text stringlengths 89 15k | label int64 0 1 |
|---|---|
the swooping shots across darkened rooftops suggest a very tim burton movie , but , alas , no caped crusader descends to save * this * film .
instead , it's a skeletal housemaid ( julia roberts ) who must bear witness to this unfortunate retelling of " dr .
jekyll and mr . hyde . "
for a few , fleeting , maddening m... | 0 |
you've got mail is a timely romance for this impersonal , computer-driven decade .
two people who've never met confide in each other via e-mail without revealing their true identities .
nora ephron's contemporary update of the shop around the corner retains the basic plot : two people who despise each other unwitting... | 1 |
as you should know , this summer has been less than memorable .
with a total of 4 decent films , it's not a surprise that these big budget failures keep appearing .
with that said , you can pretty much predict what my opinion on " the 13th warrior " will be .
the film is based on the michael crichton " eaters of the... | 0 |
edward zwick's " the siege " raises more questions than it can convincingly answer or even clearly articulate .
its subject is the rising threat of terrorism in american cities .
denzel washington is anthony " hub " hubbard , who runs the fbi's anti-terrorism task force in new york .
his investigation into arab terr... | 1 |
melvin udall is a heartless man .
he spends his days inside of his spacious manhattan apartment writing romance novels .
it also seems that melvin will never change .
one day he dines ar his favorite restaurant , and is a little too mean to his normal waitress ( the only waittress that will serve him ) , carol ( pla... | 1 |
contact is the 1997 movie i've seen the most - five times to be exact .
four of those times were on the big screen , but even on a tv , it's a very impressive film .
the same can't be said for films like independance day , but that's because contact is a rare example in sci-fi filmmaking where the story is treated mo... | 1 |
i had lost all faith in pg-13 movies that are intended for teenagers and adults .
the last dozen or so that i have seen have all felt incomplete , as if the most crucial scene was deleted in order to obtain a more lucrative rating .
however , after seeing the creative frequency last week and now the exciting u-571 , ... | 1 |
" a breed apart " casts rutger hauer as a crazy , bird-loving recluse who picks his feathered friends over kathleen turner .
a bit hard to swallow ?
that's only the first of many improbabilities in this film .
hauer stars as a man obsessed with keeping the birds on his island safe , while boothe plays a guy hired to... | 1 |
to put it bluntly , ed wood would have been proud of this .
a totally ridiculous plot is encompassed with bad humor , hokey drama , zero logic and a crap screenplay .
also , a beautifully anti-climactic ending .
not to say it didn't look intriguing when i saw the previews .
so much for truth in advertising .
rolan... | 0 |
forget get carter .
instead . . .
get me a cup of coffee .
what the hell has happened to all good american action movies ?
did i unknowingly miss a meeting somewhere ?
when did all of the bad-ass , kicking butt and taking names , gun-toting , crazed , vengeful characters of the 1980's -- from such films as command... | 0 |
the release of dolores claiborne into wide release this weekend adds another entry into the long list of film adaptations of stephen king's work .
this slow-moving character study provides some outstanding acting performances by the principals , but suffers from a tepid conclusion , inconsistent direction , and may no... | 1 |
" deep rising " gives you that sinking feeling both literally and figuratively : not only does the movie take place on a cruise ship slowly being immersed into the middle of the ocean by a squid-like menace , but the unfolding story is artificial , silly and almost completely derivative of countless other ( and , for t... | 0 |
this talky , terribly-plotted thriller stars alec baldwin as dave robicheaux , an ex-new orleans cop who gets ensnared in a murder- mystery after a light-plane crashes into the bayou beside his fishing boat .
he and his wife annie ( kelly lynch ) rescue a little salvadorian girl ( samantha lagpacan ) from the wreckage... | 0 |
the one question that eats at me after seeing corky romano is why touchstone spent so much money marketing this throwaway film .
since june , i haven't been able to turn on the tv or go to the movies without getting hit by some ad depicting chris kattan as the spastic corky , shrieking out a-ha's " take on me " in his... | 0 |
another 'independent film' , this comedy , which was brought by miramax for $5 million , is good fun .
favreau and vaughn ( the lost world : jurassic park , 1997 ) play mike and trent , two everyday 20somethings on the lookout for women .
the film just basically follows their plight on the lookout for lurve , and alo... | 1 |
kadosh means sacred in hebrew .
amos gitai's fictional work , after spending most of his career doing documentaries , is a grim story about a failed hasidic marriage , even though the marriage is a loving one .
the marriage will symbolize the clash of cultures in modern israel between the native israeli's modern view... | 1 |
" spawn " may be somewhat of an older film .
in fact it will probably be on video before anyone who hasn't seen it will finally get to see it ( that is , if they see it ) .
but i managed to catch it before it made it's way out of theaters and into the world of rentals and , god forbid , video cassette purchasing .
i... | 0 |
when _star wars_ came out some twenty years ago , the image of traveling throughout the stars has become a commonplace image .
when the millenium falcon moves throughout the stars , we see constellations , meteor showers , and cool space-ships .
when han solo goes light speed , the stars change to bright lines , goin... | 1 |
ok , let's get one thing straight right away : maximum risk is no battleship potemkin ( although it does have some russians in it ! ) , but it's not too bad , really .
it's the new film from ringo lam , the latest hong kong filmmaker to defect to hollywood , and stars that minor league schwartzeneggar from belgium , j... | 1 |
" there will be another , " the ads for this sequel proclaimed , and why not ?
true , brandon lee is dead , but there would be no reason for him to appear in a followup to 1994's the crow , anyway .
the idea of spinning artist james o'barr's original comic book series into a sequel franchise revolves around the notio... | 0 |
phil ( radmar jao ) has a hairy problem .
his beard is growing so rapidly that he has to shave every hour .
he recently met the author of a non-fiction book on lycanthropy , also referred to in the movie as werewolfism , and phil now believes that his problem is that he has become a werewolf .
using enough chains an... | 0 |
elmore leonard has quickly become one of hollywood's favorite authors .
out of four film adaptations in as many years , the witty and inventive out of sight gives get shorty a run for its money as the best leonard adaptation around .
george clooney stars as jack foley , a nice bank robber . . . you
know the type , h... | 1 |
" the beach " is a structurally confusing film that i can only describe has having multiple personality disorder .
every forty minutes of this two-hour film begins with a new theme , virtually discarding what has been set up in the preceding act .
it starts off purposefully as a film about an innocent man seeking new... | 0 |
when it comes to the average teenage romantic comedy , i expect negative reviews from critics left and right .
predictable , unoriginal , and forgettable will most likely be the three adjectives to haunt the down to you's and the drive me crazy's released by the dozens these last couple of years .
what i really look ... | 0 |
a wonderful little movie that is really interested in its characters and in its theme .
the scene of " second best " is laid in wales .
james ( chris cleary miles ) is a 10-year-old boy who must live in a home because his father ( keith allen ) is in prison and his mother committed suicide .
james is a mentally unba... | 1 |
suicide is pointless , everyone should know that .
so what's this movie like ?
you guessed it . . .
pointless .
the virgin suicides focuses on the lives of the five lisbon sisters , from the perspective of the teenage boys who are fascinated by them .
when the youngest lisbon sister commits suicide , it sets in mo... | 0 |
what do you get when you rip-off good movies like woody allen's bananas and martin scorsese's after hours ?
you'd think you'd get the best of both films .
instead you get woo .
falling in somewhere between def jam's how to be a player ( which was awful ) and booty call ( which was ok ) , woo is yet another in the em... | 0 |
wonderland is a rather sugary romance film that is as subtle as a ton of bricks falling on you .
you can see its plot developing from a mile away . you
are lured into its benign story of a single 29-year-old girl looking for a soul mate in boston , as that city is depicted as a mini-wonderland for singles .
this is ... | 0 |
if snake eyes were a dog , you'd put it to sleep .
if it was a couch , you'd put it out on the sidewalk , where it would sit for a week .
if it were your child , you'd be reading military school catalogs .
if it were a ship -- no , it wouldn't be the titanic , that would imply glamor and tragedy -- it would be the e... | 0 |
-- comedy , rated pg , runs about 1 : 40 -- starring : john goodman , kathy moriarty , and a bunch of teenagers -- directed by joe dante and written by charles hass --
summary : lawrence woolsley ( john goodman ) brings his new horror film mant !
to premiere in key west during the height of the cuban missile crisis .... | 1 |
when i initially set out to review this film , my tag line was going to be " you too can believe whales can fly " .
then it was going to be " you too can believe pastel triangles can fly " .
then , it was going to be " you too can believe wood sprites can fly " .
finally , i just gave up trying to come up with a tag... | 1 |
seen at : amc old pasadena 8 , pasadena , ca ( in sdds )
paul verhoeven's last movie , showgirls , had a bad script , bad acting , and a " plot " ( i use the word in its loosest possible sense ) that served only to allow lots of sex and nudity .
it stank .
starship troopers has a bad script , bad acting , and a " pl... | 0 |
capsule : suprisingly more of a comedy than a straight action flick , which isn't necessarily a bad thing .
not exactly oscar caliber , but one helluva bullet-riddled good time .
extended review : you know , i remember when hitmen were evil , murderous scum .
alas , the times are a-changin' .
in a recent string of ... | 1 |
just how inseparable is the team of sgt .
martin riggs ( mel gibson ) and sgt .
roger murtaugh ( danny glover ) ?
let's just say that when one partner asks the other partner to strip to his boxer shorts and then further asks him to run out into the middle of the road , flapping his arms while feverishly cackling lik... | 1 |
blatantly borrowing elements from 1993's " like water for chocolate " and 1991's " the butcher's wife , " " simply irresistible " attempts to be a whimsical romantic comedy but , more often than not , comes off as laughable , leaving you to wonder why rising star sarah michelle gellar ( t . v . 's " buffy , the vampire... | 0 |
american pie acknowledges a cold , hard fact that most movies don't : it is very difficult to get laid .
its four virgin heroes are jim ( biggs ) , a chronic masturbator , kev ( nicholas ) , who desperately wants to deflower his girlfriend ( reid ) , oz ( klein ) , a lacrosse player whose approach requires some fine t... | 1 |
capsule : earthy , experimental , difficult , shockingly frank ( even for 1997 ! ) , and ultimately refreshing story of a black man on the run from the cops .
the first few minutes of sweet sweetback's baad asssss song ( yes , i checked -- that's the correct number of ss ) are without dialogue , just eerie montages of... | 1 |
there are times when the success of a particular film depends entirely on one actor's effort .
often a single performance can turn what might have been a rather mediocre movie into something worthwhile .
when one of these comes along , i usually try to think about how many other people put work into the movie , that ... | 1 |
is evil dead ii a bad movie ?
it's full of terrible acting , pointless violence , and plot holes yet it remains a cult classic nearly fifteen years after its release .
explaining why this movie stands out from others with similar plots ( including the original evil dead ) is extremely difficult .
`well what's it abo... | 1 |
quiz show , an almost perfectly accurate true story , is based upon the events of the popular television show of the mid-50's , " twenty-one " .
on this trivial game show , contestants were placed in isolation booths and then answered questions corresponding to a category of their choice , on which they wagered an amo... | 1 |
since most movies about slavery shield us from the true horrors of what they're portraying , it's fitting to say that " beloved " come as a real shock as a film .
it's confusing , bizarre , and as tough a film to watch as any film i've seen all year , and that's not necessarily because of the three-hour running time .... | 1 |
if i were one of those arrogant critics who thinks his review has some great impact on the success or failure of certain films , i might say that i review movies that don't look particularly good because i'm doing a service to my readers by warning them against seeing it .
if that were true , i could put a banner at t... | 0 |
once upon a time jean-claude van damme was a decent action hero .
the muscles from brussels bursted into the hollywood market with mindless adventure films , boasting his spectacular martial-arts ability .
some of these excursions were fun .
but now it seems like watching a van damme movie has become a painful chore... | 0 |
kevin smith is like a big kid .
his humor is that of a sophisticated juvenile's .
he grew up idolizing star wars and loves comic books , having also written a few .
he also has a cult following , mostly composed of teenagers , college students , and smith's own fellow adolescent-minded grownups .
smith is hilarious... | 1 |
when andy leaves for cowboy camp , his mother holds a yard sale and scrounges in his room for old toys .
one of these toys is wheezy , a penguin with a broken squeaker .
woody ( tom hanks ) saddles up andy's dog and rides out into the yard to rescue wheezy .
woody succeeds in his mission , but doesn't make it back t... | 1 |
it might surprise some to know that joel and ethan coen , who have brought such unabated lunacy to our movie screens as " raising arizona " and " the hudsucker proxy , " made their feature film debut with " blood simple , " a grim and often gruesome tale of revenge , murder , and literally fatal misconceptions in rural... | 1 |
earlier this year , the movie holy man opened to a meager box office receipt and to indifference from audiences and critics .
a real charmer of a movie , it's possible that the subject matter was too hip or trendy to attract any real audience .
now , at the end of 1998 , comes waking ned devine , a comedy which inspi... | 1 |
close your eyes for a moment , if you will , and imagine the sound of stephen rea's gaelic brogue , silky smooth and irish like a pint of guinness .
a lackadaisical , naughty little schoolboy voice that flirts and gambols .
an acerbic , sing-song metered voice that evokes the startling imagery and language of anthony... | 1 |
one of the most respected names in american independent filmmaking is john sayles .
he has built a strong reputation with films like matewan and the secret of roan inish , and one of his best was his last film , lone star .
after sayles gave us this complex and unconventional look at ethnic tensions on the us-mexico ... | 0 |
there is a rule when it comes to movies .
a sequel is never as good as the original .
there are very few exceptions to this rule , and texas chainsaw massacre : the next generation is not one of them .
now if you also take into consideration that the original chainsaw massacre was a really bad movie , and that this ... | 0 |
miramax " disinvited " on-line media from press screenings of scream 3 .
they ostensibly feared that folks like me would write spoiler-filled reviews and post them prior to the film's february 4th release date-unsound reasoning .
you see , 'net critics established enough to be on any sort of vip list are professional... | 0 |
the central focus of michael winterbottom's " welcome to sarajevo " is sarajevo itself , the city under siege , and its different effect on the characters unfortunate enough to be stuck there .
it proves the backdrop for a stunningly realized story which refreshingly strays from mythic portents ( " platoon " ) , racia... | 1 |
eyes wide shut isn't the masterpiece many were hoping to see in stanley kubrick's final film , but it is an impressive achievement ; a mesmerizing , haunting , adult psychodrama about marriage , fidelity and sex .
it's a stanley kubrick film from beginning to end , consistently exhibiting the auteur's trademark pencha... | 1 |
End of preview. Expand in Data Studio
1000 positive and 1000 negative processed reviews. Introduced in Pang/Lee ACL 2004. Released June 2004.
- Downloads last month
- 4