Splat 2.5/4 |
Nacho Libre (2006) |
"Nacho Libre scores points only on occasion." |
Jack Mathews |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Namesake (2007) |
"The Namesake is suffused with radiant grace, and manages to be old-fashioned yet immediate, epic and intimate." |
Elizabeth Weitzman |
Tomato 3/4 |
Nancy Drew (2007) |
"The film's and Nancy's nonjudgmental tone gives it a distinctly modern feel." |
Jack Mathews |
Tomato 3/4 |
Nanking (2007) |
"A somberly effective look at one of the most shameful events in human history." |
Elizabeth Weitzman |
Splat 2/4 |
The Nanny Diaries (2007) |
"Despite some clever early fantasy scenes, Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's adaptation of best seller The Nanny Diaries won't make Bridget Jones give up her writing." |
Jack Mathews |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Nanny McPhee (2006) |
"Any time Thompson curls that prosthetic snaggletooth over her lower lip and murmurs a nearly inaudible harrumph is a comic moment to be treasured." |
Jami Bernard |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Napoleon Dynamite (2004) |
"Hess' deadpan debut could have been so much better if only he'd had the courage to actually appreciate his loser characters." |
Elizabeth Weitzman |
Splat 2/5 |
The Narrows (2009) |
"François Velle's local crime drama is so earnest, it feels unkind to tell the truth -- which is that we've seen this story, told in just this way, too many times before." |
Elizabeth Weitzman |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
NASCAR: The Imax Experience (2004) |
"This 40-minute film shows off the combined IMAX/3D experience at its best." |
Jack Mathews |
Splat 1/4 |
National Lampoon's Gold Diggers (2004) |
"It all makes Nat Lamp's recent Van Wilder look like an instant classic." |
Robert Dominguez |
Splat 1.5/4 |
National Treasure (2004) |
"Nicolas Cage usually brims with personality, but you wouldn't know it from this pedestrian ripoff of Raiders of the Lost Ark." |
Jami Bernard |
Splat 2/4 |
National Treasure 2 : Book of Secrets (2007) |
"All you can do is sit and watch, and wish there was more wonder." |
Jack Mathews |
Splat 2/4 |
The Nativity Story (2006) |
"Dull and inert." |
Jack Mathews |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Nearing Grace (2006) |
"The performances by Smith, Brewster and veteran David Morse, as a morbidly depressed widower, elevate Nearing Grace to something near grace." |
Jack Mathews |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Ned Kelly (2004) |
"A handsome, action-packed biographical drama with a credibility gap wider than the screen." |
Jack Mathews |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Neil Young - Greendale (2004) |
"There's no denying the poignancy and power of Young's commitment to old-fashioned -- and, he seems keenly aware, out of fashion -- political activism." |
Elizabeth Weitzman |
Tomato 3/4 |
Neil Young - Heart of Gold (2006) |
"Dropping in amusing anecdotes and tender memories, a deeply reflective Young revisits -- and often reinterprets -- both his recent and classic work." |
Elizabeth Weitzman |
Splat 2/4 |
Never Back Down (2008) |
"By the time ever-noble, ever-watchable Djimon Hounsou shows up to teach earnest young Jake honor and roundhouse kicks, the power-rock and smashmouth idiocy become like a fever dream, sweaty and hard to shake off." |
Joe Neumaier |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Never Been Thawed (2006) |
"Satire requires a lighter touch and less reliance on vulgar language for shock effect." |
Jami Bernard |
Splat .5/4 |
Never Die Alone (2004) |
"Never Die Alone is the first of Goines' ultragritty novels has made it to the big screen. If this is the best his words can inspire, it should also be the last." |
Elizabeth Weitzman |
Splat 1/5 |
New in Town (2009) |
"A romantic comedy that's neither romantic nor funny." |
Joe Neumaier |
Splat 2/5 |
The New Twenty (2009) |
"Earnest performances can't help the warmed-over sitcom quality." |
Joe Neumaier |
Tomato 4/4 |
The New World (2005) |
"Malick is a writer-director of extraordinary vision who is like an endangered species." |
Jami Bernard |
Splat 2/5 |
New York City Serenade (2009) |
"The overgrown boys at its center are so unappealing that the setting certainly won't make their trials worth your time." |
Elizabeth Weitzman |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
New York Doll (2005) |
"The film paints an affectionate portrait of a wry, somewhat addled man whose hard-partying past was in stark contrast with his later life -- a fluffy cat nestles in his guitar case while he explains his nickname." |
Jami Bernard |
Splat 2/4 |
New York Minute (2004) |
"Carefully designed for maximum blandness." |
Jami Bernard |
Splat 2/5 |
New York, I Love You (2009) |
"Where's the ethnic diversity? The cultural overflow? The dirt, the chaos, the cramped quarters, the people who look like us, rather than movie stars?" |
Elizabeth Weitzman |
Splat 2/4 |
Next (2007) |
"A routine action film with strange bits of surreal time-flopping mixed in." |
Jack Mathews |
Splat |
The Next Best Thing (2000) |
"Madonna has presence and grace, but her lines come out as if they've been practiced too many times in front of the mirror (in a quasi-British accent, no less)." |
Jami Bernard |
Tomato 3/5 |
Next Day Air (2009) |
"He may be a first-time feature director, but music video master Benny Boom clearly knows how to pull a midlevel movie together. That’s harder than it sounds." |
Elizabeth Weitzman |
Splat |
Next Friday (1999) |
"Another plotless, pothead comedy." |
Robert Dominguez |
Splat 3/5 |
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008) |
"A premise this promising should have developed into something more." |
Elizabeth Weitzman |
Tomato 3/4 |
Nicotina (2004) |
"Rodríguez keeps the story moving with multiple images, quick zooms and other editing tricks that serve as reminders that Nicotina is not to be taken seriously." |
Jack Mathews |
Splat 2/4 |
Night at the Museum (2006) |
"Really young kids may like the noise and chaos of the movie, but the real museum on Central Park West has its own 'A Night at the Museum' program that sounds a lot better." |
Jack Mathews |
Tomato 3/5 |
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) |
"[Levy is] successful enough, in fact, that kids may well pass on their next chance to see a movie -- just so they can visit a real museum, instead." |
Elizabeth Weitzman |
Splat 2/4 |
The Night Listener (2006) |
"Noone [Williams] is a lethargic, beaten, humorless man, and the film is plugged into the same lifeless energy source." |
Jack Mathews |
Splat 2/4 |
Night of Henna (2005) |
"First time writer-director-producer Hassan Zee follows a well-worn theme -- the clash between generations of new immigrants -- in this mildly pleasant movie." |
Jami Bernard |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Night Watch (2005) |
"To learn the actual outcome of the epic battle, we'll have to wait for Leg 2, Day Watch, which has already been shot, and Leg 3, Dusk Watch, which will be produced in English by Fox. Wake me when they're here." |
Jack Mathews |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) |
"(Producer Tim) Burton's skewed vision is seamlessly realized by director Henry Selick and cleverly enhanced by Danny Elfman's songs." |
Elizabeth Weitzman |
Tomato 2.5/5 |
Nights in Rodanthe (2008) |
"It's an increasingly rare pleasure to see two naturally aging adults onscreen, and it's not exactly hard work to watch this still-gorgeous pair fall in love. Especially if you're overdue for a little vacation from reality yourself." |
Elizabeth Weitzman |
Splat 2/4 |
Nim's Island (2008) |
"Just when the movie needs real girl power, it leaves its heroine stranded." |
Joe Neumaier |
Tomato 3/5 |
Nine (2009) |
"The numbers are flashy enough to entertain, and the cast appealing enough to appreciate. Just don't expect to fall in love." |
Elizabeth Weitzman |
Tomato 3/4 |
Nine Lives (2005) |
"A fascinating series of vignettes." |
Jack Mathews |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Nines (2007) |
"The dialogue snaps, crackles and pops. And confusing as they may be, the stories are never boring." |
Jack Mathews |
Splat 2/4 |
The Ninth Day (2005) |
"In the face of the Holocaust, a wrestling match over which man is the likelier Judas strikes me as a trivial pursuit." |
Jack Mathews |
Tomato 4/4 |
No Country for Old Men (2007) |
"The most searing film I've seen this year." |
Elizabeth Weitzman |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
No End in Sight (2007) |
"The most compelling and least partisan of all the Iraq documentaries." |
Jack Mathews |
Splat 2/4 |
No Reservations (2007) |
"The first lesson we learn in Scott Hicks' contrived romance No Reservations is that 'there's no greater sin than to overcook a quail.' The second is that a blandly seasoned comedy is nearly as unappetizing." |
Elizabeth Weitzman |
Tomato 3/4 |
Nobody Knows (2005) |
"A stately pace and gradual intro suck you into the rhythms of this parallel universe, one in which desperate children live alongside grownups and yet remain invisible." |
Jami Bernard |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Noel (2004) |
"The mawkishness meter is turned up full blast by the time Williams, wearing the hangdog expression he saves for maudlin dramas, shows up out of nowhere as a former priest to save an unhappy Sarandon from jumping into the East River." |
Robert Dominguez |
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