Splat 2/4 |
Ma Mere (2005) |
"Based on a novel by French provocateur Georges Bataille, an important thinker whose fiction rarely translates into good cinema." |
David Sterritt |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Machinist (2004) |
" Effectively weirded-out chiller about a factory worker who may - or may not - be a cold-blooded killer. Bale is brilliant." |
David Sterritt |
Splat 2/4 |
Mad Hot Ballroom (2005) |
"Many moviegoers will swoon over the young folks' earnest efforts to learn gracefulness and sociability. But at heart this is a cuteness exploitation flick." |
David Sterritt |
Splat D+ |
Mad Money (2008) |
"The best thing you can say about Mad Money is that it has a good cast. The worst thing you can say about it is that the cast is extremely ill-used." |
Peter Rainer |
Splat 1/4 |
Madagascar (2005) |
"Surprisingly clumsy in its efforts to please young and old alike. A major disappointment." |
David Sterritt |
Splat 2/4 |
Madame Sata (2003) |
"No-nonsense critiques of Brazil's endemic poverty and deeply flawed criminal-justice system lend substance to what otherwise might have seemed a flimsy and sensationalistic tale." |
David Sterritt |
Splat |
Made of Honor (2008) |
"Patrick Dempsey goes into charm overload in Made of Honor, to no avail." |
Peter Rainer |
Tomato 3/4 |
Madeline (1998) |
"Deserves credit for solid professionalism." |
David Sterritt |
Tomato 3/4 |
Maelström (2002) |
"I'll put it this way: If you're in the mood for a melodrama narrated by talking fish, this is the movie for you." |
David Sterritt |
Tomato 2/4 |
Mafia! (1998) |
"This picture does for dumb humor what Armageddon does for action shots and The Mask of Zorro does for swordfights, flinging them out so frantically that you feel you've gotten your money's worth long before the halfway mark." |
David Sterritt |
Tomato A- |
Mafioso (1962) |
"[Alberto Sordi has] a marvelous performance in a marvelous movie, one that sneaks up on you while you're watching it." |
Peter Rainer |
Tomato 4/4 |
The Magdalene Sisters (2003) |
"[Mullan's] fictionalized screenplay brings awful realities to vivid life, reminding us that piety without compassion is meaningless." |
David Sterritt |
Splat 2/4 |
Magnifico (2003) |
"Amiable, though much too long." |
David Sterritt |
Splat 2/4 |
Magnolia (1999) |
"Anderson is still a solid talent, but he should remember to explore his ideas in depth as well as breadth." |
David Sterritt |
Splat 2/4 |
Maid in Manhattan (2002) |
"A diverting trifle that will amuse you while it's on the screen, then fade from memory while the final credits roll." |
David Sterritt |
Tomato 3/4 |
Major Dundee (1965) |
"It's not a masterpiece, but its story of Civil War enemies banding together for battle against Indian warriors and French soldiers packs an occasional wallop." |
David Sterritt |
Splat 2/4 |
Making Grace |
"Informative, but very slow going." |
David Sterritt |
Tomato 3/4 |
Malibu's Most Wanted (2003) |
"The comedy is often crass and crude, but it makes telling points about how much of 'race' is more about the words and gestures we use than the actual colors of our skins." |
David Sterritt |
Splat 2/4 |
Mambo Italiano (2003) |
"Reno's charming performance and some hilarious moments help this Canadian import rise above cliches." |
|
Splat C- |
Mamma Mia! (2008) |
"Streep certainly gives it the old college try and so do Walters and Baranski, who are experienced singer/dancers. Somehow they all end up looking just as flamboyantly amateurish as everybody else." |
Peter Rainer |
Splat C- |
The Man (2005) |
"Eugene Levy gets his first costarring role playing a dental salesman, which is ironic since the film has no teeth - also no brain or heart." |
Peter Rainer |
Splat 1/4 |
A Man Apart (2003) |
"It will be interesting to see whether audiences embrace Mr. Diesel's barely controlled vigilante as warmly as they embraced Clint Eastwood's swaggering Dirty Harry and Charles Bronson's nasty Death Wish characters a few decades ago." |
David Sterritt |
Splat C |
Man of the Year (1996) |
Click here to see the review. |
Peter Rainer |
Splat C |
Man of the Year (2006) |
"[Director] Levinson seems to be torn between making a political jest and a suspense thriller. Neither works." |
Peter Rainer |
Splat 2/4 |
Man on Fire (2004) |
"A wasted opportunity." |
David Sterritt |
Tomato 3/4 |
Man on the Train (2003) |
"It's nice to know some filmmakers still have a foot firmly planted in old-fashioned humanistic storytelling." |
David Sterritt |
Tomato A |
Man On Wire (2008) |
"By any rational gauge, Petit's WTC obsession was flat-out crazy, but Marsh takes a limpid, nonjudgmental view of it all." |
Peter Rainer |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Man Who Copied (2005) |
"Furtado's comic thriller is a telling commentary on modern avarice in Brazil and elsewhere, which touches on everything from The Simpsons to Rear Window along the way." |
David Sterritt |
Tomato 4/4 |
The Man Without a Past (2003) |
"Kaurismaki is Finland's greatest filmmaker, and never has he more artfully balanced his patented blend of deadpan humor, low-key melodrama, and toe-tapping music." |
David Sterritt |
Splat 2/4 |
A Man's Gotta Do (2004) |
"McClelland is a joy to watch, even when the story strains too hard for lovable whimsy, which happens much too often." |
David Sterritt |
Splat C |
Management (2009) |
"Sometimes a movie thinks it's one thing (charming) when it's really something else (creepy)." |
Peter Rainer |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) |
"Denzel Washington is stellar ... and so is Tak Fujimoto's cinematography, which is as edgy and antsy as the story it tells." |
David Sterritt |
Splat 1/4 |
Manic (2003) |
"Spoiled adolescents fill a mental institution with whining, pouting, and tantrums, and we're supposed to feel their pain." |
David Sterritt |
Splat 2/4 |
Manna From Heaven (2002) |
"It would be better if it weren't quite so sitcommy and if it didn't outlast its ideas." |
David Sterritt |
Splat 2/4 |
The Manson Family (2004) |
"Harrowing and imaginatively made." |
David Sterritt |
Splat 2/4 |
Marathon (2004) |
"Crossword mavens may enjoy it, but it's too monomaniacal for comfort." |
David Sterritt |
Tomato |
March of the Penguins (2005) |
"Extraordinary story." |
Gloria Goodale |
Tomato B |
Margot at the Wedding (2007) |
"Margot at the Wedding is obviously a movie made by smart and talented people but sometimes you can outsmart yourself." |
Peter Rainer |
Tomato 4/4 |
Maria Full of Grace (2004) |
"Timely, pointed messages about oppression and opportunity come poignantly through in strongly dramatic terms." |
David Sterritt |
Tomato B+ |
Marie Antoinette (2006) |
"What's surprising is that, by the end, Marie Antoinette, for all its folderol, is quite touching." |
Peter Rainer |
Tomato 4/4 |
Marooned in Iraq (2003) |
"This peripatetic yarn is less resonant than Ghobadi's beautiful A Time for Drunken Horses, but it has enough energy to keep your eyes popping and your toes tapping." |
David Sterritt |
Tomato b- |
Married Life (2008) |
"The cast is first-rate but nothing goes very far in this film." |
Peter Rainer |
Tomato 4/4 |
Masculin Feminin (1966) |
"Masterly by any measure." |
David Sterritt |
Tomato 2/4 |
The Mask of Zorro (1998) |
"Proudly old-fashioned in every way except the often excessive violence that director Martin Campbell splashes across the screen." |
David Sterritt |
Tomato 4/4 |
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) |
"A rip-roaring adventure combining edge-of-your-seat battle scenes with vivid historical details and more fascinating characters than most action movies dream of." |
David Sterritt |
Splat C- |
The Matador (2005) |
"The film rapidly devolves into a lame buddy picture, part thriller, mostly goof." |
Peter Rainer |
Tomato B+ |
Match Point (2005) |
"The film is good enough that you don't feel the need for a few laughs to leaven the grimness." |
Peter Rainer |
Tomato 3/4 |
Matchstick Men (2003) |
"A well-made entry in the fashionable caper-movie genre, which has gathered steam lately with Ocean's Eleven and others." |
David Sterritt |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Matrix (1999) |
"What makes the film weirdly compelling is the sheer audacity of its screenplay." |
David Sterritt |
Splat 2/4 |
The Matrix Reloaded (2003) |
"So let's cut to the chase. Is the second Matrix movie worth the wait? Not quite." |
David Sterritt |
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