Tomato |
Ice People (2009) |
"Global warming is the subtext, I suppose, but Anne Aghion's film is really about the gritty, quotidian nature of science." |
Brian Miller |
Splat |
In the Land of Women (2007) |
"Without all the soppy plot devices, Land of Women might have been someplace worth visiting." |
Jessica Grose |
Tomato 3.5/5 |
Brick (2006) |
"Though it begins like Bugsy Malone meets River's Edge, the complicated plot grows on you. When did you last see a movie that got better as it went on?
" |
Tim Appelo |
Splat |
Miami Vice (2006) |
"Where are the babes? The boobs? The bling? The alligators and neon? Grimly determined to rebrand his franchise and rewrite cultural history, Mann has turned Crockett and Tubbs into a solemn pair of nighthawks..." |
Brian Miller |
Tomato 8.6/10 |
The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) |
"Even Keener transcends her famous ball-busting screen persona and registers real warmth." |
Tim Appelo |
Splat 5/10 |
The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005) |
"Rebecca Miller is no tragedian like her dad. She’s a lyrical poet with an elliptical turn of mind...despite moments of beauty and mystery, ultimately it’s a muddle." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 8.5/10 |
Batman Begins (2005) |
"Tim Burton's Batman could probably lick Nolan's Batman Begins. But in a fight between Nolan's Batman and Burton's, I know who'd kick whose cape-draped ***.
" |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 7/10 |
The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) |
"Compared to Keitel, he's a fluttery lightweight, whether banging the ivories or his victims. His nature isn't divided. He's no hoodlum--not even Belmondo impersonating Bogart." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 7/10 |
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005) |
"The kids are disastrous, except for Henley. Her irresistible crooked grin is a triumph over British dentistry. She makes Dakota Fanning look like a calculating android." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 7/10 |
Chronicling Narnia (2005) |
"A pale echo of the Tolkien trilogy, worse than Cuaron's third Harry Potter film, better than Chris Columbus' first two, and about on a par with Mike Newell's new one." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 8.5/10 |
Crash (2005) |
"Though it lacks Magnolia's messy greatness, you won't hear more fiendishly articulate dialogue on-screen any time soon." |
Tim Appelo |
Splat 2/10 |
Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005) |
"Helen's chaste swain wants intimacy, not sex. C'mon—even Baptists are interested in sex. They just don't do it standing up, because someone might think they were dancing." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 8/10 |
The Edukators (2005) |
"The surprise ending is gimmicky, but the character study is consistently enthralling. The Edukators is educational—not intellectually, but emotionally." |
Tim Appelo |
Splat 4/10 |
Elizabethtown (2005) |
"Much of it is not half bad. Some moments achieve the transcendence they ache to find. But it's like a concept album with no concept, Singles with fewer hit singles.
" |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 7/10 |
Gunner Palace (2005) |
"A litmus test for an America scarcely less bitterly divided than Iraq. The risibly dishonest government radio broadcasts play like the satirical radio bits in M*A*S*H." |
Tim Appelo |
- |
Happy Endings (2005) |
"The director arranged to have a physical obstacle—a countertop, a couch—between Tom Arnold and his gay son in every scene until they reconcile." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato |
Hard Candy (2005) |
"Candy sets up the tense situation, builds it up patiently, masterfully, then has no idea where to go with it. At least Page's career has an obvious direction -- up." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 9/10 |
The Holy Girl (2005) |
"Alche's crooked grin is as gleeful as the nose-wriggling enchantress in Bewitched. The elliptically implicit ending reminds me of Purple Noon minus the murder." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 3/5 |
Hustle & Flow (2005) |
"Terrence Howard soars to casting directors' A-list as an ambitious pimp in the rap-to-riches flick Hustle & Flow." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 8/10 |
Hustle & Flow (2005) |
"Djay is the Fezziwig of pimps. His hit tune, as catchy as "That Thing You Do," also wears out its welcome. But his quest for le mot juste and mo' bling is charming." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 3.5/5 |
Inside Deep Throat (2005) |
"A class act about a crass act. But how come porn persecutors keep turning out to be the biggest criminals in America?" |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 9.5/10 |
Junebug (2005) |
"If the Academy has any brains, heart, and balls, at least one Oscar will go to the quietly brilliant Junebug." |
Tim Appelo |
Splat 4/10 |
Kingdom of Heaven (2005) |
"As a war hero, Orlando Bloom reminds me of the nickname Truman Capote's father gave him: Little Miss Mouse Fart." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 7.5/10 |
Kontroll (2005) |
"A frivolous fable and a fabulous frivol, a lighthearted romp and a dark night of the existential soul—Slacker meets Metropolis." |
Tim Appelo |
Splat 5/10 |
Ladies in Lavender (2005) |
"A rigorous test of cineaste sitzfleisch: to savor the Dames' deep acting, you have to endure a story that goes nowhere. You must suffer for this art." |
Tim Appelo |
Splat 3/10 |
The Longest Yard (2005) |
"Sandler is trying to outrun his clownish boy-man past, but since everything about Yard is transparently fake, it loses him career yardage." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 8/10 |
Lost Embrace (2005) |
"Sweet but not too, a tangy, teasing valentine to dear hearts and gentle people who start to feel like family. Burman is like Woody Allen with a human face." |
Tim Appelo |
- |
The Matador (2005) |
""We came all the way from New Zealand and waited for three hours in the cold," kvetched one couple at Sundance, "and we still couldn't get into The Matador."" |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 7/10 |
Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005) |
"In the annals of no-sex-please Brit nudie revues, this Oscar hopeful falls between the The Full Monty's Rabelaisian stew and Calendar Girls' charming but thin broth." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 7/10 |
Oliver Twist (2005) |
"Fails to topple Lean's untoppable version; still one of the best movies of 2005. Startlingly unemotional, but for the stormy torments behind Fagin's overhanging eyebrows." |
Tim Appelo |
Splat 2.5/10 |
Pretty Persuasion (2005) |
"Wood's not an interesting psycho—just numb, mumbling, and dull. Pretty unpersuasive." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 8/10 |
Pride and Prejudice (2005) |
"The 1940 version had its flaws, too--who wants to **** Mrs. Miniver? Knightley is a Lizzie for our profane time.
" |
Tim Appelo |
Splat 2/10 |
Proof (2005) |
"Catherine is an infinitely less convincing version of Arcadia's girl genius; the proof is just a MacGuffin; it runs out of plot and has not one idea in its head." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 7.5/10 |
Rent (2005) |
"Rent works best as a centaur creation: half-movie, half-play, plunging into theater world in all its mindless, cheesy, sentimental splendor." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 5/5 |
The Squid and the Whale (2005) |
"The most impressive debut at Sundance was Noah Baumbach's wickedly, heartbreakingly funny divorce drama, The Squid and the Whale. A time-capsule keeper." |
Tim Appelo |
Splat 1/10 |
Stealth (2005) |
"For at least the first hour, Stealth is a SAEBCPSOS (Shockingly and Excruciatingly Boring Columbia Pictures Sack of S---)." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato |
Tell Them Who You Are (2005) |
"That the two can come to any understanding at all is one of the film's miracles, since -- professional competitiveness aside -- their past is a minefield of unexpressed resentment." |
Sheila Benson |
Tomato 4/5 |
Thumbsucker (2005) |
"Has the gentle off-kilter charm of early Cameron Crowe; Pucci's performance evokes early River Phoenix or Leo DiCaprio. Polyphonic Spree's harmonies are like choral hydrate." |
Tim Appelo |
Splat 4/10 |
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (2005) |
"It doesn't stink, but it's a mere technical advance that pales next to Nightmare. The maggot's a Jiminy Cricket manque. And it's just not very animated." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 7/10 |
Tony Takitani (2005) |
"Impressively reduces Murakami's hard-boiled word world to a floating-picture world. But like Lish's edits of Ray Carver, it mutes a story that was nearly mute to begin with." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 8/10 |
Voices in Wartime (2005) |
"One of the most original war movies ever made. Men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 9/10 |
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) |
"Nick Park is Tim Burton's opposite: his storytelling is smooth, his visual technique jerky. Go for the guy who can tell a story, as Burton has failed to do for 11 years now." |
Tim Appelo |
Splat 7/10 |
Winter Solstice (2005) |
"Anthony LaPaglia does understated wonders...He could beat David Duchovny in an underacting contest. Few movies score so many true moments. And few add up to less.
" |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 4/5 |
Yes (2005) |
"TELLURIDE'S MOST buzzed picture was Yes, a stunning epic whose volcanic eruptions cast lurid light on the collision of male and female, Muslim and American. In rhyme!" |
Tim Appelo |
Splat |
Alfie (2004) |
"Shyer is the last guy on earth who could reimagine the scary thrill of 1966 sex in 2004." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 4.5/5 |
Being Julia (2004) |
"Thank God for Being Julia, an Oscar-worthy comeback role that may just save one of our most gifted actresses from a life of way too much leisure." |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 7/10 |
Finding Neverland (2004) |
"Interestingly and movingly hints at the sad future fate of his Lost Boys, but it's too timid to follow up on those dark portents.
" |
Tim Appelo |
Splat .5/10 |
Head in the Clouds (2004) |
"Tyrone Power would have more chemistry courting Deanna Durbin in a deep coma. Theron destroys all her Monster acting cred. Cruz squeaks like a hamster huffing helium.
" |
Tim Appelo |
Tomato 4/5 |
Hotel Rwanda (2004) |
"Don Cheadle's eyes have an openness and depth like Martin Sheen's in Apocalypse Now: they're the lens through which we can watch this incredible war." |
Tim Appelo |
Splat 5/10 |
Keane (2004) |
"A psycho-underworld tour de force like Irreversible or The Machinist, impressive as far as it goes (not far), single-minded but without enough on its mind, a gimmick flick." |
Tim Appelo |
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