Splat 2/4 |
Ladder 49 (2004) |
"A film that loves and respects the country's firefighters, but makes the mistake of not getting to know them in a meaningful or substantial way." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1.5/4 |
The Ladies Man (2000) |
"Has neither the laughs of Roxbury nor the heart of Superstar, exposing itself as merely a very shallow and forgettable comedy." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Lady in the Water (2006) |
"Concludes with a big 'huh?' that leaves one questioning what the point was." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Ladykillers (2004) |
"There are a number of enormous, laugh-out-loud moments throughout, enough to mark it as one of the better comedies in recent memory." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Lake Dead (2007) |
"An all-in-fun slasher flick—shallow as can be, never scary, unevenly acted, but wickedly comic." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
The Lake House (2006) |
"Supposed to be sweeping and romantic, but instead takes on an uncomfortable and creepy undercurrent." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Lake Placid (1999) |
"The only thing Lake Placid ultimately has going for it is its witty dialogue." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Lakeview Terrace (2008) |
"What begins as a button-pushing think piece concludes by pushing all the wrong buttons and losing sight of the bigger picture." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Land of the Lost (2009) |
"The movie races around to nowhere in particular, more concerned with rarely spectacular spectacle than a beating heart." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) |
"While there are more moments with flair than in the original fiasco, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider -- The Cradle of Life remains a one-dimensional and suspiciously lifeless affair." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) |
"Has two good scenes amidst the creative dead zone that surrounds them." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1.5/4 |
The Last Castle (2001) |
"Preposterous... messy... saccharine." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3/4 |
Last Chance Harvey (2008) |
"Carried out with a rare intelligence for the genre, Last Chance Harvey is proof-positive that a firm handle of material can make anything seem revitalized and fresh." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Last Days (2005) |
"A mesmerizing triumph of both pitch-perfect minimalism and devastating existentialism, painting a bleak, uncompromising portrait of desolation personified." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Last Holiday (2006) |
"The most fatal pitfall is a purely Hollywood ending that would be enraging if it wasn't such an obvious foregone conclusion." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Last House on the Left (2009) |
"Enthralling, mature and full of measured tension. The Last House on the Left is no The Virgin Spring, but it beats the pants off of its direct thirty-seven-year-old predecessor." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
The Last Kiss (2006) |
"Says little about growing up and relationships that hasn't been covered—and better—in virtually hundreds of other pictures on the same subjects." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
The Last Mimzy (2007) |
"A tad unorthodox in today's times of fast and furious entertainment for kids, but those who take a chance on it will be pleasantly satiated." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
The Last Samurai (2003) |
"The Last Samurai is so built on common Hollywood movie cliches and superficial, jingoistic messages that it achieves no identity of its own.
" |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
The Last Shot (2004) |
"In the terms of the money-hungry Hollywood mindset, The Last Shot is an amusing, likable sleeper hit, but not an out-of-the-stratosphere blockbuster." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Law Abiding Citizen (2009) |
"When does a highly watchable movie stop being a beacon of enjoyment and turn into a morally reprehensible insult? For one, when its name happens to be Law Abiding Citizen." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Laws of Attraction (2004) |
"The time spent watching this hackneyed waste is interminable, frustrating, and quite boring." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) |
"The film is decidedly more involving than [most of the other summer movie extravaganzas], holds more intriguingly original conceits, and--here's a refreshing change of pace--keeps its running time well below the two-hour mark." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 (1989) |
"Lacks the clarity and identity of the earlier 1974 and 1986 installments." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Leatherheads (2008) |
"Not bad but also so frivolous that there's nothing to grab onto and take away from it all. Leatherheads is a good-looking but misguided waste of time and effort." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3/4 |
Legally Blonde (2001) |
"A sunny, hip confection." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
The Legend of Bagger Vance (1999) |
"A sort of half-hearted fantasy that is rarely ever involving." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3/4 |
Leila (1996) |
"A powerfully articulated and subtle drama from famous Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3/4 |
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) |
"The picture is a beautifully foreboding storybook sprung to life, mixing guffaw-inducing comedy, frightful fantasy, and resonating drama without missing a beat." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Let the Right One In (2008) |
"Not the be-all-end-all groundbreaker some are labeling it as, but it does put a new, sweet spin on a subgenre long in need of some freshening up." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 0.5/4 |
Let's Go to Prison (2006) |
"A clueless, pointless, unfunny dud. The kind of movie where one can tell that the actors already know they're making a piece of crap." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3/4 |
Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) |
"In every way possible, Letters from Iwo Jima is the superior effort and precisely the kind of film Flags of Our Fathers should have been." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1/4 |
License To Wed (2007) |
"License to Wed is set on a plane of existence not inhabited by intelligent life, but by widespread nincompoops." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Life (1999) |
"Has a tendency to be marginally entertaining one minute, and then brain-numbingly dull and misguided the next." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1/4 |
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004) |
"This is one dreary, listless film. The sooner it is forgotten and the once-promising director restakes his claim in being someone to watch, the better off we all will be." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Life as a House (2001) |
"Gets a lot of mileage out of some very fine performances before making way for mawkishness in the final half-hour." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Life Before Her Eyes (2008) |
"Paints a compelling and thought-provoking picture of not only school violence, but violence in general, and the trickle-down effect that a single moment in time can have on one's whole future." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3/4 |
Life Is Beautiful (1998) |
"[Benigni] somehow succeeds at such a genre-bending convention (or unconvention, if you think about it), finding just the right balance between humor and drama so that the film in no way is condescending to the subject matter." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Life of David Gale (2003) |
"A riveting mystery-drama filled with absorbing writing and even better acting." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3/4 |
Life or Something Like It (2002) |
"This is Angelina Jolie's movie all the way, and she does not disappoint." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Lifelines (2009) |
"A resoundingly affecting and emotionally cathartic family drama. Lingers and stirs in the memory long after the end credits have rolled." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Light It Up (1999) |
"A well-meaning, yet derivative, film of this sort is basically made or broken by the writing and portrayals of the characters, and both aspects are unsatisfactorily handled." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Like Mike (2002) |
"Amiable enough, but far too cliched and steadfastly generic to be worth recommending." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3/4 |
Lilo & Stitch (2002) |
"Disney's most effortlessly charming and satisfying [hand-drawn] creation since 1999's Tarzan." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Lions for Lambs (2007) |
"Lions for Lambs will not change anything. It probably won't even put a dent in the the U.S.'s consciousness. Regrettably, it's more of the same with only cursory signs of a soul." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 4/4 |
Lisa and the Devil (1974) |
"Lisa and the Devil is the real deal, a masterfully poetic journey into darkness and dislocation that is long overdue in finding the audience it so desperately deserves." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1/4 |
A Little Bit of Soul (1998) |
"A preposterous, asinine horror movie (also, in more ways than one) that is about as subtle as a freight train crashing into your house." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Little Black Book (2004) |
"If there is a reason to see it, it's the effortlessly enchanting Murphy, but that isn't quite reason enough. This is one Book that should have remained closed." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Little Boy Blue (1998) |
"So muddled and frustrating in its storytelling that I felt like giving up on the film halfway through." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Little Children (2006) |
"It is only once the end credits have begun to roll that you step back, process what you have seen, and leave dissatisfied." |
Dustin Putman |
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