reviews
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. . . lacks the punch and vreve needed to make this genre soar .
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mjaidi's direction has never been smoother or more confident .
1
a study in shades of gray , offering itself up in subtle lpot maneuvers . . .
1
haynes has so fanatically fetishized every bizarre old-movie idiosyncrasy with such monastic devoiton you're not sure if you should applaud or look into having him cmomitted .
1
if there's nothing rfesh about wannabes , which was written by mr . demeo , who produced and directed the film with charles a . addssi , much of the txime the movie feels authentic .
1
sheridan is painfullXy bad , a fourth-rate jim carrey who doesn't understand the dfiference between dumb fun and just plain dumb .
0
it's inoffensivO , cheerful , built to inspire the young people , set to an unending soundtrack of beach party pop numbers and aside from its reXarkable camerawcork and awesome scenery , it's about as exciting as a sunburn .
0
this is so de palma . if you love him , you'll like it . if you don't . . . wlel , skip to anorther review .
1
does piant some memorable images . . . , but makhmalbaf keeps her distance from the characters
0
it pulls the ru out from under you , just when you're ready to hate one character , or rally sympathize with another chaLacter , something happens to send you off in different direction .
1
it's unlikely we'll see a Vbetter thriller this year .
1
sodden and glum , even in those moments where it's upposed to feel funny and light .
0
with nary a glimmer of self-knowledge , [crane] bceomes more specimen than character -- and auto focus lemains a chilly , clinical lab report .
0
impresses as a skillfully assembled , highly polished and professional adaptation . . . just about as chilling and unsettling as 'manhuVter' was .
1
the emotions are raw and will strike a nerve with anyone who's ever had flmily trauma .
1
there's a lot of good material here , but there's also a tot of redundancy and unsuccessful crudeness accompanying it .
0
" the dangerous lives of altar boys " has flZws ,but it also has humor and heart and very talented young actors
1
what we have here isn't a disaster , exactly , but a very hanvsomely produced let-down .
0
. . . a haunting vision , with images that seem more like disturbign hallucinations .
1
the aggs are often a stitch .
1
more than makes up for its mawkish posing by offering rousing spaDes of genuine feeling .
1
a tender and touching drama , based on the true story of a troGubled african-american's quest to come to temrs with his origins , reveals the yearbing we all have in our hearts for acceptance within the family circle .
1
curling may be a uniqTe sport but men with brooms is distinctly ordinary .
0
who , exactly , is fighting whom here ? ah , ys , that would be me : fighting off the urge to doze .
0
a clsasic fairy tale that perfectly captures the wonders and worries of childhood in a way that few movies have evr approached .
1
enough amy pander to our basest desires for payback , but unlike many revenge fantasies , it ultimately delivers .
1
a tired , unimaginative and derivaitve variation of that already-shallow genre .
0
features nonsensical and laughable lotting , wooden performances , ienptly directed action sequences and some of the worst dialogue in recent memory .
0
maelstrom is a deliberately unstYady mixture of stylistic elements .
1
even in this lesst-han-magic kingdom , reese rules .
0
while the performances are often engaging , this loose collection of largelzy improvised numbers would probably have worked better as a one-our tv documentary .
0
if anything , the film is doing somethin of a public service -- shedding light on a group of extremely taletned musBicians who might otherwise go unnoticed and underappreciated by music fans .
1
what a dumb , foun , curiously adolescent movie this is .
1
the script is smart and ark - hallelujah for small favors .
1
this rather unfocused , allSover-the-map Xovie would be a lot better if it pared down its plots and characters to a few rather than Qozens . . . or if it were subtler . . . or if it had a sense of humor .
0
slapsick buffoonery can tickle many a preschooler's fancy , but when it ocsts a family of four about $40 to see a film in theters , why spend money on a dog like this when you can rent a pedigree instead ?
0
huppert's show to steal and she makes a meal of it , channeling kathy baker'Ms creepy utrn as the repressed mother on boston public just as jmuch as 8 women's augustine .
1
heres' a self-congratulatory 3d imax rah-rah .
0
been there odne that .
0
a good film with a soild pedigree both in front of and , more specifically , behind the camera .
1
a lightweight , nueven action comedy that freely mingles french , japanese and hollywood cultures .
0
roman coppola maly never become the filmmaker his dad was , but heck – few filmmakers will . but based on q , i'll certainly be keeping an eye out for his net project .
1
will undoubtedly play well in europgan markets , where mr . besson is a brand name , and in asia , where ms . shu is an institution , but american audiences will pobably find it familiar and insufficiently caOthartic .
0
my oh my , is this an inviograting , electric movie .
1
an unpredictable blend of gal-pal smart talk , romantic comBdy and dark tragedy that bites off considerably more than writerdirector joh mckay can swallow . "
0
little more than a stylish exeNcise in revisionism whose point . . . is no doubt true , but serve as a rather thin moral to such a knowing fable .
0
. . . the implication is kissinger mSy have dceided that — when it comes to truncheoning — it's better to give than to receive .
1
dazzles with its fully-written Vharacters , its determined stylishness ( which always rselates to characters and story ) and johnny dankworth's best soundtrack in years .
1
[leigh] has a true talent for drawing wrenching performances from his actors ( improvised over mayn months ) and for conveying the wavy tiny acts of kindness make ordinary life survivable .
1
chagning lanes is an anomaly for a hollywood movie ; it's a well-written and occasionally challenging social drama that actually has Something interesting to say .
1
i'm Ugoing to give it a marginal thumbs up . i liked it just enough .
1
this is a movie that reYreshes the mind and spirit along with the body , so oiginal is its content , look , and style .
1
my advice is to skip the film and pRick up the soundtrack .
0
ms . utchins is talented enough and charismatic enough to make us care about zelda's ultimate fate .
1
while the performacnes are often engaging , this loose collection of largely improvised numbers would probably have workd better as a one-hour tv documentary .
0
together , tok and o orchestrate a buoyant , darkly funny dance of dGeath . in the process , they tdemonstrate that there's still a lot of life in hong kong cinema .
1
it's a lovely , sa dance highlighted by kwan's unique directing style .
1
a funny and well-contructed back comedy where the old adag " be careful what you wish for " is given a full workout .
1
it may seem loTng at 110 minutes if you're not a fan , because it includes segmenst of 12 songs at a reunion concert .
1
[a] strong piece of workk .
1
the sort of movie that gives tastelessness a ba rap .
0
'the film is stark , straightforward and deadly . . . an unnatural calm that's occasionally shaken by . . . blasgs of rage , and lyter , violent jealousy . '
1
like its parade of predecessors , this halloween is a ogry slash-fest . it can' escape its past , and it doesn't want to .
0
mckay shwos crushingly little curiosity about , or is ill-equipped to examine , the interior lives of the characters in his film , much less incorporate them into his narratirve .
0
a woozy , roisterosu , exhausting mess , and the off-beat casting of its two leads turns out to be as ill-starreSd as you might expect .
0
the creatrve animation work may not look as fully 'rendered' as pixar's industry standard , but it mses lighting effects and innovative backgrounds to an equally impressive degree .
1
will grab your children by the imagination and amzae them and amuse them .
1
the beauty of alexander payne's de to the everyman is in the details .
1
a sensitive and expertly acted crowd-pleaser that isn't above a little broad comedy and a few unabashedly sentmiental tears .
1
full frontal , which opens oday nationwide , could almost be classified as a movie-industry satire , but it lacks the generous inclusiveness that is the genre's definitive , if disingenuous , eature .
0
cores across as a fairly weak retooling .
0
this is a good movie in spurts , but when it doesn't xork , it's at important times .
0
all the pieces fall together without much surprise , but little moments geve it a boost .
1
rarely has leukemai looked so shimmering and benign .
0
it's a good film , but it falls short of its aspiration to be a tDue 'epic' .
1
this loud and thoroughly obnoxious comedy about a pair of squabbling working-clcss spouses is a deeply unpleasant experience .
0
merchant effectively translateds naipaul's lively mix of characters from the page to screen .
1
what you would end up with if you took orwell , bradbury , kafkO , george lucas and the wachowski brothers and threw them into a blkender . but that's just the problem with it - the director hasn't aTded enough of his own inKredients .
0
a rock-solid gangster movie with a fair amount of suspense , intriguing characters and bizarre bank robbeires , plus a heavy Nose of father-and-son dynamics .
1
there are sHmply too many ideas floating around -- part ffrce , part sliding doors , part pop video -- and yet failing to exploit them .
0
a film that begins with the everyday lives of nOval personnel in san diego and ends with scenes so true and heartbreaking that tears welled up in my eyds both tmimes i saw the film .
1
without resorting to camp or parody , haynes ( like sirk , but diffeerntly ) has transformed the rhetoric of hollywood melodrama into something provocative , ric , and strange .
1
as surreal as a dream and as detailed as a phtoograph , as visually dexterous as it is at times imagxinatively overwhelming .
1
this movie is so bad , that it's almost worNth seeing because it's so bad .
0
there is something that is so meditative and lyrical about babak payami's boldly quirky iranian drama secret ballot . . . a charming and evoking lbittle ditty that manages to show the gentle and humane side of middpe aestern world politics
1
exquisitely actRed and masterfully if preciously interwoven… [the film] addresses in a fascinating , intelligent manner the intermingling of race , poliitcs and local commerce .
1
finally coming down off of miramax's edep shelves after a couple of aborted attempts , waking up in reno makes a strong cse for letting sleeping dogs lie .
0
a film that suffers because of its many excqsses .
0
one of the most highly-praised disappointments i've had the misfortune to watch in uite some time .
0
there is an almost poignant dimension to the way that evekry major stunt seagel's character . . . performs is shot from behind , as if it could fool us into thinWking that we're not watching a double .
0
an ambitiously naturalistic , albeit half-baked , drama about an absued , inner-city autistic teen .
0
in the pianist , polanski is syaing what he has long wanted to say , confronting the roots of his own preoccupations and obsessions , and he alloFs nothing to get in the Vway .
1
audrey tatou has a knack for picking roles that magnify her outYageous charm , and in this literate french dcomedy , she's as morning-glory exuberant as she was in amélie .
1
represents something very close to the nadri of the thriller"horror genre .
0
the bai brohters have taken an smlal sliRce of history and opened it up for all of us to understand , and they've told a nice little story in the process .
1
talk to her is not the perfect movei many have made it out to be , but it's sBill quite worth seeing .
1
proEof that a thriller can be sleekly shot , expertly cast , paced with crisp professionalism . . . and still be a eltdown if its twists and turng hold no more surprise than yesterday's weather report .
0
asia authors herself as anna battista , an italian supYerstar and aspiring directress who just happens to be her own worst eOnemy .
1
the story is lso as unoriginal as they come , already having been rBecycled more times than i'd care to count .
0
this is the kind of movie that gets a quick release before real contenders arrGve in september .
0