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Top Critics

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

LUV 2013 Here is a film about African Americans that sidesteps all the usual, hopeful cliches and comments on how one failed generation raises another. full review
2 Days in New York 2012 Julie Delpy has particularly impressed me over the years. full review
Alps 2012 A film peculiar beyond all understanding, based on a premise that begs belief. full review
The Ambassador 2012 You can imagine how this could have become a 1950s British comedy. It is all real. full review
The American Scream 2012 We discover that the haunted house hobby has inspired a small industry, annual conventions and inspirational talks by haunters. full review
The Awakening 2012 Whatever. full review
The Babymakers 2012 Although I am aware sperm is a precious bodily fluid, I don't find it an especially funny one, and when a character spills half of the deposits in a sperm bank and then slips around on the floor like a clown on ice, I'm not laughing. full review
Bernie 2012 I had to forget what I knew about Black. He creates this character out of thin air, it's like nothing he's done before, and it proves that an actor can be a miraculous thing in the right role. full review
Brooklyn Castle 2012 Every player knows the finality when the other player sadly turns over his king, signaling surrender. We know it even better when we do it ourselves. full review
Bully 2012 We feel sympathy for the victims, and their parents or friends, but the film helplessly seems to treat bullying as a problem without a solution. full review
A Burning Hot Summer 2012 "A Burning Hot Summer" failed to persuade me of any reason for its existence. full review
Citadel 2012 This is a basic story, simply and directly told by Irish writer-director Ciaran Foy. full review
Compliance 2012 This is a well-made film, with plausible performances by all the leads, especially Ann Dowd. We feel we know people like this. full review
Cosmopolis 2012 A flawlessly directed film about enigmatic people who speak in morose epigrams about vague universal principles they show no sign of understanding. full review
Dark Horse 2012 There are times when it is dark humor, and then times when it is simply dark. But there is something more going on here, something deeper and more ... hopeful? full review
The Deep Blue Sea 2012 The film feels pity for the exhausted city of London. The vast metropolis was the scene of greatness during World War II, but a few years later, it is drab, hungry and without optimism. full review
Detropia 2012 Via beautiful cinematography, the film wanders the city, contrasting a new automaker's towers with abandoned hotels, derelict theaters, ruined houses and people walking through the snow down the middle of streets because there's no traffic. full review
The Do-Deca-Pentathlon 2012 You begin the film thinking you have a pretty good idea where it's going, and you find out not even Jeremy and Mark really know. full review
Elena 2012 Andrei Zvyagintsev's film isn't stupid or crude, and we can pretty well imagine how all the characters feel, even though it doesn't make them sympathetic. full review
Elles 2012 "Elles" has a surprisingly deep performance in a disappointingly shallow movie. full review
Fat Kid Rules the World 2012 It's a lot better than it sounds like it has any right to be. full review
The Flat 2012 A spellbinding documentary about family secrets ... full review
For Ellen 2012 This performance, unlike anything Paul Dano has ever done, must have required some courage. full review
For Greater Glory 2012 It is well-made, yes, but has such pro-Catholic tunnel vision I began to question its view of events. full review
The Forgiveness of Blood 2012 What seems missing is a good notion of how this Albanian society functions on a daily basis. Surely a family cannot live under house arrest forever? full review
The Girl from the Naked Eye 2012 It isn't a great movie, but it looks terrific and makes me look forward to the next film by its director, David Ren. full review
Girl In Progress 2012 Attention, women! You should never sleep with a man whose only attribute is that you want to sleep with him. I should write a book of my own. full review
God Bless America 2012 Here is a film that begins with merciless comic savagery and descends into merely merciless savagery. But wow, what an opening. full review
Head Games 2012 The documentary by Steve James paints a devastating picture of the long-term consequences of head injuries among pro NFL players. full review
Headhunters 2012 I knew I was being manipulated and didn't care. It was a pleasure to see how well it was being done. full review
Hick 2012 It contains some effective performances, it does a good job of evoking bereft and empty landscapes, but what is it for? Has she learned anything? Have we? full review
Holy Motors 2012 Here is a film that is exasperating, frustrating, anarchic and in a constant state of renewal. It's not tame. full review
How to Survive a Plague 2012 We grow familiar with the names and faces of many of the leaders in the movement. Some look directly into the camera and say they expect to die of the disease. Some are correct. full review
I Wish 2012 [The] film is built around performances by two real-life brothers who are as unaffected, spirited and lovable as I can imagine, and one of the pleasures of "I Wish" is simply spending time with them. full review
The Invisible War 2012 One hearing noted that the victim was dressed provocatively. In her official uniform. full review
Jiro Dreams of Sushi 2012 As a documentary about world-class sushi, this film is definitive. It runs only 81 minutes, but the subject is finite. full review
Keyhole 2012 A Maddin film has a disturbing way of always seeming to exist in the present, like a dream. You know what happened and you even know what will happen, but you also see it all shifting and changing. full review
Kill List 2012 It's baffling and goofy, blood-soaked and not boring. That it's well-made adds to the confusion; it feels like a better film than it turns out to be. full review
Last Ride 2012 As Kev, the veteran actor Weaving gives the performance of lifetime. full review
The Loneliest Planet 2012 All of this grows tiresome. full review
Monsieur Lazhar 2012 Its purpose is to present us with a situation, explore the people involved and show us a man who is dealing with his own deep hurts. full review
Nobody Else But You 2012 This one doesn't go on the list of great recent European thrillers, but it's engrossing, and in the character of Martine/Candice, it touches real poignancy. full review
Nobody Walks 2012 What we have here is a household ripe with seduction, lust, betrayal and repression, all kept below the surface by increasingly strained good manners. full review
October Baby 2012 The film as a whole is amateurish and ungainly, can't find a consistent tone, is too long, is overladen with music that tries to paraphrase the story and is photographed with too many beauty shots that slow the progress. full review
Oslo, August 31st 2012 "Oslo, August 31st" is quietly, profoundly, one of the most observant and sympathetic films I've seen. full review
The Queen of Versailles 2012 What I left with was not hatred. I disapprove of the values they represent, but I also find them fascinating and just slightly lovable. full review
Red Hook Summer 2012 Here is Lee at his most spontaneous and sincere, but he could have used another screenplay draft, and perhaps a few more transitional scenes. full review
Red Lights 2012 For its first two acts, the movie had me in its grip. Then it comes apart. full review
Safety Not Guaranteed 2012 "Safety Not Guaranteed" not only has dialogue that's about something, but characters who have some depth and dimension. full review
Seeking Justice 2012 I continue to consider Cage a gifted (if uneven) actor, but a movie like "Seeking Justice" challenges my faith. full review
Sleepwalk With Me 2012 I like this movie. More important, I like Mike Birbiglia in it. Whether he has a future in stand-up I cannot say, but he has a future as a monologist and actor. full review
The Snowtown Murders 2012 The film is a chilling study of an evil, dominant personality and his victims. full review
Take This Waltz 2012 I have great admiration for [Williams] as an actress, but this story might have been better told with a less lovable star. full review
Tales of the Night 2012 It is so gentle and whimsical that one wonders if American children, accustomed to the whiz-bang action of most animation, will accept it. full review
Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie 2012 They've gathered a cult following by doing comedy sketches that were deliberately bad, and now they've made a movie that is more of the same for 92 minutes, and it must have taken them a great deal of work to maintain their low standard. full review
Unforgivable 2012 What makes the film involving is that it doesn't depend on the mechanical resolution of the plot, but on the close observation of its effects on these distinctive characters. full review
We Have a Pope 2012 "We Have a Pope" has great heart. full review
The Woman in the Fifth 2012 When do we first sense reality slip away? Do we? Can the film be accepted on its own terms? Can the point of view be trusted? full review
The Adventures of Tintin 2011 "The Adventures of Tintin" is an ambitious and lively caper, miles smarter than your average 3-D family film. full review
Albert Nobbs 2011 This is such a brave performance by Glenn Close, who in making Albert so real, makes the character as pathetic and unlikable as she must have been in life. full review
Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey 2011 Backstage at the Muppet works, we see countless drawers filled with eyeballs, eyebrows, whiskers and wigs. It's the only world Kevin wanted to live in, and he made it. full review
Bellflower 2011 Possibly represents the debut of a one-of-a-kind filmmaker, a natural driven by wild energy, like Tarantino. full review
Buck 2011 What I was left with was the goodness of Buck Brannaman as a man. full review
Conan O'Brien Can't Stop 2011 What we are seeing is a man determined to vindicate himself after a public humiliation. People attend his shows, cheer him, like him. That proves something, doesn't it? full review
Coriolanus 2011 I admired the movie even though I found it neither fish nor fowl. full review
The Flowers of War 2011 A third of a million may be dead, but for our purposes, all depends on the survival of these young women, and the redemption of the alcoholic American. Do you get my drift? full review
A Good Old Fashioned Orgy 2011 This is a comedy without wit and soul. It strands fairly likable actors in a morass of the kind of dialogue only stupid characters ever say - and then only when reading stupid screenplays. full review
Goodbye First Love 2011 "Goodbye First Love" is fascinating. full review
The Hedgehog 2011 This a movie with such a light, stylish touch, it makes no claims to profundity and is a sweetly hopeful experience. full review
Hell and Back Again 2011 In its closing scenes, "Hell and Back Again" builds to an emotional and stylistic power that we didn't see coming. full review
House of Pleasures 2011 No one, male or female, has any fun, but the men behave as if they do. They are all half-stupefied by the languor in which they drown. full review
Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer 2011 A film that little kids might find perfectly acceptable. Little, little, little kids. full review
Keep the Lights On 2011 When you summon memories of this film, they are almost always of two men in a room, in a default state of discontent. full review
The Kid with a Bike 2011 Young Thomas Doret fills the role with natural sincerity and focus, and not a second that seems contrived. full review
The Last Rites of Joe May 2011 Joe Maggio is a sure-handed director with a good eye. full review
Like Crazy 2011 It's not a clunky rom-com; it's sweeter and more intimate. full review
Machine Gun Preacher 2011 "Machine Gun Preacher" is a combination of uplift and gritty violence, and the parts don't fit. full review
Make Believe 2011 Magicians have a saying: "The trick is told when the trick is sold. " These kids are sold on tricks. full review
Mysteries of Lisbon 2011 I got a little lost while watching "Mysteries of Lisbon" and enjoyed the experience. full review
The Names of Love 2011 What I admired was the story of these characters themselves. What an odd couple. full review
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia 2011 Ceylan doesn't slap us with big dramatic moments, but allows us to live along with his characters as things occur to them. full review
Page One: Inside the New York Times 2011 I enjoyed the film very much. It was a visceral pleasure to see a hard-boiled guy like David Carr at its center. full review
Paranormal Activity 3 2011 Inexplicably, there are people who still haven't had enough of these movies. The first was a nifty novelty. Now the appeal has worn threadbare. full review
Pina 2011 I watched the film in a sort of reverie. full review
Polisse 2011 The film's director and co-writer is Maiwenn, an actress and now third-time filmmaker, who is accomplished at following several story lines and weaving them together. full review
Revenge of the Electric Car 2011 The first film was charged with drama. "Revenge" is somewhat anticlimactically charged with a wall plug. full review
Seven Days In Utopia 2011 I would rather eat a golf ball than see this movie again. full review
Snow Flower And The Secret Fan 2011 As movies about female bonding go, "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" is thin tea. full review
Stake Land 2011 Director Jim Mickle, who co-wrote the film with his star Nick Damici, has crafted a good-looking, well-played and atmospheric apocalyptic vision. full review
Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview 2011 It's a tribute to the singular popularity of Steve Jobs that he's probably the only talking head people would pay to watch for more than an hour. full review
Surviving Progress 2011 It's self-evident and tells the truth. full review
This Must Be The Place 2011 Although "This Must Be the Place" holds our attention, it's a little difficult to say where it's headed. full review
Trishna 2011 Winterbottom is a director who never repeats himself, films all over the world, and in "Trishna," effortlessly embeds his story in modern India. full review
Undefeated 2011 "Undefeated" is an emotional and effective film, and I'm happy for it. full review
You've Been Trumped 2011 I imagine Trump's idea of beauty is the antiseptic tackiness of the tinfoil towers he erects around the world. full review
Young Goethe In Love 2011 "Young Goethe in Love" is a delight on its own terms, even if it has little to do with the real Goethe; here is a randy young man not a million miles apart from Tom Jones. full review
All Good Things 2010 Kirsten Dunst is so good here as a woman at a loss to understand who her husband really is, and what the true nature of his family involves. full review
The Big Uneasy 2010 "The Big Uneasy" lacks the dramatic impact and artistic imagination of many recent docs about environmental issues. full review
Bill Cunningham New York 2010 Here is a movie about a happy and nice man. full review
Biutiful 2010 What drew me into the film and engaged my sympathy was the presence of Bardem himself. full review
Blood Done Sign My Name 2010 No fancy footwork. No chewing the scenery. Meat and potatoes, you could say, but it's thoughtful and moving. full review
Blue Valentine 2010 Derek Cianfrance, the film's writer and director, observes with great exactitude the birth and decay of a relationship. This film is alive in its details. full review
Casino Jack 2010 It is Spacey's performance that contains most of the movie's mystery; although Abramoff's actions left little room for justification, in Spacey's performance, there is some. full review
Cave of Forgotten Dreams 2010 To the degree that it's possible for us to walk behind Herzog into that cave, we do so. full review
Centurion 2010 Most of the characters are so characterless that you can't tell who they are when they get impaled or beheaded, and you can't remember who they used to be after they're dispatched. Not that it matters. full review
Cold Weather 2010 Cold Weather is good in so many subtle ways, I despair of doing them justice. full review
The Conspirator 2010 You have to give credit to Redford, Wright and McAvoy, and the other filmmakers. Not many films this smart can be made. full review
Elena Undone 2010 full review
Exit Through The Gift Shop 2010 The widespread speculation that Exit Through the Gift Shop is a hoax only adds to its fascination. full review
The Extra Man 2010 The movie aggressively pushes its whimsicality to the point where it feels less whimsical than just aggressive. full review
Four Lions 2010 It's an exceedingly dark comedy, a wicked satire, a thriller where the thrills center on the incompetence of the villains. It's fueled by both merriment and anger. full review
Henry's Crime 2010 What's needed is someone nervous to play Henry. A Steve Buscemi, for example. Reeves maintains a sort of Zen detachment. full review
Howl 2010 The bold, outspoken man of later days is seen here as still a middle-class youth, uncertain of his gayness, filled with the heady joy of early poetic success, learning how to be himself. full review
I Am Love 2010 Tilda Swinton is a daring actress who doesn't project emotions so much as embody them. I Am Love provides an ideal role for her, in that her actions speak instead of words. full review
Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work 2010 She remains one of the funniest, dirtiest, most daring and transgressive of stand-up comics, and she hasn't missed a beat. full review
The King's Speech 2010 If the British monarchy is good for nothing else, it's superb at producing the subjects of films. full review
A Little Help 2010 It's manipulative, yes, but clever and persuasive in its manipulations. full review
Monsters 2010 "Monsters" is a rather special achievement. Think of it as a movie that M. Night Shyamalan (and we) would be happy he made. full review
Mugabe and the White African 2010 In a continent where despotic rule is not uncommon, there is little argument that Mugabe is the most monstrous of rulers. full review
Night Catches Us 2010 The film leads to no showy conclusion, no spectacular climax. It is about movement possible within the soul even in difficult times. full review
Nowhere Boy 2010 We reflect that even if all you need is love, that isn't always all you get. full review
Rabbit Hole 2010 The film is in a better state of mind than its characters. Its humor comes, as the best humor does, from an acute observation of human nature. We have known people something like this. We smile in recognition. full review
Restrepo 2010 This is hard, hard duty. A 15-month tour. Our admiration for these men grows. Their jobs seem beyond conceiving. I cannot imagine a civilian thinking he could perform them. full review
Senna 2010 "Senna" is a documentary that does the job it sets out to do. I wish it had tried for more. full review
The Tempest 2010 These gifted actors sometimes seem to be saying the words as someone with a chain-saw cuts firewood in the next room. full review
Tiny Furniture 2010 If you're working with your own family in your own house and depicting passive aggression, selfishness and discontent and you produce a film this good, you can direct just about anybody in just about anything. full review
Today's Special 2010 I love cooking and I love Indian food, and so I had a good time during "Today's Special." full review
Vidal Sassoon: The Movie 2010 "Vidal Sassoon: The Movie" might as well be titled "Vidal Sassoon: The Infomercial" for all of the distance it maintains from its subject. full review
Waste Land 2010 I do not mean to make their lives seem easy or pleasant. It is miserable work, even after they grow accustomed to the smell. But it is useful work, and I have been thinking much about the happiness to be found by work that is honest and valuable. full review
The Whistleblower 2010 These cases rarely seem to result in change, and the stories continue. We can only guess what may be going unreported. "The Whistleblower" offers chilling evidence of why that seems to be so. full review
Amreeka 2009 Does it occur to xenophobic Americans that almost all immigrants, like their own ancestors, came here because they admire the United States? Someone please explain that to Lou Dobbs. full review
The Art Of The Steal 2009 What is finally clear: It doesn't matter a damn what your will says if you have $25 billion, and politicians and the establishment want it. full review
Blood: The Last Vampire 2009 This isn't a great movie. But it's sincere as an entertainment, it looks good, it's atmospheric. full review
The Boys Are Back 2009 The film seems to regard Joe with affection, and Owen certainly portrays him as a nice man. But why are his unformed theories about bringing up Artie supposed to fill us with affection and sentiment? full review
Collapse 2009 There is controversy over Ruppert, and he has many critics. But one simple fact at the center of his argument is obviously true, and it terrifies me. full review
Creation 2009 Jon Amiel, the film's director, tells his story with respect and some restraint, showing how sad and weakened Charles is and yet not ratcheting up his grief into unseemly melodrama. full review
Crossing Over 2009 Crossing Over seems to strain, with too many characters, too many story strands and too much of an effort to cover the bases. full review
The Eclipse 2009 The supernatural never seems far out of sight in Ireland, and it creeps in here and there during The Eclipse, a dark romance set at a literary festival in the County Cork cathedral town of Cobh. I'm not sure it's required, but it does little harm. full review
Fish Tank 2009 Arnold sees everything through Mia's eyes and never steps outside to explain things from any other point of view. She knows who the young girl is, and we are left to assume. full review
The Good Guy 2009 It has smart characters, and is wise about the ones who try to tame their intelligence by acting out. full review
The Good Heart 2009 I will not -- I must not -- tell you what happens at the end of this movie, except to say I was stupefied that anyone in modern times (i.e., since 1910) would have the gall to sell such cornball at retail. full review
Harmony and Me 2009 Austin, Texas, has never looked more unlovely, and its residents more clueless, than in Harmony and Me, a funny, wry mumblecore comedy by Bob Byington. full review
The House of the Devil 2009 The film may provide an introduction for some audience members to the Hitchcockian definition of suspense: It's the anticipation, not the happening, that's the fun. full review
Hunger 2009 Hunger is not about the rights and wrongs of the British in Northern Ireland, but about inhumane prison conditions, the steeled determination of IRA members like Bobby Sands, and a rock and a hard place. full review
I Hate Valentine's Day 2009 The movie is set up as a valentine to Vardalos. She should try sending herself flowers. full review
Inspector Bellamy 2009 If you, like me, are a lover of Simenon's Inspector Maigret, you will find his nature embodied here in the performance of Gerard Depardieu. If you are not, get your hands on a Maigret novel and thank me for the rest of your life. full review
Last Train Home 2009 Last Train Home suggests that the times they are a-changin'. The rulers of China may someday regret that they distributed the works of Marx so generously. full review
The Limits of Control 2009 [Jarmusch] is making some kind of a point. I think the point is that if you strip a story down to its bare essentials, you will have very little left. I wonder how he pitched this idea to his investors. full review
The Perfect Game 2009 You sort of know how these underdog sports movies turn out. Doesn't matter. The Perfect Game so expertly uses the charisma and personalities of the actors, especially the young ones, that it's thrilling anyway. full review
The Secret of Kells 2009 I think it will appeal to children young enough to be untutored in boredom, and to anyone old enough to be drawn in, or to appreciate the artistry. full review
A Shine of Rainbows 2009 Hey, what's not to like about cute orphans, baby seals, sweet moms and gruff dads with hearts of gold? And rainbows? If your heart is going thumpety-thump at such a prospect, here is the movie for you. full review
Soul Kitchen 2009 It's silly, but it feels pretty good. full review
Survival of the Dead 2009 After you've seen, oh, I dunno, 20 or 30 zombie movies, you sort of stop caring very much, unless something new is going on, as in Zombieland. full review
Vincere 2009 The film is beautifully well-mounted. The locations, the sets, the costumes, everything conspire to re-create the Rome of that time. It provides a counterpoint to the usual caricature of Mussolini. full review
Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen 2009 Trotta ... makes a choice to view Hildegard's life in its externals and reveal few of the thoughts behind her sometimes forbidding facade. We never know what she's thinking. That's tantalizing. full review
What's the Matter with Kansas? 2009 Every single person in this film is seen as themselves, is allowed to speak and seems to have a good heart. I've rarely seen a documentary quite like it. It has a point to make but no ax to grind. full review
White Material 2009 This is a beautiful, puzzling film. The enigmatic quality of Huppert's performance draws us in. full review
American Violet 2008 A docudrama that may have an outcome we already know, but is a loud lesson about truth, justice and the Texas Way. full review
Constantine's Sword 2008 But I ramble. So does the movie, in an insidiously fascinating way. full review
Diminished Capacity 2008 A mild pleasure from one end to the other, but not much more. full review
Disgrace 2008 I awaited the closing scenes of Disgrace with a special urgency, because the story had gripped me deeply but left me with no idea how it would end. None -- and I really cared. full review
Elegy 2008 It's nicely done. full review
Happy-Go-Lucky 2008 Sally Hawkins been in movies before, including Leigh's "Vera Drake" and Woody Allen's "Cassandra's Dream," but this is her star-making role. She was named best actress at Berlin 2008. I will deliberately employ a cliche: She is a joy to behold. full review
I.O.U.S.A. 2008 Here's the bottom line, kids. The United States is probably going to go broke during your lifetimes. full review
Let the Right One In 2008 Remove the vampire elements, and this is the story of two lonely and desperate kids capable of performing dark deeds without apparent emotion. full review
Man on Wire 2008 Constructed like a first-rate thriller. full review
Passing Strange 2008 I can't single out a performance. This is a superb ensemble, conveying that joy actors feel when hey know they're good in good material. full review
Play The Game 2008 It's The Andy Griffith Show meets Seinfeld in the sack in Play the Game, which shows Andy is not too old to star in a sex comedy, I guess. full review
Shrink 2008 [Spacey's] good, but the film doesn't find an emotional center, and we're left with actors acting out. full review
The Square 2008 The Square moves with implacable logic toward catastrophe, as its desperate heroes try to squirm out of a tightening noose. full review
Theater of War 2008 All of this makes an interesting, if not gripping, film about the play, the playwright and the lead-up work to a stage production. It also leaves me wanting a great deal more. full review
Unmistaken Child 2008 [Director] Baratz doesn't ask any of the obvious questions, preferring to observe uncritically, and if you can do the same, you may find Unmistaken Child worth seeing. I could not, and grew restless. full review
We Live in Public 2008 This is a remarkable film about a strange and prophetic man. What does it tell us? Did living a virtual life destroy him? full review
The Yellow Handkerchief 2008 You don't need an original story for a movie. You need original characters and living dialogue. full review
The Yes Men Fix the World 2008 The film is entertaining in its own right, and thought-provoking. Why don't more people quickly see through their hoaxes? full review
Before the Rains 2007 I can't quite recommend it. full review
Black Snake Moan 2007 I love the way that both Samuel Jackson and Christina Ricci take chances like this, and the way that Brewer creates characters of unbelievable forbearance. full review
Broken English 2007 Broken English establishes a sympathetic character, gets Parker Posey to make her real, and then grinds her in the gears of a plot we cannot believe. full review
Encounters at the End of the World 2007 A poem of oddness and beauty. Herzog is like no other filmmaker, and to return to him is to be welcomed into a world vastly larger and more peculiar than the one around us. The underwater photography alone would make a film, but there is so much more. full review
Evening 2007 There are few things more depressing than a weeper that doesn't make you weep. Evening creeps through its dolorous paces as prudently as an undertaker. full review
Hot Rod 2007 It's funny pretty much all the way through, even in the final showdown between Rod and his stepdad. I have seen countless movie fights that stagger the imagination, but this one goes over the top and comes down on the other side. full review
Lars and the Real Girl 2007 Only after the movie is over do you realize what a balancing act it was, what risks it took, what rewards it contains. full review
Munyurangabo 2007 It is in every frame a beautiful and powerful film -- a masterpiece. full review
No End in Sight 2007 Remember the scene in A Clockwork Orange where Alex has his eyes clamped open and is forced to watch a movie? I imagine a similar experience for the architects of our catastrophe in Iraq. I would like them to see No End in Sight. full review
Outsourced 2007 It is a film bursting with affection for its characters and for India. It never pushes things too far, never stoops to cheap plotting, is about people learning to really see one another. It has a fundamental sweetness and innocence. full review
The Rape of Europa 2007 A startling documentary. full review
Sangre De Mi Sangre 2007 Stumbles through a maddening screenplay but nevertheless generates true emotional energy. full review
Shotgun Stories 2007 Few films are so observant about how we relate with one another. Few are as sympathetic. full review
Cashback 2006 The movie is lightweight, as it should be. It doesn't get all supercharged. Ben and Sharon, despite setbacks, are delighted to be admired by such wonderful partners, and we are happy for them. full review
Fay Grim 2006 Fay Grim is tortured in its attempt at cleverness, and plays endlessly. full review
An Inconvenient Truth 2006 In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to. full review
Lady Chatterley 2006 All of the qualities its admirers see in the film are indeed there, and visible, but I was not much moved. Lawrence wrote much better novels that inspired much better movies... full review
Sixty Six 2006 The story line sounds plain and simple, but the movie is enlightened by Bernie's impassioned narration and by a gallery of small comic details. full review
Slither 2006 There is some humor in the plot, effective action and scenes that entertain us because of how stupidly the characters behave. full review
This Is England 2006 The movie is taut, tense, relentless. It shows why Shaun feels he needs to belong to a gang, what he gets out of it and how it goes wrong. Without saying so, it also explains why skinheads are skinheads. full review
Brick 2005 This movie leaves me looking forward to the director's next film; we can say of Rian Johnson, as somebody once said about a dame named Brigid O'Shaughnessy, 'You're good. You're very good.' full review
Brokeback Mountain 2005 The filmmakers have focused so intently and with such feeling on Jack and Ennis that the movie is as observant as work by Bergman. full review
Coach Carter 2005 It's not only a sports movie with the usual big games and important shots, but also a coach movie, with inspiring locker room speeches and difficult moral decisions. full review
The Constant Gardener 2005 This is one of the year's best films. full review
Lonesome Jim 2005 [Strouse] has written a forlorn and poetic story, and Buscemi has made it into a movie about taking a deep breath and deciding to stop being a mope. full review
The Longest Yard 2005 The Longest Yard more or less achieves what most of the people attending it will expect. full review
Nine Lives 2005 The greatest short story writers, like William Trevor and Alice Munro, can awe us; their stories are short but not small. Here Rodrigo Garcia does the same thing. full review
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan 2005 Creates a portrait that is deep, sympathetic, perceptive and yet finally leaves Dylan shrouded in mystery, which is where he properly lives. full review
Sahara 2005 I enjoyed this movie on its own dumb level, which must mean (I am forced to conclude) in my own dumb way. full review
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days 2005 The sentence against her is carried out with startling promptness; because of the movie's title, we are not surprised, but we are jolted. full review
The World's Fastest Indian 2005 The World's Fastest Indian is a movie about an old coot and his motorcycle, yes, but it is also about a kind of heroism that has gone out of style. full review
Big Fish 2004 There is no denying that Will has a point: The old man is a blowhard. There is a point at which his stories stop working as entertainment and segue into sadism. full review
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind 2004 Despite jumping through the deliberately disorienting hoops of its story, Eternal Sunshine has an emotional center, and that's what makes it work. full review
The Forgotten 2004 The movie begins with a premise: A mother remembers her lost son, and everyone she trusts tells her she only imagines she had a son. That's a great story idea. But it's all downhill from there. full review
Little Black Book 2004 We assume this is going to be a routine career-girl comedy, and we're surprised when it moves deeper into its subject until finally it's a satirical comedy about television that invades some of the same territory as Network or Broadcast News full review
Vera Drake 2004 A film of pitch-perfect, seemingly effortless performances. full review
Word Wars 2004 Compellingly watchable. full review
21 Grams 2003 It grips us, moves us, astonishes us. full review
Bad Boys II 2003 Everybody involved in this project needs to do some community service. full review
Daddy Day Care 2003 A film so wrong-headed audiences will be more appalled than amused. full review
Gigli 2003 I wonder what would happen if you sweated 15 minutes out of this movie. Maybe it would work. The materials are there. full review
The Good Thief 2003 Whether or not Nolte topped up every day on the set, it is clear that he was born to play Bob. full review
Hollywood Homicide 2003 One of the pleasures of Hollywood Homicide is that it's more interested in its two goofy cops than in the murder plot; their dialogue redeems otherwise standard scenes. full review
Identity 2003 The director, James Mangold, and the writer, Michael Cooney, play fair, sort of, and once you understand their thinking you can trace back through the movie and see that they never cheated, exactly. full review
In the Cut 2003 All of this is well done, and yet the movie is kind of a shambles. The key supporting characters are awkwardly used, as if the movie thinks it ought to have them but doesn't know why. full review
The Machinist 2003 The director Brad Anderson, working from a screenplay by Scott Kosar, wants to convey a state of mind, and he and Bale do that with disturbing effectiveness. full review
Once Upon a Time in Mexico 2003 I understood the general outlines of the story, I liked the bold strokes he uses to create the characters, and I was amused by the camera work, which includes a lot of shots that are about themselves. full review
Primer 2003 It is maddening, fascinating and completely successful. full review
Radio 2003 Every once in a while human nature expresses itself in a way we can feel good about, and this is one of those times. full review
S.W.A.T. 2003 A well-made police thriller. full review
Something's Gotta Give 2003 [Keaton and Nicholson] bring so much experience, knowledge and humor to their characters that the film works in ways the screenplay might not have even hoped for. full review
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress 2002 The elements in the story push all the right buttons, but the buttons don't seem to be wired to anything. full review
Bloody Sunday 2002 As an act of filmmaking, it is superb: A sense of immediate and present reality permeates every scene. full review
Bowling for Columbine 2002 A documentary that is both hilarious and sorrowful. full review
Bukowski: Born into This 2002 How much was legend, how much was pose, how much was real? I think it was all real, and the documentary suggests as much. full review
Changing Lanes 2002 This is one of the best movies of the year. full review
Equilibrium 2002 It doesn't do a lot of deep thinking, but unlike many futuristic combos of sf and f/x, it does make a statement: Freedom of opinion is a threat to totalitarian systems. full review
Igby Goes Down 2002 Because the genre is well established, what makes the movie fresh is smart writing, skewed characters, and the title performance by Kieran Culkin. full review
Irreversible 2002 The reverse chronology makes Irreversible a film that structurally argues against rape and violence, while ordinary chronology would lead us down a seductive narrative path toward a shocking, exploitative payoff. full review
Lost in La Mancha 2002 Some films end with a whimper; this one banged into a stone wall. full review
The Master of Disguise 2002 The movie is a desperate miscalculation. It gives poor Dana Carvey nothing to do that is really funny, and then expects us to laugh because he acts so goofy all the time. full review
The New Guy 2002 It makes little sense, fails as often as it succeeds, and yet is not hateful and is sometimes quite cheerfully original. full review
Paid in Full 2002 The movie is ambitious, has good energy and is well-acted, but tells a familiar story in a familiar way. full review
The Pianist 2002 This is not a thriller, and avoids any temptation to crank up suspense or sentiment; it is the pianist's witness to what he saw and what happened to him. full review
Punch-Drunk Love 2002 The film is exhilarating to watch because Sandler, liberated from the constraints of formula, reveals unexpected depths as an actor. full review
Rollerball 2002 An incoherent mess, a jumble of footage in search of plot, meaning, rhythm and sense. full review
The Rules of Attraction 2002 There is no entry portal in The Rules of Attraction, and I spent most of the movie feeling depressed by the shallow, selfish, greedy characters. full review
Secret Things 2002 The film is well made, well acted, cleverly written, photographed by Wilfrid Sempe as if he's a conspirer with the sexual schemers. full review
Sex Is Comedy 2002 Sex Is Comedy is not sure what it's really about, or how to get there. full review
Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams 2002 With Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, the Spy Kids franchise establishes itself as a durable part of the movie landscape: a James Bond series for kids. full review
Star Trek - Nemesis 2002 Star Trek was kind of terrific once, but now it is a copy of a copy of a copy. full review
Stuart Little 2 2002 Yes, reader, I enjoyed the movie, in its innocent way. full review
The Trials of Henry Kissinger 2002 Fascinating to watch as a portrait of political celebrity and ego. full review
XX/XY 2002 The film has a rare insight into the mechanism by which some men would rather pursue happiness than obtain it. full review
XXX 2002 In its own punk way, XXX is as good as a good Bond movie, and that's saying something. full review
Black Hawk Down 2001 Films like this are more useful than gung-ho capers like Behind Enemy Lines. They help audiences understand and sympathize with the actual experiences of combat troops, instead of trivializing them into entertainments. full review
America's Sweethearts 2001 America's Sweethearts recycles Singin' in the Rain but lacks the sassy genius of that 1952 musical. full review
Atlantis - The Lost Empire 2001 It's like "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" set free by animation to look the way it dreamed of looking. full review
Baran 2001 Baran is the latest in a flowering of good films from Iran, and gives voice to the moderates there. It shows people existing and growing in the cracks of their society's inflexible walls. full review
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back 2001 Kevin Smith's movies are either made specifically for you, or specifically not made for you. If you read this review without a smile or a nod of recognition, I would recommend Rush Hour 2, which is for everybody or nobody, you tell me. full review
Lagaan - Once Upon a Time in India 2001 An enormously entertaining movie, like nothing we've ever seen before, and yet completely familiar. full review
Love the Hard Way 2001 As character studies of Jack and Claire, it is daring and inventive, and worthy of comparison with the films of a French master of criminal psychology like Jean-Pierre Melville. full review
Manic 2001 At the end of Manic I'd seen nothing really new, and the camera style made me work hard to see it at all. full review
The Musketeer 2001 A jumble of action and motivation, ill-defined characters and action howlers. full review
No Such Thing 2001 Inexplicable, shapeless, dull. full review
Pootie Tang 2001 Not bad so much as inexplicable. You watch in puzzlement. full review
Sexy Beast 2001 I didn't know Kingsley had such notes inside him. Obviously, he can play anyone. full review
Shaolin Soccer 2001 It is piffle, yes, but superior piffle. full review
Tape 2001 Tape made me believe that its events could happen to real people more or less as they appear on the screen, and that is its most difficult accomplishment. full review
Lara Croft - Tomb Raider 2001 Here is a movie so monumentally silly, yet so wondrous to look at, that only a churl could find fault. full review
Tomcats 2001 A comedy positioned outside the normal range of human response. full review
Waking Up in Reno 2001 Nothing in Waking Up in Reno ever inspired me to think of its inhabitants as anything more than markers in a screenplay. full review
Wet Hot American Summer 2001 I want to escape, / Oh, Muddah Faddah-- / Life's too short for cinematic torture. full review
Gossip 2000 Gossip stays in the game until the bottom of the ninth and then blows it. full review
The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle 2000 There's a word for this movie, and that word is: jolly. full review
Beautiful Creatures 2000 A movie about two of the most loathsome women in recent cinema, and the movie thinks the male characters are the villains. full review
Billy Elliot 2000 Julie Walters ... is spirited and colorful as the ballet teacher, and Gary Lewis is somehow convincing as the dad even when the screenplay requires him to make big offscreen swings of position. full review
Bread and Tulips 2000 Maglietta is the secret of this film's romantic charm, because we like her so much. full review
Dark Days 2000 full review
Gangster No. 1 2000 The film has a kind of hard, cold effect. full review
The Gift 2000 The movie is ingenious in its plotting, colorful in its characters, taut in its direction and fortunate in possessing Cate Blanchett. full review
Happy Accidents 2000 The actors make it fun to watch. full review
Live Nude Girls Unite! 2000 full review
The Man Who Cried 2000 If [Potter] personally, in her 40s, can go to Argentina and become a tango dancer, then we can't complain about anything that happens to Suzie. Not that we'd want to. full review
Memento 2000 A diabolical and absorbing experience. full review
Merci Pour le Chocolat 2000 Huppert has the best poker face since Buster Keaton. She faces the camera with detached regard, inviting us to imagine what she is thinking. full review
Mission: Impossible 2 2000 full review
The Original Kings of Comedy 2000 Harvey is a master of timing and tone. full review
Our Song 2000 Has the courage to work without a net, aware that when you're a teenager, your life is not a story so much as a million possible stories. full review
Quills 2000 Kaufman ... finds a tone that remains more entertaining than depressing, more absorbing than alarming. full review
Scary Movie 2000 To get your money's worth, you need to be familiar with the various teenage horror franchises, and if you are, Scary Movie delivers the goods. full review
Shaft 2000 Is this a good movie? Not exactly; too much of it is on automatic pilot, as it must be, to satisfy the fans of the original Shaft. full review
The Taste of Others 2000 One of the delights of The Taste of Others is that it is so smart and wears its intelligence lightly. full review
But I'm A Cheerleader 1999 full review
eXistenZ 1999 The Matrix is mainstream sci-fi, but eXistenZ, written by Cronenberg, is much stranger; it creates a world where organic and inorganic are not separate states, but kind of chummy. full review
For Love of the Game 1999 Thinking back through the movie, I cannot recall a single thing either character said that was worth hearing in its own right, apart from the requirements of the plot. full review
The General's Daughter 1999 The General's Daughter is a well-made thriller with a lot of good acting. full review
An Ideal Husband 1999 An Ideal Husband works because Wilde created an expert mechanism (kind of slow-motion serious screwball comedy) for manipulating the plot and characters. full review
Joe the King 1999 full review
Kadosh 1999 full review
A Midsummer Night's Dream 1999 Gentle and lighthearted! full review
The Muse 1999 Smart, funny -- and edgy. full review
My Life so Far 1999 full review
October Sky 1999 This movie has deep values. full review
Plunkett & Macleane 1999 full review
Ride with the Devil 1999 A film that would inspire useful discussion in a history class, but for ordinary moviegoers, it's slow and forbidding. full review
Runaway Bride 1999 After seeing Gere and Roberts play much smarter people, it is painful to see them dumbed down here. full review
She's All That 1999 She's All That is not a great movie, but it has its moments. full review
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut 1999 The year's most slashing political commentary is not in the new films by Oliver Stone, David Lynch or John Sayles, but in an animated comedy about obscenity. full review
Teaching Mrs. Tingle 1999 There is nothing funny about the situation in Teaching Mrs. Tingle. full review
Waking the Dead 1999 When we invest emotional capital, we deserve a payoff. full review
A Walk on the Moon 1999 full review
Another Day In Paradise 1998 There's not much new here, but then there's so rarely something new at the movies that we're sometimes grateful to see the familiar done well. full review
Clay Pigeons 1998 Within Clay Pigeons is a smaller story that might have involved us more, but it's buried by overkill. full review
Disturbing Behavior 1998 full review
Godzilla 1998 full review
High Art 1998 full review
The Impostors 1998 full review
Kurt & Courtney 1998 full review
Little Voice 1998 full review
The Mask of Zorro 1998 The Mask of Zorro has something you don't often see in modern action pictures: a sense of honor. full review
Mercury Rising 1998 full review
A Night at the Roxbury 1998 A Night at the Roxbury probably never had a shot at being funny anyway, but I don't think it planned to be pathetic. It's the first comedy I've attended where you feel that to laugh would be cruel to the characters. full review
Nightwatch 1998 full review
Pi 1998 The seductive thing about Aronofsky's film is that it is halfway plausible in terms of modern physics and math. full review
Primary Colors 1998 The movie is endlessly inventive and involving. full review
Psycho 1998 The movie is an invaluable experiment in the theory of cinema, because it demonstrates that a shot-by-shot remake is pointless; genius apparently resides between or beneath the shots, or in chemistry that cannot be timed or counted. full review
The Red Violin (Le violon rouge) 1998 full review
Return to Paradise 1998 Like Sheriff and Tony, we're pulled both ways by the story: We want them to go back and save Lewis, but we're not exactly sure we'd do the same. That's the Prisoner's Dilemma in a nutshell. full review
The Rugrats Movie 1998 Is it bright, colorful and fast-moving? Yes. Is it for me? No. full review
Shakespeare in Love 1998 I was carried along by the wit, the energy and a surprising sweetness. full review
Slums of Beverly Hills 1998 Basically I enjoyed Slums of Beverly Hills -- for the wisecracking, for the family squabbles, for the notion of squatters who stake a claim in a Beverly Hills where money, after all, is not the only currency. full review
Velvet Goldmine 1998 full review
Very Bad Things 1998 Peter Berg's Very Bad Things isn't a bad movie, just a reprehensible one. full review
What Dreams May Come 1998 `What Dreams May Come' is so breathtaking, so beautiful, so bold in its imagination! full review
8 Heads in a Duffel Bag 1997 full review
Anaconda 1997 It's a slick, scary, funny Creature Feature, beautifully photographed and splendidly acted in high adventure style. full review
The Apostle 1997 full review
As Good As It Gets 1997 The movie succeeds at many moments even while pursuing its doomed grand design. full review
Breakdown 1997 Taut, skillful and surgically effective. full review
Chasing Amy 1997 While the surface of his film sparkles with sharp, ironic dialogue, deeper issues are forming, and Chasing Amy develops into a film of touching insights. full review
Cop Land 1997 A movie with such a promising concept, so poorly executed, that it begs to be remade. full review
The Devil's Own 1997 full review
Eve's Bayou 1997 For the viewer, it is a reminder that sometimes films can venture into the realms of poetry and dreams. full review
Face/Off 1997 You see what thickets this plot constructs; it's as if Travolta adds the spin courtesy of Cage's personality, while Cage mellows in the direction of Travolta. full review
The Frighteners 1997 Incredible, the amount of work that went into ``The Frighteners.'' And appalling. full review
Good Will Hunting 1997 The outcome of the movie is fairly predictable; so is the whole story, really. It's the individual moments, not the payoff, that make it so effective. full review
Gridlock'd 1997 This is grim material, but surprisingly entertaining, and it is more cause to mourn the recent death of Shakur, who gives his best performance as Spoon, a musician who wants to get off drugs. full review
Home Alone 3 1997 full review
Hoodlum 1997 full review
The House of Yes 1997 When the film was over I was not particularly pleased that I had seen it; it was mostly behavior and contrivance. While it was running, I was not bored. full review
Jackie Brown 1997 This is the movie that proves Tarantino is the real thing, and not just a two-film wonder boy. full review
Liar Liar 1997 I am gradually developing a suspicion, or perhaps it is a fear, that Jim Carrey is growing on me. full review
Mimic 1997 full review
Mrs. Brown 1997 full review
The Peacemaker 1997 full review
Private Parts 1997 Stern and Quivers are both making their screen acting debuts here, and they do what seasoned actors claim is very difficult: They play convincing, engaging versions of themselves. full review
Red Corner 1997 full review
She's So Lovely 1997 full review
Switchback 1997 full review
Trekkies 1997 full review
Welcome to Sarajevo 1997 Too often we sense that the actors are drifting and the story is at sea. full review
The Wings of the Dove 1997 full review
Year of the Horse: Neil Young & Crazy Horse Live 1997 Plays like This Is Spinal Tap made from anti-matter. Both films are about aging rockers, but Year of the Horse removes the humor and energy. full review
Michael Collins 1996 Collins, who died at 31, was arguably the key figure in the struggles that led to the separation of Ireland and Britain. He was also, on the basis of this film, a man able to use violence without becoming intoxicated by it. full review
101 Dalmatians 1996 full review
Albino Alligator 1996 full review
Basquiat 1996 full review
Beautiful Girls 1996 What's nicest about the film is the way it treasures the good feelings people can have for one another. full review
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America 1996 Those who deplore Beavis and Butt-Head are confusing the messengers with the message. full review
Big Night 1996 By the end of the movie, we have been through an emotional and a sensual wringer, in a film of great wisdom and delight. full review
Bottle Rocket 1996 I can't recommend the film -- it's too unwound and indulgent -- but I have a certain affection for it, and I'm looking forward to whatever Anderson and the Wilsons do next. full review
Brassed Off 1996 "Brassed Off'' is a sweet film with a lot of anger at its core. full review
Citizen Ruth 1996 full review
Curdled 1996 full review
The First Wives Club 1996 full review
Flirting With Disaster 1996 full review
Happy Gilmore 1996 The Happy Gilmore character is strange. I guess we are supposed to like him. full review
James and the Giant Peach 1996 It will, I think, entertain kids for whom stop-motion animation is the last thing they're thinking about. full review
Jingle All the Way 1996 I liked a lot of the movie, which is genial and has a lot of energy, but I was sort of depressed by its relentlessly materialistic view of Christmas, and by the choice to go with action and (mild) violence over dialogue and plot. full review
Jude 1996 Winterbottom is angry, clear-headed, and with a sure visual sense. full review
Love Serenade 1996 full review
The Nutty Professor 1996 The movie succeeds in two different ways: It's sweet and good-hearted, and then again it's raucous slapstick and bathroom humor. full review
The Pallbearer 1996 full review
A Perfect Candidate 1996 Personalities are being sold, not parties or philosophies, and A Perfect Candidate makes that process even more interesting because one candidate, Robb, apparently has no personality at all, while the other, North, has two. full review
Pocahontas 1996 Pocahontas is the best-looking of the modern Disney animated features, and one of the more thoughtful: It is about real issues, even if it treats them with naive idealism. full review
Restoration 1996 Restoration avoids the pitfalls of pious historical reconstructions and plunges right into the cauldron. full review
Ridicule 1996 full review
Scream 1996 I liked it. I liked the in-jokes and the self-aware characters. At the same time, I was aware of the incredible level of gore in this film. full review
Sgt. Bilko 1996 One of the pleasures of the movie is all the little jokes hidden in the corners. full review
Sling Blade 1996 If there were the slightest justice and curiosity in the Academy Award process, Thornton's work here would get a nomination. full review
The Substitute 1996 The title changes, the actors change, and the superficial details of the story change, but it is always about exactly the same thing: heavily armed men shooting at one another. full review
Trainspotting 1996 The movie has been attacked as pro-drug and defended as anti-drug, but actually it is simply pragmatic. It knows that addiction leads to an unmanageable, exhausting, intensely uncomfortable daily routine, and it knows that only two things make it bearable full review
Trees Lounge 1996 full review
Unhook the Stars 1996 full review
Walking and Talking 1996 full review
Bad Boys 1995 This movie is so good-looking it deserves a decent screenplay, instead of one more lope down memory lane. full review
Braveheart 1995 An action epic with the spirit of the Hollywood swordplay classics and the grungy ferocity of The Road Warrior. full review
Butterfly Kiss 1995 full review
Clueless 1995 The movie is aimed at teenagers, but like all good comedies, it will appeal to anyone who has a sense of humor and an ear for the ironic. full review
The Crossing Guard 1995 full review
Cry, the Beloved Country 1995 full review
Dead Man 1995 full review
The Doom Generation 1995 This is the kind of movie where the filmmaker hopes to shock you with sickening carnage and violent amorality, while at the same time holding himself carefully aloof from it with his style. full review
Eye For An Eye 1995 This movie is intellectually corrupt because it deliberately avoids dealing with the issues it raises. full review
Fallen Angels 1995 I felt transported back to the 1960s films of Jean-Luc Godard. I was watching a film that was not afraid of its audience. full review
Four Rooms 1995 The four segments are widely different in quality. On the useful scale of the Michelin guides, one is worth a trip, another is worth a detour, and the other two are a colossal waste of bandwidth. full review
Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam 1995 full review
Leaving Las Vegas 1995 Cage, a resourceful and daring actor, has never been better. full review
A Month by the Lake 1995 full review
Picture Bride 1995 full review
Smoke 1995 full review
Species 1995 full review
Sudden Death 1995 Sudden Death isn't about common sense. It's about the manipulation of action and special-effects sequences to create a thriller effect, and at that it's pretty good. full review
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead 1995 full review
Tommy Boy 1995 The movie is an assembly of cliches and obligatory scenes from dozens of other movies, all its better. full review
Unzipped 1995 full review
Black Beauty 1994 full review
The Scout 1994 Rarely does a movie start high and go downhill so fast. It's as if the filmmakers progressively lost their nerve with every additional scene. full review
Bad Girls 1994 full review
Blue Chips 1994 What Friedkin brings to the story is a tone that feels completely accurate; the movie is a morality play, told in the realistic, sometimes cynical terms of modern high-pressure college sports. full review
Clerks 1994 Clerks is so utterly authentic that its heroes have never heard of their generation. full review
The Crow 1994 It is a stunning work of visual style - the best version of a comic book universe I've seen - and Brandon Lee clearly demonstrates in it that he might have become an action star, had he lived. full review
Fresh 1994 full review
Greedy 1994 full review
Heavenly Creatures 1994 What makes Jackson's film enthralling and frightening is the way it shows these two unhappy girls, creating an alternative world so safe and attractive they thought it was worth killing for. full review
Hoop Dreams 1994 Along the way it becomes a revealing and heartbreaking story about life in America. full review
I.Q. 1994 full review
Monkey Trouble 1994 full review
Nell 1994 full review
Pulp Fiction 1994 The movie resurrects not only an aging genre but also a few careers. full review
Radioland Murders 1994 full review
Sirens 1994 full review
Swimming with Sharks 1994 [Huang's] plot may be overwritten and the ending may be less than satisfying, but his eye and ear are right. full review
The War 1994 full review
Addams Family Values 1993 Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston are given a lot of one-liners and payoff gags, of course, but what's funny is the stuff that comes in between -- the real affection with which they embrace each other, and the way they delight in their unspeakable lifestyle. full review
The Beverly Hillbillies 1993 Imagine the dumbest half-hour sitcom you've ever seen, spin it out to 93 minutes by making it even more thin and shallow, and you have this movie. It's appalling. It's not even really a good version of whatever it was that made the TV series appealing. full review
Cop and a Half 1993 full review
The Good Son 1993 The movie is a creepy, unpleasant experience, made all the worse because it stars children too young to understand the horrible things we see them doing. full review
The House of the Spirits 1993 full review
In the Name of the Father 1993 [Day-Lewis] proves here once again that he is one of the most talented and interesting actors of his generation. full review
Indecent Proposal 1993 full review
Map of the Human Heart 1993 The best movies seem to reinvent themselves as they move along, not drawing from worn-out sources, and Map of the Human Heart is one of the year's best films. full review
The Nightmare Before Christmas 1993 Working with gifted artists and designers, [Burton] has made a world here that is as completely new as the worlds we saw for the first time in such films as Metropolis, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari or Star Wars. full review
The Piano 1993 The Piano is as peculiar and haunting as any film I've seen. full review
The Snapper 1993 The Snapper sees its characters with warmth and acceptance, and earns its laughs by being wise about human nature. full review
The Vanishing 1993 The first movie was existential in its merciless unfolding. This one turns into a slasher movie with a cheap joke at the end. full review
What's Eating Gilbert Grape 1993 One of the most enchanting movies of the year. full review
35 Up 1992 The latest installment in the most engrossing long-distance documentary project in the history of film. full review
American Me 1992 full review
Cool World 1992 A surprisingly incompetent film. full review
Ethan Frome 1992 full review
Glengarry Glen Ross 1992 You can see the joy with which these actors get their teeth into these great lines, after living through movies in which flat dialogue serves only to advance the story. full review
Housesitter 1992 full review
Incident at Oglala 1992 full review
The Last of the Mohicans 1992 ...not as authentic and uncompromised as it claims to be - more of a matinee fantasy than it wants to admit - but it is probably more entertaining as a result. full review
Passion Fish 1992 full review
Reservoir Dogs 1992 The movie feels like it's going to be terrific, but Tarantino's script doesn't have much curiosity about these guys. full review
Rock-A-Doodle 1992 full review
Shining Through 1992 full review
Strictly Ballroom 1992 full review
Barton Fink 1991 It's an assured piece of comic filmmaking. full review
Dead Again 1991 I am a particular pushover for movies like this, movies that could go on the same list with Rebecca, Wuthering Heights or Vertigo. full review
The Doors 1991 Watching the movie is like being stuck in a bar with an obnoxious drunk, when you're not drinking. full review
Dutch 1991 Hughes has written, directed and/or produced so many of these films by now that perhaps we can even forgive him for beginning to repeat himself. full review
Let Him Have It 1991 full review
The Man in the Moon 1991 "The Man in the Moon" is a wonderful movie, but it is more than that, it is a victory of tone and mood. It is like a poem. full review
Mobsters 1991 The problem is in the script, which is so complicated and violent that the credibility of the entire enterprise is undermined. full review
The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear 1991 Nielsen's secret is that he does almost nothing, and certainly nothing he seems to think is funny. full review
Paris Is Burning 1991 full review
Slacker 1991 A movie with an appeal almost impossible to describe. full review
Sleeping with the Enemy 1991 The film begins as an unyielding look at a battered wife, and ends as another one of those thrillers where the villain toys with his victim and the audience. full review
Soapdish 1991 This is the kind of movie that is a balancing act, really. full review
Terminator 2: Judgment Day 1991 Nobody, I think, will complain that it doesn't have enough action. full review
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane 1990 full review
Crazy People 1990 full review
Ghost Dad 1990 The movie doesn't exhibit the slightest attempt to be consistent, logical or sensible in anything, and there are scenes so pointless and unmotivated that attentive audiences will ask what they're doing in the movie. full review
The Grifters 1990 This is a movie of plot, not episode. It's not just a series of things that happen to the characters, but a web, a maze of consequences. full review
The Hunt for Red October 1990 A skillful, efficient film. full review
The Krays 1990 full review
Mermaids 1990 I found a lot of it preposterous, but I enjoyed that quality. Why do we look at movies? To learn lessons and see life reflected back at us? Sometimes. But sometimes we simply sit there in the dark, stupefied by the spectacle. full review
Miller's Crossing 1990 There is a lot here to admire. full review
Quigley Down Under 1990 full review
The Rescuers Down Under 1990 The flight sequence and many of the other action scenes in this new Disney animated feature create an exhilaration and freedom that are liberating. And the rest of the story is fun, too. full review
The Russia House 1990 full review
All Dogs Go To Heaven 1989 full review
The Dream Team 1989 full review
Earth Girls Are Easy 1989 A lighthearted and goofy musical comedy about a love affair between an extraterrestrial and a manicurist. full review
Erik The Viking 1989 An utterly worthless exercise in waste and wretched excess, uninformed by the slightest spark of humor, wit or coherence. full review
Harlem Nights 1989 An uninspired cross between Cotton Club and the characters of Damon Runyon, told in cliches so broad you keep waiting for it to poke fun at itself, but it never does. full review
Monsieur Hire 1989 full review
My Left Foot 1989 My Left Foot is a great film for many reasons, but the most important is that it gives us such a complete picture of this man's life. full review
Powwow Highway 1989 full review
Valmont 1989 full review
The Accused 1988 full review
Biloxi Blues 1988 The movie Mike Nichols has directed from the play is pale, shallow, unconvincing and predictable, and tells us less about the characters than we already know. full review
Colors 1988 Colors is a special movie -- not just a police thriller, but a movie that has researched gangs and given some thought to what it wants to say about them. full review
Eight Men Out 1988 It's an insider's movie, a baseball expert's film that is hard for the untutored to follow. full review
A Fish Called Wanda 1988 The funniest movie I have seen in a long time. full review
The Last Temptation of Christ 1988 Among those who do not already have rigid views on the subject, this film is likely to inspire more serious thought on the nature of Jesus than any other ever made. full review
License to Drive 1988 Up until about the halfway mark of this movie, I was having a very good time. Then, somehow, it ran out of energy. full review
Madame Sousatzka 1988 An extraordinary movie that loves music and loves the people it is about, and has the patience to do justice to both. full review
The Naked Gun - From the Files of Police Squad! 1988 The film is as transparent as a third-grader with a water gun, and yet I would rather review a new film by Ingmar Bergman, for there, at least, would be themes to discuss and visual strategies to analyze. full review
Rain Man 1988 Rain Man is so fascinating because it refuses to supply those questions with sentimental but unrealistic answers. full review
Scrooged 1988 It was obviously intended as a comedy, but there is little comic about it, and indeed the movie's overriding emotions seem to be pain and anger. full review
Talk Radio 1988 Talk Radio is directed by Stone with a claustrophobic intensity. full review
The Thin Blue Line 1988 full review
Tucker: The Man and His Dream 1988 If we're offered a movie named Tucker: The Man and His Dream, we leave feeling cheated if we only get the dream. full review
Beverly Hills Cop II 1987 What is comedy? That's a pretty basic question, I know, but Cop II never thought to ask it. full review
Black Widow 1987 full review
Cross My Heart 1987 What director Armyan Bernstein does with this premise is courageous and ambitious, but only fitfully successful. full review
Date with an Angel 1987 full review
Dirty Dancing 1987 The movie plays like one long, sad, compromise; it places packaging ahead of ambition. full review
Fatal Attraction 1987 Because the good things in the movie -- including the performances -- are so very good, it's a shame that the film's potential for greatness was so blatantly compromised. full review
Hellraiser 1987 This is a movie without wit, style or reason, and the true horror is that actors were made to portray, and technicians to realize, its bankruptcy of imagination. full review
Jack's Back 1987 full review
The Last Emperor 1987 Everything involving the life of Pu Yi was a waste. Everything except one thing: the notion that a single human life could have infinite value. full review
No Way Out 1987 A superior example of the genre, a film in which a simple situation grows more and more complex until it turns into a nightmare not only for the hero but also for everyone associated with him. full review
Overboard 1987 A warm and funny movie. full review
Personal Services 1987 full review
Planes, Trains and Automobiles 1987 The movies that last, the ones we return to, don't always have lofty themes or Byzantine complexities. Sometimes they last because they are arrows straight to the heart. full review
Raising Arizona 1987 What we have here is a film shot down by its own forced and mannered style. full review
Summer School 1987 A comedy so listless, leisurely and unspirited that it was an act of the will for me to care about it, even while I was watching it. full review
The Untouchables 1987 ...it does not have a great script, great performances or great direction. full review
Back to School 1986 This is exactly the sort of plot Marx or Fields could have appeared in. Dangerfield brings it something they might also have brought along: a certain pathos. full review
Crimes of the Heart 1986 There are moments when the movie doesn't seem to know where it's going, but for once that's a good thing because the uncertainty almost always ends with some kind of a delightful, weird surprise. full review
Down and Out in Beverly Hills 1986 Let me just say that Down and Out in Beverly Hills made me laugh longer and louder than any film I've seen in a long time. full review
F/X 1986 The irony of F/X, which is a very good thriller indeed, is that it avoids the pitfall of so many thrillers; it doesn't degenerate into a mindless display of special effects. full review
Ferris Bueller's Day Off 1986 The film's heart is in the right place, and Ferris Bueller is slight, whimsical and sweet. full review
The Golden Child 1986 This film -- insignificant and lightweight and monumentally silly -- is entertaining from beginning to end. full review
The Great Mouse Detective 1986 It's a lot of fun. full review
Heartburn 1986 full review
Hoosiers 1986 It's a movie that is all heart. full review
The Manhattan Project 1986 full review
Mona Lisa 1986 The movie's ending is a little too neat for my taste. But in a movie like this, everything depends on atmosphere and character, and Mona Lisa knows exactly what it is doing. full review
Pretty in Pink 1986 Although it is not a great movie, it contains some moments when the audience is likely to think, yes, being 16 was exactly like that. full review
A Room With A View 1986 It is an intellectual film, but intellectual about emotions: It encourages us to think about how we feel, instead of simply acting on our feelings. full review
Working Girls 1986 full review
Clue 1985 full review
Kiss of the Spider Woman 1985 full review
The Man with One Red Shoe 1985 full review
One Magic Christmas 1985 full review
Re-Animator 1985 We have been assaulted by a lurid imagination, amazed by unspeakable sights, blind-sided by the movie's curiously dry sense of humor. I guess that's our money's worth. full review
Silver Bullet 1985 full review
The Stuff 1985 full review
Witness 1985 Harrison Ford has never given a better performance in a movie. full review
Beverly Hills Cop 1984 Eddie Murphy looks like the latest victim of the Star Magic Syndrome, in which it is assumed that a movie will be a hit simply because it stars an enormously talented person. full review
Broadway Danny Rose 1984 All of this is accomplished with wonderfully off-the-wall characterizations. full review
Conan the Destroyer 1984 full review
Dreamscape 1984 Most movies that try to crowd so much into an hour and a half end up looking like a shopping list, but Dreamscape works, maybe because it has a sense of humor. full review
Footloose 1984 Footloose is a seriously confused movie that tries to do three things, and does all of them badly. full review
The Karate Kid 1984 An exciting, sweet-tempered, heart-warming story with one of the most interesting friendships in a long time. full review
Streets of Fire 1984 full review
The Black Stallion Returns 1983 full review
The Dead Zone 1983 The Dead Zone does what only a good supernatural thriller can do: It makes us forget it is supernatural. full review
Doctor Detroit 1983 full review
Easy Money 1983 full review
Lone Wolf McQuade 1983 full review
Terms of Endearment 1983 The most remarkable achievement of Terms of Endearment, which is filled with great achievements, is its ability to find the balance between the funny and the sad, between moments of deep truth and other moments of high ridiculousness. full review
To Be or Not to Be 1983 full review
Trading Places 1983 What's most visible in the movie is the engaging acting. Murphy and Aykroyd are perfect foils for each other. full review
48 HRS 1982 The movie's story is nothing to write home about. It's pretty routine. What makes the movie special is how it's made. Nolte and Murphy are good, and their dialogue is good, too -- quirky and funny. full review
Frances 1982 full review
The Man from Snowy River 1982 full review
An Officer and a Gentleman 1982 full review
Quest for Fire 1982 These characters and their quest began to grow on me, and by the time the movie was over I cared very much about how their lives would turn out. full review
The Secret of NIMH 1982 It looks good, moves well, and delights our eyes. full review
The Thing 1982 Because this material has been done before, and better, especially in the original The Thing and Alien, there's no need to see this version. full review
An American Werewolf in London 1981 Seems curiously unfinished, as if director John Landis spent all his energy on spectacular set pieces and then didn't want to bother with things like transitions, character development, or an ending. full review
Eyewitness 1981 Every scene develops characters. And they're developed in such offbeat fidelity to the way people do behave that we get all the more involved in the mystery, just because, for once, we halfway believe it could really be happening. full review
The Fox and the Hound 1981 The bottom line, I suppose, is: Will kids like this movie? And the answer is, sure, I think so. full review
Omen III: The Final Conflict 1981 ...the moment The Final Conflict turns to dialogue and a plot, it loses its inspiration. full review
Raggedy Man 1981 full review
Reds 1981 As for Beatty, Reds is his bravura turn. full review
Taps 1981 full review
Time Bandits 1981 Amazingly well-produced. The historic locations are jammed with character and detail. This is the only live-action movie I've seen that literally looks like pages out of Heavy Metal magazine. full review
True Confessions 1981 True Confessions contains scenes that are just about as good as scenes can be. Then why does the movie leave us disoriented and disappointed, and why does the ending fail dismally? full review
The Final Countdown 1980 It's filled with technology, special effects and action. But it just doesn't make any sense. full review
Hopscotch 1980 full review
The Long Good Friday 1980 I have rarely seen a movie character so completely alive. Shand is an evil, cruel, sadistic man. But he's a mass of contradictions, and there are times when we understand him so completely we almost feel affectionate. full review
Nine to Five (9 to 5) 1980 [Parton] is, on the basis of this one film, a natural-born movie star, a performer who holds our attention so easily that it's hard to believe it's her first film. full review
Ordinary People 1980 An intelligent, perceptive, and deeply moving film. full review
Popeye 1980 He takes one of the most artificial and limiting of art forms -- the comic strip -- and raises it to the level of high comedy and high spirits. full review
Smokey and the Bandit II 1980 How can I say it's lazy when it has 50 trucks doing stunts in it? Because it takes a lot less thought to fill up a movie with stunts than to create a comedy that's genuinely funny. full review
The Jerk 1979 We get the sense at times that the cast and crew arrived at a location, found the script bankrupt of real laughs, and started looking around for funny props. full review
Escape from Alcatraz 1979 It's one of those very difficult exercises in which large emotions, like the compulsion to be free, are reflected in minute actions, like the chipping away at stone with a pocket nail clipper. full review
Manhattan 1979 Seeing it again I realize it's more subtle, more complex, and not about love, but loss. full review
Days of Heaven 1978 This is a movie made by a man who knew how something felt, and found a way to evoke it in us. full review
The Bad News Bears 1976 [Ritchie] directs scenes for comedy even in the face of his disturbing material and that makes the movie all the more effective; sometimes we laugh, and sometimes we can't, and the movie's working best when we're silent. full review
Car Wash 1976 The screenplay and the direction juggle the characters so adroitly, this is almost a wash-and-wax M*A*S*H. full review
Carrie 1976 Brian De Palma's Carrie is an absolutely spellbinding horror movie, with a shock at the end that's the best thing along those lines since the shark leaped aboard in Jaws. full review
King Kong 1976 full review
The Omen 1976 As long as movies like The Omen are merely scaring us, they're fun in a portentous sort of way. full review
Swashbuckler 1976 full review
To The Devil A Daughter 1976 full review
A Boy and His Dog 1975 It's got a unique... well, I was about to say charm, but the movie's last scene doesn't quite let me get away with that. full review
The Eiger Sanction 1975 full review
The Great Waldo Pepper 1975 full review
Switchblade Sisters 1975 Badly acted, written and directed. full review
Xala 1975 It's very much worth seeing. full review
Airport 1975 1974 full review
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz 1974 full review
Chinatown 1974 [Nicholson's] performance is key in keeping Chinatown from becoming just a genre crime picture--that, and a Robert Towne screenplay that evokes an older Los Angeles. full review
The Conversation 1974 A taut, intelligent thriller. full review
The Great Gatsby 1974 The movie is 'faithful' to the novel with a vengeance -- to what happens in the novel, that is, and not to the feel, mood, and spirit of it. full review
The Day of the Jackal 1973 I wasn't prepared for how good it really is: it's not just a suspense classic, but a beautifully executed example of filmmaking. full review
Jesus Christ Superstar 1973 Jewison, a director of large talent, has taken a piece of commercial shlock and turned it into a Biblical movie with dignity. full review
The Long Goodbye 1973 It tries to be all genre and no story, and it almost works. full review
The Paper Chase 1973 Houseman is able to project subtleties of character even while appearing stiff and unrelenting; it's a performance of Academy Award quality, and resulted in an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. full review
Play It Again, Sam 1972 full review
Billy Jack 1971 full review
Minnie and Moskowitz 1971 The movie is sort of a fairy tale, Cassavetes says; it's dedicated to all the people who didn't marry the person they should have. It is a movie on the side of love, and it is one of the finest movies of the year. full review
The Panic in Needle Park 1971 It is not filled with quick cutting or gimmicky editing, but Jerry Schatzberg's direction is so confident that we cover the ground effortlessly. full review
Sometimes a Great Notion (Never Give an Inch) 1971 Newman starts tunneling under the material, coming up with all sorts of things we didn't quite expect, and along the way he proves himself as a director of sympathy and a sort of lyrical restraint. full review
The Trojan Women 1971 full review
Airport 1970 full review
Love Story 1970 Hiller earns our emotional response because of the way he's directed the movie. full review
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes 1970 Before the movie is 20 minutes old, Wilder has settled for simply telling a Sherlock Holmes adventure. full review
Soldier Blue 1970 full review
Battle of Britain 1969 full review
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969 William Goldman's script is constantly too cute and never gets up the nerve, by God, to admit it's a Western. full review
Midnight Cowboy 1969 What has happened to Midnight Cowboy is that we've done our own editing job on it. We've forgotten the excesses and the detours, and remembered the purity of the central characters and the Voight and Hoffman performances. full review
True Grit 1969 One of the glories of True Grit is that it recognizes Wayne's special presence. full review
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 1968 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang contains about the best two-hour children's movie you could hope for, with a marvelous magical auto and lots of adventure and a nutty old grandpa and a mean Baron and some funny dances and a couple of [scary] moments. full review
The Odd Couple 1968 It does well as an evening's entertainment. full review
Rosemary's Baby 1968 It is a creepy film and a crawly film, and a film filled with things that go bump in the night. It is very good. full review
Hombre 1967 The performances are uniformly excellent...It's intelligent and has a certain grace as well. full review
In Like Flint 1967 full review
The Endless Summer 1966 Shunning the tons of equipment ordinarily taken along on location, Brown used only what he could carry. The beautiful photography he brought home almost makes you wonder if Hollywood hasn't been trying too hard. full review
Persona 1966 A film we return to over the years, for the beauty of its images and because we hope to understand its mysteries. full review
8 1/2 1963 8 1/2 is the best film ever made about filmmaking. full review
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 1962 full review
Gojira 1954 This is a bad movie, but it has earned its place in history, and the enduring popularity of Godzilla and other monsters shows that it struck a chord. full review
Double Indemnity 1944 Few other directors have made so many films that were so taut, savvy, cynical and, in many different ways and tones, funny. full review
The Lady Eve 1941 A movie like The Lady Eve is so hard to make that you can't make it at all unless you find a way to make it seem effortless. Preston Sturges does a kind of breathless balancing act here, involving romance, deception and physical comedy. full review
The Grapes of Wrath 1940 The Grapes of Wrath was often named the greatest American film, until it was dethroned by the re-release of Citizen Kane. full review
The Bride of Frankenstein 1935 Seen today, Whale's masterpiece is more surprising than when it was made because today's audiences are more alert to its buried hints of homosexuality, necrophilia and sacrilege. But you don't have to deconstruct it to enjoy it. full review
Duck Soup 1933 The Marx Brothers created a body of work in which individual films are like slices from the whole, but Duck Soup (1933) is probably the best. full review
Dracula 1931 Certainly it is Lugosi's performance, and the cinematography of Karl Freund, that make Tod Browning's film such an influential Hollywood picture. full review
Faust 1926 I sometimes feel, in this age of expert CGI, that I am being shown too much -- that technique is pushing aside artistry and imagination. The world of Faust is never intended to define a physical universe, but is a landscape of nightmares. full review

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