|
5/5
|
95%
|
Hero (2004) |
"
What we're seeing here is nothing less than literary ambition given a one-film-only visual syntax."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Aug 26, 2004
|
|
5/5
|
92%
|
Hable con Ella (Talk to Her) (2002) |
"
A flawlessly realized ramble about love and death, wretchedness turned sublime and vice versa."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Feb 6, 2003
|
|
4.5/5
|
48%
|
Saw (2004) |
"
Stunning, terrifying."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Oct 28, 2004
|
|
4.5/5
|
88%
|
A Mighty Wind (2003) |
"
A hilarious film that boasts a world-class joke-per-minute ratio, yet also works as a deeply affecting tragedy."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted May 8, 2003
|
|
4/5
|
92%
|
The Host (Gwoemul) (2007) |
"
Alternately scary, funny and inspiring, Bong Joon-ho's first-class monster mash is also a scalding rebuke to U.S. interventionism, profiteering and general developing-world opportunism, and a lovely story of familial bonding. In a word, amazing."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Mar 24, 2007
|
|
4/5
|
90%
|
Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing (2006) |
"
While Shut Up works great as music doc, progressive pep rally and neo-Capra triumph tale, it's even better as a bighearted tale of the love between three extraordinary women."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Dec 7, 2006
|
|
4/5
|
69%
|
A Scanner Darkly (2006) |
"
Writer/director Richard Linklater's superbly entertaining/disturbing adaptation of Dick's A Scanner Darkly accomplishes the near-impossible ..."
—
Las Vegas Weekly
Posted Jul 14, 2006
|
|
4/5
|
93%
|
An Inconvenient Truth (2006) |
"
In a way, Truth is almost critic-proof."
—
Las Vegas Weekly
Posted Jun 19, 2006
|
|
4/5
|
97%
|
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) |
"
Smart postmortem of the infamous Ponzi scheme that called itself Enron."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted May 19, 2005
|
|
4/5
|
72%
|
Walk on Water (2005) |
"
It's exhilarating just to witness a wide worldview unspool with such dedicated humanity."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Apr 28, 2005
|
|
4/5
|
63%
|
Stage Beauty (2004) |
"
The film stay[s] with you."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Nov 4, 2004
|
|
4/5
|
96%
|
Raising Victor Vargas (2003) |
"
Raising Victor Vargas is more than a terrific film -- it's a kind one."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted May 22, 2003
|
|
4/5
|
77%
|
The Good Thief (2003) |
"
We have another -- no, the best -- of Jordan's valentines to outsider archetypes besmirched by eccentric dreams of beauty and transcendence from a glamorized but fatal low-life milieu."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Apr 24, 2003
|
|
4/5
|
69%
|
Spirit - Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) |
"
Easily trumping the Clones next door for sheer visual gosh-wow, Spirit's action is coherently kinetic, while the half hand-drawn, half CGI landmark vistas attain a magical, Wyeth-esque register."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted May 23, 2002
|
|
|
74%
|
Sherrybaby (2006) |
"
Watching Maggie Gyllenhaal's bare body and battered soul in Laurie Collyer's quietly extraordinary Sherrybaby, you almost get a sense that the actress knows the load that was her star-making turn in Secretary ..."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Jan 18, 2007
|
|
|
80%
|
Why We Fight (2006) |
"
If the inducement of despair and disgust is an indicator of artistic achievement, Why We Fight is incredibly successful."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Jul 20, 2006
|
|
|
87%
|
The Proposition (2005) |
"
As directed by music video vet John Hillcoat, Cave's vision of 1880s Australia as outlaw inferno becomes an unforgettable exposed raw nerve of a film."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Jun 8, 2006
|
|
|
86%
|
L'Enfant (The Child) (2006) |
"
If it's possible for cinema to be so invisible as to allow us to actually see inside characters -- to be, in short, literary -- this is it."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted May 18, 2006
|
|
|
56%
|
Breakfast on Pluto (2005) |
"
In short, the director has finally found material - - Patrick McCabe's novel, which Jordan adapted - - that unifies his obsessions with politics, the Troubles and the dangerous fragility of machismo."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Jan 6, 2006
|
|
|
88%
|
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) |
"
Newell not only does Harry Potter right but eclipses the scope, scares and drama of his J.K. Rowling source novel."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Dec 6, 2005
|
|
|
68%
|
North Country (2005) |
"
As hokey and unrealistically optimistic as Josey's victories may play out, we buy them, because the director has made us want to."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Oct 20, 2005
|
|
|
82%
|
Serenity (2005) |
"
In the context of an action cinema driven by false hope, misogyny and sadism, Serenity is an inspiring respite: A major battle is won by someone simply admitting to the truth."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Sep 29, 2005
|
|
|
80%
|
The Aristocrats (2005) |
"
The movie drags after a spell, but it's unforgettably reanimated when Gilbert Gottfried's rendition of the joke teaches us why all this potty-mouthed discourse is important."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Sep 1, 2005
|
|
|
82%
|
Hustle & Flow (2005) |
"
While Brewer's narrative is somewhat slack, and he isn't going to win any awards for camera movement or composition, his film, like his poverty-stunned strivers, grows progressively lovable -- despite (and perhaps because of) its flaws."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Jul 21, 2005
|
|
|
67%
|
Charlie's Angels (2000) |
"
Charlie's Angels is an utterly ridiculous movie, but one that, through sheer pluck, manages to make ridiculousness a redeeming quality."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Jan 1, 2000
|
|
|
78%
|
Requiem for a Dream (2000) |
"
It is one of the few possibly great films in this moribund year."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Jan 1, 2000
|
|
3.5/5
|
22%
|
AVP - Alien Vs. Predator (2004) |
"
Anderson clearly relished making this wonderful, utterly silly film; his heart shows in every drip of slime."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Aug 19, 2004
|
|
3/5
|
82%
|
Talk to Me (2007) |
"
In Talk to Me, director Kasi Lemmons has expertly crafted an uplifting civil rights-era biopic free of false hope and cloying nostalgia."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Jul 26, 2007
|
|
3/5
|
90%
|
Rescue Dawn (2007) |
"
So here we are, mired in a stupid, loathsome war, and what does Werner Herzog do? He creates an absolutely riveting sort-of love letter to America that takes place during that last stupid, loathsome U.S. war, Vietnam."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Jul 26, 2007
|
|
3/5
|
58%
|
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) |
"
Less a movie than a filmed pitch -- 'They're married, they're both spies, but neither knows it!' -- Mr. and Mrs. Smith manages to offer even less than its threadbare premise."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Jun 10, 2005
|
|
3/5
|
90%
|
Hotel Rwanda (2004) |
"
George seems skittish about going too deeply or bloodily into the damning details of this particular heart of darkness."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Jan 13, 2005
|
|
3/5
|
26%
|
Blade: Trinity (2004) |
"
After penning two Blade opuses, David S. Goyer helms his own vampire-killer epic and cheerfully goes ADDA berserk."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Dec 21, 2004
|
|
3/5
|
46%
|
Shall We Dance (2004) |
"
Runs the constant risk of dissolving into extreme silliness, but its continuous small-change pleasures and general sweetness grow in aggregate."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Oct 15, 2004
|
|
3/5
|
11%
|
A Man Apart (2003) |
"
Grim business and more than a bit of a mess, but, aside from its hokey finales, honest in its despairing way."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Apr 10, 2003
|
|
3/5
|
82%
|
Drumline (2002) |
"
A sugar-coated Rocky whose valuable messages are forgotten 10 minutes after the last trombone honks."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Dec 13, 2002
|
|
3/5
|
30%
|
All About the Benjamins (2002) |
"
Often is ... an enjoyable if ethically threadbare caper flick."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Mar 14, 2002
|
|
2.5/5
|
85%
|
The Hoax (2007) |
"
This lie-streaked retelling of a fraud aims not for the meta, but for history-repeating object lesson, explicitly drawing parallels between Irving and Nixon's cons and our current hoax-based regime. But it all rings hollow."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Apr 5, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
84%
|
The Descent (2006) |
"
Aside from its high concept -- instead of Snakes on a Plane, it's Chicks in a Cave (with monsters!) -- place-setting is almost all Marshall does."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Aug 3, 2006
|
|
2.5/5
|
87%
|
The Aviator (2004) |
"
Scorsese seems to want to make his version of 'pure' cinema while staying within the boundaries of marketable narrative film. Instead, The Aviator suggests he might want to think of choosing one or the other."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Dec 23, 2004
|
|
2.5/5
|
54%
|
Cellular (2004) |
"
1/3 of a terrific thriller."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Sep 16, 2004
|
|
2.5/5
|
82%
|
The Barbarian Invasions (Les Invasions barbares) (2003) |
"
Sébastien, Nathalie and the film's other secondary characters are neat, shaded creations ably played. But unfortunately, this isn't their movie."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Apr 9, 2004
|
|
2.5/5
|
90%
|
The Magdalene Sisters (2003) |
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Sep 11, 2003
|
|
2.5/5
|
54%
|
The Transporter (2002) |
"
Because it dispenses with its plot specifics in about 15 minutes, The Transporter allows its audience ample time to ponder its multiple shortcomings and slight attractions."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Oct 10, 2002
|
|
2.5/5
|
86%
|
24 Hour Party People (2002) |
"
Though the filmmaker's attention to detail is unassailable, his relentless urge to prove his hipster bona-fides mangles his material."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Sep 19, 2002
|
|
2/5
|
57%
|
Becoming Jane (2007) |
"
The film's notion of Austen's great works being nothing loftier than the result of failed puppy love suggests the filmmakers perversely believe that gross oversimplification is a virtue."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Aug 9, 2007
|
|
2/5
|
70%
|
Amazing Grace (2007) |
"
It's a good story, but director Michael Apted can't help but fall into the usual cinematic habits of the hagiographic species."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Feb 22, 2007
|
|
2/5
|
33%
|
The Good German (2007) |
"
The Good German is a self-serving act of fetishistic virtual embalming, with all the liveliness that description implies."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Dec 21, 2006
|
|
2/5
|
70%
|
The Science of Sleep (2006) |
"
A cloying confection of candied whimsy and exclusive self-referentiality."
—
Baltimore City Paper
Posted Sep 28, 2006
|
|
2/5
|
75%
|
Factotum (2006) |
"
... when taking Bukowski at his sodden solipsistic word, there isn't much there there."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Sep 12, 2006
|
|
2/5
|
79%
|
Brick (2006) |
"
You can't fault Johnson for a lack of honest genre love, but his forced formalism ... achieves little other than to keep us at a drama-neutering distance."
—
Las Vegas Weekly
Posted Jun 6, 2006
|
67%
——
98%
