reviewId int64 363k 588k | userId int64 33.9k 15.9M | itemId int64 1 1.42M | rating float64 1 10 | title stringlengths 1 10.9k ⌀ | content stringlengths 81 11.6k ⌀ |
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587,018 | 783,721 | 120,866 | 6 | The Bard doth rolleth in his grave . | Titus , a psychotic makeover of Shakespear's epic tragedy , is so surreal as to make it laughable . Hopkins gives a powerful performance but even his mesmerizing portrayal of the title character could not keep us from being distracted by the explosion in props and costumes , a creative staff on LSD , or whatever it w... |
587,024 | 783,721 | 120,867 | 6 | A dark little comedy . Very little . | A tedious , dialogue-intensive story about the vicissitudes of a mentor / protege hitman team , " Jerry & Tom " is a study in understatement with a pointless plot and an ending which may make you want to " whack " yourself for having watched the whole thing . |
587,133 | 783,721 | 120,890 | 6 | What a croc ! | In " Wild Things " , B-flick director McNaughton manages to wrest some lame performances from a pretty good cast while telling a convoluted story about a couple of babes ( Richards / Campbell ) who accuse their school guidance counselor ( Dillon ) of rape . A conspiracy flick set in sweaty swampy Florida with everythin... |
587,179 | 783,721 | 120,888 | 6 | Subpar romcom | The Wedding Singer is ordinary romantic comedy fare which tells of a best buddy couple ( Sandler & Barrymmore ) who are each engaged to someone else when , of course , they are really in love with each other . Sound familiar ? This flick is an old story with a new paint job which borrows a summa-dis and summa-dat fro... |
587,652 | 783,721 | 346,223 | 6 | Don't waste your time | The Cambridge Spies tells of four Cambridge grads and idealistic communist sympathizers who , in the run up to WWII , arrange their careers such that they have access to Britain's secrets which they may then divert to the Stalin regime . Unfortunately , spying of this sort is a rather dull business , something which ... |
587,292 | 783,721 | 191,754 | 6 | A low cal , mildly entertaining version of an old story . | 28 days is a superficial and not-too-serious mix of comedy , snappy dialogue , superficial dramatic excursions , a minimal cast , and the only persona in Bullock's repertoire with the serious drug abuse / rehab subject . Some will find this drama-lite film entertaining in spite of its numerous short comings . Others ... |
585,763 | 783,721 | 120,857 | 6 | Great details but the big picture flops . | Tea With Mussolini follows a bunch of women , mostly English and mostly past their prime , through the WWII years . The women are part of a colony of well-to-do art lovers who reside near Florence , Italy and wile away their days with tea and idle chit-chat as the world prepares for war . The unfortunate film has muc... |
587,057 | 783,721 | 196,723 | 6 | Crazy in California | In " Forever Lulu " , an almost " chick flick " , Griffith plays a walk-away from a mental hospital who , wanting to recapture a 16 year old lost romance , calls her ex-boyfriend and tells him they have a son . What ensues is a pleasing blend of comedy and drama which is just unpredictable enough to maintain viewer int... |
586,593 | 783,721 | 304,415 | 6 | A toothless smile | Mona Lisa Smile is all about Roberts as a 1950's art professor at a prim and proper girl's college who struggles to breathe women's lib and independent thinking into a classroom full of snobbish boomer brats who want little more than an " Ozzie & Harriet " future . A sort of testament to the societal oppression of 50... |
586,952 | 783,721 | 117,073 | 6 | Realism or fantasy ? You be the judge . | My Man is an artsy , fatalistic drama done in the typical French the-ecstacy-is-in-the-agony style . Telling a peculiar , quirky , melancholy story of a neurotic prostitute's encounters with men in an apparently futile attempt to bring meaning into her life the story overlooks obvious alternatives at every turn and m... |
585,884 | 783,721 | 110,570 | 6 | Pure Slapstick | Il Mostro is a slapsticky romcom about a little unemployed man , Loris ( Benigni ) , who is thought to be a serial sex killer who dismembers his victims . So , it is no surprise when a dinner guest see Loris stumbling toward her from the kitchen with a meat cleaver in his raised hand and a flashlight protruding under... |
587,286 | 783,721 | 277,941 | 6 | Well , the camera was in focus | Ned Kelly tells the story of an Aussie folk hero / outlaw of the title name with hot properties Ledger and Bloom leading the way and Watts and Rush tagging along behind with minimal roles . A technically and artistically well done biopic drama which never really manages to choose between bigger-than-life heroics or g... |
585,977 | 783,721 | 117,071 | 6 | An excellent production of a tediously told tale . | Moll Flanders ( 1996 ) tells the tale of a young woman's struggle with life in 18th century England . This film received mixed reviews from both critics and consumers for obvious reasons . Everything about the film is good except the telling of the story . In spite of all the pluses , Moll Flanders trudges so stoical... |
585,645 | 783,721 | 270,288 | 6 | GONG ! ! | Confessions of a Dangerous Mind - from the pen of Chuck Barris about the life of Chuck Barris , t . v . producer / personality and self-alleged hitman for the CIA - wanders haphazardly through a muddled mess of fact and fiction ; a sort of Jack of all genres and master of none . The film doesn't work as drama or come... |
586,576 | 783,721 | 101,761 | 6 | For Doors fans only | Oliver Stone's " The Doors " tells of the rise to demise of Jim Morrison , lead for the title rock band , icon of the hippy culture , and celebrated / notorious / controversial rock musician . The film focuses on Morrison's brief six year career and features a fine performance by Kilmer , much of " The Doors " music , ... |
586,600 | 783,721 | 261,755 | 6 | An excellent film with limited appeal . | In " Jackpot " , the Polish brothers tell the story of a character who is more curious than interesting - a soap-selling professional karaoke hustler ( Gries ) with his own agent ( Morris ) and impossible dreams of making it as a pop singer . The film has a good premise and an excellent execution but is doubtless desti... |
586,056 | 783,721 | 120,903 | 6 | A special effects orgy with an ordinary story . | A sci-fi action fantasy , " X-Men " squanders an excellent cast , powerful camera and sound work , and a visual feast of special effects on a flimsy and sometimes silly good-mutant vs . bad-mutant story . This film will play best with young Nintendo geek gamer-types and worst with mature audiences who may tire of tryin... |
586,860 | 783,721 | 361,841 | 6 | A chick flick evens the chicks didn't like | Little Black Book examines the foibles of one young woman ( Murphy ) who decides to " research " her significant other's prior romantic life as an adjunct to a TV reality talk show ( think Jerry Springer ) and learns some unexpected lessons in life in the process . A lively , fun , and occasionally poignant little bi... |
586,477 | 783,721 | 174,480 | 6 | Critics be damned . This film works . | Autumn in New York is a melodramatic , highly romanticized , and somewhat predictable old guy , young babe love story . However , Chen does a masterful job of choreographing the technical and artistic with the story making it easy to buy into this film which keeps the Kodak moments to a minimum , fast forwards past t... |
586,862 | 783,721 | 323,807 | 6 | Where's the love ? | Remember Me , My Love takes a long , hard , cold look at a somewhat decadent Italian bourgeois family of two midlife parents and two old teen kids as it examines their lives and loves with a distinct absence of the heart we've come to expect from Italian cinema . A technically excellent film with fodder for voyeurism... |
587,094 | 783,721 | 117,093 | 6 | Palatable but hard to swallow | Mother Night tells the story of a man who is recruited by America to serve as a spy during WWII by communicating cryptic messages while working as a German broadcast radio propagandist . The film had good potential as a serious drama but is steered by director Gordon into a niche genre ( eg : dark farce or tragicomed... |
587,638 | 783,721 | 105,572 | 6 | Hey now . | In her screen debut , a pre-vamp Dushku plays Alice , an 11ish girl who makes friends with an older girl on the other side of both puberty and the street of her Long Island neighborhood . " That Night " is a sweet little slice-of-life flick which tells of the lessons about growing up which Alice learns through her frie... |
586,850 | 783,721 | 365,748 | 6 | Kevin Smith lite | Shaun of the Dead " is a Brit flick comedy romp which gaggles together a motley bunch of stereotypical young adults including a klutzy schmuck ( the hero ) , his babe girlfriend , the required gross fat guy sidekick , etc . and then plunks them down in the middle of a zombie flick . The film conjures a mix of droll and... |
587,075 | 783,721 | 253,126 | 6 | I'd watch the sequel . | McCormack and Driver play " one blonde , one dark , both attractive " in this fun and funny Brit flick about two babes who accidentally learn about a heist and then try to extort money from the crooks . " High Heels and Low Lifes " doesn't break any new ground but that doesn't stop it from nonstop silliness and wall-to... |
585,991 | 783,721 | 296,875 | 6 | Too good to last | Street Time takes the viewer into the life of the federal parole officer and his / her parolees . Focusing on one of each , a P . O . ( Cohen ) and an excon ( Morrow ) , both family men with problems , this series is a very smart and powerful uncompromising drama . Unpredictable , realistic , and believable , " Stree... |
586,805 | 783,721 | 101,698 | 6 | Read this . I use 7 . 5 % of my brain . | Want to know what happens to you after you die ? Well , " Defending Your Life " explains it all . With Albert Brooks directing , writing , and starring in it , " DFYL " is all that unique Brooks brand of understated , poker-faced , droll comedy . The film begins with Brooks ' death and ends with his . . . well , you'll... |
586,427 | 783,721 | 319,758 | 6 | Mediocre drama . Good commercial . | Live From Baghdad is all about CNN producer Robert Weiner in the days leading up to the US bombing of Iraq from his behind-the-scenes Baghdad perspective . The film sticks little known Weiner out front and tries to build drama around his character but fails to deliver a human story as it ricochets off such issues as ... |
586,545 | 783,721 | 174,454 | 6 | A journeyman docudrama about the CIA's most infamous mole | Aldrich Ames : Traitor Within tells the tale of the CIA's most infamous mole who was arrested in 1994 after causing inestimable damage to national security . An obvious small screen product ( Showtime ) , the film does a good job of showing the pressures on Ames ; how he rationalized his misdeeds ; and how justice fi... |
586,126 | 783,721 | 389,635 | 6 | A nominal overview of 21 century international terrorism | The Grid ( we never really know to what the title refers ) is a 6x45 min miniseries action / drama about international terrorism . The bad guys are a rogue terror cell operating out of Yemen , deploying operatives to the UK and the US where they are to attack with sarin nerve gas . The good guys are a joint task forc... |
587,058 | 783,721 | 110,365 | 6 | The " Iceman " cometh | In " Little Odessa " ( So dubbed after the Russian enclave of the same name in Brooklyn ) , Roth plays a hit man who returns to the neighborhood of his youth only to find that family matters are not as easily settled as contract killings . The film is an excellent debut for writer / director Gray and , IMHO , much bett... |
587,526 | 783,721 | 285,681 | 6 | Bottoms ' | Looking Through Lillian tells of a young single woman who is mistress to a middle aged man into kinky sex . A narrow slice-of-life indie and a commendable first outing for the Torem / Henham team , though it suffers from the usual newbie claustrophobia , low budget leanness , mediocre jukebox score , etc . , " Lookin... |
585,756 | 783,721 | 273,435 | 6 | Ok , ok , we get the message . Jeesh ! | Ararat is a messy story about Armenians making a film about Armenians and lecturing about Armenians while showing historical retrospectives about Armenians . . . etc . This convoluted hodge-podge of dramas has an obvious common denominator . Armenians . Specifically the genocidal killing of 1 . 5 million Armenians in... |
586,127 | 783,721 | 377,091 | 6 | Too little too late . | Mean Creek is a film about high school aged kids who conspire to get even with a school bully with a prank which goes seriously wrong . The story is so simple that the end is almost a foregone conclusion reducing it to just so much of the obvious elements required to develop the meager plot and see it through to its ... |
585,833 | 783,721 | 161,109 | 6 | A fine little indie about issues , issues , and more issues | The Young Girl and the Monsoon tells of a divorced NYC man ( Kinney ) in a sort of middle-age crisis mode trying to manage the women in his life ( lover , daughter , associate / friend ) and eventually having to come to grips with them all . An all talk and no action light drama with a sense of humor , this little en... |
586,644 | 783,721 | 258,000 | 6 | A cheap thrill a minute | The Panic Room is a foible fraught suspense flick in which Foster's character and her daughter play cat and mouse with a trio of intruders in their Manhattan mansion for the full run . Lousy character development and a implausibilities up the wazoo , this film requires some serious dumbing down . However , it's busy ... |
587,265 | 783,721 | 161,100 | 6 | I'll drink to that . | The Wood tells two interleaved stories of three young black best friends in Inglewood , CA . The adult story takes place on the wedding day of one of the trio while the teen story takes place via flashback . One of a recent spate of films which get " real " and desensationalize the Afro-Am male by taking them out of ... |
587,273 | 783,721 | 359,423 | 6 | A home at the end of its rope | A Home at the End of the World tells a flimsy , meandering story of a gay guy ( Roberts ) , a bi-guy ( Farrell ) , and a straight woman ( Penn ) who come together to form a family of sorts and the vicissitudes they experience given their unconventional mix of sexual orientations . A sort of lame attempt to express a ... |
587,445 | 783,721 | 105,480 | 6 | Southern discomfort | Storyville , from the outside looking in , is a poorly directed novel adaptation with Spader as a southern lawyer from a wealthy family - the only person in the film with no southern accent - who is running for Congress in the midst of a potentially damning scandal and murder mystery which he must overcome to win the... |
585,747 | 783,721 | 335,185 | 6 | A well told but thin story | Jasper , Texas recounts the events surrounding the horrible killing-by-dragging of a black man by three white men near the title town which shocked America in 1998 . This Showtime product exercises restraint in exploiting and sensationalizing the tragic crime while focusing on a small town trying to cope with finding... |
586,220 | 783,721 | 308,383 | 6 | Jack of all issues . Master of none . | The Human Stain is about three characters with issues including a self loathing woman ( Kidman ) rolling a stone of guilt ala Sisyphus ; a psycho Vietnam vet exhusband ( Harris ) ; and an aging college professor with a dark secret ( Hopkins ) . Unfortunately , this hatchet job can't make up its mind what issues it wa... |
586,201 | 783,721 | 335,013 | 6 | If you love ballet , you'll enjoy this film . If not , not . | The Company is about a season with the Joffrey Ballet company . That's it . That sums it up . You'll get to see bits and pieces of ballet stuff , large and small , behind the scenes and before the audiences with full-on glorious , spectacular , sumptuous , heady colorful productions replete with all the usual leaping... |
587,662 | 783,721 | 308,593 | 6 | Over touted | Monk is a comedy-drama , with the emphasis on comedy , which tells of a San Francisco detective-savant with Sherlock Holmesian abilities and obsessive-compulsive disorder . The result is a peculiar sort of super cop who has to have a babe sidekick / babysitter to help him make it through the day . " Monk " is a lukew... |
585,820 | 783,721 | 174,330 | 6 | Mildly entertaining voyeurism and lots of girl talk | Venus Beauty Institute tells of 40 + Angele ( Baye ) , who prefers one night stands or " flings " , as she calls them , to normal heterosexual relationships and love , and her lack of success with men . In addition to never being given a reason to care about Angele one way or the other , the audience will find much o... |
587,308 | 783,721 | 289,043 | 6 | Not a sequel to Bullock's " 28 Days " . | 28 Day Later tells of a trio of people who survive a raging plague which turns infected people into blood-thirsty maniacs who in turn infect others , etc . The problem confronting our group in this post apocalyptic type sci-fi / horror hybrid is : How do we stay alive , discover other survivors , and perpetuate the h... |
587,585 | 783,721 | 110,265 | 6 | Darkish , gritty , bloody escapist flick | Killing Zoe , a misnomer , is all about a bank robbery in Paris . A gritty action / drama directed / written by " Reservoir Dogs " and " True Romance " writer Avary , the film begins as hyper-realism as it pulls its components together and wanders into a mostly sensationalistic blood bath which borders on overkill . ... |
587,670 | 783,721 | 421,239 | 6 | A little breath of fresh air | Red Eye is all about Lisa ( McAdams ) who is simply trying to get home during a bad weather snarl at the airport and finds herself stuck on a red-eye and flying headlong into a suspense drama . A busy , fun little no brainer , " Red Eye " begins like a romcom , morphs into a suspense / action flick , and takes you on... |
587,412 | 783,721 | 116,754 | 6 | A snoozer with some rare beauty . | Sometimes I think you could show two hours of a ploar bear sleeping in a snowstorm and film critics would find some kind of interesting if not apocalyptic story in it . Such is the ability of cinema buffs to project their beliefs , sentiments , and subjective interpretations into film . For this and only this reason ca... |
587,096 | 783,721 | 289,054 | 6 | Amusing and all downhill | Warm Water . . . . begins with a woman in a market shoplifting while water gushes from between her legs and puddles around her feet - an intriguing opening for this meager Japanese comedy about a woman who sprays water like a fountain when having sex . Imamura seems to have painted himself into a corner as this curio... |
585,976 | 783,721 | 139,615 | 6 | A cut above the usual black thug flick | Slam tells of a young black rapper , poet , and project street punk who's busted for possession and may have to do time . A cut about your usual Afro-Am street crime flicks in its humanness , " Slam " weaves slam poetry and rap into its drama creating a sense of hope through sublimation . An okay watch , especially f... |
587,675 | 783,721 | 346,491 | 6 | What a waste | Stone's " Alexander " tries to tell the story of one of the great military leaders and conquerors of all time who is to this day , some 2300 years later , is still studied in military war colleges . Unfortunately the film tries too hard to do too much resulting in three hours of jumping around in time trying desperatel... |
586,136 | 783,721 | 135,706 | 6 | A noble , earnest HBO film memorialization of a bloody WWII battle | When Trumpets Fade is a noble albeit low budget HBO film which tells of one of WWII's bloodier and all but forgotten battles ; the battle for Hurtgen Forest . The film attempts to be a realistic representation of the carnage and horror of a battle where 24 , 000 American GI's died with some attention paid to the men ... |
586,556 | 783,721 | 114,594 | 6 | Yada yada yada | Swimming With The Sharks tells of a Hollywood studio V . P . ( Spacey ) who psychologically subjugates his assistant ( Whaley ) though hollow promises of success in the film biz while verbally abusing and humiliating him . A bland dark comedy with psychodramatic overtones which relies entirely on the performances of ... |
586,708 | 783,721 | 105,916 | 6 | Ya , das güd movie ! | In " House of Angels " , a staid , bucolic Swedish village is all abuzz when a lovely and vivacious young woman comes to town to claim the estate of her late grandfather . A charming , warmhearted , and fun little romp which is not so much a story as it is a study of human nature , the film seems to delight in evincing... |
586,344 | 783,721 | 324,080 | 6 | Good for a shoestring indie documentary | Stonereader is a shoestring indie documentary about a guy ( Moskowitz ) who reads a book which has been out of print for 30 years and then goes in search of the author . Part docu film-maker , part private investigator , and part literature freak , Moskowitz spends considerable time and effort in his quest to locate ... |
585,831 | 783,721 | 110,306 | 6 | A touching drama about strange bedfellows for mature audiences | The Last Good Time tells of an elderly retired concert violinist ( Mueller-Stahl ) who lives on a meager pension alone in a modest flat and takes in a streetwise young woman ( d'Abo ) on the run from a scurrilous boyfriend . A bittersweet and poignant drama , " TLGT " shows the brief , tenuous , but beautiful coming ... |
585,837 | 783,721 | 149,380 | 6 | Winchell who ? | Winchell , a Tucci tour-de-force and docudrama , tells a somewhat biased story of Walter Winchell , renown gossip columnist of the 30's and 40's who rose to considerable influence and fame in the early days of radio as the most listened to reporter in America only to die in obscurity in 1972 . An okay biography , thi... |
585,903 | 783,721 | 91,068 | 6 | Nuttin ' great but you gotta love that Ram Das | Foreign Body is a cute Brit flick which tells of a lowly , humble , and naive Calcutta flop-house clerk who manages to make his way to the UK where , with the help of a distant relative , he manages to stumble and bumble his way into a position as a physician to the rich . A fun little " East Meets West " flick with ... |
586,303 | 783,721 | 376,968 | 6 | Over touted esoteric minimalism | The Return a meager story about two Russian brothers ( ages about 12 and 15 ) who live with their mother in austerity and spend their time doing boy things . Suddenly Dad returns , from where we know not , and becomes a taciturn martinet to the boys carving out his place in the home from which he's been long estrange... |
585,877 | 783,721 | 116,845 | 6 | A par flick with a pleasantly surprising story | The Leading Man peers into the lives of thespians including a playwright who is having an affair with an actress much to the chagrin of his wife . Enter the leading man , Bon Jovi , who offers to seduce the playwright's wife to distract her from her constant ruminations about her husbands affair . What happens after ... |
587,033 | 783,721 | 281,358 | 6 | I'd like a star named after me . Maybe . . um , Demi Parker ? | A Walk to Remember spins an old tale for a new generation of young people . A touching , sentimental love story , not unlike the " Love Story 1970 " , this unpretentious little film offers some even performances by some fresh faces , keeps the melodrama in check , doesn't waste much time with Kodak moments , and push... |
587,063 | 783,721 | 261,983 | 6 | Full frontal lobotomy | Session 9 which takes us into the innersanctum of an isolated sanatorium with a crew who is there to remove asbestos but gets more than they bargained for . The film deserves credit for offering a good cast and crew resulting in a superficially good product . However , the screenplay , which asks more questions than ... |
586,878 | 783,721 | 116,833 | 6 | For Irish lovers only | The Last of the High Kings aka " Summer Fling " is a wonderfully charming and wry little coming-of-age film with Leto at the center of a cast of idiosyncratic characters including his eccentric parents , some lovely lasses , and sundry town folk . This witty but dry slice of Irish life flick is laced with some not so... |
585,770 | 783,721 | 374,584 | 6 | So-so escapism for the action / drama junkie | Control is a mediocre drama which tells of a violent killer ( Liotta ) who undergoes a mock execution only to find himself as a test subject for a new drug developed for controlling violent behavior . Liotta is at the vortex of this film with Dafoe as his experiment supervisor , Walker as Dafoe's ex , Robertson as Da... |
586,277 | 783,721 | 161,023 | 6 | An enjoyable mom / daughter slice flick | Tumbleweeds tells of a good hearted North Carolina mom with no class who , with her 12 year old daughter in tow , hits the road for California to escape from a bad relationship and find happiness . Not unlike " Anywhere But Here " and similar movies , the daughter seems to have a better sense how to manage their live... |
586,653 | 783,721 | 114,660 | 6 | There are better movies to be made . | Things . . . , not unlike " Pulp Fiction " , is a stylish , imaginative , and preposterous love-it-or-hate-it crime noir drama full of comic book caricature characters with a story bordering on the ridiculous . In retrospect , one should ask the sterling cast of actors and excellent production staff one simple questi... |
586,837 | 783,721 | 160,797 | 6 | A macho " semper fi " no brainer with a weak story . | Rules of Engagement is A-Few-Good-Men-wannabee with some excellent acting and production talent which fails because of a weak and flawed story . The film is one third combat , one third trial , and one third wandering around trying to figure out what kind of movie it wants to be . Okay to zone by . |
587,421 | 783,721 | 323,872 | 6 | Two men , one kitchen , one winter | In " Kitchen Stories " a Swedish company sends a male research observer to do time and motion studies of an old Norwegian farmer in his kitchen in an attempt to design a more efficient standardized kitchen . The film is all about this sort of " odd couple " , one Swede and one Norwegian ( circa 1950 ) , who manage to c... |
587,347 | 783,721 | 343,660 | 6 | Like an old car with a new Earl Scheib paint job . | 50 First Dates is about a brain-damaged woman ( Barrymore ) who has short term memory loss such that she wakes up every day unable to remember the previous day and therefore thinks every day is the same day . Such is the premise of this Hawaiian flavored flick in which the always deadpan Sandler grapples with the mem... |
587,303 | 783,721 | 105,810 | 6 | Sorely lacking in authenticity | For a Hollywood movie filmed in Hollywood about Hollywood , " Where the Day Takes You " is surprisingly lacking in authenticity . Those who believe this film about the street kids of Hollywood is the real deal haven't spent much time with such kids . On the upside the film sports a solid cast . On the downside , there'... |
586,693 | 783,721 | 110,081 | 6 | Chop fooey | A really big chunk-of-Chinese-life flick and open ended narrative , " To Live " follows a married working class Chinese couple from the late 40's through the cultural revolution into the 70's . Unfortunately the film can't seem to find it's niche as it slips mercurially from comedy to drama never quite knowing when it'... |
587,123 | 783,721 | 110,091 | 6 | An okay watch with little depth . | Lauren Velez makes a strong screen debut in this little flick about a " dis " - functional Hispanic couple married with kids in the Bronx . " I Like It Like That " is a not too serious charcter-driven , dialogue-intensive film which floats somewhere between sardonic comedy and visceral drama as it looks at the life of ... |
586,655 | 783,721 | 160,800 | 6 | Pure corn but a good watch for family hour | Running Home is a predictable , melodramatic flick full of implausibilities with all the ear marks of a low budget soap . However , there's enough stuff going on from romance to murder to bad cops to fights to chases to the quest of the street kid and central character ( Ayre ) to meet the birth mother he's never kno... |
587,193 | 783,721 | 293,007 | 6 | Too long and too lacking in focus | Carandiru is a prison flick which takes the audience behind the walls and into the halls of an over crowded , dilapidated detention facility in Sao Paulo , Brazil . Unlike the typical Hollyweird version of prison life , you'll see a panoply of unusually happy and gregarious inmates who seem to have the run of their p... |
585,881 | 783,721 | 293,116 | 6 | All Binoche and Reno | Jet Lag is all about Binoche and Reno as travelers who get caught up in delays at CD Airport in Paris and repeatedly bump into each other until . . . well , you know . Delightfully French and wall to wall Binoche and Reno , " Jet Lag " won't slam you between the eyes with hearts , flowers , or string music . However ... |
586,916 | 783,721 | 197,096 | 6 | WARNING ! Do not watch on an empty stomach . | What's Cooking is yet another film which shows a short period of time in the lives of multiple disconnected characters who have something in common . In " Magnolia " the common denominator was proximity . In " All the Rage " it was guns . In " The Five Senses " is was senses . Etc . Etc . Etc . In " What's Cooking " ... |
586,456 | 783,721 | 105,790 | 6 | A good book does not a good film make . | Waterland puts Irons at the center as a disturbed history teacher who recounts his personal history to his class . Irons performance is excellent as always . However the story is a plaintive and peculiar reflection on what is a rather drab and uneventful life . Furthermore , the film tells the story of the teacher te... |
586,561 | 783,721 | 218,127 | 6 | Good old fashioned melodramatic Hollywood Western | Crossfire Trail is an old school Western where the bad guys wear black hats and have names like " Snake " and the good guys never curse or spit . Selleck is the hero who abides a promise made to a dying man and rides to Wyoming in the 1870's to tend to the man's ranch and widow ( Madsen ) . The widow , however , is b... |
586,847 | 783,721 | 257,756 | 6 | Like Ashley ? You'd better . | Because " High Crimes " sticks Judd in front of the camera in almost every scene as its contrived formula story full of cliche characters wells around her . Fortunately , Judd manages to hold this less than sterling film together as it worms and squirms its way through the story of a happy wife and trial lawyer who fin... |
587,054 | 783,721 | 82,269 | 6 | Not a classic . For French film fans only . | Diva ( 1981 ) is a so-so French crime / drama flick with a curious rather than interesting story . On the long side the film mixes some peculiar characters together sufficiently to maintain interest during a two hour watch . On the short side the 20 year old ( at this writing ) film is technically inferior , grainy ,... |
587,047 | 783,721 | 101,410 | 6 | Overrated | Barton Fink sticks Turturro out front as a NY playwright who comes to Hollywood to write for movies , holes up in a two-bit hotel , gets writer's block , and finds himself in a variety of unpleasant situations which become increasingly surreal / supernatural . The flick has the Coen's fingerprints all over it with th... |
586,329 | 783,721 | 114,558 | 6 | Excessive nonsense . | Someone should tell Cameron that movies which try to out do themselves can't . That's the dialectic of an audience with one hand clapping . " Strange Days " is a bloated , overwrought flick with a silly action cum nonsense sci-fi thread , a weak story , excessive excesses , and implausibilities every few hundred frames... |
586,137 | 783,721 | 139,654 | 6 | Hardcore entertainment and blatant stupidity . . . that's Hollywood . | In " Training Day " , a bloated Hollywood action / drama , Hawke rides along with street narc Washington on his first day of on the job training as an undercover narcotics officer . The film tries to represent the tug of war between right and wrong in law enforcement on the mean streets of L . A . In spite of solid pro... |
586,504 | 783,721 | 296,658 | 6 | Meow | Take Care of my Cat traces the activities and vicissitudes of a diverse group of five best friend female high school grads in South Korea as they embark upon life as adults . This film quietly passes on the sensational exploitation of sex , drugs , etc . one would expect to find in a similar American film as it moves... |
585,827 | 783,721 | 219,952 | 6 | Ok to zone by | Lucky Numbers has Travolta in the center as a schmuck weather man who , with the t . v . station's " lottery girl " ( Kudrow ) , sets about to rip off the state lottery for a cool $6 mil . An okay but very mediocre watch , this flick runs on star power . As the film wears on there is barely enough happening to mainta... |
585,886 | 783,721 | 314,630 | 6 | Boooooooooring | The Secret Lives of Dentists is a subtly sardonic dark comedy which journeys through the marriage of a thirty-something husband and wife ( Scott & Davis ) who practice dentistry together at the office and raise three small daughters at home . During the seemingly endless examination of all the perfunctory routines of... |
587,071 | 783,721 | 212,380 | 6 | Hair-dos and don'ts | Blow Dry could have been about the baddest gunslingers converging on a quiet little western town for a showdown to determine once and for all who is the fastest gun in the West . Among the players would be the retired gunslinger ( the hero ) who doesn't pack his sixgun anymore ; an evil gunslinger ( the villain ) who... |
585,658 | 783,721 | 120,521 | 6 | A beautiful bit of nothing . | The Winter Guest is a beautifully filmed nothing of a story . As though on a carousel , the camera revolves around four pairs of people in an icy rural coastal place in Scotland , providing glimpses into their lives as it passes by in near real time . The absence of a story begs the question , why would one watch thi... |
586,698 | 783,721 | 254,455 | 6 | A earnest misfire somewhere between prose and the paranormal | Sex and Lucia is a subtitled drama out of Spain which swirls around a head-to-toe scrumptious Vega as it wends its way circuitously through its convoluted plot . Unfortunately the story can't reach out and grab the audience in spite of fine performances and good everything else because the emphasis is not on the play... |
586,325 | 783,721 | 120,522 | 6 | A highly stylized but tedious film . | Winter Sleepers is a thin story about some ordinary people in some marginally interesting situations , beautifully filmed , hypnotically seductive , and cloaked in a plodding and laconically self-assured pretense . Those looking for a solid story or serious drama will be disappointed . Others may content themselves w... |
585,927 | 783,721 | 93,209 | 6 | Boooooooooring | Hope and Glory is a slice of life flick about a boy and others in an English neighborhood during WWII . A different kind of WWII flick , this naive dramedy takes a pollyannish look at English civilian life during the war and though it does have its moments they seem too few and too far between . In other words , this... |
585,908 | 783,721 | 110,689 | 6 | An ok period biopic which tries to stick to the facts . | Nostradamus is a par period biopic which tells an embellished version of the life of a man whose memory has been cloaked in myth and mystery . The film suggests the plague-fighting 16th century French physician Nostradamus " shroomed out " in the interest of science , had halucinations / visions , and wrote them down... |
587,539 | 783,721 | 270,911 | 6 | Leary & Hurley better than before . | Leary and Hurley hook up again for this fun little romcom romp which aired on cable under the title " Dawg " . IMHO better than their previous collaboration " Double Whammy " , this flick tells of a womanizer who will inherit a fortune if he can be forgiven his sexual trespasses by a dozen of his womanized victims . Hu... |
586,028 | 783,721 | 314,676 | 6 | A bad idea nicely brought to fruition | A dark comedy with sardonic overtones , " The Singing Detective " tells of an man ( Downey ) with a bad skin condition and an equally bad attitude who writes a detective novel while hospitalized . The film jumps around between converging present day and 50's novel noir plots delivering two stories neither of which is s... |
587,613 | 783,721 | 162,650 | 6 | An adequate successor but still a B-movie . | Shaft 2000 is a reasonable successor to the original Shaft of 29 years ago . The film shows restraint by keeping Shaft big , but not bigger than life , as it tries to be a human story first and an action flick second . Unfortunately , in spite of good performances ( especially by Wright ) and good production talent ,... |
586,633 | 783,721 | 97,662 | 6 | Journeyman Hollywood noir crime flick | Kill Me Again is a lukewarm noir drama which tells a very mediocre , convoluted , and unlikely story about a babe ( Whalley ) who rips off her boyfriend ( Madsen ) for stolen mob money and then hires a private eye ( Kilmer ) to fake her death . Madsen is the only well cast character in this watchable but ordinary fli... |
586,190 | 783,721 | 256,380 | 7 | Wow ! Gwyneth really had to gain weight for this flick . | Shallow Hal is yet another fresh , creative , and controversial comedy from the Farrlley Brothers . With Black in the title role as a superficial dating single , the film shows us what happens when self-help guru Tony Robbins gives Hal a post-hypnotic suggestion which changes his perception such that everyone's outwa... |
585,708 | 783,721 | 303,933 | 7 | Learning the rhythm system | Drumline tells of an Afro-Am high school grad and hotshot drummer who goes to college and learns it takes more than fast sticks to make the grade . Just okay as a light drama , this flick deserves high marks for making some positive points about the importance of rudiments and teamwork to success and for its tribute ... |
586,705 | 783,721 | 299,117 | 7 | Roger that ! | Roger Dodger is all about Roger ( Swanson ) , a single , horizontally mobile , self proclaimed pseudointellectual know-it-al expert on human nature and mating rituals who takes a wayward teen nephew under his wing and teaches him how to get laid . . . or how not to . The film is uses a construct built from cliches wi... |
587,516 | 783,721 | 205,873 | 7 | One small step for man , one giant leap for Parkes . | The Dish tells of a small group of people who operated a giant radio telescope in Parkes , NSW , Australia which captured the weak signals from the Apollo 11 1969 lunar landing and moon walk with its behemoth parabolic reflector . A light hearted and fun romp involving the scientists and the townsfolk , all buoyed by... |
585,662 | 783,721 | 105,107 | 7 | Cajun flavored drama for the masses | Apparently Sayles never sat around a table with a bunch of women gabbing . In " Passion Fish " , which tells of a NYC soap opera actress who becomes a paraplegic and begins a long rehab in her Louisiana home town , the women at the table never talk over each other and only one talks at a time . Such histrionics are an ... |
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