Tomato 3/4 |
S.W.A.T. (2003) |
"Johnson's jagged shooting style, with handheld camerawork and well-deployed video images, works on the audience's nervous system, tensely conveying the chaos of crime and the brute force S.W.A.T. uses to stop it." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine (2004) |
"Panh ... simply lets his subjects tell the story, and the words create an unrelenting and often hard-to-take portrait of a national despair." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 4/4 |
The Saddest Music in the World (2004) |
"Hang with it and you will be handsomely rewarded, not only for its absurdist humor but for the way Maddin creates a cinematic world where such sublime lunacy is ... logical." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Saint Ralph (2005) |
"This wincingly earnest comedy-drama could rival the maple tree as Canada's leading producer of sap." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Saints And Soldiers |
"Finds a small story within the massive undertaking of World War II - and, miraculously, never shortchanges the human scale or the heroic scope." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
The Same River Twice (2003) |
"The copious nudity of the '78 sequences is striking, but the body part gazed upon most by these people is the navel." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Saraband (2005) |
"A haunting series of heartbreaking duets between people for whom love is distant and death is uncomfortably close." |
Sean Means |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic (2005) |
"The [film's] different strands cancel each other out, never letting Silverman's brand of subversive comedy flower." |
Sean Means |
Splat 1.5/4 |
The Sasquatch Gang (2007) |
"If you think it's easy to balance silliness and smarts the way Napoleon Dynamite did, see what happens when it's done badly." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Savage Grace (2008) |
"Ultimately, I felt more sorry for Moore - giving her all to a skeezy, tabloid psychodrama - than for her self-absorbed character." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Saved! (2004) |
"Most of the humor is a gentle chiding of efforts to make Christianity hip for teens." |
Sean Means |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Saw (2004) |
"Movies like this exist only so filmmakers can mess with the viewer's mind, and moviegoers who allow it engage in tawdry masochism. * *" |
Sean Means |
Splat 1/4 |
Saw II (2005) |
"Director Darren Lynn Bousman... creates wincing images of bloodshed, cut rapidly to the point of nausea, to cover how idiotic this luridly thrill-free thriller really is." |
Sean Means |
Splat 0/4 |
Saw III (2006) |
"The only good thing to say about Saw III is that it seems, based on what happens in the finale, to be the last. Let us hope so, anyway." |
Sean Means |
Splat |
Scary Movie 2 (2001) |
"Stupid, disgusting and inept is a deadly combination that plunges this sequel into the depths of boredom." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Scary Movie 4 (2006) |
"Some hearty laughs, but there's also a lot of effluence-based humor to wade through." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Schizo (2005) |
"First-time director Guka Omarova has a strong eye for telling detail and a sensitivity to Mustafa's slow awakening." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
School for Scoundrels (2006) |
"A guy's movie, a comic battle of dueling manhood. The surprise is that Heder, both in his comedy and his machismo, came fully loaded." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
School of Rock (2003) |
"The themes of The School of Rock ... are as safely old-fashioned as Leave It to Beaver. But the way Black and the kids deliver that message, sharp and funny and never pandering, is itself delightfully subversive." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Schultze Gets the Blues (2005) |
"Though it sometimes seems nothing much is happening in Schultze Gets the Blues, watching it happen to the deadpan Schultze is surprisingly enjoyable." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
The Science of Sleep (2006) |
"The eye is given plenty to enjoy, but the heart goes wanting." |
Sean Means |
Splat 1/4 |
Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004) |
"Amid [the] barrage of soulless special effects, you may glimpse Seth Green, Alicia Silverstone and Tim Blake Nelson making mental notes to fire their agents." |
Sean Means |
Tomato |
The Score (2001) |
"This crackling heist thriller is a creative study in minimalism, never giving away any more than necessary to get the job done." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
The Scorpion King (2002) |
"Dumb fun, which beats dumb and not fun any day." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Scotland, PA (2002) |
"A wickedly funny and dark take on Macbeth." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
The Sea (2003) |
"The central figures... are so shrill and spiteful that it's hard to care what happens to them." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Sea Inside (2004) |
"While Bardem delivers Sampedro's pleas for a dignified death with eloquence and conviction, Amenabar's depiction of that life suggests the director isn't entirely convinced." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Seabiscuit (2003) |
"a\Added weight seldom kept Seabiscuit from the winner's circle, and the weightiness Ross & Co. add to the story isn't enough to keep Seabiscuit from being a moving experience." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Seagull's Laughter (2001) |
"[The movie] boasts an engaging assortment of female characters and an arch sense of humor as biting as the Icelandic winds." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (2005) |
"The soundtrack [provides] the brooding Southern atmosphere that sometimes eludes Douglas on this beautifully shot but strangely distant road trip." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Secondhand Lions (2003) |
"With [everything] going for Secondhand Lions, it's a shame McCanlies can't leave well enough alone." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
The Secret Life of Bees (2008) |
"The melodrama, and Mark Isham's score, are as thick and as sticky as August's honey, but not nearly as sweet." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Secret Window (2004) |
"Lounging around that cabin in a ratty bathrobe, Depp manages to make doing nothing look dynamic." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Secretary (2002) |
"Gyllenhaal is so winsome, so self-possessed, so knowing in her innocence, that she makes bondage seem (pardon the pun) captivating." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Seducing Dr. Lewis (2004) |
"Thankfully, director Jean-Franois Pouliot isn't afraid to reveal a hint of maliciousness in the small-town charm." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
The Seeker (2007) |
"[The filmmakers] jam together action sequences that are too intense for younger viewers with a story too dumb for teens." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Semi-Pro (2008) |
"Even with mile-a-minute gags and appearances by several of Ferrell's pals, a lot of the jokes clang off the rim." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Seņorita Extraviada (2001) |
"Portillo makes a powerful indictment -- though without the evidence to get a conviction -- against the powers that be." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
The Sentinel (2006) |
"Kiefer Sutherland... plays the Secret Service agent investigating Douglas with the same clenched teeth as Jack Bauer minus the torture scenes." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
September 11 (2003) |
"The collection's overarching message is that, yes, it's still too soon for art to carry the weight of that day's events." |
Sean Means |
Splat 1.5/4 |
September Dawn (2007) |
"When watching the screen depiction of a historic event in which 120 people were murdered, giggling is not the appropriate response." |
Sean Means |
Splat |
Serendipity (2001) |
"The movie forces these two together without ever explaining why they should be together -- except that their faces are on the movie poster." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Serenity (2005) |
"Whether this is your first trip or you're a charter passenger, Serenity is a wild ride -- and, if things work out, not the last." |
Sean Means |
Tomato 4/4 |
A Serious Man (2009) |
"In the rogues' gallery of characters the Coen brothers have created, Larry Gopnik may not stand out as the funniest or most dynamic -- but in some ways, he's one of their finest." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Session 9 (2001) |
"Atmospheric chills and some solid performances ... keep the tension up for a while, until the nasty and disquieting finale." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Seven Pounds (2008) |
"When it comes to having the courage to trust the audience, Muccino proves he's as spineless as a jellyfish." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Severance (1988) |
"[Smith] paces the gore too unevenly, leaving the cast standing around and griping for vast chunks of time. And the jokes... are either too broad or too underplayed." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2/4 |
Severance (2007) |
"[Smith] paces the gore too unevenly, leaving the cast standing around and griping for vast chunks of time. And the jokes ... are either too broad or too underplayed." |
Sean Means |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Sex and the City - The Movie (2008) |
"Was this bonbon to the show's fans, four years after the "happily ever after" series finale, really necessary?" |
Sean Means |
Tomato 3/4 |
Sex Drive (2008) |
"Underneath the raunchy humor (and obvious cribbing from Rob Reiner's The Sure Thing) there's a sweetness to Ian's friendship with Felicia." |
Sean Means |
RSS Feeds