|
|
59%
|
Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel (2010) |
"
This fawning docu goes to lengths to portray the octogenarian Playboy magazine founder as among the greatest figures of 20th-century American popular culture, while only cursorily acknowledging his status as a pioneering softcore pornographer."
—
Variety
Posted Jul 6, 2010
|
|
|
69%
|
[Rec] 2 (2010) |
"
Contrived panic abounds, as do expiring camcorder batteries and expletive-laden variations on "Shoot it in the head!""
—
Village Voice
Posted Jul 6, 2010
|
|
|
11%
|
Killers (2010) |
"
Bullets fly and jokes land with a thud."
—
Variety
Posted Jun 4, 2010
|
|
|
19%
|
The Last Song (2010) |
"
Cyrus, alas, hasn't yet learned not to act with her eyebrows and overbite. But she does show off her considerable chops as a pianist and remains reasonably likable throughout."
—
Variety
Posted Mar 31, 2010
|
|
|
97%
|
A Prophet (Un prophete) (2010) |
"
The film is deficient in form and content-not naturalistic so much as neutered, less revisionist than rote."
—
Village Voice
Posted Feb 23, 2010
|
|
|
28%
|
Extraordinary Measures (2010) |
"
Doesn't reach far beyond its smallscreen genotype as a disease-of-the-week telepic, despite the star power of Brendan Fraser as the desperate dad and Harrison Ford as an eccentric, ornery researcher."
—
Variety
Posted Jan 21, 2010
|
|
|
42%
|
Armored (2009) |
"
A so-so heist-gone-awry thriller, light on the thrills, Armored doesn't exactly take its audience captive."
—
Variety
Posted Dec 4, 2009
|
|
|
18%
|
The Fourth Kind (2009) |
"
Universal's alien-abduction thriller none too cleverly bids to pass off mock-documentary footage of levitating psychological patients--and, scarier still, ordinary talking heads--as the real deal."
—
Variety
Posted Nov 4, 2009
|
|
|
40%
|
Saw VI (2009) |
"
A film so frighteningly familiar it could well be called Saw It Already."
—
Variety
Posted Oct 25, 2009
|
|
|
27%
|
The Canyon (2009) |
"
The Canyon could be named for the gaping expanse between its preposterously silly dialogue and sturdy, at times urgent direction."
—
Variety
Posted Oct 23, 2009
|
|
|
26%
|
Ninja Assassin (2009) |
"
Seemingly made to capitalize on a dubious CG innovation -- namely, the slicing of bodies in half by whizzing five-pointed stars -- Ninja Assassin has little else to recommend it, not even laughs."
—
Variety
Posted Oct 22, 2009
|
|
|
27%
|
Pandorum (2009) |
"
Lazily derivative."
—
Variety
Posted Sep 25, 2009
|
|
|
7%
|
'Til There Was You (1997) |
"
Bad romantic comedies with sappy characters aren't always without merit, since we cynics can at least use them to further our conviction that love isn't worth the trouble. But this bad romantic comedy is merely bad."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Sep 5, 2009
|
|
|
44%
|
Volcano (1997) |
"
Pre-millennium tension is still the best explanation for the recent tidal wave of disaster movies--which hasn't made it any less boring."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Sep 5, 2009
|
|
|
8%
|
An American Werewolf in Paris (1997) |
"
The humor isn't funny, the horror isn't scary, and the digital wolf f/x look cheap."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Sep 5, 2009
|
|
|
10%
|
Warriors of Virtue (1997) |
"
Only one element remains clearly traceable to Hong Kong cinema: The titular warriors are badly dubbed."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Sep 5, 2009
|
|
|
73%
|
In & Out (1997) |
"
In & Out is the screwball Philadelphia, a movie that contorts itself in order to indulge and then whitewash the core audience's perceived homophobia."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Sep 5, 2009
|
|
|
3%
|
McHale's Navy (1997) |
"
All apologies to the handful of Americans who've waited decades for this big-screen update of the '60s sitcom--the result is both awful and awfully irrelevant."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Sep 5, 2009
|
|
|
11%
|
Larger Than Life (1996) |
"
Of course, the elephant Vera keeps sticking her trunk in where it isn't wanted, literally consuming tons of candy and stepping on Murray's cellular phone. Ha ha."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Sep 5, 2009
|
|
|
55%
|
Extreme Measures (1996) |
"
The good liberal Michael Apted seems to think he's directing a film about society's exploitation of the homeless. In fact, the exploitation is all his."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Sep 5, 2009
|
|
|
21%
|
Daylight (1996) |
"
Still more millennial fear and commuter angst get routed through this toll-heavy disaster vehicle set in New York's Holland Tunnel--call it The Tunneling Inferno."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Sep 5, 2009
|
|
|
47%
|
One Fine Day (1996) |
"
Privilege and coincidence have always been central to screwball comedy, but the speed of crosstown travel here rivals Die Hard 3 for plausibility."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Sep 5, 2009
|
|
|
80%
|
Eds Next Move (1996) |
"
When the jokes aren't sexual or xenophobic, the movie's sense of humor is merely strained."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Sep 5, 2009
|
|
|
15%
|
Jingle All the Way (1997) |
"
God forbid Arnold should have to shell out for one of those Spanish-speaking turbomen being hocked in the bad part of town."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Sep 5, 2009
|
|
|
30%
|
Gamer (2009) |
"
Literally playing an action figure, bulky Butler doesn't deliver a performance so much as a workout routine; the best that can be said for him here is that he shows endurance."
—
Variety
Posted Sep 4, 2009
|
|
|
43%
|
The Reflecting Pool (2009) |
"
The 9/11 truth movement might believe it has found its JFK here, despite the cold, hard fact that the pic is criminally pedantic when not dramatically absurd."
—
Variety
Posted Sep 1, 2009
|
|
|
83%
|
Pontypool (2009) |
"
However shrewdly contrived to keep its budget low, Pontypool, set almost entirely in a basement radio station, is a zombie flick sans bite."
—
Variety
Posted Sep 1, 2009
|
|
|
——
|
Mommy Is at the Hairdresser's (Maman est Chez le Coiffeur) (2008) |
"
The film makes attractive use of vivid period detail, but its episodic narrative never takes hold."
—
Variety
Posted Sep 1, 2009
|
|
|
65%
|
Is Anybody There? (2009) |
"
Profoundly (and some would say pleasurably) formulaic, the film possesses scant cinematic energy, relying wholly on the familiar transformation of a grumpy old man into an infectiously weepy humanist."
—
Variety
Posted Sep 1, 2009
|
|
|
——
|
Blue Gold: World Water Wars (2009) |
"
Alternately political and apolitical, pessimistic and optimistic--but rarely, if ever, cinematic."
—
Variety
Posted Sep 1, 2009
|
|
|
67%
|
The Killing Room (2009) |
"
A high-concept/low-impact twist on torture porn, The Killing Room will likely do its slaying on DVD."
—
Variety
Posted Sep 1, 2009
|
|
|
63%
|
When You're Strange (2010) |
"
Primo footage of recording sessions, concert perfs and various backstage trips is ubiquitous--and sadly squandered--amid wall-to-wall voiceover narration that is punishingly banal when not factually sketchy or flat-out false."
—
Variety
Posted Sep 1, 2009
|
|
|
20%
|
Motherhood (2009) |
"
Though pregnant with possibility, Motherhood fails to deliver."
—
Variety
Posted Sep 1, 2009
|
|
|
29%
|
12 Rounds (2009) |
"
Heavy on stunts but light on plausibility, humor, surprise, visual ingenuity or psychological depth."
—
Variety
Posted Sep 1, 2009
|
|
|
63%
|
Crank 2: High Voltage (2009) |
"
Yet another D.O.A. for the ADD era."
—
Variety
Posted Sep 1, 2009
|
|
|
83%
|
Polytechnique (2009) |
"
Lensed in black-and-white, the 77-minute film is plenty arty and only arguably constructive in its tasteful fictionalization of a violent tragedy."
—
Variety
Posted Sep 1, 2009
|
|
|
40%
|
Don McKay (2010) |
"
Writer-director Jake Goldberger's mild riff on Double Indemnity, etc., works best as a showcase for its veteran cast."
—
Variety
Posted Sep 1, 2009
|
|
|
90%
|
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) |
"
Welcome to the Dollhouse puts an ugly duckling through her paces."
—
City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul
Posted Sep 1, 2009
|
|
|
61%
|
Independence Day (1996) |
"
Independence Day Restores Order to the Millennium."
—
City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul
Posted Sep 1, 2009
|
|
|
29%
|
Prom Night (1980) |
"
Pop Culture Rule No. 1: Wait long enough and even the stinkiest trash gets recycled into art."
—
City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul
Posted Sep 1, 2009
|
|
|
73%
|
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) |
"
Steven Spielberg tries to rescue the world's most elusive filmmaker from an unhappy ending."
—
City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul
Posted Sep 1, 2009
|
|
|
21%
|
H2: Halloween II (2009) |
"
Repellent not only in content but in visual style, writer-director Rob Zombie's hatchet job on the series he revived so artfully two years ago plays like a violent act of euthanasia."
—
Variety
Posted Aug 28, 2009
|
|
|
80%
|
The Royal Tenenbaums (2002) |
"
Despite countless unique and amazing moments, the movie doesn't quite come together--which may not, in fact, go against the director's master plan."
—
City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul
Posted Aug 27, 2009
|
|
|
13%
|
Facing the Giants (2006) |
"
The separation of church and cinema amounts to a long yard at most in this high school football sermon from Georgia-based Baptist pastor Alex Kendrick."
—
City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul
Posted Aug 27, 2009
|
|
|
88%
|
Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006) |
"
Another few of these squandered opportunities for art-house muckraking and we'll need someone to ask who killed the left-wing documentary."
—
Village Voice
Posted Aug 27, 2009
|
|
|
9%
|
Ultraviolet (2006) |
"
The most receptive audience will mainly be enlightened to know that you can make a movie as thoroughly unprofessional as this one and still get it released in 3,000 theaters."
—
Village Voice
Posted Aug 27, 2009
|
|
|
81%
|
One Hour Photo (2002) |
"
Call it an exercise in threat management, free with the purchase of a photo album--or a movie ticket."
—
City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul
Posted Aug 24, 2009
|
|
|
27%
|
Love in the Time of Cholera (2007) |
"
Film in the Time of Oprah is more like it."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Aug 24, 2009
|
|
|
73%
|
Son of Rambow (2007) |
"
Funnier than anything in this vaguely dark comedy is the thought of [Sly] Stallone sitting through it."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Aug 24, 2009
|
|
|
17%
|
The Marc Pease Experience (2009) |
"
Like Schwartzman, Stiller devotes aptly excessive attention to the portrayal of a character too invested in trivial pursuits himself. It's the movie's one decent joke, but, in the absence of laughs, the most the actors can draw from it is a mere grin."
—
Variety
Posted Aug 24, 2009
|
68%
——
98%
