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Mike Clark, USA Today

  1. Bad News Bears 2005 The material is so solid and Thornton so tailor-made that the movie almost gets by. full review
  2. Broken Flowers 2005 Flowers is smartly observational -- but a little screen heat would be worth a bouquet. full review
  3. Four Brothers 2005 The sometimes absurd Brothers works only on a larger-than-life level. But on that level, the zest is back. full review
  4. Jarhead 2005 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. full review
  5. Land of the Dead 2005 It's fairly solid fun without breaking any new ground. full review
  6. The Longest Yard 2005 Though there's no drearier trend in current movies than recycling, this modified Yard is more smoothly crafted than the 1974 slapstick version. full review
  7. Vera Drake 2004 This is the kind of people-driven story that the movies used to give us -- before special effects took over. full review
  8. White Chicks 2004 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. full review
  9. Anger Management 2003 Flimsy follow-through or not, the teaming still works, and so, at times, does the premise. full review
  10. Hollywood Homicide 2003 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. full review
  11. The Machinist 2003 Give Anderson credit for at least sustaining a mood. full review
  12. The Missing 2003 An admirably solid effort. full review
  13. Ned Kelly 2003 Monotonous and drags toward the end. full review
  14. 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. full review
  15. Swimming Pool 2003 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. full review
  16. Changing Lanes 2002 If it's not conventionally speedy, it is almost always gripping. full review
  17. Punch-Drunk Love 2002 Despite its title, Punch-Drunk Love is never heavy-handed. The jabs it employs are short, carefully placed and dead-center. full review
  18. Star Trek - Nemesis 2002 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. full review
  19. We Were Soldiers 2002 ... 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. full review
  20. XXX 2002 The director piles on one expensive but impersonal action scene after another. full review
  21. Baran 2001 Majidi tells his simple story with dazzling vision. full review
  22. Scary Movie 2 2001 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. full review
  23. Tape 2001 Linklater's movie of a Stephen Belber play is for half its length a dull, two-character drama crying out for fresh blood. full review
  24. Tomcats 2001 This is 90 minutes of gags of the lowest order. full review
  25. Vanilla Sky 2001 What works in a quirky foreign film can look silly with expansive Hollywood treatment. full review
  26. Bringing Out the Dead 1999 Solid piece of work.
  27. Double Jeopardy 1999 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.
  28. In Too Deep 1999 It's the kind of summer movie you see only if a power failure has knocked out your air conditioning.
  29. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut 1999 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.
  30. Anaconda 1997 It isn't art, but it'll crush your bones.
  31. Breakdown 1997 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.
  32. The Devil's Own 1997 Though Hour 2's heavy emphasis on physical and emotional confrontations stimulates dramatic momentum, this respectable superstar meeting is finally, of all things, ordinary.
  33. Eve's Bayou 1997 Smollett, however, is a find with a smile that illuminates the screen -- the dominant performer in a uniformly well-acted film.
  34. The Frighteners 1997 A mess with sporadic flashes of creativity.
  35. Jackie Brown 1997 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.
  36. The Peacemaker 1997 Hops the globe like an old Bob Hope troop show in a futilely frenzied attempt to obscure script weaknesses.
  37. Red Corner 1997 Everything ... is dominated by actress Bai Ling, who creates a full-blooded character and role model for young girls.
  38. Switchback 1997 Quaid is a one-note sadsack here and no natural action hero.
  39. Welcome to Sarajevo 1997 Loosely structured, it keeps its focus despite lots of dramatic wiggle room.
  40. Beautiful Girls 1996 The movie lacks the stature or consistency to be truly beautiful -- but you know, it is kind of cute.
  41. Beavis and Butt-Head Do America 1996 Even if the movie does engender a few more chuckles than expected, where's that redneck in a truck when we need one?
  42. Big Night 1996 Stanley Tucci's surprise cinematic brainchild fills you up with its audacious originality.
  43. Bottle Rocket 1996 A little deal, this movie is like a bottle rocket itself: a big bang for the money.
  44. Citizen Ruth 1996 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.
  45. Happy Gilmore 1996 The story has all the thickness of a well-trimmed green, but it's a decent excuse for some heady sight gags.
  46. The Nutty Professor 1996 At long last again, an Eddie Murphy movie has its plug in the socket.
  47. Pocahontas 1996 Imagine a cult Disney cartoon, for this may be it.
  48. Restoration 1996 What virtues the movie has are cosmetic.
  49. Ridicule 1996 Audiences will respond favorably to its overall warmth, and the motion picture academy may, too.
  50. Trainspotting 1996 ...rapid-fire youth-culture freak show: random sex, in-your-face scatology, senseless violence and rampant profanity delivered in haggis-thick brogues.
  51. Walking and Talking 1996 Comes perilously close to becoming a gab-fest treadmill.
  52. Braveheart 1995 Though lumpy and even redundant, Braveheart constantly rebounds on some bold note.
  53. The Crossing Guard 1995 though Penn doesn't always seem to know where he's going, his movie doesn't altogether miss its destination.
  54. Dead Man 1995 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.
  55. Eye For An Eye 1995 A grimly distasteful revenge thriller masquerading as serious social commentary.
  56. Four Rooms 1995 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.
  57. Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam 1995 [A] superior example of ambush journalism.
  58. A Month by the Lake 1995 Vanessa Redgrave has never been more likable on screen than in her buoyantly athletic turn here.
  59. Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead 1995 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.