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586,823 | 783,721 | 342,778 | 5 | Not all that | In " The Missing Gun " , a small town cop in China loses track of his sidearm when he gets drunk at a party . The first hour this film is dedicated to the cop running around town asking everyone if they have seen his gun to which all reply . . . . " Nope ! " . It's not until later in the film we begin to see a plot develop and realize what has appeared to be a comedy is really a drama when our hero / protag / cop finds out his ex-girl friend has been murdered . . . apparently with his missing gun . The balance of the flick is about finding the gun and the killer . Pretty ordinary stuff by Western film standards , this flick is uneven and less than engaging with marginal English language subtitle translations . Story aside , however , it is a moderately enjoyable blend of contemporary Western filmmaking with the traditional Chinese feel and a small step forward in Chinese action / drama filmmaking from behind the bamboo curtain . A subtitled watch recommended only for those with a taste for traditional Chinese cinema . ( C ) |
585,999 | 783,721 | 117,821 | 5 | Nothing new | In the grand scheme of martial arts movies , " Tai Chi II " ( not a sequel ) is junk . However , for martial arts enthusiasts it might qualify as a B-flick . A sort of dramady about a young Chinese puritan student who wants to win the affections of a hottie while ridding his land of the evils of opium , this flick breaks no new ground as it finds one excuse after another for Wu to do all the same old tired Kung Fu moves we seen a gazillion times before . . . with the exception using his braid like a whip ( yeah , right ) . Save some pretty scenery including Chung and identifying some of the Tai Chi position used during the fight ( eg : leaping lizard , holy cow , etc . ) , this flick is pure cornball Kung Fu with the same sound effect used for every punch , missed-by-a-mile choreography , and lame wire fu . Lacking the grit of Bruce Lee , the inventiveness and personality of Jackie Chan , and the elegance of " Crouching Tiger . . . " , " Tai Chi II " is just more junk food for martial art film freaks . ( C ) |
586,373 | 783,721 | 117,965 | 5 | Okay if you're drunk | The Trigger Effect tells of a suburban couple who have to get along without electricity during a Los Angeles power outage . At issue : Can one couple make it through a few days without electrical power ? Duh . Such is the bleak premise of this meager dramatic offering with a linear make-it-up-as-you-go story which dabbles in anarchy , tries to be a thriller , but is too hard to take seriously as it stumbles over itself all the way to the end . Fraught with Shue's poor acting , Koepp's poor directing , and a story which pounds square pegs into round holes . . . such as when Mulroney embarrasses himself by peeking in the window and then explains that the door bell didn't work because of the outage - as if he never heard of knocking . Hello ! Double duh . An okay-to-zone-to TV watch and little more . ( C ) |
587,006 | 783,721 | 210,616 | 5 | A weak film lacking the passion of it's subject . | Center Stage , a film about young students of the ballet trying to succeed , is diluted by too many characters ( most of them sophomoric stereotypes ) and soapy subplots and plagued by bad acting , melodrama , juvenile music , and even mediocre choreography . The film lacks the verve and passion of the art it attempts to represent though it does showcase plenty of dancing . This flick will be appreciated most by young females and dance enthusiasts . |
587,536 | 783,721 | 206,742 | 5 | Another grain of sand on that great beach called cinema | Fast Food , Fast Women has little to do with either . A somewhat inept , light-hearted slice-of-life indie , this flick revolves around a single 30-something woman , Bella ( Anna whatever-her-name-is ) , who waitresses in a NYC diner , and her assorted friends / acquaintenances with loneliness and the need for relationships being the central theme . A very forgettable flick , " FF , FW " is not without its moments and manages some poignancy , quirkiness , and heart . However , in the grand scheme of all things cinema , this is just another marginally entertaining film with a bunch of where-have-I-seen-him / her-before character actors which will never be more than a so-so small screen watch . ( C ) |
586,530 | 783,721 | 252,299 | 5 | Boring , stupid , and not worth the time . | An ill-conceived mess of a movie , " Buffalo Soldiers " tells of a Sgt . Bilko type Supply NCO , cumshaw artist , and narcotics chemist who falls for his Top Sarge's daughter while the Top Sarge is gunning for him . . . etc . With no sense of genre , characters which aren't interesting or believable , and a lame plot / story , this hacked flick has little to offer . Personally I was bored with it from the get go . A forgettable waste of a good cast best saved for broadcast . ( C ) |
587,578 | 783,721 | 265,029 | 5 | Another Hollywood ripoff . | America's Sweethearts drives home the point that star power alone does not make for good movies , just big audiences . Telling of a Hollywood celebrity couple ( Zeta Jones & Cusack ) whose marriage is on the rocks , this clumsy , over wrought Cinderella knock-off begins with some mildly amusing moments , lags in the middle trying to get to the point , uses sophomoric stunts like Cusack on the roof to hold attention , tries to caulk the splitting plot with silly crotch gags , and grinds wheezing and gagging to a predictable conclusion . Wait for broadcast . |
587,032 | 783,721 | 276,501 | 5 | Dud | Bejing Bicycle tells of a Bejing messenger boy who has his bike stolen by another boy . A feud ensues with a more or less amiable compromise , etc . The flick is marginally entertaining , offers good art and technicals , and has minimal dialogue , long and redundant scenes , a simplistic plot , an anticlimactic conclusion , and by most standards provides too little to chew on . " Bejing Bicycle " will likely have very limited appeal . |
585,823 | 783,721 | 126,604 | 5 | LOL's and yawns | Pecker ( Furlong ) is a young urban Baltimore man who photographs his family and friends , consisting entirely of kookie stereotypes , only to become a photoart icon . The film manages to conjure up some funny moments though most of the comedy is trite and crass one-liners from the cast overlaying a shallow story . Nothing new here but there may be some LOL's for the diehard couch potato . |
587,010 | 783,721 | 144,557 | 5 | College comedy romp slightly above average for a novice indie | Puddle Cruiser is slightly more clever than your average low budget novice indie . Amusing , somewhat wacky , situational college comedy which is more fun than funny , this little campus romp avoids the usual raunch as it tells it's lightly romantic story . An okay watch for bored students . |
586,365 | 783,721 | 342,577 | 5 | Well , the camera was in focus . | Iran , Veiled Appearances isn't much of a documentary . However , it does transport the viewer behind the Islamic curtain and offers a sense of what contemporary Iranian life is like . It begins with a dab of history including brief file footage of the Shah and the Ayatollah Khomeini before launching into an exploration of the Iran of today much like an inquisitive tourist rather than an investigation of political , social , and cultural orders . Too much time is spent dawdling over visual spectacles such as parades , martial arts training , a dance class , paragliding , etc . , all of which are done in other countries ( a minute on each would have sufficed ) . The interviews with Iranians are man-in-the-street type with college kids espousing liberal ideals as do college kids everywhere while elders preach the usual conservative doctrine . The schism between the theocratic fundamentalist elders and the more western-thinking youth came as no surprise . However , if we are seeing the seeds of change or revolution , we weren't shown the forces keeping a lid on it . Overall , the film was only marginally interesting , lacked traveloguesque scenic beauty , offered minimal history , had no interviews with officials , and conjured nothing which could be considered investigative reporting . Pass on this one unless you really yearn for a peek at Iran . ( Note - I have a theory which suggests Peter Sellers did not die but grew a beard , moved to Iran , changed his name to Khatami , and became President . |
587,393 | 783,721 | 282,593 | 5 | I didn't think I could get too much of Potter until . . . | I'm With Lucy , with Potter ( Lucy ) in every scene as an available NYC single who's dating five guys , goes round and round showing Potter in select situations with each of her suitors until - drum roll , please - she finally picks one . . . taa-daa ! Rambling on and on sans story with a tad too much of the beautiful , wide-eyed , ever innocent and always tentative Potter , " . . . . Lucy " begins to wear itself out for lack of a real story and real depth of character . A cute flick which gets a little too fluffy and sappy , " . . . . Lucy " should make an okay watch for incurable romantics and Potter fans . ( C ) |
586,217 | 783,721 | 144,580 | 5 | So-so | In " Rhapsody in Bloom " , a widower's ( Silver ) sister-in-law ( Miller ) tends to his children for years only to find the family ties interfering with establishing her own independent identity and life . A light hearted , easy going , romantic comedy which is a little ragged around the edges , " R in B " deals with matters of family , kids , an interloping fiancee , love in bloom , etc . with marginal credibility . A par cable watch for the couch potato in the mood for a no-brainer romcom with kids . ( C ) |
586,003 | 783,721 | 317,248 | 5 | Disappointing | City of God is an old story . So old , in fact , it begins in the 60's as it tells of gangsters in a Rio de Janeiro slum who do what gangsters do and have done everywhere for all the same reasons . Poverty breeds ignorance which breeds hopelessness which breeds desperation which breeds crime . . . etc . This film shows us nothing new , save the location and its paper thin characters , as it takes the audience into a slew of favela-dwelling punks with guns ( so many it's hard to keep track of who's who and who killed who for what reason ) as it attempts to impart a sense of warring in the Rio ghetto . You'll see such a convoluted mess of gang bangers there's no time for the film to provide character depth or a sense of the gangster ethos or the mechanics of the drug trade or a reason to care who lives or dies , etc . Just a whole lot of killing with numbing excess and only a hint of a human story . For reasons I am unable to deduce , " City of God " received raves from all corners and countless awards and noms . Go freakin ' figure ! Personally , I found the documentary piggy-backed into the DVD more interesting than the film and the one scene from the film I remember most ( it was shown twice ) was that of a chicken which was run over by a truck but escaped unscathed . If you like your street punk killing flicks with subtitles , go for it . ( |
587,490 | 783,721 | 232,500 | 5 | Kid stuff for gearheads | The Fast and Furious , adapted from a magazine article , could have been adapted from a comic book . With a simple minded plot , some pretty awful acting by just about everyone ( Diesel excepted ) , and the usual Hollywood excesses pushing the PG-13 envelope , " The Fast . . . " gets off on high octane street racing . From cool cars to hot babes this flick is made with one goal in mind : to separate the teen male from the price of admission . Not for mature audiences . |
586,822 | 783,721 | 113,416 | 5 | For lesbians only | The Incredibly True Adventure of 2 Girls in Love is far from incredible , could be true , and is about two girls in love . The film attempts to take the audience through the evolution of a teen lesbian romance involving a butch white student who works at a gas station and a more affluent black chick who who goes to the same school . Fraught with all the usual indie problems and an awkward screenplay with limited production value , " . . . 2 girls . . . " is fodder for lesbians and little more . Nonetheless , this pic is earnest in its attempt to portray teen lesbian love mixed with the usual growing pains and received respectable marks from critical corners . Personally , as a straight male , I enjoyed " Better Than Chocolate " much more . ( C ) |
585,806 | 783,721 | 167,427 | 5 | Campy , kookie , off-the-wall spoofiness . | Superstar is a love it or hate it camp comedy SNL movie which attempts to capitalize on Shannon's nerdy parochial schoolgirl character Mary Katherine Gallagher and , judging from the boxoffice stats , succeeds . Whether or not this critically panned flick is for you will depend on how much you personally enjoy ludicrous stereotypes , outrageous silliness , and deadpan humor . |
587,299 | 783,721 | 100,436 | 5 | Rebel without a clue | Pump Up the Volume is an ignoble and obvious fabrication which tells of a bookish new student ( Slater ) at an Arizona high school who is tongue-tied on campus by day but articulate by night while operating a pirate radio station from his basement under the pseudonym " Hard Harry " . His rabble rousing broadcasts of rebellious antiestablishment rhetoric and crotch talk makes him a cult hero among the student body turning them against the school's fascist principal while his lame parental units remain utterly clueless and he falls for the campus babe and preaches silly " teens are people too " sermons until everyone from the cops to the FCC are trying to track him down . Stupid stuff only a teenager could love . ( C ) |
586,533 | 783,721 | 303,326 | 5 | Whaddaloadacrap ! | Derrida dogs philosopher Jaques Derrida from boudoir to lectern and shows him being filmed and people filming him and him refusing to say anything personal while making the usual vague and ambiguous excursions in philosophical thought which one tends to expect of thinkers ( or so they think ) while never delivering anything of substance . We get to see Derrida butter his English muffin but we don't get to see him deconstruct deconstructionism because , of course , that's not possible . Bottom line : This documentary tries with synth music , voice-overs , translations , interviews , etc . but doesn't really sink its teeth into what appears to be a self-affected man who expects it is better to be thought an enigma than to open one's mouth and prove no enigma exists . Does the future have a future ? If you really care , you might want to spend time with this film . Otherwise , just agree that it does and find something interesting to watch . ( C ) |
585,986 | 783,721 | 198,021 | 5 | A mediocre feel good " chick flick " . | About as realistic as Disneyland , " Where the Heart is " is one long string of fabricated Kodak moments designed for maximum " feel good " effect . Although not challenged , the almost all female core cast is effective in dishing up enough appeal to obscure most of the sham and naivete of the story . Those into maudlin and schmaltz will enjoy this film while realists will likely reject it . |
587,312 | 783,721 | 104,779 | 5 | More evidence Polanski is overrated . | Bitter Moon is yet another example that Polanski has made more lemons than lemonade . Telling of a married couple on an ocean voyage who happen upon another couple which invigles them into ridiculous behavior by spinning an equally ridiculous yarn , this tiring soap opera quality flick will wear you out with its monotonous 2 . 2 hour run . A shabby film which opens with a curious situation , the carrot , which keeps you watching though a seemingly endless succession of flashbacks narrated with horribly sophomoric prose , " Bitter Moon " proves many things . . . such as Seigner can't dance and Polanski still hasn't mastered the art of keeping his characters in character . As ashamed as I am to say it , the best thing in the flick from my perspective is all the Seigner skin . At least - it - isn't blatant fraud . ( C ) |
586,400 | 783,721 | 113,451 | 5 | Who done it ? Who cares . | Jade is a typical Hollywood formula mystery which features a handful of notable actors , some stylish noirish cinematography , and a convoluted and unsatisfying plot . As a typical commercial product , " Jade " doesn't care if we give a damn about the characters as its dark and sinister plot passes before our eyes like so much deja vu . Nothing here we haven't seen many times before and no reason to want to see it again . |
587,062 | 783,721 | 243,904 | 5 | For " wing nuts " only . | The only good thing one can say about this budget conscious , garish , cockamamie kludge is O'Toole . Telling of competing game show hosts , one old ( O'Toole ) and one young ( Gillen ) , who have more in common than meets the eye , this dark comedy has little to offer beyond the Shakespearean performance of O'Toole who trudges doggedly through the script with inevitable futility . For wing nuts only . ( C ) |
586,542 | 783,721 | 265,349 | 5 | Only for the most gullible paranormal flick junkies | The Mothman Prophecies is based on true events like PeeWee Herman is based on Arnold Schwarzenegger . The film tells of a Washington Post reporter ( Gere ) who wanders into a W . VA . town where he is accommodated beyond all reason by a local sheriff ( Linney ) in an investigation into paranormal events having to do with a mysterious mothman creature thingy . Stylish to the point of interfering with the spooky atmospherics with characters obviously acting out a prescribed plot , " Mothman . . . " is a hokey bit of Hollyweird flotsam only for the most avid sci-fi / horror / thriller junkies . And don't worry , you won't be needing any mothballs to watch this polished nonsense . |
585,844 | 783,721 | 278,488 | 5 | Poor man's Cheech & Chong | How High tells of two ghetto blacks ( the African American equivalent of Cheech & Chong ) who smoke a friend ( literally ) which gets them into Harvard where they . . . um , do stuff . A classy presentation with considerable less classy humor , this flick has a much more clever premise than plot and plot than story . Okay stuff for those into raunchy outrageousness which crosses the black / white divide . Note - The DVD I watched had no closed captioning but did have subtitles were all over the screen and so large they must have been intended for the visually impaired . |
586,204 | 783,721 | 187,489 | 5 | Marginal fodder for TV mystery junkies | Clive Owen brings his almost complete absence of charisma and scant repertoire of nuances to " Second Sight " as a detective who may or may not be losing his sight depending on who you believe ; host Diana Rigg or the doctor characters . A much too pat and uninspired Brit detective series about a workaholic divorced sleuth with personal issues , DCI Tanner ( Owen ) , " Second Sight " is full of nonsequiturs , plot holes , and just plain shoddy work . Owen does the usual connecting of dots expected of mysteries while maintaining the pitiful I've-been-screwed-by-life attitude you would expect of a terminal cancer patient not one whose just may be going blind and especially not one who sees perfectly when required of the plot and otherwise when not . All the while , Tanner has what Rigg describes as a " torrid " affair with his sidekick which is little more than a few seconds in the sack and sees visions ( the second sight thing ) which are rationalized by some mumbo-jumbo about his medical condition . Pale in comparison with the Brit " Cracker " series , " Second Sight " is little more than par fodder for TV junkies . I gave up on it with about 10 minutes to go in the 2nd DVD . ( |
585,947 | 783,721 | 280,674 | 5 | Nice try but no cigar . | The First $20 Million . . . is an easy-going comedy with a romantic bent which sticks Garcia out in front as a computer geek who aspires to be another Steve Jobs by working with some other geeks who are trying to build a $99 computer . . . . er , something like that . A happy-go-nowhere little flick which is too uncool for the young demographic and too young for adults , I'm guessing it's a movie in search of a market . Hard to swallow and hard to follow with laughs which are too few and too far between , " The First $20 Million . . . " is an uninspired albeit earnest novel knock-off which is best saved for broadcast . ( C ) |
586,459 | 783,721 | 94,673 | 5 | A poor , melodramatic historical drama . | April Morning tells of the skirmish between colonial militia and the English army at Lexington , MA which is regarded as the beginning of the American Revolutionary War . The film is a melodramatic made-for-tv drama which spends more time with fictional accounts of the April 19th battle than it does with matters of history and warfare . Obviously conceived to be palatable for prime time viewing and sell commercial products , this film is a poor American history lesson . Nonetheless , poor may be better than none at all . |
586,118 | 783,721 | 192,335 | 5 | Much ado about nothing | Mr . Death : The Rise and Fall of Fred A . Leuchter , Jr . is a 1 . 5 hour biopic which tells the story of Fred Leuchter who was a self made engineer and a nobody until he naively took on the task of trying to prove or disprove the existence of gas chambers at Auschwicz . Not qualified as a forensic scientist , Leuchter testified in a Canadian court that there was no evidence of such gas chambers thereby throwing the matter of six million Jewish deaths during WWII into question resulting in his own persecution and the loss of everything from his wife to his career as an engineer who designed execution machines for prisons . The film is a solid documentary of Leuchter's life , nicely done with good music and cinematography . However , it trudges slowly through the biography with Leuchter doing most of the talking while mixing in bits of commentary from other people and never really getting into the meat of the Auschwicz death camp matter . Personally , I would have preferred less ambiance and more facts , background info , and testimony from friends , associates , and experts . When all is said and done you'll know nothing more about Auschwicz , a little bit about his controversial testimony in 1988 , a bit more about execution machinery , and a whole lot about a small man of little consequence . Recommended only for those interested in Fred A . Leuchter jr . ( |
586,402 | 783,721 | 196,223 | 5 | Watchable but ordinary | A female P . I . , estimated to be " The Right Temptation " , is hired by a women to try to seduce her wealthy husband thereby testing his loyalty . . . blaa , blaa . So begins another plasticized , predictable , trite formula Hollywood clone noirish mystery with characters too shallow , patter too glib , and story too pat . There's nothing here for an audience to sink their teeth into leaving one to just sit back and zone . |
587,430 | 783,721 | 117,608 | 5 | A wild and crazy guy in uniform . | In this knock-off of the old Phil Silvers ' tv series , Martin plays Sergeant Bilko , a scam-artist who doesn't let being the head of an Army Post motorpool keep him from enjoying the luxuries of civilian life . A simple minded flick which shows us nothing new , " Sgt . Bilko " has little to offer save acting as a diversion for the needy couch potato . An okay watch for those who like Martin's " wild and crazy guy " schtick . |
585,609 | 783,721 | 102,299 | 5 | Second rate nonsense | Lebestraum , a second rate noirish drama , tells of murder , infidelity , and other stuff . It includes a hair-raising ride in a police car and some prostitute diddling stuff and a big " N " falling off the top of a building almost on our hero's head and some nightmares with the old wake up screaming thing going on and , oh , yeah , and the old cat jumping out during a suspenseful moment . Betwixt and between such trite nonsense is the real story , the real nonsense , which takes itself so seriously as to be almost laughable . Don't waste your time with this loser . Note : The audio quality of the Tivo'd version I watched was awful and there were no subtitles to help fill in the blanks . I had to watch under headphones . |
586,351 | 783,721 | 377,744 | 5 | Comedy culture commercial | One day a pink fog surrounds California and inexplicably all of the Hispanic people in the state have vanished . Although the premise sounds like a setup for some wacky fun , this comedy struggles with ordinariness , obvious budgetary constraints , a lack of creativity , and an obvious pro-Latino social agenda . A campy culture commercial , the film takes the viewer into the lives of a handful of people effected by the loss of Latinos while periodically conjuring statistics about the importance of Hispanics to California industry . Passable stuff which may have some appeal for Hispanics , this amateurish indie's heart is in the right place but it tries too hard to do too much with too little . ( C ) Note - At this writing , almost all of the user comments on this website are from users who have commented only on this film . That's a good indication that the comments are inordinately skewed as are the stats . |
587,485 | 783,721 | 324,127 | 5 | Marginal serial killer + paranormal stuff drama | ' Suspect Zero " tries to be a serial killer drama with a paranormal bent as it sticks us with a demoted FBI agent ( Eckhart ) who is hot on the trail of a suspected serial killer ( Kingsley ) . Moss is factored in presumably as eye candy as she serves no practical purpose while Eckhart and Kingsley are hell bent on a showdown . During the run , the dead time and plot holes are spackled up with montages of weird pictures , special visual effects , and eerie music while we wait patiently for the film to make something of itself . Kingsley , of course , is excellent in his role and the storyline does manage to catch up with itself in the end making some sense . However , what's between the credits is still a marginal watch at best . Those into dramas with Kingsley as a whack-o should check out the much better " Sexy Beast " . ( |
585,926 | 783,721 | 166,158 | 5 | Nothing special | Daddy and Me takes a look at a dysfunctional Arkansas family of ignorant hicks with Thornton and Dern out front as a couple with issues . A sort of slice - of - dysfunctional - family - life flick which pours over a good cast of oddball characters , this comedy doesn't manage to conjure up anything of significance except a whole lot of Thornton's trailer park trash home spun situational comedy / drama " home cookin ' " . " Daddy and Them " offers plenty of familiar faces cranking out solid performances , but everything else from concept to completion is about as dysfunctional as the characters . For Thornton fans only . ( C ) |
586,074 | 783,721 | 113,677 | 5 | Lukewarm indie | Living in Oblivion is a nominal indie comedy about a day on the set from hell of an indie film director ( Buscemi ) who struggles with technical problems , personality conflicts , etc . The film takes the audience through take after take and scene after scene , cluttering it with interjected dreams of the cast and crew , with little purpose or entertainment power . Lacking the story content and character depth of other DiCillo films , " Living . . . " should be filed under " Last to watch " and will be of more interest to film buffs than the public at large . ( C ) |
587,195 | 783,721 | 362,387 | 5 | Roomie doom | 2LDK is all about two young actresses competing for the same job who spend an evening together in an apartment and get on each other's nerves . One thing leads to another and mayhem ensues . Not much of a film , " 2LDK " is a mediocre little thriller with good camera art , decent work by the players , some pretty hokey moments , and a paper thin plot . Running at about 70 minutes , this short film is all Japanese with hard-to-read subtitles and , no matter how you cut it , its no more than two women , one apartment , and one evening . Recommended for people like me who've seen just about everything in their favorite genres or anyone who thinks two women , one apartment , one evening sounds good . ( |
586,128 | 783,721 | 218,922 | 5 | And the Razzie goes to . . . . | Original Sin tells of a 19th century coffee plantation owner ( Banderas ) who marries a mail order bride ( Jolie ) only to learn the hard way she is not who she was supposed to be . Uninspired drivel with poor chemistry between Banderas and Jolie , " OS " is artistically and technically good but so lacking in sincerity and believeability that it does not beg the question " how will it end " but , rather , " when " ? Save this one for t . v . or , better yet , find something good to watch . |
586,514 | 783,721 | 308,878 | 5 | Too little , too late . | The Shape of Things , which probably falls somewhere in genre spectrum around black comedy , is a misanthro-pic with an ensemble of four capable players and good quality production which fizzles in story with precious little entertainment to be found between the credits . Telling of a woman's ( Weisz ) makeover of a man ( Rudd ) as a post-grad art project , the story is an obvious contrivance for naught which only manages to raise some trite questions about morality and art . With potential for little more than some tongue clucking and nothing to inspire a laugh or a tear , perhaps the best thing this flick has to offer is some eye candy in the shape of Weisz and Mol . Recommended for the college crowd or fans of the players and / or LaBute . ( |
586,360 | 783,721 | 273,982 | 5 | Groan ! | Poolhall Junkies is about a guy who leaves his pool hustler mentor with a grudge which gets settled with a showdown at the end of the film after a whole bunch of uninteresting , uneven , unsatisfying , and ungood story including a girl friend with a rich daddy thing , an I - want - to - be - more - than - a - hustler thing , a . . . aw , never mind . It's not worth the typing . Suffice it to say the critics panned this corny little dramedy with a so-so cast led by one of the most charismaless actors ever to lead the likes of Walken and Steiger with awful jukebox music for a score and a horribly amateurish script . Possible target audience : Young males . . . oh , yeah , and Ebert liked it too . ( |
587,451 | 783,721 | 102,178 | 5 | Good climbing action and little more | K2 , a rather ordinary adventure flick , tells of the assault on the mercurial Himalayan mountain by a pair of American climbers and their associates . An okay climbing flick with plenty of beautiful scenery and climbing action from rock to snow to ice , the film has a weak plot , technical oversights aplenty , and more than its share of filler not the least of which are some family issues which go nowhere . Good stuff for those into climbing , okay stuff for those into escapist adventure flix , and forgettable stuff for all others . ( |
586,842 | 783,721 | 209,322 | 5 | Skip this ! | Skipped Parts takes on the difficult comedy / drama genre and flops . Telling of one boy's coming of sexual age , this film could have been a solid study of teenage sex issues and rites of passage . Instead , it plays as a convoluted , bland , and ill-focused mess of silliness , stiff acting , post card scenery , dream sequences , and out-of-nowhere nonsense lacking the finesse required to weave an engaging story from the comedy and drama components resulting in a marginally entertaining watch and a story with a difficult buy-in . Only for the most easily influenced sentimentalists . ( |
586,180 | 783,721 | 170,107 | 5 | Comedy-drama-romance spy flick with unrealized potential | Spy Games sets out to be like the old " I Spy " tv series with West vs East spying going on in exotic locations and lots of clever patter mixed in with a semiserious and intricate dramatic spy plot , a token babe here and there , etc . However , this unfortunate flick doesn't make it as it becomes convoluted and boring only managing to pull what's left of itself together in the end . " Spy Games " does have Pullman , Jacob , and Helsinki going for it but little else . Recommended only for the very bored . |
587,564 | 783,721 | 174,885 | 5 | A light hearted romantic near miss | Loving Jezebel tells of the romantic misadventures of a young black New York man , Theo ( Harper ) , who falls in love too easily and too often . With the look of a color blind , low budget indie full of fresh faces , " LJ " is a sweetly sentimental musing on love by the principal and narrator . An okay watch with a plodding pace which will grow tedious for some , " LJ " will be most appreciated by young adult romantics . |
586,381 | 783,721 | 117,723 | 5 | A gag a second | From the same mold as the " Naked Gun " series , " Spy Hard " stars everyone's favorite bumbling hero Leslie Nielson as a not-so-secret agent , WD-40 , who stumbles his way through another slampooning chaotic comic story . Sniping at everything from " Speed " to " Home Alone " and built around the James Bond flicks , " Spy Hard " features lots of babes and bunches of bit part celebs with nonstop gags and off-the-wall humor . Only for those who are into wacky for the sake of wacky . ( |
586,284 | 783,721 | 253,586 | 5 | A typically so-so indie treatment of a grave issue | McCann's " Revolution 9 " tells of a man's sanity slipping away as paranoia takes over his life . This inconsequential and somewhat heavy-handed indie takes on the serious matter of mental health earnestly but with only nominal dramatic success coming from players who seem obviously scripted , reacting to cues , and inclined to over state their roles . Furthermore the matter of paranoid psychosis and it effects on everyone involved is so substantial as to make this film's many artistic embellishments more of a camouflaging affectation than a catalyst . This film would have been better if McCann had backed off the Hollywood stylistics and let the stark reality of the subject speak for itself from a place of austerity , slowing down the process of mental erosion while draining some of the color from the work . Nonetheless , this well intentioned drama with an ambiguous and unsatisfying conclusion should have some entertainment value for those into mental health issues . ( C ) |
586,992 | 783,721 | 273,923 | 5 | Surf's up , thumb's down ! | Orange County is the usual stuff . Anyone over 30 has seen it all before . The film tells of a HS senior and surfer dude ( Hanks ) who wants desperately to go to Stanford to study writing . He , the hero , of course , plays it straight as does his girlfriend while everyone else in this formula flick is a caricature making for most of the mediocre comic relief . The film has lots of fresh faces and lots of familiar ones as well and is lively enough to make it a reasonably enjoyable watch for teens and some terminally bored adults . |
585,946 | 783,721 | 187,559 | 5 | TV sitcom quality chick flick | Claire ( Witt ) is having trouble getting her concert piano career on track thanks to a semi-functional family , romantic woes , and kookie friends . " Playing Mona Lisa " is a formula sitcom quality flick full of cliche characters with just enough of a creative edge to keep me from thumbing the fast-forward button . There's little new here and nothing to get excited about . However , " Playing Mona Lisa " might be worth a look for the couch potato surfing for chick flix . ( C ) |
585,842 | 783,721 | 117,283 | 5 | Okay off-kilter slow mover . | The Pallbearer , a schizophrenic cross-genre muddling of comedy , drama , and romance with idiosyncratic characters and a thin , marginally interesting story . Schwimmer is at the center of this slow moving , somewhat quirky flick about a young man who lives with his mother ( Bosco anyone ? ) and courts a demure unassured girl ( Paltrow ) while having an affair with an older woman ( Hershey ) . Most will find it difficult to get their head into this off-kilter story and its subtle tongue-in-cheek humor though it remains loyal to its purpose throughout . . . whatever that may be . |
586,932 | 783,721 | 106,455 | 5 | Boiling Point only simmers | In " Boiling Point " , a Treasury Agent ( Snipes ) has one week to find a killer while a scam artist ( Hopper ) has the same one week to pay off an underworld debt . The pair are on a collision course in this flick with a bunch of heavies , some T-men , and a beautiful prostitute ( Davidovich ) who knows both men biblically . The film tries unsuccessfully to build human elements into the characters . Hopper is a sentimentalist with panache who likes ballroom dancing while Snipes longs for his divorced wife and son . Unfortunately , " Boiling Point " hasn't the intensity the title would suggest and just slogs it way through a more-of-the-same cops vs bad guys plot with poor quality drama and almost no sensationalistic action . . . no chases , crashes , stunts , pyro , sex , nudity , etc . A lukewarm tv watch at best . ( |
587,658 | 783,721 | 257,076 | 5 | Just more mindless Hollywood action | S . W . A . T . uses L . A . SWAT ops as an excuse for this messy conglomeration of action nonsense none of which is sufficiently original , creative , or unique to make the mind-numbing excesses worth wading through . You'll see lots of flying brass and lead , crashes , stunts , etc . but nothing you haven't seen before . All that in the absence of a human story with too much cost-conserving filler and busyness adds up to a no-brainer action flick best saved for broadcast . Recommended for police action junkies only . ( C ) |
586,412 | 783,721 | 114,095 | 5 | A pocket full of Posey | Party Girl is all about Posey , tossed like a salad with a load of inconsequential side characters , as she labors to breathe life into her character ; a shallow party animal who tries to get unshallow . This flick bears the scars of cost cutting , doesn't managed to conjure any reasonable semblance of a story , and wanders drunkenly with a make-it-up-as-you-go feel as it manages a few comic moments , a skosh of poignancy , and little else . The bottom line here is : If you like Posey , you may like this film . If you don't like Posey , you probably should pass on " Party Girl " . ( Note - If you check the stats for this film you'll see a pretty obvious bell curve ( Normal Gaussian distribution ) with one obvious anomaly : The big spike at the 10 point mark . Since no one in their right mind could equate this dinky little indie to the best films ever made , one can assume the anomaly is either ballot box stuffing or the result of " cultists " or both . I only mention this because this is often seen on this website and can be misleading . |
586,298 | 783,721 | 117,296 | 5 | Perfect love , Imperfect movie | Perfect Love , an intentional misnomer , opens with a man showing police detectives how he murdered a woman . The film then flashes back to the beginning of his relationship with the victim , his lover , a beautiful ophthalmologist . The remainder and bulk of the film is dedicated to showing the rise and fall of the couple's relationship from falling in love to the souring differences and it's ultimate and irreversible dissolution . A product of a controversial auteur who is known for her graphic sex scenes , " Perfect Love " falls on the lesser side of her rather uneven body of work . Though the players work well together , the genesis of the relationship is unconvincing and the psychology behind the relationship seemingly preposterous at times . Given subtitles , only two players , very little story arc , a sloth-like pace , and an unconvincing presentation , " Perfect Love " is difficult to recommend . ( C ) |
586,306 | 783,721 | 265,625 | 5 | A B-flick which is too nice not to like a little | Road to Riches is a lightly romantic dramedy about a down-on-his-luck middle aged professional game show contestant ( Forster ) who harbors affection for a beautiful stripper ( McGowan ) and befriends a fresh-faced naive young interloper from Texas ( Pardue ) - a sort of poor man's Joe Buck ( Midnight Cowboy ) - until both men find themselves competing for the same woman . A B-flick at best , this little indie is rough around the edges showing signs of low budgetness and a lack of attention to detail with plot parts which don't dovetail well . However , when all is said and done , the film's good naturedness , poignant crescendo , and feel good conclusion make it a worthwhile watch for the couch potato in the mood for some casual small screen entertainment . ( |
587,476 | 783,721 | 244,196 | 5 | Slick neo-noir junk ( Spoilers ) | Second Skin bets everything on a hot babe , a scenic local , a handful of decent actors , a weak story and loses . Henstridge bumps her head , loses her memory , falls for some guy , gets her memory back and remember she's supposed to kill him . The story waxes somewhat more convoluted but lacks character depth and gives us little reason to care . Camera work is artsy for artsy's sake . . . nice try but no cigar . Fonda is unconvincing as the ultimate heavy , etc . Overall , this flick is a stylish loser not worth the time . |
586,013 | 783,721 | 374,102 | 5 | Missed the boat | Open Water is all about a DINK couple who goes on a SCUBA diving trip only to find themselves stranded in the ocean swimming with the sharks . An obviously low budget indie , the bulk of this very even tempered and simplistic flick , about an hour , is dedicated to the pair of protags ( Ryan and Travis ) bobbing around in the water sorting through their predicament without the emotional highs and lows one might expect . Cost cutting is evident throughout imparting an almost documentary " feel " . And , though the film does manage a modicum of suspense , when all is said and done , one may be left with the feeling they just paid for a restaurant meal and got fast food instead . ( |
586,511 | 783,721 | 265,651 | 5 | Ripley's believe it . . . . not ! | Ripley's Game tells a sloppy tale involving a bunch of people running around trying to kill each other . Beginning to end , this flick is a mess of plot holes , nonsequiturs , and goofs . EXAMPLE : The abysmal story has a fat guy trying to coerce an ordinary guy and family man into killing another guy by telling him that if he doesn't kill the guy , he'll have his family killed . Of course , that begs the questions , how is he going to get anyone to kill the family if he can't even get this guy to kill the other guy ? Duh ! EXAMPLE : Malcovich is preparing for an assault on his estate . He has a shot gun and then a pistol and by the time the bad guys break in he's down to a crescent wrench . Jeeez Louise ! EXAMPLE : A guy is shot point blank in the side of his head . . . and only loses part of an ear . Hello ! " Ripley's Game " has a good cast and good locations . But , what a stupid story . Believe it or not . ( |
585,982 | 783,721 | 179,116 | 5 | A mildly entertaining quirky , campy lite comedy | Cheerleader uses the sexual-orientation awakening of one young lesbian woman and her concurrent attempted reorientation in a silly center for gay rehab to make a satirical statement about mainstream misconceptions of homosexuality . The film offers an adequate cast of second tier actors , some funny moments , a Mary Poppinsish milieu , and a couple of incongruously serious lesbian love scenes to provide it's nominal entertainment value . |
586,230 | 783,721 | 129,332 | 5 | Nice try but no cigar . Silly , numbing , boring . | It's not surprising that ( at this writing ) the IMDB stats show the high votes for this flick coming from the under 18 group . " Ravenous " builds it's premise around some silly ancient Native American legend which states that if one eats human flesh , the eater gets the spirit of the eatee . Having someone in the attic calling the babysitter in the living room on the phone threatening to disembowel her is much more probable . Additionally , the film is fraught with peculiar incongruities , such as one run-for-your-life scene which is accompanied by up tempo banjo music which could have been the theme from " The Beverly Hillbillies " . " Ravenous " wears itself out with its thin plot and 100 min run time . The last half hour or so seems little more than people running around drooling blood as nauseam such that when the film ends the audience is numb and bored . A waste of time , talent , money . |
587,466 | 783,721 | 335,563 | 5 | Porn , murder , drugs , AIDs . . . what more could you want ? | Not unlike " The Doors " ( 1991 ) , " Wonderland " sticks Kilmer out front as a character of dubious notoriety - in this case 70's porn star John Holmes - and then proceeds to make up what it doesn't know while sensationalizing what it does know resulting in a typical over-hyped , over-wrought Hollywoodized no-brainer rip off . Those expecting a dose of sex and nudity can forget it while those expecting a docudrama can forget the " docu " . Those expecting a messy conglomeration of over-cooked nonsense won't be disappointed . ( C ) |
587,037 | 783,721 | 102,048 | 5 | Only on planet Mamet . | Homicide is a hard drama and foible fraught screen sham which turns the spotlight on a NYC Jewish homicide cop ( Mantega ) and his personal and career problems as he makes his way through the mean streets acting as uncharacteristically as everyone else in the film . . . like on another planet where people behave according to another sort of human nature . Everyone talks in clipped and repeated phrases . It's annoying . It's very annoying . You get my drift here ? It's annoying . Mamet would also have us believe two street cops can't deal with a dog . . . mace , batons , guns . . . but it takes Mantega and a sandwich to calm down the animal . If that weren't enough we have to watch Mamet get his butt kicked by Ricky Jay in a 2 punch exchange and then takes on an armed Ving Rhames with only a chain and , well , gets shot . And then provokes him more and gets shot again . Yeah , right . Only on planet Mamet . |
587,663 | 783,721 | 320,241 | 5 | It is what it is and that ain't a ten | Particles of Truth is a one-woman , low budget indie which plays like one long string of trailer moments . Elsner sticks a couple of neurotic protags in front of us , asks us to care without good reason , and then proceeds to toss in anger , hate , self loathing , disgust , angst , woe , frustration , abuse , AIDS , yadayadayada , all of which all seem like excuses for drama rather than elements arising from the natural progression of a story . If you can't find something better than " Particles . . . " to watch , you're not trying . However , if you're an indie junkie , you may find value in this flick which did receive some positive comments from critics and all those folks who submitted comments to IMDB . com albeit suspiciously for this movie and this movie only . At this writing 64 % of IMDB . com users scoring gave this film the absolute highest score , a ten , as they apparently would have us believe this film is better than " Citizen Cane " or " Gone With the Wind " . Go figure . ( C ) |
586,368 | 783,721 | 117,324 | 5 | Black hats , white hats , and some gray hats | B-flick . A bunch of people after a bunch of money . Sound familiar ? " Persons Unknown " tells of an ex-cop with an unreconciled past who falls in with a couple of babes resulting in a tiny bit of sex , a little bit of action , and a big fat bit of drama . Though the film smacks of the usual Hollywood contrivances , such as killing off all the unnecessary characters as an easy fix for dangling loose ends , it does manage to develop interesting relationships between the principals . Is this a good movie ? Probably not . It is worth watching ? If you're into crime dramas and happen upon it on cable , probably so . If nothing else you'll get Matenga , Lynch , Watts , some early Hickenlooper , and the option of surfing on . ( |
587,011 | 783,721 | 236,493 | 5 | Another typical Hollywood ripoff | Take a couple of huge names and a huge studio and add a huge amount of hype and you'll get a huge return on your Hollywood producers ' investment . Even with the internet , people still rely on advertising to tell them what movies to see . So , here we go again . . . another piece of crap flick with Pitt playing a cardboard cutout character , Roberts overacting , and Gandolfini playing a mobster with personal problems . . . right out of the Sopranos , duh ! Weak story , thin plot , poor drama / action , wandering , pointless , poorly directed , generally weak flick . Wait for broadcast on this turkey . |
586,474 | 783,721 | 165,929 | 5 | Kung Fooey ! | Romeo Must Die is a step backward in the succession of Jet Li flicks . Although it provides nominal entertainment and probably deserves a for technical and artistic production value , this film wanders from drama to comedy to action and back , spreading itself so thin as to have no real focus . The story is weak and its presentation muddled . As a result we're left with the impression Jet Li still hasn't found his market nich or defined his place among the great martial arts film stars . For Jet Li fans only . |
587,552 | 783,721 | 144,117 | 5 | Coming to a trailer park near you . | The Boondock Saints tells of twin brother Irish-Catholics in Boston who turn vigilante and begin offing bad guys all over town while FBI agent Dafoe follows in their wake . A B-flick with good production value , a mediocre cast , a stupid story , and awful comedy , this flick has one man indie written all over it . A sort of simple-minded " Pulp Fiction " wanabee , " The Boondock Saints " is just a whole bunch of uninspired gratuitous violence which should play well in trailer parks all over the US . ( C ) |
586,931 | 783,721 | 269,341 | 5 | No pain , no gain . | In " Two Can Play That Game " , an upwardly mobile Afro-Am professional woman , Shante ( Fox ) , lays out the " rules " for playing the mating game as she takes the audience step by step , talking to the camera , through her own foible fraught relationship one rule at a time . Meanwhile her befuddled boyfriend ( Chestnut ) gets his own dose of rules and countermeasures from a know-it-all best friend ( Anderson ) . The 95 % comedy in this lively little romp comes from the interaction of the pair of protagonists with their kookie friends . The 5 % romance comes at the end when the flick finally gets real . Fun stuff which gracefully straddles the black / white divide and avoids " ghetto " , this flick will likely appeal most to females , particularly African-American females . ( |
586,352 | 783,721 | 362,227 | 5 | Ka-thunk ! ! | The Terminal tells of an Eastern European man on a personal mission ( Hanks ) who becomes stuck in a NYC airport terminal because he doesn't have the proper papers to enter the US and cannot return to his home as his country suffered a coup while he was en route . Given it's pedigree , this film is a dud . Too long at 2 hours , full of filler and commercial product impressions , and very predictable throughout , " The Terminal " tries to build a story around the Hanks character including wooing a flight attendant ( Zeta-Jones ) while bathing in a public restroom , eating at BURGER KING , buying a HUGO BOSS suit , and carrying around his precious PLANTERS DRY ROASTED PEANUTS can , etc . With yawns from the critics and a lukewarm reception by the public , " The Terminal " is fodder for fans only . ( |
587,083 | 783,721 | 300,532 | 5 | Hokey flick for curl girl wannabes . | Blue Crush doesn't have the best surfing footage available but it has a lot . It also has a thin , ordinary story ; the glue which holds the film together between wet scenes . There's precious little reason to spend time with " Blue Crush " unless you're a you're a surfing enthusiast . ( C ) |
586,364 | 783,721 | 109,655 | 5 | Oh Sandra | Sandra Oh is at the center of " Double Happiness " , a dramady about a Chinese twenty-something immigrant living with her family in Canada , struggling to find work as an actress , while being torn between the ways of the West and the traditional values of her dogmatic parents . An award winning film with nominally satisfactory reviews , this little budget-conscious effort is fraught with low end production value , scenes which simply don't work ( like the incredibly unprofessional casting call with a Hong Kong company rep ) , bad jokes ( like the peanut thing , the phone number thing , etc . ) , mediocre music , zero atmospherics ( meeting your boyfriend at a construction site ? ? ) , a poor ending , and a general absence of auterusmanship . Nonetheless , " Double Happiness " limps along with some poignant moments , a giggle here , some angst there , and maybe even a sentimental pang now and then . An okay cable watch for anyone with time to spare who's in the mood for a Chinese-Canadian generation gap flick . Note - I have always thought Oh was much more skilled than she was marketable . It's nice to see her in a leading role and though she doesn't nail all of her nuances in this flick , the responsibility for that probably belongs with the director . ( |
586,170 | 783,721 | 114,008 | 5 | Ten Benny = 2 stars | Ten Benny is a slice of life flick about some young working class Italian-American men in New Jersey who are desperately trying to merge life styles with dreams . Brody , who went on to better forums for his talent , is at the center of this less than engaging and somewhat clumsy melding of melodrama and reality from first time director Bross and a small army of producers . An okay small screen watch for those with a taste for guy dramas though don't expect much action , sex , nudity or common sense . |
587,142 | 783,721 | 113,986 | 5 | I think nine months is the run time . | Nine Months is a chick flick romcom about a happily unmarried couple ( Moore & Grant ) who gets preggo and , well , has a baby . A big step down for kid flick director Chris Columbus , this tumble from messy to sappy to corny to slapsticky wouldn't be worth the time if it weren't for the comic contributions of Arnold , Williams , Cusack , and Goldblum . Moore ( Shoulda been Sophie Marceau ) seems uncomfortably out of place while Grant hams it up dutifully ( stiff upper lip and all that ) as the film becomes increasingly in need of creative substance slogging its way toward its sentimental conclusion . No brainer fluff stuff for young female sofa spuds . ( |
587,629 | 783,721 | 218,624 | 5 | A lukewarm two-part comedy about golf and football fans | The Sports Pages consists of two completely separate mini-movies in tandem . The first is a droll tale with Newhart on a courtroom witness stand explaining to a jury how he justifies killing an old friend and golfing companion ( Grammer ) by whacking him over the head with a club . Part two is a raucous tale about the " facts " behind the " Heidi Bowl " ( look it up ) . Neither film has much sporting action and both focus on the fans ( golf and football respectively ) . I don't care much for either sport and liked the first bit better . However , fans and nonfans alike should expect little more than a mildly amusing watch from " The Sports Pages " . ( |
586,846 | 783,721 | 114,307 | 5 | Too little , too late | Run of the Country tells of the coming of age of a young Irish man , recently bereaved of his mother , living with his martinet father , and falling in love with a girl from the other Ireland . A solid production on most counts , the film delivers too little too late in story making for a meandering watch lacking cohesion . Okay fodder for sentimentalists best saved for tv . ( |
586,543 | 783,721 | 285,533 | 5 | An intelligence-insulting cornball | Straight from chick flick hell into your homes courtesy of Showtime comes this sappy story about a small town ( Due East ) girl who gets pregnant and then has to deal with . . . um , well , getting expelled from school and lots of people who want to help her beyond all reason , throwing money at her problem , etc . The films fails to deal with he real problems of unwed-mother-to-be-hood , offers marginally convincing performances , and distills to just so much blathering . Recommended for females only . |
586,097 | 783,721 | 253,028 | 5 | Dumb little movie | Deadly Little Secrets is another B-flick with a B-list cast , good technicals , and okay art . However it can't conceal its low budgetness nor its inability to bring coherence to its silly and convoluted pseudo-suspense / thriller / drama story . The flick has made-in-Canada written all over it , a soap opera quality make-it-up-as-you-go screenplay , and the usual movie magic techno-nonsense . Better than some of those jiggle cam no-budget indies , " DLC " is still little more than an okay watch for the droopy eyed couch potato and a pay check for a cast deserving of a better vehicle for their talent . ( C ) Note : The DVD I rented had no English subtitles and no closed captions . However , it did have Spanish language subtitles which the on-screen menu identified as English language . Go figure . |
587,453 | 783,721 | 270,259 | 5 | A downhill ride from start to finish | The Business of Strangers is a claustrophobic psychodrama which is all about Channing and Stiles as a pair of females at different ends of the corporate ladder spending a night in a hotel while on business travel exchanging thoughts , perspectives , opinions , etc . and slowly discovering the unpleasant truth of each other . The film is a slick shoot which begins fleshing out the characters in fine style with Channing carrying the moment and carefully works its way downhill to a conclusion which is little more than so much gratuitous nonsense . Passable stuff best saved for a free watch on the little screen . ( |
586,683 | 783,721 | 288,808 | 5 | Two and a half stars and a yawn | Say Nothing tells of a wealthy character disorder ( Baldwin ) who stalks a woman from the inside attempting to systematically dismantle her life after having a brief affair with her . An okay shoot with decent acting , " Say Nothing " runs lukewarm as its implausible psychodrama unfolds and then turns cold for a thrown together and anticlimactic ending . Kinski's performance is solid , Baldwin is always good as an evil doer , but Bochner seems out of place as a good guy . The films shows us nothing new and is marginal fodder for couch potatoes at best . |
587,468 | 783,721 | 156,904 | 5 | Nice try but no cigar . | The Pornographer tells of a socially immature and sexually naive a young male paralegal who , frustrated with his misfires with women , dabbles in pornography and goes nowhere . This film had potential . It could have crawled into the mind of a pornographer and dealt more realistically with the sleaze industry . Instead it puts moral issues on the table and doesn't deal with them ; raises questions it can't answer ; and ends with a trite Hollywood cliche . An unsatisfying journeyman flick , " The Pornographer " is to be commended for taking on a difficult subject and not exploiting it though overall it is a generally mediocre watch which should have been better . |
586,663 | 783,721 | 161,216 | 5 | A mediocre film about a marginally interesting character . | Steal . . . is a journeyman production which tells a skewed version of the Abbie Hoffman story and revisits the domestic turmoil of the Vietnam era . Though in and of itself not a great film , " Steal This Movie " may conjure some nostalgia for those who remember the Yippie days and wet the interest of those who don't . An okay drama not to be confused with historical documentary . |
587,226 | 783,721 | 117,061 | 5 | Subpar boring drama made for cable . | Mistrial tells of a highly improbably story of a cop caught in the jaws of an imperfect system who goes over the edge and holds a courtroom hostage . Good work by Pullman can't save a mediocre screenplay and ludicrous lagging story with some good acting talent in scripted mannequin roles . Very ordinary low budget made-for-tv yawner . |
586,977 | 783,721 | 235,737 | 5 | This is your nose on drugs ! Any questions ? | The Salton Sea is a confused genrehybrid schizophrenic dark comedy / drama which attempts to tell a compelling tale of a man ( Kilmer ) who lost his identity through cataclysmic personal crisis and sunk in a morass of drug culture crank freaks morphing into a narc snitch and an underground deep cover IA mole so deep his only identity is himself which he's lost but it trying to regain through revenge . Is that clear ? ? If not , you'll get some idea of how muddled this story is . Nonetheless , the film manages some moodiness and is busy enough that people into " pulp fiction " stylistics might want to give this a try . ( C ) |
587,323 | 783,721 | 120,907 | 5 | When is a game not a game ? When it's reality . | When is reality not reality ? When it's a game . " eXistenZ " is a terrestrial science fantasy flick which can be described as a 2-D Mobius strip with one side being reality and the other virtual reality . This dark and plodding film gets off to a slow start , grows interesting in the middle ( for those who are interested in this stuff ) , then collapses with a predictable conclusion . In general the film is an earnest effort though the story makes no meaningful human connection and the audience is taken on an abstract voyeuristic comic-book ride through what mature adults may regard as cinematic drivel and what teenagers and sci-fi junkies may regard as fascinating substance . |
586,789 | 783,721 | 110,557 | 5 | Flawed , corny , predictable family fun flick | Monkey Trouble tells of an organ grinder's ( Keitel ) pickpocket monkey who abandons his boss and adopts a young girl ( Birch ) leading to much monkey business . All of the human actors in this corny flick are upstaged by the monkey star whose antics make this predictable family comedy worth watching . Nuff said . |
585,929 | 783,721 | 285,485 | 5 | A very ordinary movie about a very extraordinary man | Conviction tells the success story of the late Carl Upchurch ; a black man who was born to the ghetto , became a criminal , and then bootstrapped his way to prominence as a speaker , organizer , author , and activist for black causes . This Showtime production is a journeyman effort which dwells too much on Upchurch's rather ordinary misdeeds and too little on his extraordinary noble deeds . Okay stuff for anyone with an interest in Upchurch . Passable for all others . ( |
587,113 | 783,721 | 170,691 | 5 | Okay but ill focused with no real story | A kind of slice-of-Army-grunt-life film , " Tigerland " tells of recruits in boot training in preparation for duty in Vietnam . An earnest endeavor , this film offers some good performances and maintains a flawed but generally realistic representation of basic training with the focus on one platoon and one man in particular . Unfortunately the film gets mired in a morass of negatives forsaking the positives , duty , honor , and courage , with no clear purpose , a nebulous plot , and a screenplay which quickly becomes a burr of macho vulgarities and one big cluser-fk . Most likely to be appreciated by soldier-type mentalities . |
587,454 | 783,721 | 105,631 | 5 | Like Jim Belushi ? ? | If so , you'll like " Traces of Red " , a murder mystery in which Belushi plays a cop hot on the trail of a serial killer in Palm Beach , FL . Though the flick misses the sweaty Florida noir atmospherics of " Palmetto " and " Gold Coast " and dishes up a convoluted , not-to-be-taken-seriously plot , it does feature the same old likeable tough guy Belushi in his slimmer days . Good stuff for Belushi fans . Marginal , mediocre escapist stuff for everyone else . ( C ) |
587,461 | 783,721 | 339,579 | 5 | Ordinary and unoriginal | Returner tells of an assassin who encounters a teen female during a firefight and learns she has traveled back through time to prevent a sci-fi war between good and evil and save humanity from oblivion . A kind of second rate knock-off of everything from John Woo stylistics to Mad Max contraptions , this Japanese B-flick misses the opportunity to capitalize on the girl / guy team humanistics as it ventures into CGI man vs machine silliness . Dubbed in English and with subtitles , " Returner " makes for a campy action romp which will play best with tech-heads and gamer-types into anything action . ( C ) |
585,987 | 783,721 | 195,714 | 5 | An above average thriller / horror flick . | Although it falls well short of anything by Poe or Hitchcock , " Final Destination " is somewhat more intelligent than most films of this genre . Apparently targeting the usual teen market , this commercial thriller gets off to a good start , then lags a bit as it wallows in the usual blood and guts , and finishes somewhat better . Sawa does a good job of not over acting , supporting acting is on par , and the special effects seem almost believable . Most of all , the nemesis is never really defined which gives this film a somewhat unique mystique . |
586,954 | 783,721 | 161,081 | 5 | If you like this flick , get out your Ouija board . | What Lies Beneath offers a thin story , a weak plot , two of Hollywood's most over-rated stars , and little else . Things go bump in Pfeiffer's head as the camera lingers ad nauseum in one fabricated suspenseful moment after another and the perfectly perfect couple's encounter with the paranormal unfolds . The film is predictable and fails to compel the audience to make the necessary leap of faith required by all such spooky flicks . A big disappointment from Zamackis and a waste of time for all but the most avid supernatural junkies . |
587,177 | 783,721 | 125,879 | 5 | A fable , a fraud , a huge disappointment . | Lulu on the Bridge is pointless nonsense featuring some fine acting talent which is stifled by the absence of a worthy story . Anybody could have written this piece of amateurish drivel which is no more than a contemporary fairy tale . Granted there are good and bad fairy tales . This is a bad one which is why anyone could have written it . Recommended for no one . |
587,243 | 783,721 | 240,402 | 5 | A good movie for suckers | Center of the World , which refers to the birth canal , tells of a young millionaire nice-guy who pays a stripper to do three days in Vegas with him . She imposes restrictions like no kissing on the lips , no talk of feelings , no fornication , etc . At issue is , will they get past the sex stuff and fall in love ? Wang has put a slick veneer on this story which spends too much time with gratuitous sex and too little time with character development . . . and what little is developed is pretty hard to swallow . Gugino's appearance is token , out of nowhere , and contributes nothing and all the lollipop and " fire and ice " BS is just window dressing for a story which is a flat as warm beer . |
586,624 | 783,721 | 117,193 | 5 | No Way ! | No Way Back sticks FBI agent Crowe in the middle of a crude conglomeration of assorted Mafia weirdos , FBI agents , cops , Yakuza , and an airline flight attendant in its attempt to mix action with attitude and tongue-in-cheek humor . The result is a messy plot which accomplishes little save lurching from one mediocre action scene to the next . An okay no brainer for insomniacs . |
586,089 | 783,721 | 277,744 | 5 | A directorial disaster . | Dead Heat wander schizophrenically between comedy and drama with no clear sense of purpose as it wends its way through a story which starts out okay and becomes increasingly lacking in purpose and vision and looking more and more like a cheap made for tv flick as it winds down . The film is not without its moments , but they're few and far between making " Dead Heat " little more than a wheezing and lukewarm small screen watch for the couch potato . ( |
585,699 | 783,721 | 129,884 | 5 | Kids in the Dog Park Canadian comedy | Dog Park is a lukewarm , enjoyable , and critically condemned contemporary romantic comedy which is low on romance , has a quirky " Kids in the Hall " sense of humor ( for obvious reasons ) , and spends most of its time looking at the foibles of relationships . An so-so watch for channel surfers in the mood some light off-the-wall comedy . |
586,492 | 783,721 | 335,008 | 5 | Jeez ! | Coast to Coast sticks Dreyfuss and Davis front and center as a middle-aged couple on the verge of divorce who take a road trip from East to West coasts to attend their son's marriage while waxing nostalgic , visiting quirky friends , and sorting through old regrets along the way . Supposedly a poignant dramedy about reconciliation , this lame dose of couch potato fodder from Showtime has Toronto standing in for the US and a big hole where the entertainment should be . One can only speculate that budgetary constraints got between the cast and crew and a quality film product result . Coulda-shoulda been better , " Coast to Coast " is an uneven , uninspired nice-try-but-no-cigar near miss . ( C ) |
586,619 | 783,721 | 227,005 | 5 | Favreau flops . | Made tells of a pair of L . A . guys ( Favreau & Vaughn ) , best friends in spite of constant bickering , who go New York on an errand for a small time crook . What happens as the story unfolds isn't much . . . bickering and more bickering with encounters with a variety of hoodlums . " Made " lacks the appeal of Favreau's " Swingers " as is heaps clutter on more clutter with the interest being in snappy patter as opposed to a real story . An okay watch if expectations are kept low . |
587,689 | 783,721 | 157,182 | 5 | A mediocre drama with little to offer and no payoff . | Went . . . , a downer drama with a spritz of humor , tells the tale of two of a trio of young men who grew up together in school days off to Coney Island in search of their wayward , homeless comrad . The story proceeds in preset day using interleaved flashbacks in a clumsy attempt to develop characters and story and trite aphorisms to lend credence to a weak plot with no payoff . The film has poor technical execution , the look of a super 8mm shoot , bad makeup , and general mediocrity in art , acting , and directing and conjures up more sympathy for the actors than the characters . Very forgettable . |
586,783 | 783,721 | 101,510 | 5 | Bright Angel has a gaping hole where a story should be | Bright Angel tells of a young Montana man ( Mulroney ) and a young Canadian woman ( Taylor ) who end up on a road trip together . A plodding , tedious film , " Bright Angel " is full of characters who range from a little weird to very weird and who seem to be necessary to maintain audience interest in the absence of a story . A plotless and disappointing film which manages to do very little with a whole lot of talent , this flick is not likely to receive good reviews from the board of tourism for big sky country and will be easily forgotten by the public in general . |
587,596 | 783,721 | 157,183 | 5 | A slice of Beirut life with no clear purpose or direction . | West Beirut is a plotless , non-story , non-documentary , meandering slice-of-life flick about a teenage boy's life in the early days of the Lebanese civil war when Beirut became divided into East and West . Although the film examines Beirut civilian life under the pall of war , it doesn't deal with any specific issue sufficiently to give it purpose . It's not particularly entertaining , evocative , or compelling ; does not chronicle events well ; is a poor study in history ; and is void of romance , mayhem , comedy , suspense , or any of the things which people go to movies to see . " West Beirut " has the " feel " of a make-it-up-as-you-go low budget journeyman drama . Recommended only for those with special interest in Lebanon . |
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