|
0/4
|
57%
|
The Astronaut Farmer (2006) |
"
The value of [Farmer's] dream and its potential for destruction are irrelevant. Refusing to accept defeat is all that matters -- at least if you're the designated good guy."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Feb 23, 2007
|
|
0/4
|
35%
|
Saw II (2005) |
"
In a fun house like this the elaborate tortures seem to leave behind the real world of pain and suffering for the realm of slapstick; they're the kind of horrors that make you scream and laugh at the same time."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Dec 10, 2005
|
|
0/4
|
50%
|
Samaria (Samaritan Girl) (2004) |
"
The preceding parts are so literal minded, as both puritanical and pornographic illustrations of an obnoxious male fantasy, that they strike me as alternately absurd and hypocritical."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jun 24, 2005
|
|
0/4
|
74%
|
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996) |
"
They've hit a fatal snag. The feature they selected happens to be a pretty good one -- certainly much better than Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie by just about any criterion one could think of."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 1, 2000
|
|
|
22%
|
The Karate Kid, Part III (1989) |
"
The pattern has so calcified that Gene Autry westerns seem like models of moral complexity by comparison."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jun 9, 2010
|
|
|
19%
|
Lara Croft - Tomb Raider (2001) |
"
[A] movie based on a video game that's unafraid to look absurd but lacks the self-conviction needed to come off as camp."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 12, 2010
|
|
|
——
|
La Passion Béatrice (The Passion of Beatrice) (1987) |
"
128 minutes of slow-motion torture."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 7, 2010
|
|
|
29%
|
Beaches (1988) |
"
The film's oily overdefinition of various class and cultural categories is strident enough to betray a condescending attitude toward the audience."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 7, 2010
|
|
|
30%
|
Be Cool (2005) |
"
I was really glad when it was over."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 6, 2010
|
|
|
79%
|
Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) |
"
This one's defeated by the rigid formula."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 5, 2010
|
|
|
29%
|
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 - The Dream Child (1989) |
"
The series here takes a depressing nosedive into zero-degree filmmaking."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 5, 2010
|
|
|
80%
|
Bat*21 (Bat 21) (1988) |
"
I was reminded of Hackman's comment in Night Moves that watching a Rohmer film was like watching paint dry - although in this case, it's more like watching blood coagulate."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 5, 2010
|
|
|
83%
|
It's a Free World... (2007) |
"
I emerged from this story feeling sadder and wiser but was never fully engaged."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 1, 2010
|
|
|
78%
|
Barfly (1987) |
"
The first four letters say it all."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 23, 2010
|
|
|
78%
|
Frantic (1988) |
"
[Polanski's] usual surrealism is almost completely absent."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Feb 19, 2010
|
|
|
88%
|
Bagdad Cafe (1988) |
"
Unfortunately, the film's curious conceits remain implausible even on a fantasy level, and most of the satirical possibilities are either sidestepped or fumbled."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Feb 8, 2010
|
|
|
9%
|
Bad Girls (1994) |
"
It's the usual combo of high concept and low execution, and not even Jonathan Kaplan's background as an exploitation director can bail him out."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Feb 8, 2010
|
|
|
89%
|
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) |
"
Even if you have a taste as I do for movies about dysfunctional families, you may be a little put off by the Grapes."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Feb 8, 2010
|
|
|
43%
|
Bad Boys (1995) |
"
The cops never seem to know what they're doing, but then neither do the filmmakers, though I can't imagine that casual audiences will care since there are plenty of big explosions at the end to reward them."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Feb 5, 2010
|
|
|
82%
|
The Age of Innocence (1993) |
"
Manages to be both personal and true to its source, though it never quite comes together."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Feb 1, 2010
|
|
|
36%
|
Babyfever (1994) |
"
The southern California ambience is, shall we say, unrelenting."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 29, 2010
|
|
|
——
|
A Lawyer Walks into a Bar... (2007) |
"
Too slick and sound-bitey for its own good, this documentary about U.S. lawyers aims for the smart-aleck tone of its title while throwing out punchy statistics as if it were a PowerPoint presentation."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 26, 2010
|
|
|
80%
|
Casino (1995) |
"
Simultaneously quite watchable and passionless."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 25, 2010
|
|
|
91%
|
Malcolm X (1992) |
"
Benefits from a lively lead performance by the miscast Denzel Washington but doesn't come within light years of the book, one of the greatest American autobiographies."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 6, 2010
|
|
|
72%
|
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
|
|
|
60%
|
Tapeheads (1988) |
"
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
|
|
|
76%
|
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
|
|
|
90%
|
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
|
|
|
80%
|
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: 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
|
|
|
63%
|
Day Watch (2007) |
"
Narrative incoherence continues to reign supreme."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Oct 20, 2009
|
|
|
58%
|
Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor) (2006) |
"
The punchy, nonstop visual effects crowd out coherent storytelling."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Oct 20, 2009
|
|
|
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
|
|
1/4
|
49%
|
Human Nature (2002) |
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Oct 15, 2009
|
|
|
8%
|
Eye For An Eye (1996) |
"
[A] really awful, hysterical thriller."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Aug 4, 2009
|
|
|
7%
|
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
|
|
|
14%
|
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
|
|
|
7%
|
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
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
2%
|
Speed 2 - Cruise Control (1997) |
"
Do yourself a favor and see a movie instead."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jul 21, 2009
|
|
|
6%
|
Body of Evidence (1992) |
"
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
|
|
|
8%
|
An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn (1998) |
"
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
|
|
|
46%
|
Ocean's Eleven (1960) |
"
Terminally boring."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jun 10, 2009
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
84%
|
JFK (1991) |
"
Sad to say, Oliver Stone's three hours of bombast did little to raise the level of discussion."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 27, 2009
|
|
|
65%
|
Another Woman (1988) |
"
A piece of posturing phoniness designed to awe spectators who like their psychodramas third-hand and upscale."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 23, 2009
|
|
|
33%
|
Scenes from a Mall (1991) |
"
Mazursky has returned with a vengeance to his special universe where the upper middle class is the only thing that exists, and this time he has absolutely nothing to say about it."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 23, 2009
|
|
|
96%
|
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) |
"
A grocery store would sell this on its generic shelf: the brittle upper-class British cleverness is strictly standard issue."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Feb 3, 2009
|
|
|
71%
|
Sleepless in Seattle (1993) |
"
If one can ignore all the straining for lightness here, this is watchable enough, though hardly anything resembling a tearjerker."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Feb 2, 2009
|
|
|
69%
|
Synecdoche, New York (2008) |
"
It seems more like an illustration of his script than a full-fledged movie, proving how much he needs a Spike Jonze or a Michel Gondry to realize his surrealistic conceits."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Dec 17, 2008
|
|
|
69%
|
The Duchess of Langeais (Ne Touchez Pas La Hache)(Don't Touch the Axe) (2007) |
"
It's charged with nuance yet ultimately an exercise in compressed literary adaptation."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Dec 17, 2008
|
67%
——
98%
