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The Traveler
(1974)
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Matthew Sweet
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It's a fine example of how truthful cinema can be when it rejects melodrama and empty gesture in order to concentrate on the bare essentials of character and plot. It's sweetly observed, morally coherent, utterly simple and fiercely economical.
Posted Jun 21, 2023
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To Have & to Hold
(1996)
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Matthew Sweet
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If it were not so pretentious, Hillcoat's film might have made effective horror schlock. In its current form, it's probably best left to disappear, glugging, into the morass.
Posted Jun 21, 2023
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Zero Effect
(1998)
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Matthew Sweet
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It's Kasdan who should really take the credit: his script is witty, and his handling of detective conventions is easy and unmannered. Remember his name.
Posted Jun 21, 2023
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Armageddon
(1998)
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Matthew Sweet
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The most dispiriting aspect of this film is the casual contempt it has for its audience.
Posted Jun 21, 2023
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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
(2008)
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Nicholas Barber
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It might seem to be an odd criticism of a character we last saw chatting to the immortal guardian of the Holy Grail, but sometimes, frankly, Indy is just silly.
Posted Apr 12, 2023
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Boys on the Side
(1995)
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Quentin Curtis
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Boys on the Side is a sassy, self-confident mix of broad comedy and tear-jerking melodrama of the sort that only Hollywood has the chutzpah to attempt.
Posted Mar 14, 2023
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A Dry White Season
(1989)
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Robin Buss
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Euzhan Palcy's film is probably the best so far on the dilemmas of white South Africa.
Posted Jan 03, 2023
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Dances With Wolves
(1990)
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Robin Buss
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The enjoyment comes from variations on what have always been the genre's traditional strengths: action, personalities, the wide landscapes of the plains, and some splendidly staged set pieces.
Posted Nov 02, 2022
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The Silence of the Lambs
(1991)
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Anthony Lane
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This one is even better than you've heard. It locks on to an unpleasant subject; it offers as much relaxation as driving on black ice; yet still it is more entertaining, and more frazzling, than any film this year.
Posted Mar 22, 2022
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I Like It Like That
(1994)
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Quentin Curtis
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Satisfyingly messy.
Posted Mar 02, 2022
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Beloved
(1998)
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Deborah Orr
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The actors all feel a moral commitment to the project, and rise to the occasion.
Posted Feb 02, 2022
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Real Women Have Curves
(2002)
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Nicholas Barber
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A good-natured movie.
Posted Sep 10, 2021
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The Apple
(1998)
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Gilbert Adair
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It's an incomparably moving experience.
Posted Mar 30, 2021
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The Postman
(1994)
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Quentin Curtis
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Il Postino has been dismissed by some as a piece of sentimental whimsy. They are missing a lot, as the film is much deeper than its surface charm.
Posted Mar 17, 2021
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Nine Months
(1995)
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Quentin Curtis
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Nine Months needed a lot longer gestation.
Posted Mar 17, 2021
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Clueless
(1995)
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Quentin Curtis
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Clueless is best viewed, and mildly enjoyed, as a satire on chic, 1990s American youth.
Posted Mar 16, 2021
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Paris Is Burning
(1990)
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Nicholas Barber
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Fun, yes, but also heartbreaking.
Posted May 18, 2020
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The Story of Us
(1999)
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Independent Staff
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The chemistry is dull, but the hairdos are not.
Posted Apr 07, 2020
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The Holiday
(2006)
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Nicholas Barber
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Isn't it reassuring to know in these troubled times that it's possible for gorgeous rich people to find love?
Posted Apr 02, 2019
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Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
(1994)
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Quentin Curtis
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It's certainly uncouth, and occasionally offensive. But it's also brimming with energy, moderately inventive, and sometimes even funny.
Posted Apr 02, 2019
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Die Hard With a Vengeance
(1995)
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Quentin Curtis
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Even the Die Hardest of fans should accept that the series has at last run out of steam.
Posted Apr 02, 2019
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Very Bad Things
(1998)
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Antonia Quirke
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It's as thought writer and director Peter Berg couldn't face following through what he suggests in the early moments of the film.
Posted Apr 01, 2019
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Two Girls and a Guy
(1997)
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Antonia Quirke
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Tobak is fascinated with Downey, and spends most of the time following him about, like someone with a crush.
Posted Apr 01, 2019
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Marie Antoinette
(2006)
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Jonathan Romney
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...an ambitious, affecting, truly distinctive piece of work, albeit one that will tell you more about 1780s footwear than about the causes and effects of the French Revolution.
Posted Apr 01, 2019
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Stepmom
(1998)
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Antonia Quirke
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It's a film about a woman who lives for other people and who wears the requisite hunted expression. If this woman wasn't Sarandon, then Stepmom would be altogether hopeless.
Posted Apr 01, 2019
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American Dreamz
(2006)
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Nicholas Barber
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Still, if American Dreamz doesn't quite come together, it's more rewarding than lots of films that do. Like an episode of The Simpsons directed by Robert Altman, it's a smart, cynical sprawl.
Posted Apr 01, 2019
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The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
(2004)
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Jonathan Romney
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Orson Welles said a film studio was the best train-set a boy could have, but The Life Aquatic is something else: Anderson uses the sound stages of Cinecittá like a kid playing with toy boats in the bath. He makes one hell of a splash.
Posted Apr 01, 2019
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Practical Magic
(1998)
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Xan Brooks
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Essentially a sibling soap-opera with a dash of mumbo-jumbo.
Posted Mar 30, 2019
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MacGruber
(2010)
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Andrew Johnson
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This spoof of 1980s' action hero MacGyver just isn't funny, with its banal reliance on lame sex jokes.
Posted Mar 30, 2019
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Jennifer's Body
(2009)
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Nicholas Barber
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Instead of playing like a hip outsider's subversive new genre-mash, Jennifer's Body comes across as a tame, derivative vehicle for the girl from the Transformers franchise.
Posted Mar 28, 2019
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Tomorrow Never Dies
(1997)
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Matthew Sweet
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[Director Roger] Spottiswoode serves up a glutinous mix of pastiche and parody, without seeming to know whether he's recycling or debunking his cliches.
Posted Mar 28, 2019
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I Know What You Did Last Summer
(1997)
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Matthew Sweet
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There are several effective moments... And the epilogue delivers a shock that'll fill your turn-ups with popcorn.
Posted Mar 28, 2019
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Persons Unknown
(1996)
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Matthew Sweet
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The film takes a dive into absurdity.
Posted Mar 28, 2019
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A Further Gesture
(1997)
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Matthew Sweet
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It's a political thriller from which all the politics has been carefully spooned.
Posted Mar 28, 2019
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Space Jam
(1996)
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Kevin Jackson
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Space Jam is so obviously a work of the marketing/demographic-hunting mentality that it's rather surprising to find that the brazen creature gathers a certain charm as it rolls along.
Posted Mar 22, 2019
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Touch of Evil
(1958)
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Antonia Quirke
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What a film this is.
Posted Mar 20, 2019
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Bride of Chucky
(1998)
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Antonia Quirke
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Bride of Chucky is easily the best of the four-film Chucky franchise, and it's a barmy, witty horror movie full of Scream-like ironies.
Posted Mar 20, 2019
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Venus Beauty Institute
(1999)
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Antonia Quirke
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Tonie Marshall's quiet, unremarkable film has little real emotional pull.
Posted Mar 20, 2019
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Gloria
(1999)
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Antonia Quirke
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An unnecessary remake.
Posted Mar 20, 2019
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Just the Ticket
(1999)
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Antonia Quirke
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The film works well when it is down on the street, spying on Gary doing his off-the-cuff stuff with real commuters, and Garcia is physically perfect for this kind of role.
Posted Mar 20, 2019
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Croupier
(1998)
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Antonia Quirke
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Croupier is fascinating, mercilessly compact, adamant.
Posted Mar 20, 2019
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Cruel Intentions
(1999)
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Antonia Quirke
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Cruel Intentions is a surprisingly winning update of Choderlos De Laclos's 1782 novel Les Liaisons Dangeureuses.
Posted Mar 20, 2019
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The Last Seduction
(1994)
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Lesley Thornton
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Linda Fiorentino...gives a wisecracking, ball-breaking, riveting performance in John Dahl's The Last Seduction.
Posted Jan 18, 2019
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The First Wives Club
(1996)
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Kevin Jackson
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[I]f you're expecting any savour of fin de siecle feminism more bracing than that peddled in, say, Nine to Five (which has much the same fundamental revenge premise), you'd be better off perusing the writings of Gloria Steinem.
Posted Jan 09, 2019
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Jump the Gun
(1997)
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Matthew Sweet
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There are plenty of witty sequences... But the film has a shaky grasp on the psychologies of its characters, and can't seem to justify their actions satisfactorily.
Posted Dec 17, 2018
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I, Robot
(2004)
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Jonathan Romney
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Given how hard it is to find new ideas in mainstream screen sci-fi these days, the film does a creditable job of repackaging standard speculative circuitry under a sleek new blockbuster carapace.
Posted Dec 15, 2018
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Purple Noon
(1960)
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Matthew Sweet
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Filmed in sumptuous colour, it's a deliciously amoral thriller with a devilishly attractive star.
Posted Dec 15, 2018
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Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
(1997)
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Matthew Sweet
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As she did in Mighty Aphrodite, Sorvino rises above knackered material that seems set on patronising her character.
Posted Dec 15, 2018
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Albino Alligator
(1996)
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Matthew Sweet
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Christian Forte's script starts a little shakily, but it finds its feet once it has stopped trying to be Dog Day Afternoon, heading squarely into David Mamet territory.
Posted Dec 15, 2018
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Keys to Tulsa
(1997)
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Matthew Sweet
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The plot is full of italicised twists and kooky set-pieces, but grossly over-plotted and overwritten.
Posted Dec 15, 2018
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