Splat |
Alaska (1996) |
"Charlton Heston, though he has saved the Jews and a whole bunch of other distressed folk in the past, along with painting the Sistine Chapel, can’t rescue his son’s picture." |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
Artemisia (1997) |
"an always perceptive look into the life of an artist only previously known to the most academic of us. Merlet brings the sixteen-hundreds alive with all its wantonness." |
Brandon Judell |
Splat |
At First Sight (1998) |
"Some tame lovemaking between blind Virgil Adamson (Val Kilmer) and architect Amy Benic (Mira Sorvino)." |
Brandon Judell |
Splat |
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life (1997) |
"... when Ms. Rand, who died in 1982, is verbally sparring with the likes of Phil Donahue or Mike Wallace on old TV broadcasts, she comes alive." |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
The Big Lebowski (1998) |
"Nimble, crackerjack entertainment with the crazed, anything-goes humor and the visual splendor we have come to expect in the best of the Coen Brothers' offerings." |
Brandon Judell |
Splat 0/10 |
Bird of Prey (1996) |
"At one point, Kily/Tilly notes: "Parents! You can't live with them. You can't live without their Mastercard." Hopefully, that will be the only sentence I remember from this abomination, and if the Lord is merciful, not even that." |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
The Break (1996) |
"if you haven’t seen a film this month with an ex IRA hero, you won’t go wrong with “The Break.”" |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato 5/5 |
Breaking the Waves (1996) |
"mesmerizing, harrowing and in the end euphoric" |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
Bulworth (1998) |
"one of the hardest-hitting and unblinkingly brave political satires to hit American screens since “Dr. Strangelove.”" |
Brandon Judell |
Splat |
Burn Hollywood Burn (1997) |
"a film more noteworthy for its title’s lack of commas than for any other asset" |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
Callejon De Los Milagros (1994) |
"The result is a startlingly funny, at times desperately despairing, symbiosis of lower-class lives trying to make the best of the few assets they have." |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
The Chambermaid on the Titanic (1998) |
"Overwhelmingly romantic, subtly cynical, and constantly entertaining, "The Chambermaid and the Titanic" is an example of how to make a superb film for less than $200 million." |
Brandon Judell |
Splat 1/5 |
Circuit (2002) |
No article available. |
Brandon Judell |
Splat |
Courage Under Fire (1996) |
"a confused Gulf War flick adopting the structure of “Rashomon,” the sentimentality of “Love Story,” and the souls of Hollywood hacks." |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato 3/5 |
Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) |
No article available. |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
Deja Vu (1997) |
"In a mood for a little O. Henry? Then you're in luck. In this most whimsical of romances, auteur Henry Jaglom, has again created another of his unconventional opuses" |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
Different for Girls (1996) |
"What makes this wonderfully deranged film fly is Rupert (“Maurice”; “Where Angels Fear to Tread”) Graves." |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
Everything Relative (1997) |
"How could you not like a film which features Harvey Fierstein as a moyl with two-pierced ears? You simply can’t." |
Brandon Judell |
2.5/4 |
Fled (1996) |
"On the plus side, at least for this type of effort, there is a new type of Chinese torture, tampon bandages, numerous film trivia allusions, bullets through peepholes, lots of women as strippers (Oh, not again!!), and a fine soundtrack produced by wunderk" |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Hak-saeng boo-keun shin-wei (1996) |
"Park, one of Korea's most acclaimed directors, here displays why he is so honored. Mixing farce with real pain and making it work is always a major accomplishment." |
Brandon Judell |
5/10 |
Home Before Dark (1998) |
"It is fun, though, to be in Ms. Ross’ presence again even though her idea of a rigid aunt is straight out of a community theater’s interpretation of “Mommie Dearest.”" |
Brandon Judell |
Splat 1.5/4 |
House Arrest (1996) |
"MGM can make millions with House Arrest. All they have to do is allow free admittance, and charge $10 a head for those wanting to run out of the theater before the end credits roll." |
Brandon Judell |
Splat |
I Love You, Don't Touch Me! (1996) |
"This woman is so grating, so self-absorbed, and so without a sense of humor, you can't be sympathetic to her self-inflicted chastity. Katie deserves to be alone. Sadly, she's wound up on the screen." |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
I Went Down (1997) |
"This good-natured, rough-housing Irish comedy is one of those buddy pictures where two oddly matched chaps thrown together by caustic Fate eventually save each other's life and become the best of buddies." |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato 4/4 |
In the Realm of the Senses (1976) |
"In her essay, “A Theory on Female Sexuality” (1966), American psychiatrist Mary Jane Sherfey noted that “the strength of the [sex] drive determines the force required to suppress it.”" |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
Independence Day (1996) |
"Like cotton candy it's a high caloric treat that's always fun for the taste buds but little else." |
Brandon Judell |
Splat 2.5/4 |
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) |
"The most exciting characters are killed off too early, and what we’re left with is a Satan’s “Seasme Street.”" |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato 3/5 |
Johnny Guitar (1954) |
No article available. |
Brandon Judell |
- |
The Kids in the Hall - Brain Candy (1996) |
"The most audacious comedy troop of the last decade has boiled down American society, thrown the hodgepodge into a colander, then hilariously eaten and excreted the gunk." |
Brandon Judell |
Splat |
Kissing a Fool (1998) |
"A little more “Kissing” like this, and years from now it’s quite possible “Friends” will be all Schwimmer is remembered for." |
Brandon Judell |
Splat |
Krippendorf's Tribe (1998) |
"the miscasting of Ms. Elfman as someone with a brain defies belief." |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
The Leading Man (1996) |
"Jon Bon Jovi, with his fiendishly angelic smile, thick, unruly locks, and piercing, flirtatious orbs, is slowly grooming himself for stardom." |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
Leather Jacket Love Story (1998) |
"So good-natured and peppered with so much nudity and so many crazed drag queens, you'll find yourself more than willing to overlook its poor sound quality, mixed bag of actors, and lack of suspense." |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
Madeline (1998) |
"No horribly arch double entendres to draw in audiences who can’t spend two hours in a theater without having their libido massaged.
" |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
Marius and Jeannette (1997) |
"a study of the difficulties working-class love faces when confronted with unemployment, past betrayals, and a deteriorating social structure" |
Brandon Judell |
- |
Mimic (1997) |
"my first line was "O all you host of Heaven! O earth! What else?" A more apt line there couldn't
have been.
" |
Brandon Judell |
- |
Misc: Miami Film Festival |
"Though there are rumors that the Rambo star is moving away from this tanning arena because of the recent Versace brouhaha, Miami is still his turf. And where else can he achieve such respect in the Arts?" |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato 3/5 |
Multiplicity (1996) |
"Whatever you know about cloning, leave at the theater door. Whatever you know about the modern housewife, shuck that, too. The feminism of “Multiplicity” is barely circa 1959." |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
The New Adventures of Pinocchio (1999) |
"I’ll probably just chill out for a couple of years, concentrate on school, then hopefully enter back into the business, and you know getting into directing like Ron Howard and Jodie Foster." |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato 4/5 |
Not One Less (1999) |
No article available. |
Brandon Judell |
- |
Nothing (1999) |
"like a West Coast suburban, post-pubescent Woody Allen, like a Sartre on laughing gas, Aaronson has created a film that will have you floored..." |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
Passover Fever (1995) |
"a very funny comedy. Sort of like a B'nai B'rith version of "Parenthood."" |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato 4/5 |
A Price Above Rubies (1998) |
"Thanks to Boaz (Fresh) Yorkin, we now have Bye, Bye, Hasid or better yet Escape from the Tefillin." |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
Sandman |
"Nigh perfect Chaplinesque slapstick comedy." |
Brandon Judell |
Tomato |
Sense and Sensibility (1995) |
"This is a film devoid of egotism but full of soul, an intelligent work of art that is not afraid to get wacky at times." |
Brandon Judell |
Splat |
Sliding Doors (1998) |
"a clever conceit, but it's one that eventually wears out its welcome." |
Brandon Judell |
Splat |
Sphere (1998) |
"Sphere yearns to be a philosophical epic but it's final and only edict is so rudimentary as to barely exist: man is not yet 'ready' either intellectually or emotionally for the gifts E.T.'s are willing to share with us." |
Brandon Judell |
Splat |
Spooky Kookies (1981) |
"Woo Kam Peng's lowbow Hong Kong comedy has the vitality of a Keystone Kops comedy, the sophistication of Gilligan's Island, and the budget of an inner city cake sale." |
Brandon Judell |
Splat 1/5 |
Stag (1997) |
No article available. |
Brandon Judell |
Splat |
Striptease (1996) |
"For a movie with more bare breasts than any two tattered issues of “Playboy” and “Hustler,” “Striptease” is the flattest offering of the year." |
Brandon Judell |