Rod Dreher
Tomatometer-approved critic
| Publications: | New York Post |
Movie Reviews Only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
| 67% | Antonia (Antonia's Line) (1995) |
The movie is so pastorally lovely to look at, its characters so likable and its lulling rhythms so soothing that it's easy to forget that it's a lot of pleasant, plotless hooey.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted Oct 4, 2016
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| 66% | The Pillow Book (1997) |
Pillow Book may be a dull, heartless, cruel film, but for what it's worth, it looks marvelous.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted May 2, 2016
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| 78% | GoldenEye (1995) |
Despite a promiscuous number of explosions on screen, don't expect many genuinely big bangs out of this one.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted Oct 28, 2015
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| 92% | Men in Black (1997) |
What makes this wildly imaginative setup so much fun is the contrast between the deadpan gruffness of Jones and Torn, and the spectacularly strange environment in which they work.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted Aug 12, 2014
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| 18% | Trippin (1999) |
An after-school special posing as Booty Call, stumbling badly over its clunky message-movie scripting.‐ New York Post
Read More | Posted Jul 28, 2014
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| 25% | Fathers' Day (1997) |
The plot is full of the kind of holes necessary to set up cream-puff moments where everybody turns huggy and learns Valuable Lessons. Ugh.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted Jul 14, 2014
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| 10% | Batman & Robin (1997) |
Batman & Robin is as bad as anything on screen this year.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted Jun 18, 2014
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| 12% | Striptease (1996) |
Moore, the most overrated star since Comet Kohoutek, is dreadful, dreadful in this thoroughly disappointing film version of Carl Hiaasen's hilarious novel.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted Jun 18, 2014
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| 99% | L.A. Confidential (1997) |
Though their spirits may seem all but entombed by sin, these men are vividly human, this film savagely alive.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted Jun 4, 2014
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| 66% | The Rock (1996) |
The camera is always too close, and the editing extremely choppy, dizzyingly so.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted May 27, 2014
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| 46% | For Love of the Game (1999) |
For love of the God, what is wrong with the once-likable Kevin Costner?‐ New York Post
Read More | Posted May 8, 2014
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| 5% | A Kid in King Arthur's Court (1995) |
It looks and feels junky.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted May 5, 2014
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| 86% | Heat (1995) |
Though it's a tad too schematic, Heat, written and directed by Michael Mann, provides a venue for white-hot acting by De Niro and Pacino.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted Apr 29, 2014
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| 80% | Seven (Se7en) (1995) |
The two actors misfire here: Freeman is so low-key he's almost drowsy, and Pitt jumps around like a chihuahua to no effect. It doesn't help that the sound mix is so murky that much of their dialogue sinks into the murk.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted Mar 25, 2014
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| 88% | Titanic (1997) |
Titanic is an awesome achievement, a traditional Hollywood epic that dazzles your eyes, breaks your heart and shivers your soul.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted Feb 25, 2014
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| 76% | Ransom (1996) |
Ransom benefits handsomely from a story that remains compellingly believable, even as the plot twists become more baroque. Be warned, though, that Ransom is a violent film, with bloody shootouts that will not be easy to watch.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted Jan 22, 2014
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| 84% | The English Patient (1996) |
The English Patient's considerable pleasures are chiefly aesthetic, not emotional.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted Jan 6, 2014
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| 90% | Trainspotting (1996) |
A grimy bolt of celluloid lightning unspooling at 24 crackling frames a second, this episodic tale of smart-aleck Scottish lads on heroin is the year's most exciting film -- and surely its most controversial.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted Jun 26, 2013
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| 6% | Kazaam (1996) |
Good ol' Shaq, the big happy galoot, makes you smile just by showing up. Because of him, Kazaam is a minimal kid-pleaser, but because the trailers made us dream of genie, we can't help being disappointed when we get a turbaned social worker.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted May 29, 2013
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| 3% | Speed 2 - Cruise Control (1997) |
The wind goes out of this tub's sails long before it reaches port.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted May 28, 2013
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| 6% | Solo (1996) |
Solo contains the usual shoot-'em-ups, an undistinguished performance from Van Peebles, plus lots of crummy dialogue.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted May 28, 2013
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| 83% | Jerry Maguire (1996) |
Crowe draws terrific performances from the entire cast. And his magnificent dialogue limns emotional nuances and delicate truths rarely touched on in big-budget Hollywood movies, making Jerry Maguire a thoroughly unexpected pleasure.‐ South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Read More | Posted May 1, 2002
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| 50% | Life (1999) |
This prison dramedy's muddled, episodic script seems to have gone on a hunger strike for humor!‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 4/4 | 88% | American Beauty (1999) |
American Beauty is a flat-out masterpiece, surely the best movie of the year; indeed, an all-time classic.‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 40% | Big Daddy (1999) |
Big Daddy is easily the laziest, most slapdash and altogether crummy picture Sandler's done to date.‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 19% | Love Stinks (1999) |
Jeff Franklin's idea of cutting-edge comedy writing runs to the kind of vulgar, unfunny shtick that puts the gag in 'gag.'‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 33% | The Love Letter (1999) |
Capshaw is cold and charmless!‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 3/4 | 67% | Stir of Echoes (1999) |
Stir of Echoes is studded with potent fright scenes and built on a rock-solid performance by the ever - dependable Kevin Bacon.‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 83% | Notting Hill (1999) |
Notting Hill is about as enchanting as movies get these days!‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 2.5/4 | 74% | Eyes Wide Shut (1999) |
Quite good in parts and always dazzling to the eye but a letdown all the same.‐ New York Post
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 51% | Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) |
Amusing but ultimately disappointing.‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 22% | The General's Daughter (1999) |
So nonsensical and asinine that it would take all 14,000 miles of cable holding up the Brooklyn Bridge to suspend your disbelief.‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 3/4 | 70% | The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) |
Renee Russo is an absolute knockout!‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 2/4 | 55% | Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) |
Everything about this film is so mechanical you wonder if it was written, directed and acted by 'droids.'‐ New York Post
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 1.5/4 | 21% | Stigmata (1999) |
The story makes increasingly little sense as it unspools!‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 87% | The Matrix (1999) |
A more technically dazzling synthesis of action choreography and cutting-edge computer graphics has not been seen since James Cameron's T2.‐ New York Post
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 2/4 | 45% | Runaway Bride (1999) |
A runaway bore!‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 56% | The Hi-Lo Country (1998) |
Woody Harrelson's surprisingly credible, yippie-ki-yay performance as the last of the old-time cowboys is the only reason - but just reason enough - to see THE HI-LO COUNTRY.‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 3.5/4 | 85% | The Sixth Sense (1999) |
It is impossible to take your eyes off Osment, who vividly conveys the hopelessness of a sensitive, intelligent child who bears burdens beyond all telling.‐ New York Post
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 50% | Summer of Sam (1999) |
A ragged mess that only rarely connects with its audience or with a point.‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 1/4 | 5% | Universal Soldier: The Return (1999) |
The Muscles from Brussels mouths dialogue that wouldn't challenge a bivalve - and in an accent that makes Stallone sound like a master of elocution.‐ New York Post
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 2/4 | 11% | Chill Factor (1999) |
A waste of time and talent!‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 91% | Go (1999) |
Flat-out the best thing I've seen all year!‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 17% | Wild Wild West (1999) |
Heaven knows he gives it his best, but not even the smart, sexy and immensely likable Smith can save this awful Barry Sonnenfeld picture from the oblivion it surely deserves.‐ New York Post
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 63% | Muppets From Space (1999) |
Draggy and awfully thin!‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 60% | Mystery Men (1999) |
This year's The Avengers.‐ New York Post
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 81% | South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) |
The quite clever satirical moments in this crudely animated filth fest, though, are not remotely worth being dragged through the cinematic sewer.‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 2.5/4 | 96% | The Iron Giant (1999) |
The writing is vivid and bright, the voicing accomplished, and the storytelling emotionally satisfying.‐ New York Post
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 3/4 | 45% | Mickey Blue Eyes (1999) |
Grant is always a pleasure to watch, and Caan looks like he's having the time of his life!‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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| 16% | The Haunting (1999) |
Clumsy, bloated and wretchedly overdone!‐ New York Post
Posted Jan 1, 2000
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