Splat 2.5/4 |
A Scanner Darkly (2006) |
"An impressive work of art, A Scanner Darkly, but you might need drugs to sit through it." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Abandon (2002) |
"Just another disjointed, fairly predictable psychological thriller." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
About a Boy (2002) |
"A long way from American Pie, this. Yet the American Weitzes prove to have been inspired choices for this specifically British yet very universal comedy." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 3/4 |
About Schmidt (2002) |
"Kathy Bates hijacks the whole film as Roberta Hertzel." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Across the Universe (2007) |
"There's brilliance in there, that's undeniable -- and if you're in the right mood, that will be all you need." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 2/4 |
Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights (2002) |
"Don't waste your money on a movie ticket. Buy the soundtrack album instead." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 3/4 |
Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl in 3-D (2005) |
"Rodriguez World is a unique cinematic space that only truly inspired children, and child-men, could bring to life." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat |
The Affair of the Necklace (2001) |
"Feels like it's been Clintonized in order to achieve some degree of non-Gallic interest." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 2.5/4 |
After Freedom (2004) |
"Despite some solid performances (and partly because of a few lousy ones), the film is sabotaged by clunky dialogue and sequences that go on too long, often to nowhere." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 3/4 |
After Innocence (2005) |
"While the film is rich in fascinating, factual information, the most remarkable aspect of After Innocence is its unfailing humanity." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 2/4 |
After the Sunset (2004) |
"Plays as if a goodly number of [umbrella drinks] were consumed throughout production." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Against the Ropes (2003) |
"What either of the main characters think, or feel, about anything not directly related to their career ambitions remains wholly unexplored." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 3/4 |
Aileen: The Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003) |
"Except for the sermonizing, altogether a deeper, more interesting movie than Monster." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 2.5/4 |
The Alamo (2004) |
"Having undergone a long and presumably tortuous editing process, the new Alamo, in the end, feels thinned out." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Alexander (2004) |
"An absolute mess." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Alias Betty (2002) |
"It's possible that you may never think about parenting in the same way after seeing Alias Betty." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 3/4 |
Alice's House (2007) |
"Free of the usual social pathology, intimate dysfunction proves more than capable of holding our interest, as it would anywhere." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 2.5/4 |
All About the Benjamins (2002) |
"It keeps your attention mildly engaged. But just that." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 2/4 |
All The King's Men (2006) |
"There's not enough to look at here, and even less to get emotionally or intellectually invested in." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 2/4 |
All the Queen's Men (2002) |
"Fails to satisfactorily exploit its gender politics, genre thrills or inherent humor." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Alone in the Dark (2005) |
"Some concepts are meant to stay in the gaming console." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat |
Along Came a Spider (2001) |
"Artful restraint in presentation can't counterbalance the lunacy of Along Came a Spider's content." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Along Came Polly (2004) |
"Takes the oldest romantic comedy notion that there is -- opposites attract -- and does absolutely nothing new or even clever with it." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 3/4 |
Alpha Dog (2007) |
"Whatever he observed in those true-life figures these roles are based on, [writer/director Nick] Cassavetes sure knew how to apply it to one nasty but exhilarating work of art." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) |
"Could've been a lot worse; it's a singing chipmunk movie, for Pete's sake." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 3/4 |
Amandla: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony (2003) |
"Amandla!s' most enduring achievement is its collection of so many of the freedom songs sung by the oppressed ... in one stirring document." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 1/4 |
The Amateurs (2007) |
"The Amateurs has been shelved for a number of years because -- just a ballpark guess here -- it's not funny." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Amazing Grace (2007) |
"Director Michael Apted and screenwriter Steven Knight can't help letting a little sanctification take hold -- while also, sadly, making a charged historical subject seem tedious." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 2.5/4 |
American Adobo (2002) |
"It sticks rigidly to the paradigm, rarely permitting its characters more than two obvious dimensions and repeatedly placing them in contrived, well-worn situations." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 2.5/4 |
An American Affair (2009) |
"Out of its mind at a deep, essential level, An American Affair plays its dubious scenario with a straight face that makes the silly thing quite watchable." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 2.5/4 |
American Dreamz (2006) |
"Much like I feel in the voting booth every four years, the political satire American Dreamz rendered me frustrated and confused." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 3/4 |
American Gangster (2007) |
"It's never less than seat-edge suspenseful." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 3/4 |
American Hardcore (2006) |
"Almost anyone who's had enough of the purposeless, processed pop that passes for entertainment today will nod their heads in emphatic agreement with what the film says -- when you're not covering your ears, anyway." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 2.5/4 |
American Pastime |
"American Pastime's inclusive, forgiving message could hardly be more admirable. It could have been more exciting, though." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato |
American Pie 2 (2001) |
"Pie 2 avoids the usual, sequel leftovers feeling." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 3/4 |
American Splendor (2003) |
"If you can get past all the funk ... there is much finely wrought -- and we hardly need to add uncompromised -- artistry here." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 3/4 |
American Teen (2008) |
"Personal as it gets, the film never seems exploitative or sensationalized or the least bit dumbed-down ... or scripted, which distinguishes it from most shows about young people, whether they claim to be real or not." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 3/4 |
American Wedding (2003) |
"Jim and Michelle may be the ones getting married, but American Wedding belongs to Stifler." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 1.5/4 |
The Amityville Horror (2005) |
"It doesn't exactly just lie there -- it's too smash-edited and over-cameraworked for that -- but it does represent just how flavorless commercial horror product has gotten." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato |
Amores Perros (2001) |
"Never fails to be smart, engaging, audacious and haunting." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 3/4 |
Amu (2005) |
"A work of evident passion and outrage, Amu is also remarkable for its humanism and persuasive, natural presentation." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 2/4 |
Analyze That (2002) |
"All Analyze That proves is that there is really only one movie's worth of decent gags to be gleaned from the premise." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) |
"You're just left wishing that Tina Fey had lent a helping hand -- or that they'd wheeled in some old hands from the real '70s newsroom gender comedy, The Mary Tyler Moore Show." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 1/4 |
And Now Ladies and Gentlemen (2003) |
"As unstructured, tone deaf and tedious a romantic epic as any ever filmed." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera (2004) |
"Though admirably anti-MTV, Schumacher's film is often so baroque, it comes off like some joke." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 3/4 |
Andy Goldsworthy - Rivers and Tides: Working With Time (2003) |
"An occasionally enthralling documentary." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat |
Angels in the Dust (2007) |
"Angels in the Dust is a troubling documentary for obvious reasons...but it's also a bit disturbing for reasons director Louise Hogarth may not have noticed." |
Bob Strauss |
Tomato 3/4 |
Anger Management (2003) |
"[Nicholson and Sandler are] not the most felicitous comedy team ever devised, but they make the mismatchup work, and that's all the film needed to accomplish." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat |
The Anniversary Party (2001) |
"What's missing from this party is the recognition that most of us have much bigger [problems], and tend to cope with less angst." |
Bob Strauss |
Splat |
Antitrust (2001) |
"This suspenseless, microchip-deep thriller bores whenever it's not a laugh riot display of astonishing idiocy." |
Bob Strauss |
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