FilmStew.com

Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating Title/Year Author
Brüno (2009) Pam Grady Cohen probably did not consciously echo The Magic Christian, but he would have done well to learn from it. EDIT
Posted Jul 13, 2009
(500) Days of Summer (2009) Pam Grady Fast, funny and absolutely delightful. EDIT
Posted Jan 28, 2009
Moon (2009) Pam Grady Jones displays such a complete command of his narrative that it is hard to believe this is his first feature. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2009
Nights in Rodanthe (2008) Telly Davidson The major highlight is the awkward, out-of-step dialogue between Lane and Gere as their budding relationship morphs from wariness to friendliness to love. EDIT
Posted Sep 26, 2008
The Doorman (2007) Brent Simon Despite the fact that The Doorman features dozens of cameos by real-life boldface names, the film itself is a mess. EDIT
Posted Sep 23, 2008
College (2008) Brent Simon Personally, I wouldn't waste a $5 drink on this one, but I do understand that teen's irritation. EDIT
Posted Sep 12, 2008
Towelhead (2007) Richard Horgan Nearly a decade after the triumph of American Beauty, Ball has stumbled to the level of American Booty. EDIT
Posted Sep 10, 2008
Blindness (2008) Pam Grady Ignore that wretched Riviera buzz, because Blindness is a haunting work and a wonderful distillation of José Saramago's novel. EDIT
Posted Sep 9, 2008
Death Race (2008) Pam Grady The movie Death Race most resembles is not Death Race 2000 or even another action movie but rather a beloved 1994 prison drama. EDIT
Posted Aug 22, 2008
Hamlet 2 (2008) Richard Horgan Nowhere is the failure of this film more evident than in the much ballyhooed Elisabeth Shue subplot. EDIT
Posted Aug 21, 2008
Transsiberian (2008) Brent Simon Nowadays, Kingsley is a bit like the English version of Morgan Freeman - an actor with a seemingly inherent reservoir of gravitas, yet no qualms about glossy paycheck gigs. EDIT
Posted Aug 15, 2008
Elegy (2008) Brett Buckalew In the early scenes of the two lovers discovering each other's bodies and personal quirks, Coixet coaxes work from Kingsley and Cruz that is remarkably intimate. EDIT
Posted Aug 8, 2008
Swing Vote (2008) Telly Davidson Carroll turns Costner into her comic foil, effectively relegating the Oscar winner to giving a supporting-sidekick performance in his own film. EDIT
Posted Aug 1, 2008
The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008) Brent Simon Ironic, then, that 20th Century Fox's quiescent sales job may ultimately cost the film a suitable first-weekend box office splash. EDIT
Posted Jul 25, 2008
Mamma Mia! (2008) Pam Grady It is not merely that Pierce Brosnan cannot sing; it is that he looks so uncomfortable doing it. EDIT
Posted Jul 21, 2008
Encounters at the End of the World (2007) Pam Grady Had Werner Herzog lived 500 years ago, he probably would have become a celebrated conquistador, mapping out brave new worlds. EDIT
Posted Jul 2, 2008
The Wackness (2008) Richard Horgan Kingsley's pot smoking puddle of regret is one of the few Big Apple personas to come close to Hoffman's bag of Ratso Rizzo tricks. EDIT
Posted Jun 30, 2008
Get Smart (2008) Pam Grady The smartest thing about the movie is the way Alan Arkin and Terence Stamp inject a little bit of that 1960's spirit. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2008
Sex and the City (2008) Pam Grady Opt for the much better (and much shorter) version made in 1959 starring Hope Lange, Diane Baker, Suzy Parker and Joan Crawford. EDIT
Posted May 30, 2008
War, Inc. (2008) Brent Simon The filmic equivalent of a bleating, hot microphone - all crossed wires and misfunneled energy. EDIT
Posted May 27, 2008
The Fall (2006) Brett Buckalew The best movie of the year so far by a wide mile. EDIT
Posted May 12, 2008
Speed Racer (2008) Brent Simon All in all, I'm pretty sure Hunter S. Thompson had hallucinations like this. EDIT
Posted May 9, 2008
Hear and Now (2007) Shelley Gabert It's the merging of filmmaker and daughter that makes this documentary and memoir so compelling and appealing to a mass audience. EDIT
Posted May 7, 2008
Noise (2008) Richard Horgan A much better strategy for alarm activist Bean would have been to give Robbins a microphone and make this as a trenchant documentary. EDIT
Posted May 6, 2008
Redbelt (2008) Brett Buckalew The journey has its charms, but the destination calls to mind Peggy Lee's "Is That All There Is?" EDIT
Posted May 2, 2008
Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay (2008) Brent Simon Mostly works because it's well cast, wildly written and full of good, old-fashioned comedic friction. EDIT
Posted Apr 28, 2008
The Auteur (2008) Richard Horgan There's no Hitchcock in The Auteur, which is surprising considering the second syllable of the Master of Suspense's surname. EDIT
Posted Apr 25, 2008
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) Brent Simon The phrase "good enough" applies, without any negative connotations that might unintentionally summon forth. EDIT
Posted Apr 18, 2008
Anamorph (2007) Shelley Gabert A pale imitation of David Fincher's Seven. EDIT
Posted Apr 16, 2008
Captain Abu Raed (2007) Richard Horgan Writer-director Matalqa cites City Lights as one of his favorites, and to Chaplin there are two predominant connections in his film. EDIT
Posted Apr 10, 2008
Sex and Death 101 (2007) Brent Simon A fun, sloppy treatment of a profound premise that, as a reunion project between Waters and Ryder, feels right. EDIT
Posted Apr 10, 2008
My Blueberry Nights (2007) Kevin Biggers Right from the beginning, there's a discomforting sense of banality blanketing the film: the journey, the pie motif, the faith in "new beginnings." EDIT
Posted Apr 4, 2008
Run Fat Boy Run (2007) FilmStew Staff Report A fry-up of American, British and Irish comedy sensibilities that will have no trouble satisfying mainstream movie appetites. EDIT
Posted Apr 2, 2008
21 (2008) Brent Simon Across the Universe star Jim Sturgess reaffirms himself as a sympathetic, highly likable screen presence. EDIT
Posted Apr 1, 2008
Stop-Loss (2008) Brett Buckalew Much of Stop-Loss' first act feels like the cast of Hee-Haw auditioning for a Best Years of Our Lives remake. EDIT
Posted Mar 31, 2008
The Hammer (2007) Brent Simon Succeeds in spite of itself. EDIT
Posted Mar 28, 2008
Young at Heart (2007) Lisa Johnson The best film I've seen so far this year and easily one of my favorite documentaries ever. EDIT
Posted Mar 28, 2008
Hats Off (2008) Richard Horgan A wonderful continuation of Johnstone's previous age-is-but-a-number twilight documentaries Martha & Ethel and Throwing Curves. EDIT
Posted Mar 28, 2008
Priceless (2006) Richard Horgan Tautou positively sparkles as a crafty master of the French Riviera sexual-favors-for-financial-rewards shell game. EDIT
Posted Mar 27, 2008
Chapter 27 (2007) Telly Davidson Leto's performance is as great a physical, if not emotional, transformation as Charlize Theron's "hagging it up" for Monster. EDIT
Posted Mar 25, 2008
Funny Games (2007) Brent Simon Posits that we humans are a persuadable lot, willing to accept almost anything in the name of entertainment. EDIT
Posted Mar 14, 2008
Penelope (2006) Brent Simon The success of Juno has re-set the bar for whimsical tales of headstrong, intelligent young women grappling with life difficulties. EDIT
Posted Mar 6, 2008
Married Life (2007) Richard Horgan Cooper and Brosnan display more genuine chemistry than anything that passes for sparks between Cooper and kept woman McAdams. EDIT
Posted Mar 5, 2008
The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) Brent Simon There will always be adults who want to catch up on the history lessons they slept or passed notes through during their younger years. EDIT
Posted Feb 29, 2008
Vantage Point (2008) Brent Simon Jittery, Bourne-style-lite mayhem, with edits every one-half to one-third a second. EDIT
Posted Feb 22, 2008
Charlie Bartlett (2007) Pam Grady Charlie's more unsavory activities spring from the same source tapped in Rock 'n' Roll High School by Clint Howard's Eaglebauer character. EDIT
Posted Feb 22, 2008
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) Richard Horgan The character of Poppy is an entirely original female film protagonist, sort of a British working class version of Annie Hall. EDIT
Posted Feb 22, 2008
Be Kind Rewind (2008) Pam Grady Gondry is the first director since School of Rock's Richard Linklater to fully capture Black's truculent charm and actually make it - charming. EDIT
Posted Feb 21, 2008
Beaufort (2007) Richard Horgan Announces to North American audiences a major new talent in the form of 39-year-old writer-director Joseph Cedar. EDIT
Posted Feb 20, 2008
Definitely, Maybe (2008) Brent Simon By trading in metaphor and parallel structure, makes a compelling allegorical statement about just how stuck in a rut we collectively feel our nation is. EDIT
Posted Feb 18, 2008