Tomato 3.5/4 |
Baadasssss! (2004) |
"The last face we see belongs to the real Melvin, who doesn't say a word -- but his fierce look confirms the story's veracity and his pride in his son." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Baby Mama (2008) |
"The best moments come when Fey and Poehler just cut loose and riff hilariously on everything from birthing classes to karaoke video games." |
Sean Means |
Splat 0/4 |
Bad Boys II (2003) |
"Michael Bay, as critics long have suspected, is the devil -- and ... the overblown orgy of gunfire and crumpled cars called Bad Boys II is the spawn of Satan." |
Sean Means |
Splat 1/4 |
Bad Company (2002) |
"Bad Company feels as if everyone gathered to make a spy movie, but no one had a plan to do it or any interest in figuring out how." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Bad Education (2004) |
"[Garcia Bernal] burns through Bad Education like a meteor, lighting up Almod var's cherry-red visions of movie passion and real-life pain." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Bad News Bears (2005) |
"Thornton is believable as a hound dog, and he knows how to use a wry look - and the audience's knowledge of his kinky marriage to Angelina Jolie - to do the work for him." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4. |
Bad Santa (2003) |
"Thornton plays this loser with reckless glee, snarling and snapping at anyone who expects him to be a jolly Santa." |
Sean Means |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Bag Boy (2008) |
"Anything that might have been appealing in this movie... is overwhelmed by a script devoid of jokes and skirting the edge of salaciousness without, alas, ever tipping over." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Ballets Russes (2005) |
"With a wealth of archival footage, the movie brings 70-plus years of dance alive." |
Sean Means |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002) |
"A loud, incoherent piece of action-movie overkill." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Balls of Fury (2007) |
"Any movie that ends with Christopher Walken joining in a group singalong of 'Pour Some Sugar on Me' deserves a little love." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Balseros (2002) |
"A movie that shows normal life can be as tough, and as gripping, as rowing across a dangerous ocean." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2005) |
"Sometimes the movie is a bit too gentle, moving at an energy-sapping pace, but one must respect Dai's ability to put criticism of Maoist doctrine onscreen at all." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Band's Visit (2007) |
"Director-writer Eran Kolirin creates some charming vignettes, ... little gems in a small, but sweet, movie." |
Sean Means |
Tomato |
Bandits (2001) |
"Bandits benefits from perfect casting." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Bandslam (2009) |
"Graff ... mines some spunky humor and heartfelt characters, all while coloring safely within the lines of the underdogs-reaching-the-top storyline." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
The Banger Sisters (2002) |
"So predictable you can set your watch to it, The Banger Sisters is enlivened by the fun-loving byplay of its Oscar-winning stars." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
The Bank Job (2008) |
"Isn't the point of a heist picture that there's somebody, either a jauntily plucky bunch of robbers or one honest cop, worth rooting for?" |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
The Barbarian Invasions (2003) |
"Even if you never saw 'Decline of the American Empire,' you can feel the 'Big Chill' vibe running through these fascinating characters." |
Sean Means |
Tomato |
Barbershop (2002) |
"The most charming, tender comedy this side of My Big Fat Greek Wedding." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Barnyard: The Original Party Animals (2006) |
"The funniest joke is the one nobody talks about: the gender confusion of male cows with udders." |
Sean Means |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Basic (2003) |
"If a film's makers do not care how their movie turns out, why should we?" |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Basic Instinct 2 (2006) |
"Stone chews on the scenery, and a few co-stars, in a ferociously over-the-top performance that almost makes the silliness worthwhile." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 4/4 |
Batman Begins (2005) |
"Calling [it] the best comic-book movie ever isn't enough. It's more ... a dark and resonant drama of one man's tortured path from guilt-ridden victim to conquering avenger." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Battle in Heaven (2006) |
"Reygadas' artful but ponderous camerawork succeeds only in turning the intimately exploitative ... into something emotionally distant and stupefyingly dull." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 4/4 |
Battle of Algiers (1966) |
"A chilling cinematic history lesson." |
Sean Means |
Splat 1.5/4 |
The Baxter (2005) |
"Every romantic-comedy cliché gets played out, but merely re-enacting those clichés in an arch tone isn't funny enough." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Be Cool (2005) |
"You have to be concerned when the funniest guy in a large-cast ensemble comedy is The Rock. ... But it all works, if just barely." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Be Kind Rewind (2008) |
"It truly inhabits the do-it-yourself spirit of independent filmmakers coloring outside the lines drawn by Hollywood." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) |
"A tense noir character study, with Duris (in the Harvey Keitel role) coldly compelling as a man with a hellish day job and a heavenly musical gift." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Beautiful Boxer (2005) |
"Star Asanee Suwan is tenderly moving as Toom, showing his struggle to find internal peace as he fights savagely to get it." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
The Beautiful Country (2005) |
"There's little said about what is driving Binh on this journey -- and without that, the trip is nearly as hard on audiences as it is on him." |
Sean Means |
Tomato |
A Beautiful Mind (2001) |
"Director Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman play fast and loose with Nash's illness to spice up the story." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 4/4 |
Beauty and the Beast (1946) |
"Cocteau didn't just interpret a fairy tale with this black-and-white wonder, but re-created a fairy-tale world." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Beauty Shop (2005) |
"A cramped sitcomlike vehicle, [but Queen Latifah's] royal presence makes this little Ford Fiesta ride like an Escalade." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Because I Said So (2007) |
"With very little rewriting and a different director in charge, Because I Said So could have been retooled as a horror thriller. ... That version probably would have been funnier, too." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 4/4 |
Becket (1964) |
"Watching Becket is to see a form of stylized, epic moviemaking not practiced today." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Becoming Jane (2007) |
"If only Jane's fictional life had half the wit as what she put on the page." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Bee Season (2005) |
"Alas, as the spelling words get harder and less comprehensible, so does the narrative thread." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Beerfest (2006) |
"I cannot explain why [someone] manually ejaculating a frog [is] funny. ... If you cannot accept that such a scene might be funny, "Beerfest" is not your movie." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Before Sunset (2004) |
"Even if you haven't seen the original, Before Sunset engrosses you, as Hawke and Delpy pull you into the lives of Jesse and Celine merely with the power of their words." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) |
"Lumet navigates the shifting narrative nimbly, and effortlessly handles the plot twists and emotional beats with equal precision." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Beijing Bicycle (2002) |
"The story bogs down in a mess of purposeless violence." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Being Julia (2004) |
"Shifting emotional gears with the adroitness of a Formula One driver, Bening delivers a diamond of a performance - multifaceted, sparkling and flawless." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Bella (2007) |
"Through the bog of clichés in director/co-writer Alejandro G. Monteverde's melodrama, the flinty reality of Blanchard's performance shines." |
Sean Means |
Splat 1/4 |
The Benchwarmers (2006) |
"By human standards, [it] is bad. ... By Rob Schneider standards (and how often are those words used together?), it's bad, but not in the same league as Deuce Bigalow." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Bend It Like Beckham (2003) |
"Sure, [it] wallows in cliches ... but it does so with such a bright, energetic spirit that you forgive pretty much everything." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Benji Off the Leash (2004) |
"A family drama, and public-service announcement for your local animal shelter, that is more convincing when the four-legged performers have the screen to themselves." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Beowulf (2007) |
"When Beowulf is in fighting mode, the film rivals 300 as the coolest videogame-like movie experience ever." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 4/4 |
The Best of Youth (2005) |
"With the six-hour running time, Giordana gets the space to let the characters live and let their shared story unfold like a good novel." |
Sean Means |
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