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James Hebert
James Hebert's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
San Diego Union-Tribune
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) |
We'll spare you the spoiler. And though it has its moments, you might want to spare yourself the movie. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Dec 11, 2008
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Mamma Mia! (2008) |
There's something infuriatingly entertaining about this silly story, those slumming actors (Meryl Streep! Pierce Brosnan!) and those cruel, cruel songs. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Jul 17, 2008
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The Heartbreak Kid (2007) |
In this remake of the 1972 film, the Farrellys -- proud perpetrators of Dumb and Dumber, There's Something About Mary and other jolly assaults on good taste -- turn Neil Simon's script inside out and flog it like a piñata. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Oct 05, 2007
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Hairspray (2007) |
A goofy bouffant of a movie primped with rich '60s atmosphere and held together by the gloss coat of Marc Shaiman's swinging music. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Jul 19, 2007
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Transformers (2007) |
It's a Hasbro ad. It's a Chevy commercial. It's a pitch for Homeland Security. (A pretty ineffective one.) - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Jul 11, 2007
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Live Free or Die Hard (2007) |
In this fourth film, there's a zip to the dialogue and a lift to the storytelling that recalls the spark of the original '88 Die Hard. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Jun 25, 2007
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Snow Cake (2006) |
Snow Cake reflects a sense of the almost infinite ways autism manifests itself, in all its baffling and fascinating and sometimes agonizing realities. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted May 25, 2007
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Miss Potter (2006) |
It's buttoned-up to a fault, as proper as clotted cream, and at times as exciting. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Mar 16, 2007
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Arthur and the Invisibles (2006) |
The story [Besson] co-wrote for Arthur is workable, even clever at times, but the visualization of the Minimoys and their crib is weird and almost aggressively off-putting -- like an episode of When CGI Attacks! - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Jan 12, 2007
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Fast Food Nation (2006) |
It's a lot of food for thought -- even if sometimes, a bit too much is on the menu. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Nov 17, 2006
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Stranger Than Fiction (2006) |
Stranger Than Fiction is subversive in its own, low-key way. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Nov 10, 2006
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The Lake House (2006) |
This is the first time Reeves and Bullock have been paired since the 1994 hit Speed, where they were stuck on a bus that would blow up if its speed dropped below 50 mph. There's no danger of that kind of velocity here. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Jun 16, 2006
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X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) |
Like the first two films, this one crackles with action, delves smartly (but not smarmily) into social relevance, and salts in enough humor to make all the vaporizings and razor-izings feel a bit more festive. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Jun 07, 2006
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ATL (2006) |
But the story behind ATL (credited to Antwone Fisher, the onetime Navy man in San Diego who had a movie made about his life four years ago) for the most part feels genuine and resonant. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Mar 31, 2006
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Dave Chappelle's Block Party (2005) |
Block Party itself doesn't kill, exactly, but its charms are enough to disarm. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Mar 03, 2006
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Something New (2006) |
Something New has some surprisingly wise and nuanced things to say about navigating racial attitudes -- both society's and one's own. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Feb 03, 2006
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The Family Stone (2005) |
Strangely, though, it's not an overdose of sentimentality that makes the family - - and the film - - so hard to buy. It's that most of its members are so blithely cruel. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Dec 16, 2005
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Lords of Dogtown (2005) |
The action sequences are real and raw, and if Lords never quite gets airborne, it does justice to a scene whose legacy rolls on. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Jun 03, 2005
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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) |
The movie's tone -- which is as naturalistic as the plot is fantastic -- heightens the tantalizing sense that maybe, finally, this is the real Carrey we're seeing. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Mar 19, 2004
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24 Hour Party People (2002) |
It's part of the charm of 24 Hour Party People ... that the filmmakers gleefully embellish or downright invent scenes -- and often admit that they're doing it. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Aug 30, 2002
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Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001) |
An account that's as raw and colorful as the misfits it mythologizes. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted May 03, 2002
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Scotland, Pa. (2001) |
Underachieves only in not taking the Shakespeare parallels quite far enough. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Apr 26, 2002
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Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) |
Makes for deft (if weightless) entertainment. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Apr 13, 2001
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Beyond the Mat (1999) |
The film manages to put a pin on pro wrestling's harsh realities. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Jan 01, 2000
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Deep Blue Sea (1999) |
Look carefully at that word "Deep" in the title. It is surely the last time you'll see it associated with this movie. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Jan 01, 2000
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Frequency (2000) |
Frequency probably won't rewrite the history of time-bending movies, but the movie works in enough dimensions to make it a pleasant one-way trip. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Jan 01, 2000
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Snow Day (2000) |
The attempted humor is a hodgepodge of predictable slapstick and TV-cartoon cliche. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Jan 01, 2000
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Keeping the Faith (2000) |
It is also two-hours-plus in length. Not until the movie nears that 'plus' portion, unfortunately, does it find some semblance of a stride. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Jan 01, 2000
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Chill Factor (1999) |
The plot is rigged to disintegrate if a moviegoer's IQ nudges above 70. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Jan 01, 2000
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Bicentennial Man (1999) |
Gives up too early in its search to say something authentic. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Jan 01, 2000
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Hollow Man (2000) |
Paul Verhoeven's exceedingly violent, surprisingly pointless invisible-man tale nearly warrants a trotting-out of the Union-Tribune's dreaded 'dog' designation. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Jan 01, 2000
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Mumford (1999) |
After so many gross offenses committed in the name of comedy lately, here's a film whose humor rests on the audacious assumption that you, the moviegoer, have a brain. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Jan 01, 2000
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