Bad News Bears2005
The material is so solid and Thornton so tailor-made that the movie almost gets by.
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Broken Flowers2005
Flowers is smartly observational -- but a little screen heat would be worth a bouquet.
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Four Brothers2005
The sometimes absurd Brothers works only on a larger-than-life level. But on that level, the zest is back.
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Jarhead2005
Director Sam Mendes' third screen outing pretty well nails Swofford's tone, which was mordant without being disrespectful, and, in fact, is begrudgingly reverent of the Corps.
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The Longest Yard2005
Though there's no drearier trend in current movies than recycling, this modified Yard is more smoothly crafted than the 1974 slapstick version.
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Vera Drake2004
This is the kind of people-driven story that the movies used to give us -- before special effects took over.
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White Chicks2004
As with every other genre, there's a right way and a wrong way to handle dude-lawman comedies. Chicks does it right a lot of the time.
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Anger Management2003
Flimsy follow-through or not, the teaming still works, and so, at times, does the premise.
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Hollywood Homicide2003
Both leads in Hollywood Homicide work multiple jobs, and wear themselves out in the process. So does a movie with such a generic title that it's a marvel no one has used it before.
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S.W.A.T.2003
There have been far worse movies this summer, but the best justification for seeing this spinoff of the mid-'70s TV series is if your date or mate is holding you hostage in the theater.
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Swimming Pool2003
With a little sex, some mystery, a little sex, an appealing title and a little sex, France's Swimming Pool has what it takes to become an art house audience magnet.
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Punch-Drunk Love2002
Despite its title, Punch-Drunk Love is never heavy-handed. The jabs it employs are short, carefully placed and dead-center.
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Star Trek - Nemesis2002
As spent screen series go, Star Trek: Nemesis is even more suggestive of a 65th class reunion mixer where only eight surviving members show up -- and there's nothing to drink.
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We Were Soldiers2002
... the first film in recent memory that a major studio has chosen to release early in the year with palpable filmmaking passion and production heft.
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XXX2002
The director piles on one expensive but impersonal action scene after another.
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Baran2001
Majidi tells his simple story with dazzling vision.
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Scary Movie 22001
If you took out all the jokes about bodily fluids, the movie could run five minutes instead of 83, and we could all go home.
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Tape2001
Linklater's movie of a Stephen Belber play is for half its length a dull, two-character drama crying out for fresh blood.
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Double Jeopardy1999
The result has a drawback common to such movies: too much screen time devoted to the conceit when anyone who has seen the coming-attractions trailer knows it already.
In Too Deep1999
It's the kind of summer movie you see only if a power failure has knocked out your air conditioning.
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut1999
After Big Daddy, it's almost heartening to see a movie that's not afraid to be upfront about its coarseness, one that doesn't smother its very reason for being with hypocritical sentimentality.
Anaconda1997
It isn't art, but it'll crush your bones.
Breakdown1997
Many will note echoes of 'The Vanishing,' 'Deliverance' and most of all, Steven Spielberg's 'Duel,' with Mostow displaying much of the craft that Spielberg ambushed us with in the 1971 TV movie that put him on the map.
The Devil's Own1997
Though Hour 2's heavy emphasis on physical and emotional confrontations stimulates dramatic momentum, this respectable superstar meeting is finally, of all things, ordinary.
Eve's Bayou1997
Smollett, however, is a find with a smile that illuminates the screen -- the dominant performer in a uniformly well-acted film.
The Frighteners1997
A mess with sporadic flashes of creativity.
Jackie Brown1997
Between Jackson's opining and De Niro's hopeless alibis when he messes up, Jackie is good for a bundle of bloody ho-ho-hos.
The Peacemaker1997
Hops the globe like an old Bob Hope troop show in a futilely frenzied attempt to obscure script weaknesses.
Red Corner1997
Everything ... is dominated by actress Bai Ling, who creates a full-blooded character and role model for young girls.
Switchback1997
Quaid is a one-note sadsack here and no natural action hero.
Welcome to Sarajevo1997
Loosely structured, it keeps its focus despite lots of dramatic wiggle room.
Beautiful Girls1996
The movie lacks the stature or consistency to be truly beautiful -- but you know, it is kind of cute.
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America1996
Even if the movie does engender a few more chuckles than expected, where's that redneck in a truck when we need one?
Big Night1996
Stanley Tucci's surprise cinematic brainchild fills you up with its audacious originality.
Bottle Rocket1996
A little deal, this movie is like a bottle rocket itself: a big bang for the money.
Citizen Ruth1996
It's probably too schematic to reward more than a single viewing, but as a provocative one-time surprise it may become a specialized sleeper.
Happy Gilmore1996
The story has all the thickness of a well-trimmed green, but it's a decent excuse for some heady sight gags.
The Nutty Professor1996
At long last again, an Eddie Murphy movie has its plug in the socket.
Pocahontas1996
Imagine a cult Disney cartoon, for this may be it.
Restoration1996
What virtues the movie has are cosmetic.
Ridicule1996
Audiences will respond favorably to its overall warmth, and the motion picture academy may, too.
Trainspotting1996
...rapid-fire youth-culture freak show: random sex, in-your-face scatology, senseless violence and rampant profanity delivered in haggis-thick brogues.
Walking and Talking1996
Comes perilously close to becoming a gab-fest treadmill.
Braveheart1995
Though lumpy and even redundant, Braveheart constantly rebounds on some bold note.
The Crossing Guard1995
though Penn doesn't always seem to know where he's going, his movie doesn't altogether miss its destination.
Dead Man1995
Coy to a fault, the movie collapses under its own weight with 90 minutes to go, despite Robby MAuller's impressive black-and-white photography, which puts the film on a higher artistic plane than other equally unbearable movies.
Eye For An Eye1995
A grimly distasteful revenge thriller masquerading as serious social commentary.
Four Rooms1995
Four Rooms has been cut substantially since a disastrous September reception at the Toronto Film Festival, though it's hard to imagine it running any longer.
A Month by the Lake1995
Vanessa Redgrave has never been more likable on screen than in her buoyantly athletic turn here.
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead1995
Yet another debut about urban lowlifes filmed by wanna-be Tarantinos, Denver boasts a distinctive personality and a colorful cast that any police lineup would be proud to call its own.