|
67%
|
Stoker (2013)
|
"Park subverts standard framing rules when characters are speaking to one another, employs sweeping camera movement from weird angles, and stops key scenes just at their climax, only to return to them later for a fuller picture."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
62%
|
Evil Dead (2013)
|
"Alvarez adopts the film language of Raimi's films, adds more to the bag of tricks, and keeps the sardonic attitude without necessarily being slapstick."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
45%
|
On the Road (2012)
|
"At just over two hours, its challenging to stay invested in the movie and its choppy, rambling storyline. As a filmic experience, however, it serves as an interesting companion piece to the similarly challenging 'The Master.'"
|
Eric Melin
|
|
65%
|
Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey (2013)
|
"The film is mostly surface-value kicks, relaying the basic parts of the story (poor guy battling drug and alcohol addiction suddenly makes it big) without being particularly probing or revealing too many shades of gray. "
|
Eric Melin
|
|
59%
|
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
|
"It has the wow factor that big, Hollywood event movies demand. Raimi was the right person to elevate some pretty standard material, though Franco and Kunis may not have been the right people for the job. "
|
Eric Melin
|
|
98%
|
It Happened One Night (1934)
|
"Gable and Colbert have charm to spare, and even though the tropes are well-worn and have been mishandled poorly by every by-the-book chick flick of the last 15 years, it still isn't enough to keep this from working like gangbusters."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
79%
|
A Late Quartet (2012)
|
"There may be some overly melodramatic notes hit along the way, but the sober and thoughtful performances from its four lead actors keep "A Late Quartet" from getting too out of hand."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
85%
|
Side Effects (2013)
|
"Side Effects sports two very strong performances from Law and Mara, and Soderbergh's direction is lean and efficient. If only the final act were as muscular and sure-footed as the rest of the movie."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
66%
|
Mama (2013)
|
"The visual effects and sound design are unique, and a pleasure to watch, even when the suspense isn't really working. Producer del Toro should have let more things stay ambiguous and encouraged first-time director Muschietti to concentrate on the mood. "
|
Eric Melin
|
|
78%
|
Dreamgirls (2006)
|
"It is big and showy and loud, but director Bill Condon's attempts to make the movie more socially relevant than the theatrical production instead just highlight what little soul was there in the first place."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
81%
|
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
|
"Flashes of color and streaks of movement can make for a striking picture, but only if you can see what's taking place, not to mention if you care about who is in jeopardy."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
29%
|
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
|
"Riddick is a loner, Dottie, a rebel. He's a simple man, like Pee-Wee Herman, who is not concerned with getting the girl. But, unlike Pee-Wee, poor Riddick doesn't even have a bicycle for companionship."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
18%
|
Soul Plane (2004)
|
"Soul Plane is like seeing an uncomfortably unfunny stand-up comedy routine acted out and stretched to a feature-length film."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
90%
|
Good Bye, Lenin (2004)
|
"The real story is how ideologies melt when it comes to affairs of the heart. In that way, the movie has an appeal that goes way beyond its country's borders."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
83%
|
Mean Girls (2004)
|
"Props to Tina Fey for being the first cast member since Mike Myers in Wayne's World to survive her movie being produced by Saturday Night Live boss Lorne Michaels -- and not also have her movie completely suck."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
65%
|
13 Going on 30 (2004)
|
"While [it's] the Keystone Light of Vice Versa movies, it also annoyingly adds itself to the ever-growing list of movies that think being kitschy about the 1980s is funny."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
29%
|
The Punisher (2004)
|
"We are treated to John Travolta in yet another gloriously unconvincing evil guy role as...a cross between Hugh Hefner and his own Tony Manero from Saturday Night Fever."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
55%
|
The Girl Next Door (2004)
|
"It is a movie full of contradictions that plays like a bad The Sure Thing melded uncomfortably together with an exploitative Risky Business."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
55%
|
The Ladykillers (2004)
|
"The story, adapted by the Coens themselves, is reduced to a series of hoops the characters must jump through to prove just how strange they are."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
81%
|
Hellboy (2004)
|
"As expertly played by Perlman, even with tons of make-up and prostheteics, our hero is a good 'monster' whose origin haunts him to the bone."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
24%
|
Walking Tall (2004)
|
"It is not quite violent, drunken, or naked enough to be as trashily entertaining as the Patrick Swayze cult favorite Roadhouse."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
41%
|
Jersey Girl (2004)
|
"It takes more than a couple of dirty one-liners to retain your edge in light, predictable fare."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
98%
|
The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)
|
"[It] raise[s] complex questions about man's role in that most awful and inherent of human characteristics: our penchant for war."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
54%
|
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
|
"...suffers from a sort of middle child syndrome."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
50%
|
The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
|
"...given its source material, there was much room for improvement. It's just too bad that the only things Aja could improve on were the makeup and gore."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
82%
|
The World's Fastest Indian (2005)
|
"...basically this is Days of Thunder crossed with Pee-Wee's Big Adventure."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
61%
|
The New World (2005)
|
"Malick's typically unhurried and measured pace is wholly appropriate for The New World, which expresses the awe of discovery and re-invents no less than the popular myth of our country's founding."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
87%
|
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
|
"...you can't take the 'gay' out of the 'gay cowboy' movie. What gives Brokeback Mountain its punch is the (no pun intended) straight way in which its romance is told."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
35%
|
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
|
"Exotic locations and vibrant colors mask what is essentially a Japanese soap opera voiced in English..."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
77%
|
Philadelphia (1993)
|
|
Eric Melin
|
|
37%
|
The Skeleton Key (2005)
|
"A predictably tepid plate of bland rice, rather than the authentic jambalaya that its spicy ending would have you believe."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
——
|
The Last Of The Blue Devils (1979)
|
|
Eric Melin
|
|
91%
|
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
|
|
Eric Melin
|
|
100%
|
Ugetsu monogatari (1954)
|
|
Eric Melin
|
|
43%
|
Zorro, the Gay Blade (1981)
|
|
Eric Melin
|
|
100%
|
Paris, Texas (1984)
|
|
Eric Melin
|
|
72%
|
Pink Floyd - The Wall (1982)
|
|
Eric Melin
|
|
95%
|
Time Bandits (1981)
|
|
Eric Melin
|
|
100%
|
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
|
|
Eric Melin
|
|
53%
|
The Devil's Rejects (2005)
|
"Lynyrd Skynyrds 'Freebird' will never be the same again."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
62%
|
Vampire's Kiss (1989)
|
|
Eric Melin
|
|
94%
|
March of the Penguins (2005)
|
"Contains not only all the stunning cinematography you would expect, but also more character and heart than half the movies you will see this summer."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
40%
|
The Island (2005)
|
"...an over-simplification of the film's more heady implications and...a whole lot of excuses to blow s**t up."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
41%
|
High Tension (Switchblade Romance) (2005)
|
"In a remarkable turnaround, the film suddenly lacks the courage to stick with what it does best."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
75%
|
Wedding Crashers (2005)
|
"...could have been a rousing satire..."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
81%
|
Clueless (1995)
|
|
Eric Melin
|
|
45%
|
Dark Water (2005)
|
"[It] has a split personality, as it contains two movies that are frequently at odds with each other."
|
Eric Melin
|
|
95%
|
The Bad and the Beautiful (1953)
|
|
Eric Melin
|
|
71%
|
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
|
"Completely out-of-control and one of a kind"
|
Eric Melin
|
|
74%
|
Land of the Dead (2005)
|
"The themes of oppression and greed are tied even more relevantly in 'Land of the Dead' than any of its predecessors."
|
Eric Melin
|
76%
22%
67%
85%
46%
40%
