Tomato 2.5/4 |
Bachelor Party (1984) |
"Thanks to Hanks, not only is Bachelor Party still around, but it's also still worth watching." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato |
Backbeat (1994) |
"You can't miss the affection and sincerity Backbeat carries from start to finish.... Softley bottles the attitude and energy, the excitement of the new, that were as integral to the Beatles' success as their songs." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
Backbeat (1994) |
"Universal's 2005 Backbeat: Collector's Edition ... The pristine print and transfer are as good as they get ... The DD 5.1 audio likewise exhibits superb clarity and strength." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
Bad Santa (2003) |
"... as a down-and-dirty alternative to cinema's other treacly holiday offerings, Bad Santa is a hilarious breath of stale, whiskey-and-cigarette-scented air." |
Dawn Taylor |
Tomato 4/4 |
Ballad of a Soldier (1959) |
"Criterion maintains its reputation for sterling restorations. The near-pristine 1.33:1 image sometimes could use more depth of contrast, but that quibble is more than compensated for by a gorgeous, nearly flawless black-and-white print...." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato 4/4 |
Ballad of a Soldier (1959) |
"...a simple, genuine, and non-dogmatic meditation on the incalculably tragic cost of war." |
Mark Bourne |
Splat |
Bamboozled (2000) |
"...where most of us in his audience will lean forward to hear a whisper, we turn away from a shout. Oh, how Bamboozled shouts." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004) |
"As amusing as Cedric the Entertainer, Ice Cube, Thompson, and the rest are, they're not breaking any new ground in this film -- just touching up an old 'do." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato |
Barton Fink (1991) |
"... a dead-funny tale about an artist trapped in his own personal nightmare, marked with the Coens' brilliant dialogue and distinctive storytelling style." |
Dawn Taylor |
Splat |
Battlefield Earth (2000) |
"Watching Battlefield Earth is to a movie-watching experience what having a yeast infection is to having sex." |
Mark Bourne |
Splat |
Battlefield Earth (2000) |
"Warner Home Video is not marketing Battlefield Earth's inevitable DVD release as some sort of 'camp classic' in the Ed Wood so-bad-it's-good vein. Instead ... as a DVD this is a first-rate product." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
Battlestar Galactica - Season 1 (2004) |
"Some of the best writing currently on television makes this a challenging and intelligent show that fills its science-fiction bottle with intriguingly flawed characters, bare-knuckle politics ... sincere humanism, and other interesting choices all around." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
Battlestar Galactica - Season 2.0 (2004) |
"The zeitgeist-heavy question 'Is torture ever justified?' doesn't get any easy answers before the brutal climax cliffhanger. Where all this is leading remains utterly unpredictable, and that's one of the best things about the series, period." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
Battlestar Galactica - Season 2.5 (2004) |
"Speaking of hoped-for payoffs, the two-parter that cliffhangers 2.5, "Lay Down Your Burdens," may prove to be a bold masterstroke spinning up the series for a knockout Season 3. Or does it jump the whole show over the jaws of a giant space shark?" |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953) |
"This enjoyable 'B' oldie is noteworthy not just for establishing a template for the Atomic Age Behemoth flicks that followed." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953) |
"The good news is that Warner Brothers' 50th Anniversary DVD edition has plenty to offer both Harryhausen fans and genre collectors. For starters, this old black-and-white catalogue item looks remarkably good." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
Beatles - Ed Sullivan Presents the Beatles: 4 Complete Shows (1964) |
"On this SOFA Entertainment release ... these vintage black-and-white TV recordings look no worse than they should and better than one might expect...." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
Beauty and the Beast (1946) |
"[This Criterion Collection DVD is] upgraded with a gorgeous all-new print plus features that make this definitive edition much more than a reissue." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
Beauty and the Beast (1946) |
"By conjuring up ... fairy-tale trappings, then aiming it all at adults, Beauty and the Beast reminds us that motion pictures can tap into our childlike fears and pleasures without becoming childish in the process." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
Being John Malkovich (1999) |
"The picture is slightly dark, but not to such an extent that it is troublesome." |
Steven Firstenburg |
Tomato 4/4 |
Being Julia (2004) |
"Annette Bening is the movie; her performance ... is the kind that will pop up on "best of" lists for years to come." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato |
Below (2002) |
"Call it the Haunt for Red October -- without sarcasm." |
Dawn Taylor |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Bend It Like Beckham (2003) |
"Chances are that just about anyone who's ever kicked a ball around will appreciate the fancy footwork and good-spirited comedy in director Gurinder Chadha's breakthrough feature." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato 4/4 |
Big (1988) |
"Hanks has since aced plenty of other parts ... but he's rarely been as beguilingly charming -- and utterly convincing -- as he was playing a 12-year-old trapped in a grown man's body." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Splat 2/4 |
The Big Bounce (2004) |
"The main flaw ... is that it never really seems to get going; like laid-back 'hero' Jack Ryan (Owen Wilson), the movie seems happy to drift along and just see what happens." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato |
Big Fish (2003) |
"It's a delicate balancing act, cutting back and forth between reality and legend, past and present, but Burton finesses it beautifully." |
Dawn Taylor |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Big Momma's House (2000) |
"Big Momma ... manages to pull off a fairly miraculous stunt -- she turns Martin Lawrence into a sweetie-pie." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
The Big Picture (1989) |
"In the end, although Nick's journey is satisfying and often funny, it lacks the punch of Guest's later work." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Splat |
Big Top Pee-Wee (1988) |
"... the attempt to turn Pee-Wee into a more adult character complete with sexual frustrations and romantic involvements is more than a little discomforting" |
Dawn Taylor |
Tomato |
Bizarre Bizarre (1937) |
"...an acerbic screwball satire aimed ostensibly at the English mania for detective fiction, though other targets too slow to get out of the way are the Anglican Church, Scotland Yard, and English elite society's preoccupation with reputation." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
Bizarre Bizarre (1937) |
"This DVD from Home Vision Entertainment delivers a terrific new transfer (1.33:1) from a very good source print that's only a little worn and dusty. The original French audio comes through fine in monaural DD 2.0." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato 3/4 |
Black and White (1999) |
"While Black and White is a little chaotic and overcrowded, it offers a relentless, honest look at race and power." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Black Knight (2001) |
"Black Knight is funnier than the ads made it look, but too indulgent and eager for its own good." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato |
The Black Scorpion (1957) |
"Warner Brothers understands that a good DVD edition of a goofy cataloguer like The Black Scorpion can be an item worth our attention if it delivers two things..." |
Mark Bourne |
Splat |
The Black Scorpion (1957) |
"...a drive-in programmer that's run-of-the-mill even by period B-flick standards." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
Blazing Saddles (1974) |
"Warner Home Video puts Blazing Saddles back on the shelves with a 30th Anniversary Special Edition that's well worth a '****load of dimes,' or at least its sticker price, to replace the inferior DVD that's been out since 1997." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
Blazing Saddles (1974) |
"Chalk up Blazing Saddles as only a lampoon of Hollywood westerns and you miss the point by a Texas mile.... Its humor is the palliative that lets Brooks mock prejudices and, with gloves off, prejudiced people." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
Blood Simple (1984) |
"The script is so tight you can feel it screwing into the back of your neck." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Bloody Sunday (2002) |
"It's rare that a dramatic film convincingly captures the chaotic, confusing, fast-paced nature of real life -- much less real life in a crisis." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato |
The Blue Max (1966) |
"... combines the best and the worst of '60s cinema -- action, melodrama, sex, and pure cheese." |
Dawn Taylor |
Tomato 3/4 |
Bon Voyage (2004) |
"Has the kind of clear-cut characters, melodramatic twists, and rapid-fire dialogue of Hollywood's Golden Era -- albeit with a modern polish." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato 3/4 |
Boomerang (1992) |
"A slick, entertaining romantic comedy about what happens when a player meets his match." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato |
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) |
"Cohen uses his characters to point out our sacred cows, whatever they may be, and then shoot them with a well-placed dart." |
Dawn Taylor |
Tomato |
Border Radio |
"An oddball faux documentary-cum-punk Western." |
Dawn Taylor |
Tomato |
The Bourne Identity (2002) |
"The Bourne Identity is the very best kind of dumb action movie. It's a dumb action movie that isn't too dumb ..." |
Dawn Taylor |
Tomato 3/4 |
Brady Bunch Movie (1995) |
"Despite a distinct lack of plot, director Betty Thomas's film is a surprisingly fresh, funny comedy." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato |
Bride of Re-Animator (1991) |
"... the gross-out humor is still intact but there's no scare there." |
Dawn Taylor |
Tomato 3/4 |
Brigadoon (1954) |
"Has an earnest, quaint charm that perfectly suits the story of a magical Scottish village that only appears once every 100 years." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato 3/4 |
Bright Young Things (2004) |
"Despite a somewhat artificial ending, with its vivid characters and intricate plot, Bright Young Things really does seem like a novel come to life." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato |
The Broadway Melody (1928) |
"...cinematic evolution long ago froze The Broadway Melody in Precambrian amber. But while the movie is hopelessly dated now, it was the bee's knees in its day." |
Mark Bourne |
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