instantwatcher.com

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

1. Farmageddon 2011 An eye-popping wake-up call revealing how the USDA and FDA have increasingly waged war on America's small farmers even when they can prove they are contributing healthful products to our food supply. full review
2. The Hedgehog 2011 An exquisite, intimate film of restraint and delicacy. full review
3. The Names of Love 2011 So many actresses are asked to be adorable even in their characters' most exasperating moments, but few pull it off as well as Forestier. full review
4. Singham 2011 Bollywood fans are more likely than not to be able to go with "Singham's'" lengthy - but lively - ride. full review
5. Spork 2011 For all its poignancy, "Spork" never loses sight of its goal to be zesty, sharp-witted fun. full review
6. Young Goethe In Love 2011 It drowns in swoony cliches. full review
7. Burzynski 2010 Merola unleashes a barrage of information, including much testimony from grateful patients, but he could have made an even more effective film had he paused to summarize each phase in Burzynski's long ordeal.
8. The Extra Man 2010 Adapted from the Jonathan Ames novel, the film is too precious around the edges, but it gets somewhere. full review
9. Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child 2010 Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child is a remarkably rich documentary possessing depth, range, insight and compassion. full review
10. Marwencol 2010 A celebration of the transformative power of art in coping with so many of the challenges people face -- healthcare problems, post-traumatic disorders, alternative lifestyles. full review
11. Today's Special 2010 An irresistible delight. full review
12. Waste Land 2010 That a beautiful film could be set in the world's largest garbage dump sounds like an oxymoron, but acclaimed documentarian Lucy Walker has pulled off precisely that feat in her profoundly moving "Waste Land."
13. Zenith 2010 To say the least, "Zenith" is challenging and elusive; it evokes a bleak view of the human condition and a sense that pervasive paranoia might well be justified. full review
14. Beeswax 2009 Bujalski is very much interested in how people -- in his instance, quite intelligent, civilized and articulate twentysomething individuals -- cope with life's everyday challenges, finding naturalistic drama in what may initially seem pedestrian. full review
15. 44 Inch Chest 2009 Malcolm Venville, in an assured directorial debut, builds suspense with steady effectiveness. full review
16. Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story 2009 Sarah Townsend's Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story illuminates the life and career of the protean, gender-bending comedian-actor through an astonishing collection of footage. full review
17. Down Terrace 2009 Down Terrace is long on talk but generates its own internal rhythms and pace that makes it feel bracing and vibrantly alive. full review
18. Eating Out: All You Can Eat 2009 Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat is just as silly and tedious as the first two unconnected tales of young gay love -- but lots worse. full review
19. Mary and Max 2009 Remarkable and poignant... full review
20. The Missing Person 2009 It's a great-looking movie, with an evocative use of music and, in rugged-yet-sensitive Michael Shannon, has an actor whose forceful, focused presence is the film's sturdy linchpin. full review
21. White on Rice 2009 Wan, trite and increasingly silly. full review
22. The Poker House 2008 Regardless of whether the film is all fiction or all true or a mix, it has a ring of truth about it strong enough to sustain a defy-all-odds finish. full review
23. Were the World Mine 2008 Were the World Mine is seriously uneven. If it displays considerable imagination and creativity, it also lapses too often into smug, campy silliness. full review
24. The Yellow Handkerchief 2008 [Arthur] Cohn has assembled a quartet of gifted actors who are captivating under Prasad's perceptive direction. full review
25. Ben X 2007 A provocative, exultant stunner. full review
26. Boarding Gate 2007 The plot may be murky, but actress Asia Argento is a clear and commanding force throughout. full review
27. Chop Shop 2007 Bahrani celebrates those who never give up, no matter how badly their dreams are shattered. full review
28. Sangre De Mi Sangre 2007 Shot mainly in New York's meanest, murkiest streets, Sangre de Mi Sangre, is intricately and imaginatively structured, building to a powerful climax of complex irony. full review
29. Save Me 2007 This is a modest, thoughtful, independent production of exceptional insight and quietly devastating power. full review
30. Klimt 2006 Ruiz is terrific in evoking a heady atmosphere of ornate fin de siecle decadence, and Malkovich is ideally cast as a coolly intellectual, free-thinking, free-living aesthete... full review
31. One to Another 2006 What sets it apart is all that's so effectively left unsaid. full review
32. This Is England 2006 The writer-director brilliantly juxtaposes the personal and the political, bookending a stirring coming-of-age drama with the provocative opening and an equally affecting end sequence. full review
33. Taxidermia 2005 Taxidermia is a brilliant, often grotesquely bizarre allegory on life in Hungary from World War II to the present, a surrealist fantasy exploring the limits of the body and its desires and altogether a darkly funny comedy. full review
34. Land of the Dead 2005 George A. Romero's Land of the Dead reveals that Romero remains the master of a genre he reinvented. full review
35. Nine Lives 2005 A sophisticated, elegant-looking film shot in distinctive, wide-ranging L.A. locales, but its real terrain is the human heart, explored with compassion and respect. full review
36. Race You to the Bottom 2005 An illuminating glimpse into some of the more challenging complications that contemporary relationships can present. full review
37. The Goebbels Experiment 2004 full review
38. Secuestro Express 2004 Jakubowicz is a whiz at setting up an exceedingly tense predicament and then building upon it a nearly unbearable suspense with ingenuity and insight. full review
39. White Chicks 2004 Even if it lingers a bit too long, White Chicks represents a solid accomplishment for the crowd-pleasing Wayans brothers. full review
40. Down to the Bone 2003 Down to the Bone emerges with an aura of authenticity so strong as to be mesmerizing, thanks to a superior script brought to life with infallibly natural performances ... full review
41. Ned Kelly 2003 A highly formal and conventional film that is too often merely ponderous when it should be stirring. full review
42. Blackwoods 2002 Director Uwe Boll and writer Robert Dean Klein fail to generate any interest in an unsympathetic hero caught up in an intricate plot that while cleverly worked out, cannot overcome blah characters. full review
43. Bukowski: Born into This 2002 Accomplishes beautifully what it sets out to do, which is to reveal the man behind the crusty, hard-drinking, tough-talking persona Charles Bukowski so artfully crafted. full review
44. Dahmer 2002 Suffers from a lack of clarity and audacity that a subject as monstrous and pathetic as Dahmer demands. full review
45. The Hebrew Hammer 2002 Unfunny rather than outrageous as intended. full review
46. Ram Dass: Fierce Grace 2002 An ingratiating and comprehensive portrait of the widely admired spiritual leader. full review
47. Secret Things 2002 Merciless and darkly funny. full review
48. Showboy 2002 Slyly amusing yet poignant. full review
49. Sonny 2002 It is as uncompromising as it is nonjudgmental, and makes clear that a prostitute can be as lonely and needy as any of the clients. full review
50. Suspended Animation 2002 It has pace and variety and, best of all, it consistently has the courage of its imaginative and daring screenplay. full review
51. The Fluffer 2001 Ultimately emerges as a coming-of-age odyssey of notable substance and honesty. full review
52. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back 2001 The relentless torrent of foul language--and not just from Jay--becomes numbing and finally makes the film seem more crass than amusing. full review
53. Lagaan - Once Upon a Time in India 2001 An affectionate homage to a popular genre that raises it to the level of an art film with fully drawn characters, a serious underlying theme, and a sophisticated style and point of view. full review
54. The Musketeer 2001 Philip Harrison's superb production design, Raymond Hughes and Cynthia Dumont's wide range of costumes, Gigi Lepage's gowns for Deneuve and David Arnold's rightly thundering score all help bring alive Dumas' romantic, tumultuous world one more time. full review
55. No Such Thing 2001 Tender yet lacerating and darkly funny fable. full review
56. Session 9 2001 So effective that its sense of uncertainty lingers long after the theater lights have gone up. full review
57. Tomcats 2001 Raucously energetic and replete with a barrage of graphic sexual humor. full review
58. Waking Up in Reno 2001 Every note rings false. full review
59. Gossip 2000 Loose lips will surely sink this silly, shallow melodrama that turns upon the havoc wreaked by rumor.
60. Gangster No. 1 2000 Gangster No. 1 is solid, satisfying fare for adults. full review
61. Hamlet 2000 Almereyda has pulled off a formidable coup: He's made Shakespeare come alive for contemporary audiences of all ages, especially young people. full review
62. Live Nude Girls Unite! 2000 full review
63. Merci Pour le Chocolat 2000 In his 48th film of his 44-year career, New Wave pioneer Chabrol remains at the height of his powers. full review
64. The Original Kings of Comedy 2000 Ranks right up there with Pryor's Live on Sunset Strip, Eddie Murphy's Raw and Martin Lawrence's You So Crazy. full review
65. Scary Movie 2000 Scary Movie is a good showcase for a talented, youthful cast, and the film is carried with aplomb by newcomer Faris, a fearless comedian and an appealing ingenue. full review
66. Scream 3 2000 Genuinely scary and also highly amusing. full review
67. Sordid Lives 2000 Del Shores' local stage hit seems at times too big for the screen. full review
68. But I'm A Cheerleader 1999 full review
69. eXistenZ 1999 Jennifer Jason Leigh is an ideal Cronenberg heroine, projecting a personality that is smart, wary and capable of obsessiveness. full review
70. An Ideal Husband 1999 Wilde was always about lots more than witty repartee, and as sparkling as his play is as drawing-room comedy, it reveals his concern with the timeless values of unselfish love and forgiveness. full review
71. Kadosh 1999 full review
72. My Life so Far 1999 full review
73. Teaching Mrs. Tingle 1999 Teaching Mrs. Tingle reveals Williamson not only to be as accomplished a director as he is a writer but also his willingness to move beyond horror to psychological suspense. full review
74. Waking the Dead 1999 A powerful story of love and politics. full review
75. A Walk on the Moon 1999 full review
76. Another Day In Paradise 1998 As contradictory as it is energetic, the film takes as many risks as its people do and as a result strikes a highly contemporary nerve. full review
77. Eternity and a Day 1998 Angelopoulos has created another masterpiece, one that recalls such classics as Bergman's Wild Strawberries and Kurosawa's Ikiru. full review
78. Following 1998 full review
79. Godzilla 1998 full review
80. The Rugrats Movie 1998 What is most likely to impress adults is that the world of the Rugrats is not idealized or homogenized. full review
81. 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag 1997 full review
82. Chasing Amy 1997 Work of such fierce intelligence and emotional honesty that it blows away the competition when it comes to contemporary romantic comedy. full review
83. Eve's Bayou 1997 There has never been a film quite like Kasi Lemmons' shimmering Eve's Bayou. full review
84. How to Be a Player 1997 full review
85. Beavis and Butt-Head Do America 1996 Successfully brings to the big screen those no-brainer nerds who have brought laughter to living rooms around the world for nearly four years. full review
86. Citizen Ruth 1996 full review
87. Happy Gilmore 1996 You don't feel that Sandler and director Dennis Dugan are trying for the kind of subversiveness that might just make Happy's brutal anarchy more effective. full review
88. Jude 1996 The dark, steel engraving look that cinematographer Eduardo Serra has given Jude endows it with a somber magnificence. full review
89. The Pallbearer 1996 full review
90. Restoration 1996 The film is overcome by the rumbling workings of a creaky plot as the story grows more serious. full review
91. Scream 1996 A bravura, provocative sendup of horror pictures that's also scary and gruesome yet too swift-moving to lapse into morbidity. full review
92. Sling Blade 1996 A mesmerizing parable of good and evil and a splendid example of Southern storytelling at its most poetic and imaginative. full review
93. The Substitute 1996 There's a sense of shrewd observation throughout The Substitute that makes it come alive and seem quite a few cuts above such usual genre fare. full review
94. Unhook the Stars 1996 full review
95. Walking and Talking 1996 full review
96. Butterfly Kiss 1995 full review
97. Cry, the Beloved Country 1995 full review
98. The Doom Generation 1995 Plays like a low-budget Natural Born Killers -- and that is not intended as a compliment. full review
99. Fallen Angels 1995 An exhilarating rush of a movie, with all manner of go-for-broke visual bravura that expresses perfectly the free spirits of [Wong's] bold young people. full review
100. Picture Bride 1995 full review
101. Sister My Sister 1995 full review
102. Sudden Death 1995 A treat for Jean-Claude Van Damme fans, a superior action thriller loaded with jaw-dropping stunts and special effects, and strong in production values. full review
103. Tommy Boy 1995 Tommy Boy is a good belly laugh of a movie. full review
104. Of Love and Shadows 1994 full review
105. I, the Worst of All 1990 full review
106. Switchblade Sisters 1975 A terrific example of efficient, resourceful filmmaking, and its depiction of urban ills is, if anything, all too prophetic. full review