Splat 1/4 |
Across the Universe (2007) |
"Most of the songs are performed in such saccharine style and staged so literally that they almost seem like they belong in a Broadway show. That's a very bad thing." |
Terry Lawson |
Tomato 3/4 |
After The Wedding (2007) |
"Mikkelsen, Lassgard, Knudsen and Christensen seem to burrow into the deepest parts of their hearts and souls to turn the stuff of soap opera into a search for the real self." |
Terry Lawson |
Splat 2/4 |
Air Guitar Nation (2007) |
"Sure, there is an infectious goofiness in watching a grown man in a red robe and Hello Kitty breastplate rock out on an imaginary ax. But the gag is spread pretty thin." |
John Monaghan |
Splat 2/4 |
Alpha Dog (2007) |
"While Alpha Dog is a cautionary tale, it too often revels in its own bad-boy attitude." |
Terry Lawson |
Tomato 3/4 |
Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) |
"Young viewers will enjoy the slapstick, while parents will relate to Lee's amiable frustration as the trio's surrogate dad." |
John Monaghan |
Tomato 3/4 |
Amazing Grace (2007) |
"Director Michael Apted has turned out a movie that might be best described as faithful, both in its attention to accuracy and in its acknowledgement of the role faith played in righting one of the great social wrongs." |
Terry Lawson |
Tomato 3/4 |
American Gangster (2007) |
"You can safely watch it without feeling guilty, or indicted." |
Terry Lawson |
Splat 2/4 |
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theatres (2007) |
"The movie is warped, to be sure, but even fans will have to admit that the laughs are stretched pretty thin over nearly 90 minutes." |
John Monaghan |
Tomato 2/4 |
Arctic Tale (2007) |
"Arctic Tale does afford us some beautiful landscape cinematography and up-close looks at creatures in the wild..." |
Terry Lawson |
Splat 2/4 |
Are We Done Yet? (2007) |
"The new movie is good-natured and sometimes funny. It also doesn't make a lick of sense." |
John Monaghan |
Splat 2/4 |
Arthur and the Invisibles (2007) |
"Too eccentric for kids, too silly for everyone else, it floats in a Neverland of breathtaking visuals in service of a story that pilfers everything (and I mean everything) from the Arthur legends to last summer's The Ant Bully." |
John Monaghan |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) |
"Assassination is contemplative and quiet, a studied film that is surprisingly engrossing, not to mention so handsomely made you can hardly take your eyes off it." |
Terry Lawson |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Astronaut Farmer (2007) |
"Though there is no lack of amusement in all this, the Polish brothers and the cast play it perfectly straight. Farmer is as determined to go to space as Mister Deeds is to go to town or Mr. Smith is to go to Washington." |
Terry Lawson |
Splat 2/4 |
August Rush (2007) |
"Director Kirsten Sheridan has no interest in keeping August Rush tethered to reality or toning down the sentimentality." |
Terry Lawson |
Tomato 3/4 |
Avenue Montaigne (2007) |
"Watching the charming Avenue Montaigne makes you realize not only how much we miss when mainstream French films are not on the movie menu, but how much we miss when American studios define 'romantic comedy' so strictly." |
Terry Lawson |
Tomato 3/4 |
A Scanner Darkly (2006) |
"Although the story is greatly enhanced by the mesmerizing visual design, it is also involving because of the duplicity and duality of the characters." |
Terry Lawson |
Splat 2/4 |
Accepted (2006) |
"Like a mediocre high school transcript, the movie has the foundations, but it skimps on the extracurriculars." |
John Monaghan |
Tomato 3/4 |
Adam & Steve (2006) |
"[Chester] and the goofy Gets make a likable comedy team." |
John Monaghan |
Splat 2/4 |
Akeelah and the Bee (2006) |
"Akeelah and the Bee is not short on inspiration, emotion and uplift, but would go down better without all the refined sugar." |
Terry Lawson |
Splat 2/4 |
All The King's Men (2006) |
"All the King's Men is obviously a movie that has been so rejiggered and downsized, in length and intelligence, that its guiding principles have been sacrificed to the marketplace -- a fate not unlike that of its blustery antihero." |
Terry Lawson |
Splat 1/4 |
American Dreamz (2006) |
"American Dreamz is as forgettable and lacking in insight as the great majority of dreams that trespass on our subconscious." |
Terry Lawson |
Tomato 3/4 |
American Hardcore (2006) |
"American Hardcore gets what most music lovers could not at the time: Sometimes, that noise in your head and that anger in your heart just has to get out, and there's always a guitar around somewhere." |
Terry Lawson |
Splat 2/4 |
Annapolis (2006) |
"Wobbles unsteadily between a military recruitment vehicle and an underdog boxing picture." |
John Monaghan |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Ant Bully (2006) |
"If the Ant Bully story is generic, it is never plodding. It zips along quite nicely, aided by the especially well-constructed action sequences." |
Terry Lawson |
Tomato 4/4 |
Apocalypto (2006) |
"Say what you want about Mel Gibson -- and people are likely to be saying whatever forever -- he is one hell of a filmmaker." |
Terry Lawson |
Splat 2/4 |
Aquamarine (2006) |
"If there was more content in the Alice Hoffman book on which it is based, the screenwriters keep it effectively submerged." |
John Monaghan |
Splat 2/4 |
The Architect (2006) |
"Despite his obvious earnestness, first-time director and cowriter Matt Tauber is ill equipped to mine emotions this complex." |
John Monaghan |
Tomato 3/4 |
Art School Confidential (2006) |
"What keeps the film from being altogether snide and smug are the well-intentioned performances." |
Terry Lawson |
Tomato 3/4 |
ATL (2006) |
"ATL may fail to wow on the skate floor, but it still makes decent melodrama." |
John Monaghan |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Aura (2006) |
"The voyeuristic focus and camera acrobatics may remind you of Hitchcock, but The Aura is also highly original." |
John Monaghan |
Splat 1/4 |
Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl in 3-D (2005) |
"It's not just that this fable about a picked-on kid whose dreams come true is an excruciatingly dumb kids' movie. It's that it returns us to the bad old days of 3D, when the images were rendered too murky to appreciate." |
Terry Lawson |
Tomato 3/4 |
After Innocence (2005) |
"After Innocence is, without making it overly obvious, anti-death penalty on the grounds that a just society cannot afford to make any mistakes that we cannot attempt to rectify." |
Terry Lawson |
Tomato 3/4 |
Aliens of the Deep (2005) |
"Visually, this is another leap for 3D and robotic cameras." |
Terry Lawson |
Splat 1/4 |
Alone in the Dark (2005) |
"It's tempting to call Alone in the Dark one of those movies so bad that it's almost good. But that might send the wrong signal to Hollywood." |
John Monaghan |
Splat 2/4 |
The Amityville Horror (2005) |
"The latest in a long line of cheap horror film remakes that combine familiar names and stories with slash-cut editing and computer-generated effects." |
John Monaghan |
Tomato 3/4 |
Another Road Home (2005) |
"Elon uses quiet and silence to great effect." |
John Monaghan |
Tomato 3/4 |
Apres Vous (2005) |
"A lightweight farce that remains enjoyable primarily for the time spent with Auteuil." |
Terry Lawson |
Splat 1/4 |
Are We There Yet? (2005) |
"Worse than the crude humor is the movie's forced sentiment." |
John Monaghan |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Aristocrats (2005) |
"The dissection of a joke is never pretty, but it has never been nastier than it is in The Aristocrats." |
Terry Lawson |
Tomato 3/4 |
Ask the Dust (2005) |
"It is to the credit of Towne and his cast ... that Ask the Dust is able to convey Fante's passion without making it seem affected." |
Terry Lawson |
Tomato 3/4 |
Assault on Precinct 13 (2005) |
"Richet and DeMonaco respect the original movie while adding depth to the characters and complications to the situation." |
Terry Lawson |
Tomato 3/4 |
Asylum (2005) |
"It's a movie you fall for or you don't, and like Stella, I am not ashamed I did." |
Terry Lawson |
Splat 2/4 |
At Last (2005) |
"At Last would work a lot better with genuine chemistry between the leads, and maybe a bit more humor." |
John Monaghan |
Splat 2/4 |
Adrenaline Rush (2004) |
"Despite the lip service given to the nature of adrenaline and the risks we all take daily, the movie plays a lot like Jackass with a master's degree in science." |
John Monaghan |
Splat 2/4 |
After the Sunset (2004) |
"After the Sunset promises Hitchcock-style sophistication then delivers Heist Movies for Dummies instead." |
John Monaghan |
Splat 1/4 |
Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London (2004) |
"Director Kevin Allen offers a lot more gadgets in Cody 2, but surprisingly little in the way of memorable action." |
John Monaghan |
Splat 2/4 |
The Alamo (2004) |
"An ambitious mix of history lesson, politically correct speculation, character sketches of American icons and pretty scenery, but it winds up without much of a point of view." |
Terry Lawson |
Splat 2/4 |
Alexander (2004) |
"Like its subject, Stone's Alexander travels on gut instinct and ego, but, unlike him, it seems to have little notion of exactly what it wants to conquer." |
Terry Lawson |
Tomato 3/4 |
Alfie (2004) |
"What the new Alfie turns out be all about is Jude Law, perfectly cast in the role played by Caine." |
Terry Lawson |
Splat 2/4 |
Alien vs. Predator (2004) |
"Paul Simon and Bob Dylan. Elton John and Billy Joel. Alien vs. Predator is just another contrived combination of two former chartbusters who perform their greatest hits before coming together for a duet at the end." |
John Monaghan |
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