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Lisa Alspector

Tomatometer-approved critic
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Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Bride of Chucky (1998) 47% EDIT “Distancing itself from Child’s Play, Child’s Play 2, and Child’s Play 3 in name only, this 1998 sequel is a horror comedy with one shocking scene and one very funny one” – Chicago Reader Jun 4, 2025 Full Review Final Destination (2000) 51% EDIT “Despite dissipating tension with in-jokes and comic exaggeration, this supernatural thriller is disturbing—if less sophisticated than the best SF-horror TV.” – Chicago Reader May 21, 2025 Full Review Dirty Work (1998) 21% EDIT “The pranks are as bland as Macdonald’s demeanor, which is supposed to subvert expectations about the role of the straight man in a comedy duo.” – Chicago Reader May 14, 2025 Full Review Air Bud (1997) 50% EDIT “Dubious highlights include the dog wearing two pairs of basketball shoes and eating a frightening amount of vanilla pudding.” – Chicago Reader Mar 1, 2024 Full Review Starship Troopers (1997) 72% EDIT “Director Paul Verhoeven blends the conflicting elements of intentional camp and perverse sincerity into a single tone—and he doesn’t resort to simple irony. ” – Chicago Reader Mar 16, 2023 Full Review Down in the Delta (1998) 76% EDIT “Maya Angelou's very deliberate blocking of the actors charges each movement and line of dialogue with emotion, and the expressive combinations of colors and textures in the settings convey a palpable sense of the environments.” – Chicago Reader Jan 9, 2023 Full Review My Giant (1998) 22% 3/4 EDIT “My Giant becomes strikingly incongruous with the circumstances of its making; in real life Muresan has racked up a high-profile screen credit.” – Chicago Reader Jun 16, 2022 Full Review Kissed (1996) 67% 2/4 EDIT “Though Stopkewich has astutely recognized the contradictions in our uneasy relationship to the dead, she doesn’t seem to have examined her own uneasy relationship to the story she tells.” – Chicago Reader Jun 15, 2022 Full Review Beloved (1998) 71% EDIT “Using overwhelmingly potent performances, audacious static close-ups, assertive lighting, and a rigorous yet lyrical interweaving of events... this terrifyingly beautiful movie blends metaphor and stark social commentary to achieve a spontaneous grace.” – Chicago Reader Feb 2, 2022 Full Review Perfect Blue (1997) 84% EDIT “This engrossing animated thriller somehow displays realist gore, nudity, and sexual violence in a tone not too far from that of a children's adventure; its innocence stems in part from the convincing naivete of the heroine.” – Chicago Reader Oct 8, 2021 Full Review Meet Joe Black (1998) 48% EDIT “A savory, extralong feature whose obvious plotlines unfold with an almost painful slowness that somehow makes them deeper.” – Chicago Reader Oct 26, 2020 Full Review Brassed Off (1996) 79% EDIT “Pete Postlethwaite is moving as the bandleader, whose dream of taking his players to compete at the Albert Hall nearly eclipses his appreciation of the dire issues they face.” – Chicago Reader Sep 9, 2020 Full Review Hardball (2001) 42% EDIT “The filmmakers realize that playing baseball isn't nearly enough to fix what's wrong in these kids' lives, which might have made a more provocative ending than what follows.” – Chicago Reader May 13, 2020 Full Review Committed (2000) 43% EDIT “Audaciously devised by writer-director Lisa Krueger, combines a gently surreal reverence for Americana with a serious examination of cultural values.” – Chicago Reader Apr 30, 2020 Full Review Mercury Rising (1998) 21% EDIT “The actors' serious faces are out of place in this hopelessly silly action conspiracy.” – Chicago Reader Apr 21, 2020 Full Review Prefontaine (1997) 54% EDIT “The result is both too earnest and too campy.” – Chicago Reader Mar 25, 2020 Full Review Aberdeen (2000) 87% EDIT “Its plot contrivances beautifully justified by its minimalism.” – Chicago Reader Feb 13, 2020 Full Review Aaron & the Book of Wonders (1995) EDIT “The animation's no great shakes, and the songs are terrible.” – Chicago Reader Feb 12, 2020 Full Review Jurassic Park III (2001) 49% EDIT “[This] sequel isn't terribly frightening or gory, and at times it's even atmospheric. It also has a sense of humor: Tea Leoni's moony reaction shots intentionally send up the glossy idealism of the original.” – Chicago Reader Jun 24, 2019 Full Review Stepmom (1998) 45% EDIT “[Stepmom] offers some useful insights into how feelings of jealousy and betrayal can limit the potential of family relationships. But these ideas are more or less undermined by the movie's maddeningly typical glamorizing of illness.” – Chicago Reader Apr 1, 2019 Full Review But I'm a Cheerleader (1999) 43% EDIT “Lyonne blends hyperbole and sincerity in perfect proportions.” – Chicago Reader Mar 31, 2019 Full Review Wet Hot American Summer (2001) 39% EDIT “The title of this inventive absurdist comedy (2001) is meant to mislead-it's not a sex movie but a parody, and the loose feel is part of its genius.” – Chicago Reader Mar 31, 2019 Full Review Practical Magic (1998) 27% EDIT “Though its startling shifts in tone sometimes seem unmotivated, this dark yet syrupy 1998 romance has an adolescent charm.” – Chicago Reader Mar 30, 2019 Full Review I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) 47% EDIT “A poorly conceived 1997 thriller with plenty of empty references.” – Chicago Reader Mar 28, 2019 Full Review The Legend of 1900 (1998) 58% EDIT “...the nearly incessant camera movement suggests only the literal: the ship's progress across the ocean.” – Chicago Reader Mar 6, 2019 Full Review
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