Mark Collette
Tomatometer-approved critic
Texas
http://www.tylerpaper.com
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Code Name: The Cleaner (2007) |
...the comedy half doesn't work without the intrigue half, and director Mayfield doesn't look like he would know intrigue if Martin Scorsese brought it to him wrapped in butcher paper with a bow on top. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Jan 05, 2007
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Eragon (2006) |
Its formula is so vanilla that it could be an early draft of almost any other science fiction or fantasy story. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Dec 15, 2006
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Apocalypto (2006) |
Rather than sprawling into far-reaching epic mode, this carefully contained script zooms in on one man's drive to protect his family against the backdrop of a civilization on the point of collapse. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Dec 11, 2006
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The Nativity Story (2006) |
Hardwicke takes scripture that is at once deeply troubling ... and filled with profound hope, and renders it inert on both counts by playing things so safely that the result is almost irreverent. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Dec 01, 2006
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Deck the Halls (2006) |
I'm tired of filmmakers, screenwriters, directors and studios that believe every holiday is its own excuse for making films. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Nov 22, 2006
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Happy Feet (2006) |
The long march across the Antarctic wasteland ... sometimes feels just as arduous as the real thing. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Nov 18, 2006
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Stranger Than Fiction (2006) |
When I left the theater, I got in my car, turned off my perpetually running radio, and thought for a long time before I moved. It's been a while since a film has done that. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Nov 11, 2006
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Flushed Away (2006) |
This is a stunning example of a dumb concept that an ingenuous team of screenwriters, animators and voice actors turned squarely on its head. And there's scarcely a potty joke to be found. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Nov 04, 2006
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Saw III (2006) |
It induces squirming not because the filmmakers are good at creating suspense, but because they are expert sadists with a $12 million budget. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Oct 28, 2006
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Flags of Our Fathers (2006) |
This film seems dangerously close to embracing the same kind of selective storytelling that it condemns. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Oct 21, 2006
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The Grudge 2 (2006) |
Shimizu has mastered the American art of pandering to a target demographic. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Oct 14, 2006
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The Guardian (2006) |
At 135 minutes, I expect more than the usual trainer-turned-father-figure story. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Oct 01, 2006
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Fearless (2006) |
Fearless is a visual juggernaut. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Sep 23, 2006
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Gridiron Gang (2006) |
The film misses the chance to showcase these actors with a deeper exploration of their changing relationship. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Sep 16, 2006
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The Covenant (2006) |
Limitless powers, and all we get are some spiders, some Blobs, and some supernatural hair gel. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Sep 09, 2006
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Crank (2006) |
Borrows pages from Quentin Tarantino, the Atari 2600 game console, and, most of all, British action junkie Guy Ritchie, in a deliciously absurd, rollicking rampage through Los Angeles. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Sep 01, 2006
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Pulse (2006) |
What's the point in warning of the perils of the information age by creating a scareless, formulaic film that fits so snugly into the thoughtless consumerism of the culture you're trying to criticize? - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Aug 11, 2006
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The Night Listener (2006) |
(Stettner) sets up a rule that the movie is about the psychological conditions of its characters, and what they can teach us about ourselves. He then switches games and asks us to believe the spook is its own excuse. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Aug 05, 2006
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Miami Vice (2006) |
Mann can't be faulted for his visual take on the grit and the glitter of high stakes cocaine rustling, but at 146 minutes he could have found more room for the psychological nuances... - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Jul 29, 2006
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Lady in the Water (2006) |
Though originating as a bedtime story for his children, it functions less as a morality tale and more as an egotistical salvo toward his critics. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Jul 21, 2006
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Little Man (2006) |
The film turns to that old reliable standard, commedia dell'gassy. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Jul 14, 2006
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Waist Deep (2006) |
A film teetering on the edge of importance. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Jun 24, 2006
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Nacho Libre (2006) |
As a certain tenacious rocker once intoned, you barely passed the test, Jack. You know what you got? F plus. Click. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Jun 16, 2006
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Cars (2006) |
A uniquely American experience in a uniquely American setting ... And it's a heck of a lot of fun. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Jun 12, 2006
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The Break-Up (2006) |
A rare category of date movie: We wish it played more like other date movies. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Jun 02, 2006
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Poseidon (2006) |
Equal parts summer pleasure and plodding exercise in stop-and-go suspense... - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted May 13, 2006
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Hoot (2006) |
Unrelentingly sweet, and dull as driftwood. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted May 05, 2006
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RV (2006) |
Invariably, each summer vacation movie can be judged by the quality of its obligatory gag related to going to the bathroom in the wilderness or amid the complications of foreign plumbing. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Apr 28, 2006
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Silent Hill (2006) |
Striking visuals tell a story where words aren't necessary ... until that turning point, when dull dialogue, a complicated plot and cheesy graphics start to muddle things. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Apr 22, 2006
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The Wild (2006) |
A hit-and-occasionally-miss journey. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Apr 14, 2006
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The Benchwarmers (2006) |
This film has no idea who it wants to reach ... you just kind of shake your head and hope the PG-13 rating will be strictly enforced. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Apr 08, 2006
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Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector (2006) |
Whenever Larry isn't pensively biting on his chaw, he's barking out obscene one-liners in a guttural, noxious stream of little nasty explosions. He's a greasy, oil-burning joke jalopy. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Mar 24, 2006
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The Shaggy Dog (2006) |
They've created a virus that can turn people into dogs so they will learn important life lessons. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Mar 11, 2006
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Doogal (2006) |
No one expects intense character development from a tale aimed at the youngest of youngsters ... but parents who take their kids will grow bored with the lack of dimension. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Feb 24, 2006
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Date Movie (2006) |
Cat flatulence, worn-out jokes about Jennifer Lopez's anatomy ... did I say there was a movie here? - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Feb 20, 2006
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The New World (2005) |
A poetic, fluid painting... - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Feb 13, 2006
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Underworld: Evolution (2006) |
I suppose bloodlust is enough excuse for anyone willing to endure 105 minutes of monster derby, but really: Who are these characters? - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Jan 20, 2006
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Hoodwinked! (2005) |
The Edwards show immense creative potential; they just didn't find it all in this particular forest. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Jan 14, 2006
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Hostel (2005) |
A steady, grueling, suspenseful march to a raucous finish that is likely to give it a devoted cult following. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Jan 07, 2006
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The Family Stone (2005) |
This year's lump of cinematic coal has a diamond blazing inside. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Dec 16, 2005
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Syriana (2005) |
The plots are not so much carefully interwoven as they are frantically blended, like a dubious cocktail whose true ingredients the bartender would like to hide. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Dec 09, 2005
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Aeon Flux (2005) |
Aeon Flux isn't about how cool or weird or geeky it can be, but about the potential endgame of a contemporary social debate, and that is its best asset. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Dec 03, 2005
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Rent (2005) |
In a stagy way, Chris Columbus' adaptation captures this Generation-X attitude toward relationships with pinpoint accuracy -- even if it captures little raw emotion. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Nov 23, 2005
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Walk the Line (2005) |
Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon should go on tour. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Nov 18, 2005
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Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005) |
...Too few answers as to how 50 Cent became who he is. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Nov 14, 2005
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The Legend of Zorro (2005) |
An overproduced yarn that, at more than two hours, leaves Antonio Banderas looking a little bored in his boots. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Oct 28, 2005
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Stay (2005) |
Was the conclusion unforeseen? Definitely. Did it make me think about or learn something about the human condition? Not really. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Oct 21, 2005
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A History of Violence (2005) |
A tense, tight and pithy thriller with such superb restraint that almost every detail matters -- and therefore shouldn't be spoiled. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Oct 14, 2005
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Waiting ... (2005) |
Not razor-sharp with its satire of the corporate restaurant culture as Office Space was with corporate office culture. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Oct 08, 2005
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Into the Blue (2005) |
The film's ethos clashes with Jessica Alba's tan lines and loses the battle. - Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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| Posted Oct 01, 2005
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