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A Scanner Darkly (2006) |
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"Dick does not share Linklater's decency and humanism ... and the cynical, hopeless characters in Scanner sit uncomfortably with Linklater's natural sensibility." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) |
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"Isn't half so intriguing as the alliance that created it." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Aberdeen (2001) |
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"[Headey's] performance not only gives definition and emotional force to a shapeless movie, but it's the kind of star turn that will have Hollywood producers and agents engaged in kickboxing death matches to ink her." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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About a Boy (2002) |
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"The Weitz's have preserved the rich humor of Hornby's comic novel ... and found the ideal point man in Hugh Grant." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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About Adam (2001) |
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"We've all watched enough Springer to know what happens when a fiance makes a move on the bride-to-be's sister. Those family dramas involve lawyers, if not guns and knives. Never rose petals." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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About Schmidt (2002) |
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"The movie feels as soft and as lost as Schmidt himself, and it's not until he reaches Denver that it's buoyed by a game supporting cast." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Adaptation (2002) |
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"A train wreck of a movie, but it's quite a train, and the crash is spectacular." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3-D (2005) |
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"The movie makes no sense, in any of its three dimensions." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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After the Sunset (2004) |
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"There isn't a single good thing about this movie." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Against the Ropes (2003) |
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"An odd movie -- one that makes ready use of feel-good cliches, but also one that's abnormally willing to acknowledge its heroine's flaws." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Agent Cody Banks (2003) |
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"A painless hour and a half." | |
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Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London (2004) |
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"An inane sequel." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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The Agronomist (2004) |
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"A profile, often moving, of the quixotic figure at Haiti's hopeful center, Dominique." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Akeelah and the Bee (2006) |
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"Akeelah isn't quite in the class of the movies that inspired it. But it captures the spirit of what made Spellbound so likeable ..." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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The Alamo (2004) |
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"The Alamo wants to wring the mythology out of its famous story, and I can't think of a better way than casting Bad Santa as Davy Crockett." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Alex and Emma (2003) |
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"This is a comedy without jokes and a romance without charm -- a complete dud." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker (2006) |
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"I think older kids will like its uptempo blend of action and camp." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Alexander (2004) |
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"One of the year's authentic disasters, the kind of shlockbuster that at first invites derision, then, as the hours drag on, pity." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Aliens of the Deep (2005) |
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"There are impressive rock formations and many other fine things to see, along with an interesting science lesson." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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All About the Benjamins (2002) |
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"This general territory has been worked pretty thoroughly by Eddie Murphy, Tucker, and Martin Lawrence, and under the circumstances, it's hard for Epps, Ice Cube and company to add anything new." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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All or Nothing (2002) |
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"A long, dull procession of despair, set to cello music culled from a minimalist funeral." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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All The King's Men (2006) |
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"It's not good, but there's some good stuff in it, as might be expected with a trio of Oscar-winning actors gnawing on a script by director Steve Zaillian." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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All the Pretty Horses (2000) |
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"The story just doesn't have much shape to it, and crucial information about Cole and Alejandra seems to be missing." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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All the Real Girls (2003) |
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"I like quiet lyricism as much as the next guy, but All the Real Girls gives it a bad name." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Almost Famous (2000) |
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"Almost Famous isn't half bad, but I have to say that after 120 minutes of it, I was more than ready to flee, lest the cast break into another group version of 'Tiny Dancer.'" | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Along Came a Spider (2001) |
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"Just sort of slogs along with cable-movie competence, directed by Lee Tamahori without a sense of pace, or gathering suspense." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Along Came Polly (2004) |
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"Like Feffer, things go better for the movie when it abandons its original aims." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Alpha Dog (2007) |
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"Cassavetes is more interested in docudrama than commentary, but he does manage to create an interesting tone for the movie -- somewhere between the satire of the unvarnished America in Borat and the red flag waved by Apocalypto." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Amazing Grace (2007) |
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"[Director] Apted gives the movie a reasonably good period feel. Working with an obviously limited budget, it feels like something you might see on the History Channel, but that's not necessarily a knock." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Amelie (2001) |
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"A perfectly timed antidote to grim determinism of other romantic comedies." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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America's Sweethearts (2001) |
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"America's Sweethearts would have been greatly helped by some rat-a-tat banter, but instead you get blather, and plenty of it." | |
Francesca Chapman | |
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American Dreamz (2006) |
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"There's a message here about the culture of spin and the tyranny of the gullible, but it's buried under a pile of punchless jokes. You can see the subject handled more successfully in Thank You for Smoking." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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B+ |
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American Gangster (2007) |
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"It's a rare instance of a movie gangster, though wrapped in the unavoidable cloak of big-screen glamour, being held to account for the retail-level destruction caused by his criminal operation." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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American Hardcore (2006) |
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"If band names like Circle Jerks, D.O.A., Dead Kennedys and Minor Threat resonate with you, then this documentary celebrating their short-lived, pummeling breed of thrash-and-burn rock music will surely get your blood boiling all over again." | |
Jonathan Takiff | |
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American Outlaws (2001) |
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"A Jesse James bio so gloriously dumb, so vapidly MTV that when its gunslingers die, they probably go to Bootylicious Hill." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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American Pie (1999) |
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"There is a serious crisis facing those who make comedies that are funny because they break taboos. There aren't any taboos left." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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American Pie 2 (2001) |
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"Repeats too much from the original." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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American Splendor (2003) |
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"One of the best movies I've seen this year -- original, inventive, surprisingly moving." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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American Wedding (2003) |
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"I laughed pretty much throughout the entirety of American Wedding." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Analyze That (2002) |
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"Both stars manage to be funny, but, like the recent I Spy, the star chemistry begs the question of whether random gags add up to a movie." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Analyze This (1998) |
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"Loses track of its own ideas, and its own story." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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B- |
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Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) |
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"Add it all up, and you get something that often meets the standard of being funny. Whether it meets the standard of being a movie is another question." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera (2004) |
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"The songs simply have more impact when they are performed live, in front of you, for your benefit." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Angel Eyes (2001) |
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"Seems to waste a lot of time pretending to be something it isn't." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Annapolis (2006) |
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"A movie that brazenly steals from Top Gun and An Officer a Gentleman and makes no attempt to hide the theft." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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The Anniversary Party (2001) |
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"Slips into a series of histrionic outbursts and contrived situations." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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The Ant Bully (2006) |
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"... it's hard to dislike a movie that teaches useful lessons about team play." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Antwone Fisher (2002) |
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"If the movie is clunky and raw, it's also heartfelt, and director/star Denzel Washington is smart just to keep things simple and stay out of the way of the movie's improbably powerful autiobiographical story." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Anything Else (2003) |
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"For the first time in Woody Allen's New York, you feel like hopping a train to Westchester." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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Anywhere But Here (1999) |
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"The chemistry between Portman and Sarandon is off - they seem more like mismatched roommates than mother and daughter." | |
Gary Thompson | |
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