| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| |
4/5 |
|
24 Hour Party People (2002) |
|
"'[Winterbottom and Boyce]...have concocted a happy-go-volatile mixture of post-punk documentary sprinkled with post-insights and entertaining flashes of “maybe” truths.'" | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
-- |
|
8 Mile (2002) |
|
"Detroit has gotten a taste of Hollywood...here are some grown-at-home girls who took part in the 8 Mile process to tell us about the filming and behind-the-cinema secrets." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
2.5/5 |
|
Acts of Worship (2001) |
|
"Rodriguez depicts addicts as a sea of agitated vultures haunting the streets...counteracted by character confrontations forced to move too quickly and predictable plot turns." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
-- |
|
All the Queen's Men (2002) |
|
"When it comes to Reel Pride’s full-length features, you might just split a back seam during Stefan Ruzowitzky’s All the Queen’s Men, a fun-führer flick that embraces queer filmmaking in all senses of the word." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
2/5 |
|
Along Came Polly (2004) |
|
"For all of you hungry-for-decent-comic-fare, Polly is a whole lotta ho-hum, a limping script with a few charming dimples." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
2.5/5 |
|
American Wedding (2003) |
|
"You'd think if you made a third one, you're gonna at least try to make some progress as a filmmaker, even within this limited scope of American Pie." | |
Bruno Tysh | |
|
|
|
| |
2/5 |
|
Analyze That (2002) |
|
"Analyze That regurgitates and waters down many of the previous film’s successes, with a few new swings thrown in." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
2.5/5 |
|
The Banger Sisters (2002) |
|
"'The Banger Sisters leaves you with a smile [but]...loses its imaginative bite...when all the ugly loose ends are neatly and unnaturally tied in a Hollywood bow.'" | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
3/5 |
|
Baraka (1994) |
|
"[It] begins like a National Geographic tour....a vacation from dialogue and narrative, traveling strictly on imagery... [but]Baraka gets old before the 93 minutes are up." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
5/5 |
|
Beauty and the Beast (1946) |
|
"Cocteau’s poetic aesthetic...the matter-of-fact extravagance...an otherworldly ambience...[combine to] strike an uncomplicated chord within us, directly connected to the wondrous nightmares of childhood." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
2.5/5 |
|
Biker Boyz (2003) |
|
"It’ll leave you with a monster-rally headache and a craving for something salty." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Black and White (1999) |
|
"A solid, creative effort." | |
Paula Farmer | |
|
|
|
| |
4.5/5 |
|
Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary (2003) |
|
"This is a straightforward, dead-ahead documentary...but nonetheless it builds to a poignant, extreme and terminal climax that shoots off the celluloid right into our guts, piercing our sense of history and humanity." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Boiler Room (2000) |
|
"Younger has set Boiler Room up as a sharp-edged morality tale." | |
Serena Donadoni | |
|
|
|
| |
3.5/5 |
|
Brigadoon (1954) |
|
"Brigadoon[is]...a concocted Technicolor plaid-clad Garden of Eden with a “puppet show” residue." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
2.5/5 |
|
The Chateau (2002) |
|
"'The Château is never quite able to overcome the cultural moat surrounding its ludicrous and contrived plot.'" | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
2/5 |
|
Cheaper by the Dozen (2003) |
|
"Cheaper by the Dozen is yet another fast-food film, going through the motions of a plot with milk-and-cupcake dialogue that leaves you dry and crusty." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
4.5/5 |
|
Chicago (2002) |
|
"Marshall depicts flashes of thought and lust for fame with spaghetti straps, sequins, rolled stockings, songs through lush lips, gyrating hips and clever segues, as the act of murder blurs into top-notch movie entertainment." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Chuck & Buck (2000) |
|
"It may freak people out, but it’s never a freak show." | |
Serena Donadoni | |
|
|
|
| |
3/5 |
|
City by the Sea (2002) |
|
"'De Niro...is a veritable source of sincere passion that this Hollywood contrivance orbits around.'" | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
3.5/5 |
|
Cold Mountain (2003) |
|
"Cold Mountain is haunted by the earmarks of a TV mini-series... [but] left me in a dreamy state of mind..." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
3/5 |
|
The Country Bears (2002) |
|
"'...both hokey and super-cool, and definitely not in a hurry, so sit back, relax and have a few laughs while the little ones get a fuzzy treat.'" | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
4.5/5 |
|
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2003) |
|
"Director Shinichirô Watanabe drives us through a fantastic land, taking advantage of the anime medium with unearthly angles and delicate details in a postmodern, animated epic laced with film-noir savvy." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Cremaster 1 (1995) |
|
"As with all of [Barney's] films, translating Cremaster 1into words is a disservice to the elevating intensity and intrigue communicated through sound and imagery." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Cremaster 3 (2002) |
|
"Attempting to sum up the scope of Matthew Barney’s epic in a few words is like trying to shove the history of existence through a scrotum-shaped pinhole." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
4/5 |
|
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002) |
|
"'The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys manages to capture that impossible time when idealism clashes with reality and religion, wrapped inside a delicious nostalgia...'" | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
2/5 |
|
Daredevil (2003) |
|
"In his saggy, dull-red leather gear, Ben Affleck hangs on the screen like a forlorn biker who’s lost his buddies in a bar brawl." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
5/5 |
|
Destino (2003) |
|
"This is a taste of classic Disney, a crooning, twisting song sung to the eyes, a vacation from rational thoughts." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
2/5 |
|
Dude, Where's My Car? (2000) |
|
"...a stoner mystery that recycles tried and occasionally true gags specifically packaged for today’s teenage audiences, like the cheerleading squad I was sitting next to." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
3/5 |
|
Eight Legged Freaks (2002) |
|
"'Eight Legged Freaks is drive-in-flavored arachnid anarchy...[a]cinematic fun ride where creepy-crawly things constantly pop out from off-screen.'" | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
1/5 |
|
Ella Enchanted (2004) |
|
"Someone should tell O’Haver and the gaggle of writers it took to write this unenchanted mess that updated doesn’t have to mean washed-up and dumbed-down." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
2/5 |
|
The Emperor's Club (2002) |
|
"The Emperor’s Club is a nerd’s version of Dead Poets Society...but lacking the wonder, revelation and charisma of the latter." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
3/5 |
|
Eurotrip (2004) |
|
"Eurotrip delivers a savvy potty jocularity, probably because some of that European culture rubbed off on the penis jokes." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
2.5/5 |
|
Evelyn (2002) |
|
"The film’s lack of personality permeates all its aspects — from the TV movie-esque, affected child acting to the dullest Irish pub scenes ever filmed." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
4/5 |
|
Frida (2002) |
|
"Frida has the heightened emotion and color of artist-bio classics...but not the consistency..taking great artistic risks that range anywhere from jaw-ajar triumphant to comic schlock." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
2/5 |
|
Games People Play: New York (2004) |
|
"If reality is made up of truth without deceit, there’s nothing real about Games, unless you count really bad and really awful." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
5/5 |
|
Gerry (2003) |
|
"Think of Gerry more as an experience rather than a movie, a virtual vacation from the tired crash-and-chase pulse of status-quo cinema." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) |
|
"Zenlike simplicity and elegance." | |
Serena Donadoni | |
|
|
|
| |
4/5 |
|
Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) |
|
"Girl with a Pearl Earring is a stolen glimpse around dark doorways into the intense, colorful birth of a great creation." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
3.5/5 |
|
Girls Will Be Girls (2003) |
|
"...an explosion of bad taste swallowed, and occasionally spit back out, over and over again, culminating in fashionable she/he cat fights by the pool." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Gladiator (2000) |
|
"In the glorious spectacle Gladiator, director Ridley Scott uses this technology to re-create -- with a startling physicality and immediacy -- the Roman Empire which once blanketed most of Europe." | |
Serena Donadoni | |
|
|
|
| |
1.5/5 |
|
Gods and Generals (2003) |
|
"A more appropriate title would be The Great Whitewashing of the Rebellion." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
4/5 |
|
The Good Girl (2002) |
|
"'The Good Girl is like visiting a peculiar island...[with an] amusingly twisted script." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
3.5/5 |
|
The Grey Zone (2002) |
|
"The Grey Zone gives voice to a story that needs to be heard in the sea of Holocaust movies...but the film suffers from its own difficulties." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
4.5/5 |
|
The Guy Maddin Collection (1990-2000) |
|
"Guy Maddin has taken the rudimentary personality traits of early movies and pumped them up with operatic drama, homoeroticism, fetishes, bondage and necrophilia..." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
5/5 |
|
The Haunting (1963) |
|
"Without showing one ghost, Wise's camera works like a contorting black and white swallow." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (2003) |
|
"[Take] madness — mixed with inspiration from watching The Sixth Sense. Add a touch of Mulholland Drive and a bag of heart-shaped jujubees, and you’ll just about have the flavor of He Loves Me." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
High Fidelity (2000) |
|
"A loving pastiche which manages to coalesce into its own distinctive -- and utterly charming -- entity." | |
Serena Donadoni | |
|
|
|
| |
2.5/5 |
|
His Secret Life (2002) |
|
"With all the sympathy, empathy and pity fogging up the screen...His Secret Life enters the land of unintentional melodrama and tiresome love triangles." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
|
|
| |
5/5 |
|
The Hours (2002) |
|
"Daldry slices scenes from the three women’s lives and fuses them into one momentous thrust." | |
Anita Schmaltz | |
|
IGN RSS Feeds
