Martin Scribbs
Tomatometer-approved critic
MARTIN SCRIBBS: The Philadelphia-based pedant, poet, and sot writes on the staffs of Flak Magazine and Mixed Reviews. Scribbs also bloviates at his own site, Low IQ Canadian. LIC's all-puppet version of Daniel Defoe's "Journal of The Plague Year" won grudging respect at every nursing home in which it appeared. LIC is a Member Critic at Cinemarati, and contributes regularly to the Cinemarati Roundtable.
Philadelphia, PA
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Left Behind (2014) |
I can't wait for Nic Cage to explain THIS one to God on Judgment Day. - Mixed Reviews
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| Posted Oct 05, 2014
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Larry Crowne (2011) |
Could have been a solid, straightforward rom com coasting on likable leads; half-hearted additions trying to link the movie to economic crisis just detract. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Dec 05, 2011
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I'm Not There (2007) |
I'm Not There may inspire great movies, but doesn't have the discipline to be one itself. - Low IQ Canadian
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| Posted Nov 25, 2007
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Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) |
The wild, unstoppable commercial success of the Pirates franchise has freed Verbinski to spend a lot of time on flights of fancy and mythological asides. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Jul 10, 2007
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Ocean's Thirteen (2007) |
A subpar A-Team episode with George Clooney as Face. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Jul 10, 2007
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Knocked Up (2007) |
Goodhearted and refreshingly messy. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Jul 10, 2007
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License to Wed (2007) |
Forget blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, wasting our time with License to Wed is the one unpardonable sin. - Low IQ Canadian
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| Posted Jul 08, 2007
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These Are the Damned (1962) |
Slow-building but creepy story of biker pug uglies, radiation poisoning, and prissy Brit schoolkids. - Low IQ Canadian
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| Posted Jul 08, 2007
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Evan Almighty (2007) |
Feebleminded slapdashery. - Low IQ Canadian
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| Posted Jun 23, 2007
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Keeping Mum (2006) |
Maggie Smith is like Mary Poppins...with a meat ax. Serial Grandmom strikes again. - Mixed Reviews
Read More
| Posted Oct 07, 2006
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The Da Vinci Code (2006) |
There is a natural limit as to how deeply any film, but especially a would-be summer blockbuster, can dig into radical ideas of faith and history. To his credit, Ron Howard hits that limit. - Mixed Reviews
Read More
| Posted May 21, 2006
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Secret Honor (1984) |
Does anyone have a clue what Altman was driving at with this intense glob of lunacy? - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Nov 19, 2005
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Gabriel Over the White House (1933) |
Gabriel Over the White House encourages its viewers to live the fantasy of the philosopher-king, but never counts the costs of such a regime. - Mixed Reviews
Read More
| Posted Nov 19, 2005
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Bewitched (2005) |
I'll have some of what Nora Ephron's having, as long as I don't have to watch her movies. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Nov 19, 2005
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Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) |
If you guessed, 'a wheezy social problem drama,' you're right. - Mixed Reviews
Read More
| Posted Nov 19, 2005
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Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) |
Not only was Good Night, and Good Luck filmed in black-and-white, it was written and acted that way, too. This is Good versus Evil for Political Dummies. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Nov 05, 2005
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Bad News Bears (2005) |
Bad News Bears is a late summer hoot, and hopefully what your kids are really seeing when they tell you they're going to Sky High. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Aug 07, 2005
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The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959) |
Belafonte is magic in his loneliness. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Jun 26, 2005
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Batman Begins (2005) |
The class dynamics of Batman Begins are just insufferable. Thank heavens we have our incorruptable masked moneybags to keep the criminal poor in line. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Jun 17, 2005
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Leap Year (1924) |
Slow-moving silent comedy which didn't get screened for sixty years because of Arbuckle's scandal; mainly of historical interest. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Jun 07, 2005
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Primer (2004) |
I didn't understand Primer; worse yet, I didn't care. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Jun 01, 2005
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F for Fake (1973) |
A little gem, full of vintage Welles ruminations on the ephemeral nature of personal celebrity and the elusiveness of ultimate truth. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted May 22, 2005
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The Yes Men (2003) |
Chris Smith is the next great documentarian for mainstream American audiences to discover, and he richly merits a wide release. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted May 15, 2005
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Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) |
While Smartest Guys sometimes veers into C-Span2: The Movie territory, just then another shocking tidbit will drop to keep the fires stoked. - Mixed Reviews
Read More
| Posted May 15, 2005
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Nobody Knows (2004) |
Nothing more can be done to lay the concrete reality of poverty out for persons of conscience. Take and read. - Mixed Reviews
Read More
| Posted Mar 14, 2005
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The Day After Tomorrow (2004) |
Preposterous, slow, and unimaginative. - Low IQ Canadian
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| Posted Feb 20, 2005
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College (1927) |
Madcap fun as the supremely athletic Keaton plays a bookworm who, for love of a jock-loving girl, tries but fails heroically at every possible sport in every possible way. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Feb 19, 2005
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La Femme Nikita (1990) |
Superb thriller scored to Eurotrash synth pop, La Femme Nikita sets out a whole world of espionage and violence, and engages with a wild yet sympathetic lead. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Feb 04, 2005
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Finding Neverland (2004) |
A celebration of artistry, not as mere ornament, but as the very stuff of life. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Feb 03, 2005
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Million Dollar Baby (2004) |
Mystery of the Universe #237: the same Clint Eastwood who once co-starred with an orangutan is now America's finest director of tragedy. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Feb 03, 2005
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Bad Education (2004) |
Sexy and complicated as between its adult leads, Bad Education also marks the most insightful critique yet of the pedophile scandals in the Catholic Church. - Low IQ Canadian
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| Posted Feb 03, 2005
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Ray (2004) |
Yet another ho-hum man of genius biopic, showcasing a scenery-chewing lead-behaving-badly, shoddy Freudian psychoanalysis, and cliche bottom-of-the-ninth redemption. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Feb 03, 2005
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Sideways (2004) |
A funny, heartfelt coming-of-middle-age story by, for, and about snobs. - Low IQ Canadian
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| Posted Feb 03, 2005
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Carandiru (2003) |
Humanity struggles out from under a maximally oppressive system, commenting by haunting metaphor on life outside the prison walls. - Low IQ Canadian
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| Posted Feb 03, 2005
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Mars Needs Women (1966) |
If Plan 10 From Outer Space, a.k.a. Mars Needs Women, doesn't tickle your funnybone, you really don't have one. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Feb 03, 2005
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Gacy (2003) |
Gacy channels its horror through bicentennial suburban kitsch, clowns-in-the-closet visuals, and a heaving, foul, maggot-carpeted crawlspace deep with death and lies. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Dec 31, 2004
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Ocean's Twelve (2004) |
Ocean's 12 is malt-liquor-on-a-Monday stupid. - Mixed Reviews
Read More
| Posted Dec 12, 2004
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Caligula (1979) |
Caligula turns the Julian dynasty's most violent chapter into a sleazy snoozefest. Even the Penthouse Pets look pained to be decorating this historic bomb. - Low IQ Canadian
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| Posted Nov 25, 2004
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The Five Obstructions (2003) |
Despite his own pessimism, I think Von Trier does change Leth as an artist, a little, through these chastisements. - Mixed Reviews
Read More
| Posted Nov 25, 2004
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Alfie (2004) |
What at first seems a glossy ad for the swinging single life gradually reveals itself as an stinging indictment of the emotional impotent. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Nov 17, 2004
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The Polar Express (2004) |
This praiseworthy film has been awarded highest honors from Puissant Guide and All-Fertile Giftgiver Kris Kringle. - Mixed Reviews
Read More
| Posted Nov 17, 2004
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The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) |
An unexpected renaissance in Soviet filmmaking. - Mixed Reviews
Read More
| Posted Oct 25, 2004
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I Heart Huckabees (2004) |
See I Heart Huckabees before your boss asks you to tell your Shania Twain mayo story and you vomit all over a meeting of the Board. - Mixed Reviews
Read More
| Posted Oct 18, 2004
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Taxi (2004) |
License revoked. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Oct 16, 2004
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Team America: World Police (2004) |
A post-9/11 gutbuster. - Mixed Reviews
Read More
| Posted Oct 10, 2004
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Bonhoeffer (2003) |
Bonhoeffer doesn't probe as deeply as one might like into the details and implications of his theology, but is an invaluable study of a man of conscience. - Mixed Reviews
Read More
| Posted Oct 06, 2004
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A Home at the End of the World (2004) |
All roads lead to ruin in Home's world, lending an unexpectedly reactionary tone to the work. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Oct 03, 2004
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Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy (2001) |
Porn Star runs out of insight and surprises long before the closing credits roll. - Low IQ Canadian
Read More
| Posted Oct 02, 2004
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Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry (2004) |
John Kerry may well be the conscience that America needs at its helm. But I'd never trust a 90-minute campaign ad like Upriver to tell me that. - Mixed Reviews
Read More
| Posted Oct 02, 2004
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A Dirty Shame (2004) |
A Dirty Shame, a very funny movie, overcomes its limitations by playing to director John Waters' strengths. - Mixed Reviews
Read More
| Posted Oct 01, 2004
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