Tomato 3/4 |
Hair High (2006) |
"With sharp animation, funny gags and catchy songs, Hair High plays like the weirdest, and improbably sweetest, send-up of Grease you'll ever see." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Hairspray (2007) |
"By the glorious finale, Hairspray wins us over with its warmhearted message and rump-shaking music." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Half Nelson (2006) |
"Fleck and Boden present these characters not as stupid or evil, but as worthy of redemption if they can learn to reach for it." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Halloween (2007) |
"Zombie seems to want to explain Myers' evil. But any explanation would be unsatisfactory, and dull the terror of Myers' screen presence." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Hamlet 2 (2008) |
"Brady and Fleming, who co-wrote the script, build to a feverish finale, 15 minutes of pure transgressive laughter when Hamlet 2 is finally performed." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Hancock (2008) |
"There's a game-changing plot twist that is at first fascinating, but ultimately infuriating because the movie never capitalizes on it." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert (2008) |
"Entertaining, thanks entirely to the charms of its 15-year-old star." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Hannah Montana The Movie (2009) |
"The script ... jumps through the requisite sitcom hoops, setting up such wacky situations as having Miley and Hannah show up in the same place." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Happily Ever After (2005) |
"Attal doesn't illuminate Vincent's motives for straying, and unwisely suggests Vincent's philandering and Gabrielle's daydreaming are somehow morally equivalent." |
Sean Means |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Happily N'Ever After (2007) |
"Though there are one or two funny gags (like the Seven Dwarves as commandos), the typographical flourish in the title is the most clever thing about Happily N'Ever After." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Happy Endings (2005) |
"Even more cynical than the characters in Happy Endings is how Roos treats them in the final reel." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Happy Feet (2006) |
"It's uncanny... how looking into Mumble's face you can see Elijah Wood's bright eyes." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Happy Times (2002) |
"Well-meaning but unpalatable mush." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) |
"A winning character study by the king of chronicling the British working-class, Mike Leigh." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Hard Candy (2005) |
"It's Page's turn as the psychopathically righteous Hayley that grabs your full attention." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
The Hard Word (2003) |
"Not everything works... but Roberts' knack for realistic action, hard-bitten dialogue and finding humor in unexpected places keeps your attention to the finish." |
Sean Means |
Splat |
Hardball (2001) |
"Director Brian Robbins doesn't just push our emotional buttons -- he works them over with an aluminum bat." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008) |
"There's plenty about the Bush administration's War on Terror worthy of satire, but Harold & Kumar picks over a carcass that others have chewed over with much sharper teeth." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (2004) |
"A slacker tale that balances the gross-out gags and idiotic drug humor with some sublimely silly nonsense." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Harrison's Flowers (2002) |
"Harrison's Flowers puts its heart in the right place, but its brains are in no particular place at all." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) |
"For all its small delights and impressive effects..., there's no big payoff -- only the promise of more to come in the fifth movie." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) |
"There's a welcome lightness in the romantic couplings, which will have pre-teens across America asking, "Mom, what's snogging?"" |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) |
"Just as Harry has grown into a leader of his Hogwarts classmates, Radcliffe has become the man who drives this series." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) |
"The first [of the series] that really accomplishes what Rowling's books do so well -- respect the intelligence and imagination of Harry's young audience." |
Sean Means |
Tomato |
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) |
"The trickiest magic of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was performed by the casting directors." |
Sean Means |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Harsh Times (2006) |
"Ayer piles on one incident after another of gang-culture posing, histrionic shouting, Taxi Driver-esque craziness and senseless violence, all filmed in lurid smog-o-vision browns." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Hart's War (2002) |
"Director Gregory Hoblit seems to be trying to remake all of Stanley Kramer's 'message' pictures in one movie." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 (2008) |
"Rafferty's static interviews seem better suited for the radio show This American Life than for a movie documentary, but the riveting game footage recaptures the game's drama." |
Sean Means |
Splat 1.5/4 |
The Haunted Mansion (2003) |
"About as much fun as a day at Disneyland -- when it's raining and all the rides are broken and the car is at the extreme other end of the parking lot." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Havana Nights (2004) |
"The script wallows in its melodramatic clichés and features plenty of unintentionally funny dialogue -- though nothing funnier than the 'based on true events' title card." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (2003) |
"Colombani's double-sided view of events works like a jigsaw puzzle, but you may get the chills every time you learn where a new piece connects to an earlier one." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Head in the Clouds (2004) |
"Amid scenes of silk-sheet sexuality are gritty historical re-enactments and half-baked histrionics, but it plays as drab melodrama and unintentional comedy." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Head of State (2003) |
"Head of State feels rushed and half-baked ... but when Rock and Mac are rolling, the sarcastic humor comes out." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Head-On (2005) |
"It's disturbing, sometimes fascinating, but ultimately not very illuminating." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Heart of the Game (2006) |
"Serrill touches on important issues ... but what his movie does best is capture the thrill of high-school sports and the offbeat personalities within the game." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
The Heartbreak Kid (2007) |
"The Farrellys want you to root for Eddie to get what he wants, but you may find that he deserves every bad thing that happens to him." |
Sean Means |
Splat |
Hearts in Atlantis (2001) |
"The combination of boy's-life sentimentality and sepia-tinged nostalgia traps the movie's emotional manipulations before they can take hold." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Heights (2005) |
"Feels like a stage work - a self-important and self-consciously lofty one at that - and first-time director Chris Terrio does little to make it come alive." |
Sean Means |
Splat |
Heist (2001) |
"Mamet the writer should have thrown his script over to an action pro, like John Frankenheimer, to protect him from himself." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 4/4 |
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) |
"By far the most imaginative action movie in ages - a mix of epic fantasy, tender romance, broad comedy and double-barreled excitement that satisfies all your pleasure centers." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Henry Poole Is Here (2008) |
"Director Mark Pellington neatly underplays the more maudlin touches of rookie Albert Torres' script and draws a richly complex performance from the usually bland Wilson." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005) |
"The movie's last half hour is a drag, the rousing race sequences bogged down by the NASCAR product placement." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 4/4 |
Hero (2004) |
"The action of Hero is rousing, its drama is heartbreaking, and its final message is inspiring." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Hidalgo (2004) |
"Like Frankenstein's monster, stitched together from parts of so many great movies that director Joe Johnston wishes this overstuffed movie could be." |
Sean Means |
Splat 1.5/4 |
High Crimes (2002) |
"Ashley Judd is quickly outdistancing Sandra Bullock for Hollywood's longest streak of bad leading-lady choices." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008) |
"Resistance is futile. Kenny Ortega... wows us with high-energy dance numbers, playful staging [and] a talented young cast ." |
Sean Means |
Splat 1/4 |
The Hills Have Eyes (2006) |
"It suits Aja's nihilism to have the most annoying family members survive longer than the nice ones, or maybe he's encouraging us to root for the ax-wielding killers." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
The History Boys (2006) |
"The final delight of The History Boys is realizing that these charming young actors... will now graduate to new things." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 4/4 |
A History of Violence (2005) |
"David Cronenberg's searing drama ... confronts us to ask about the effects of violence on its characters' minds and souls." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Hitch (2005) |
"Smith and Mendes, unfortunately, fizzle rather than spark, a near-fatal flaw in a romance that depends on its leads' chemistry to succeed." |
Sean Means |