Fresh
| Fresh 60%
| Eva (1962) | "
A decadent period piece and a sadomasochistic view of sexual relations, this singular, resonant, and at times even inspiring mannerist mess is far more interesting than a good many modest successes." — Chicago Reader Posted Dec 22, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 92%
| Of Time and the City (2009) | "
Terence Davies, England's greatest living filmmaker, has released only six features, and this one is his first documentary, a mesmerizing and eloquent essay about his native Liverpool." — Chicago Reader Posted Dec 16, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 68%
| True Lies (1994) | "
If the Gulf War gave you an insatiable taste for burning oil and burning Arabs, this extravaganza will tide you over for at least a couple of days." — Chicago Reader Posted Dec 11, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 92%
| Aladdin (1992) | "
The results are fun and fast moving, but far from sublime." — Chicago Reader Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 42%
| Oliver and Company (1988) | "
The animation is fairly unexciting though serviceable, and the overall mystification of class difference would probably have made Dickens shudder, but kids should find this tolerable enough." — Chicago Reader Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 60%
| Tapeheads (1989) | "
A painful attempt to satirize the making of rock videos that runs aground with a puerile plot and bombastic, self-infatuated delivery." — Chicago Reader Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 77%
| Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) | "
Despite some early indications from the two Cusacks and Arkin that it's going to be funny, it winds up an unholy mess that becomes steadily more incoherent -- morally, dramatically, and conceptually." — Chicago Reader Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 89%
| The Grifters (1990) | "
A mannerist thriller that doesn't begin to work despite the number of talented hands involved." — Chicago Reader Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 89%
| The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) | "
Engaging and lively." — Chicago Reader Posted Nov 3, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 80%
| Decline of Western Civilization Pt. 2, The - The Metal Years (1988) | "
There's so little respect for the music that we never see or hear a number from beginning to end, and we rarely hear any of the musicians speak more than a few seconds at a time." — Chicago Reader Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 73%
| The Addiction (1995) | "
No matter, without exactly transcending the awful material, Ferrara puts it across with astonishing poetry and conviction." — Chicago Reader Posted Oct 20, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 62%
| Day Watch (2007) | "
Narrative incoherence continues to reign supreme." — Chicago Reader Posted Oct 20, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 58%
| Night Watch (2005) | "
The punchy, nonstop visual effects crowd out coherent storytelling." — Chicago Reader Posted Oct 20, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 9%
| Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) | "
Either this is the lamest Mel Brooks comedy ever or it's too close to other contenders to make much difference." — Chicago Reader Posted Oct 20, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 57%
| Nadja (1994) | "
This offbeat horror item works much better as a dreamy mood piece with striking poetic images and as a semicomic appreciation of a few quintessential low-budget actors than as straight-ahead storytelling." — Chicago Reader Posted Oct 20, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 67%
| Blood for Dracula (1974) | "
One of the two schlocky horror comedies Paul Morrissey made in Italy in 1974... Blood for Dracula is the sexier and funnier." — Chicago Reader Posted Oct 19, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 66%
| Fearless Vampire Killers Or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck (1967) | "
The film amiably runs through all the standbys associated with vampire movies, putting a personal and goofy spin on most of them." — Chicago Reader Posted Oct 19, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 49%
| Human Nature (2002) |
Click here to read article — Chicago Reader Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 100%
| La Commune (2000) |
Click here to read article — Chicago Reader Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 81%
| The Believer (2002) |
Click here to read article — Chicago Reader Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 35%
| Bartleby (2002) |
Click here to read article — Chicago Reader Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 81%
| Diamond Men (2001) |
Click here to read article — Chicago Reader Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 72%
| The Cat's Meow (2002) |
Click here to read article — Chicago Reader Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 86%
| Gosford Park (2001) |
Click here to read article — Chicago Reader Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 85%
| Monster's Ball (2001) |
Click here to read article — Chicago Reader Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 29%
| No Such Thing (2002) |
Click here to read article — Chicago Reader Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 96%
| Time Out (2002) |
Click here to read article — Chicago Reader Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 9%
| Eye for an Eye (1996) | "
[A] really awful, hysterical thriller." — Chicago Reader Posted Aug 4, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 4%
| Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993) | "
I hope what they all got paid made it worth the bother." — Chicago Reader Posted Aug 4, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 16%
| The Scarlet Letter (1995) | "
“Freely adapted from the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne,” the credits say cautiously. I'll say." — Chicago Reader Posted Aug 4, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 8%
| Intersection (1994) | "
Stone deserves some points for playing a recognizable human being while Davidovich fares less well in an underscripted part, but what sabotages the story altogether is Gere's boundless narcissism." — Chicago Reader Posted Aug 3, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 4%
| Milk Money (1994) | "
John Mattson's script is every bit as silly as it sounds; it dawdles, stumbles, stalls, embarrasses both itself and the audience, and is routinely formulaic to boot." — Chicago Reader Posted Aug 3, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 50%
| The Cable Guy (1996) | "
It's a fairly interesting effort -- much more ambitious than most Carrey vehicles." — Chicago Reader Posted Jul 28, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 2%
| Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) | "
Do yourself a favor and see a movie instead." — Chicago Reader Posted Jul 21, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 6%
| Body of Evidence (1993) | "
While he may be marginally better at directing kinky sex scenes than Instinct's Paul Verhoeven, [Edel is] stuck with a fairly ho-hum script by Brad Mirman." — Chicago Reader Posted Jul 20, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 8%
| Burn Hollywood Burn (1997) | "
If you harbor an interest in watching so-called “industry smarts” autodestruct, this carries a certain morbid appeal, but that's about the extent of it." — Chicago Reader Posted Jul 20, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 100%
| Bob Roberts (1992) | "
A sometimes brilliant if overloaded pseudodocumentary satire." — Chicago Reader Posted Jul 8, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 48%
| Ocean's Eleven (1960) | "
Terminally boring." — Chicago Reader Posted Jun 10, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 51%
| Easy Virtue (2009) | "
The only characters who seem anchored in some form of reality are the hero's parents...all the others, from siblings to servants, are standard-issue eccentrics or the subjects of running gags." — Chicago Reader Posted May 29, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 75%
| Army of Darkness (1992) | "
This is old-fashioned fun until the climactic battle, which almost comes across like routine bone piling after all the flights of fancy." — Chicago Reader Posted May 29, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 97%
| Dog Day Afternoon (1975) | "
One of Sidney Lumet's best jobs of directing and one of Al Pacino's best performances (as a bisexual bank robber) come together in a populist thriller with lots of New York juice" — Chicago Reader Posted Apr 27, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 96%
| A Fish Called Wanda (1988) | "
Like many of the best English comedies, much of the humor here is based on character, good-natured high spirits, and fairly uninhibited vulgarity." — Chicago Reader Posted Apr 27, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 100%
| Quai des Orfèvres (1947) | "
Clouzot is able to reveal a complex and interactive working-class world in which cops and criminals are sometimes difficult to tell apart." — Chicago Reader Posted Apr 20, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 97%
| The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) | "
Luis Buñuel's 1972 comic masterpiece, about three well-to-do couples who try and fail to have a meal together, is perhaps the most perfectly achieved and executed of all his late French films." — Chicago Reader Posted Apr 20, 2009 |
Fresh
| N/A | Weapons of the Spirit (1989) | "
The film's story is so remarkable and inspiring that it still has the force of a revelation." — Chicago Reader Posted Apr 17, 2009 |
Fresh
| N/A | Broken Strings (1940) | "
Bernard Ray's 1940 "race movie," made for segregated black audiences, is hokey but relatively touching and professional for its genre." — Chicago Reader Posted Apr 17, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 88%
| Touch the Sound (2006) | "
[A] fascinating portrait." — Chicago Reader Posted Apr 15, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 53%
| The Pelican Brief (1993) | "
It's too bad that Pakula allows this 1993 movie to dawdle after its climax, but prior to that he's adept at suggesting unseen menace and keeping things in motion." — Chicago Reader Posted Mar 30, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 84%
| Wag the Dog (1997) | "
Hilary Henkin and David Mamet’s script is gleefully hyperbolic without ever straying from its political target." — Chicago Reader Posted Mar 30, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 100%
| No Way Out (1987) | "
It's the kind of intricately plotted suspense film with juicy secondary parts (Will Patton, George Dzundza, Iman, Howard Duff) that used to be churned out in the 1940s." — Chicago Reader Posted Mar 30, 2009 |
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