laurel Canyon (2003) |
"Like Shampoo, the movie is a comical carousel of beautifully joined overlaps." |
David Elliott |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Lawless Heart (2002) |
"Like so many British movies, it seems made for actors who make what they humanly can of it, their expertise meshing." |
George Varga |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Laws of Attraction (2004) |
"What dampens the breeziness is the slightly mothballed feeling that this has all been done, before and better." |
David Elliott |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Layer Cake (2005) |
"A virile British bounce off the Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee films and some hyper-hip TV shows." |
David Elliott |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Le Cercle Rouge (1970) |
"It is not one of the crime master's very best, but it is so much better than most of what we are seeing now." |
David Elliott |
Tomato 3/4 |
Le Petit Lieutenant (2006) |
"Basically a vivid meal of characters, plus coffee and wine and one gin tonic, Le Petit Lieutenant keeps true to its brasserie menu." |
David Elliott |
Splat 2/4 |
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) |
"Packed with special effects and loaded down with mostly lame attempts at literary witticism." |
Beth Wood |
Splat |
The Legend of Bagger Vance (1999) |
"In 2000, the best year yet for the greatest black golfer (or just golfer) in the game's history, Tiger Woods, Hollywood chooses to give us a black hero as ... caddy." |
David Elliott |
Tomato |
The Legend of Drunken Master (1994) |
"As usual, the martial make-believe is either superbly incredible or superbly unbelievable. I chose to believe." |
David Elliott |
Splat 1.5/4 |
The Legend of Zorro (2005) |
"This colorful corn might pop if only Campbell didn't have a directing technique wired with nitro." |
David Elliott |
Splat 2/4 |
Lemming (2006) |
"The high quality of [Moll's] actors does not relieve the story from seeming ambitiously fudge-brained." |
David Elliott |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) |
"The result can make you yearn for Tim Burton, who can web his spidery signature through these corporate machines." |
David Elliott |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man (2006) |
"It tastefully serves the darkly searching sensitivity of a brave original." |
David Elliott |
Tomato 4/4 |
Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) |
"Eastwood has at times been a theme-bound and overly praised director. But the laurels really fit this unique double bill. His spare, careful classicism, braced by compelling care for tension and action, makes Letters a great battle movie." |
David Elliott |
Tomato 3/4 |
Levity (2003) |
"The story textures itself into a quiet, decent credibility that is touching." |
David Elliott |
Splat |
Liam (2001) |
"Right down there with Naked and The Cement Garden." |
David Elliott |
Splat 2/4 |
The Libertine (2005) |
"Depp is stuck playing a witty rake who isn't remarkably witty or even all that sexy." |
David Elliott |
Splat 1/4 |
License To Wed (2007) |
"You have to go back to the worst Hanna-Barbera cartoons to find gag material this excruciatingly contrived." |
David Elliott |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Life and Debt (2001) |
"Some films are not meant to be entertainments. Some are 'simply' truth tellers. To the brave list add Life and Debt." |
David Elliott |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004) |
"If you like Murray, and you can savor the concept of a movie that could be a bulked-up version of one of his old Saturday Night Live skits, you will likely like the film." |
David Elliott |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Life of David Gale (2003) |
"The cast keeps rescuing the movie from a tendency to wobble off into soapy corners, and its liberal politics is handled with undogmatic skill." |
David Elliott |
Splat 0/4 |
Life or Something Like It (2002) |
"Jolie's performance vanishes somewhere between her hair and her lips." |
David Elliott |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Lightning in a Bottle (2004) |
"Lightning in a Bottle's magical concert performances make it a must-see movie for all who crave vibrant music, impassioned vocals and biting instrumental solos that jab and slice with surgical precision." |
George Varga |
Tomato 3/4 |
Like Mike (2002) |
"Keep an eye on Lil Bow Wow, folks. If Like Mike is any indication, he's bound to score again." |
Jerry McCormick |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Lilo & Stitch (2002) |
"Even if you care nothing about Lilo turning snarly gremlin Stitch into a surfin' huggie, you can still slack into a Don the Beachcomber drift." |
David Elliott |
Tomato 4/4 |
Lilya 4-Ever (2003) |
"This movie may seem, by plain description, like putting your heart into a garlic press. But it's extraordinarily alive." |
David Elliott |
Tomato |
The Limey (1999) |
"A mood-stacked thriller that yanks us right in." |
David Elliott |
Splat |
Lions for Lambs (2007) |
"This jabbering, photographed pamphlet might spark some discussion, but as a movie it suffocates on gas." |
David Elliott |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Little Black Book (2004) |
"The sort of comedy where the chick flick goes to die, while grinning." |
David Elliott |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Little Miss Sunshine (2006) |
"Constructed as a comical lesson kit on winning and losing, Little Miss Sunshine perks into considerable life through its quality cast." |
David Elliott |
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