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4/5
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Y tu mamá también
(2001)
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Michael D. Reid
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Yes, [Y tu mamá también] is as sexually explicit and ferociously frank as you've heard. The film is also a provocative, corrosively funny statement on class distinction in Mexico, however, and a scathingly honest account of adolescent sexual obsession.
Posted Sep 09, 2023
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3.5/5
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Traffic
(2000)
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Michael D. Reid
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The film isn't perfect, but the film deserves top marks for addressing a poisonous social issue with rare grit, candor, and no easy answers.
Posted Sep 06, 2023
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2.5/4
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Selena
(1997)
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Michael D. Reid
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Flimsy as it is, this Latin soap opera is undeniably entertaining in fits and starts, largely because of Lopez's tour-de-force performance and resemblance to the charismatic singer.
Posted Sep 06, 2023
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2.5/5
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Ladybugs
(1992)
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Michael D. Reid
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Writer-director Ron Shelton's wittily perceptive, street-wise screenplay and the terrific comic chemistry of its appealing stars, Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, enliven this aimless and insubstantial but exuberant comedy.
Posted Aug 31, 2023
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3/4
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When a Man Loves a Woman
(1994)
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Michael D. Reid
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Despite the reality-defying presence of handsome co-stars Meg Ryan and Andy Garcia and the dreamy home, occupations and income brackets of their characters... this film emerges against all odds as a sobering and profoundly affecting look at alcoholism.
Posted Aug 28, 2023
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5/5
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Lone Star
(1996)
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Michael D. Reid
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The most masterful achievement yet from the most socially conscious of independent filmmakers, John Sayles.
Posted Aug 23, 2023
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Moscow on the Hudson
(1984)
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Michael D. Reid
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Williams himself turns in a beautifully controlled performance, sweetly conveying the twin emotions of homesickness and newfound euphoria.
Posted Aug 17, 2023
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3/4
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A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
(1987)
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Michael D. Reid
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The ingeniously, splendidly executed fantasy sequences are what make the movie so ultimately enjoyable.
Posted Jul 25, 2023
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3/4
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Batman
(1989)
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Michael D. Reid
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It's by turns brilliantly inspired, infuriatingly unfocused, hilarious, boring, exhilarating, gloomy and empty. The film's abundant virtues wrestle with its shortcomings.
Posted Jul 25, 2023
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4/5
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In the Mood for Love
(2000)
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Michael D. Reid
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While some might find this elegantly elusive film's reticence frustrating, there's no denying the smoldering, riveting eroticism of the film's leads.
Posted Jul 15, 2023
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4/5
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The Matrix
(1999)
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Michael D. Reid
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Although it's sometimes too confounding for its own good and a little heavy on the Zen-inspired techno-babble, The Matrix is a consistently absorbing assault on the senses.
Posted Jul 13, 2023
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2.5/4
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Magnolia
(1999)
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Michael D. Reid
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You may not like some of these characters, but they're rooted in reality, and that's one of the many points this film strains to make.
Posted Jun 30, 2023
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4/4
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Back to the Future
(1985)
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Michael D. Reid
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Just a joyously whimsical, ingeniously devised, well-written time-travel comedy that anyone from five to 95 should find splendidly entertaining.
Posted Jun 27, 2023
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2.5/5
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Armageddon
(1998)
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Michael D. Reid
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Anchored by its star appeal, Armageddon eventually overcomes its weak buildup, feeble dialogue and patriotic excess to become the heart-pounding outer space disaster flick it should have been from the get-go.
Posted Jun 22, 2023
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4/5
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Patriot Games
(1992)
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Michael D. Reid
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Ford is the film's Rock of Gibraltar. He glues everything together with his solidly restrained if unspectacular performance as the intense and intelligent former CIA man.
Posted Jun 06, 2023
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3/5
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The Color Purple
(1985)
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Michael D. Reid
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Fans of the book may not appreciate such dilution but, as a film, The Color Purple works surprisingly well.
Posted May 25, 2023
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3/4
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An American Tail
(1986)
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Michael D. Reid
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Silly as it often is, Bluth's beautifully-crafted creation is also a metaphorical drama about the immigrant experience and there are more than a few moments in this otherwise delightful film that leave a sour taste.
Posted May 16, 2023
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Yentl
(1983)
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Michael D. Reid
|
The biggest and most basic problem with Yentl is that the story is lackluster and uninteresting. It certainly doesn't warrant treatment as a musical.
Posted May 12, 2023
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4/5
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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
(1989)
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Michael D. Reid
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Fabulously funny, fast-paced and exhilarating.
Posted Apr 26, 2023
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Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(1984)
|
Michael D. Reid
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As for the film's human elements, young Ke Huy Quan is a captivating find, supplying sentiment and laughter.
Posted Apr 18, 2023
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3/5
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Evil Dead 2
(1987)
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Michael D. Reid
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Newcomer Campbell is perfectly cast as the exasperated hero... He is wonderfully adept at physical comedy delivered in a deadpan style.
Posted Mar 29, 2023
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3/4
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Boys on the Side
(1995)
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Michael D. Reid
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This vibrant, funny and satisfying comedy-drama is chiefly concerned with that special bond that exists between women. It's a life-affirming celebration of sisterhood.
Posted Mar 14, 2023
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2.5/5
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Thelma & Louise
(1991)
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Michael D. Reid
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This unabashedly derivative and wildly uneven Neo-feminist twist on road movies from Easy Rider to Smokey and the Bandit is by no means dismissible, but it doesn't live up to the hype.
Posted Feb 28, 2023
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2/4
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Godzilla
(1998)
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Michael D. Reid
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Without some heart or a decent story to accompany the spectacle, all you're left with is a big screen twist on a brain-mushing video game.
Posted Feb 15, 2023
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2.5/5
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Wild Things
(1998)
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Michael D. Reid
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A deliciously trashy erotic thriller with characters so out-to-lunch and a plot so ludicrous it has to be seen to be believed -- if you can stop howling
Posted Feb 02, 2023
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4/5
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A Dry White Season
(1989)
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Michael D. Reid
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A Dry White Season is one of those rare films that manages to combine potent social commentary and gripping suspense in a package that is simultaneously engrossing, unnerving and undeniably provocative.
Posted Jan 04, 2023
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5/5
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Groundhog Day
(1993)
|
Michael D. Reid
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Kafka meets Capra as Ramis inventively seizes the abundant comic opportunities of this marvelous premise, resulting in a moving and mesmerizing cross between It's A Wonderful Life and an episode of television's The Twilight Zone.
Posted Dec 21, 2022
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5/5
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(1937)
|
Michael D. Reid
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The film's timeless theme, memorably tuneful score, beautifully-animated imagery and richly dimensioned characters make Disney's first full-length animated film a genuinely magical and enthralling cinematic treasure for all ages.
Posted Dec 19, 2022
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2.5/5
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Braveheart
(1995)
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Michael D. Reid
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The spectacular battle sequences are so rivetingly awesome it's easy to overlook how needlessly fat and superficial this historical vanity project is. Despite its flaws, however... this blood-soaked saga exerts an undeniable pull.
Posted Nov 17, 2022
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4/4
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Dances With Wolves
(1990)
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Michael D. Reid
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Dances with Wolves is a near-miraculous achievement on several fronts. Working from a screenplay by Michael Blake based on his book, Costner shows himself to be a masterful director who is equally at home behind and in front of the camera.
Posted Nov 03, 2022
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3/5
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Gladiator
(2000)
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Michael D. Reid
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Like Titanic and other spectacularly bloated blockbusters, the sheer grandeur and eye-popping visual style of director Ridley Scott's sweeping, revisionist and blood-drenched historical saga... is so overwhelming it disguises the film's deficiencies.
Posted Oct 31, 2022
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3/4
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Addams Family Values
(1993)
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Michael D. Reid
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This scattergun, 90-minute continuation wisely expands on comic opportunities for the deadpan wit of Christina Ricci as the insanely jealous Wednesday, but it's burdened by over-plotting in the final stretch.
Posted Sep 22, 2022
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2.5/5
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Fright Night
(1985)
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Michael D. Reid
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Fright Night is a movie that delivers what its title promises after it has plowed through some extraneous dialog and conflict, so discretion is advised.
Posted Sep 14, 2022
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3/5
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Platoon
(1986)
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Michael D. Reid
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Oliver Stone's loosely-autobiographical Vietnam war movie is a taut, exceptionally moving account of life in the trenches as experienced by an idealized young infantryman, but it isn't -- as the ads claim -- the best of its genre.
Posted Aug 22, 2022
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4/5
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The Land Before Time
(1988)
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Michael D. Reid
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Pathos, humor, charm, a crash course on dinosaur lore and some wonderful characterizations combine to make this old-fashioned fantasy an easily-absorbed winner.
Posted Aug 18, 2022
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Creepshow
(1982)
|
Michael D. Reid
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Next to the inventive format, the stories are a letdown.
Posted Aug 09, 2022
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4/5
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Rain Man
(1988)
|
Michael D. Reid
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While flawed (it's too long and occasionally tedious), this film will be remembered in the same breath as the likes of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Posted Aug 03, 2022
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3/4
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The Last Emperor
(1987)
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Michael D. Reid
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Bertolucci gleefully overdoes it with the visual decadence. Despite the melodramatic overkill upon Pu Yi's seduction by the Japanese, Bertolucci's excessive images are strikingly memorable.
Posted Aug 01, 2022
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5/5
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Driving Miss Daisy
(1989)
|
Michael D. Reid
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To say that Driving Miss Daisy is a glowing example of cinematic perfection is not an overstatement. From the magnificent performances to the period-perfect art direction, this film is an astonishing work of art.
Posted Jul 25, 2022
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Terms of Endearment
(1983)
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Michael D. Reid
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A sunny, witty, tearful, cheerful, touching, exceptionally well-acted tragicomedy that probes the human psyche in such an extraordinary fashion that it also happens to be, slight imperfections aside, terrifically entertaining.
Posted Jul 20, 2022
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Gandhi
(1982)
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Michael D. Reid
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Gandhi is the ticket. Daring, beautiful, true-to-life, authoritative and deserving of all the plaudits reaped upon it thus far, Sir Richard Attenborough's Big Gamble has paid off.
Posted Jul 19, 2022
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3/4
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The Last Starfighter
(1984)
|
Michael D. Reid
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The Last Starfighter, a kind of intergalactic Alice in Wonderland, comes fully loaded: glowing performances, director Nick Castle's fine sense of balance and restraint, and Jonathan Betuel's screenplay, playful and bulging with arid wit.
Posted May 03, 2022
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4/4
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The Silence of the Lambs
(1991)
|
Michael D. Reid
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[It's] one of the most terrifying horror films seen in recent memory, but this isn't the result of severed heads and bloodletting. Rather, the goose bumps and queasiness are aroused by the psychological terror emanating from the twisted mind of a madman.
Posted Mar 22, 2022
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3/4
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Titanic
(1997)
|
Michael D. Reid
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Titanic is consistently engrossing as an old-fashioned disaster movie bound to blow its competitors out of the water.
Posted Mar 17, 2022
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4/4
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Devil in a Blue Dress
(1995)
|
Michael D. Reid
|
Brimming with period detail, Devil in a Blue Dress also pulsates with social realism as it offers a black perspective on a familiar genre.
Posted Oct 27, 2021
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4/4
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L.A. Confidential
(1997)
|
Michael D. Reid
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Most remarkable of all is the way the film's top notch cast is in sync with the noir style without drawing attention to themselves. Australian actors Crowe and Pearce are especially good.
Posted Oct 19, 2021
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3/4
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Stand and Deliver
(1988)
|
Michael D. Reid
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The depth and enthusiasm [Olmos] he brings to the role is impressive. Also very good is Lou Diamond Phillips (La Bamba) as Angel, a sunglassed tough guy who wants to learn math but won't admit it.
Posted Aug 11, 2021
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3.5/4
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Walking With Dinosaurs: Prehistoric Planet
(2013)
|
Michael D. Reid
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It's during such harrowing moments that you're reminded how fluidly integrated with real backgrounds the realistically rendered digital action can be. And, as in classic wildlife documentaries, reality can be unsettling.
Posted May 25, 2017
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2.5/4
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Amazon Adventure
(2017)
|
Michael D. Reid
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It's the kind of earnest, but increasingly patience-trying film, that will be best appreciated by viewers in search of an educational experience rather than a thrill ride.
Posted Apr 21, 2017
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4/5
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Franca: Chaos and Creation
(2016)
|
Michael D. Reid
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By turns dramatic and lighthearted, this documentary is as captivating as the fiercely independent woman it celebrates.
Posted Apr 11, 2017
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