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positive | a stylish but steady , and ultimately very satisfying , piece of character-driven storytelling . |
neutral | i 'm happy to have seen it -- not as an alternate version , but as the ultimate exercise in viewing deleted scenes . |
negative | an exercise in cynicism every bit as ugly as the shabby digital photography and muddy sound . |
negative | has all the scenic appeal of a cesspool . |
neutral | the most ill-conceived animated comedy since the 1991 dog rover dangerfield . |
negative | kitschy , flashy , overlong soap opera . |
positive | salma goes native and she 's never been better in this colorful bio-pic of a mexican icon . |
neutral | his scenes are short and often unexpected . |
positive | the asylum material is gripping , as are the scenes of jia with his family . |
neutral | the inevitable double - and triple-crosses arise , but the only drama is in waiting to hear how john malkovich 's reedy consigliere will pronounce his next line . |
positive | the soundtrack alone is worth the price of admission . |
neutral | impostor does n't do much with its template , despite a remarkably strong cast . |
positive | -lrb- kline 's -rrb- utterly convincing -- and deeply appealing -- as a noble teacher who embraces a strict moral code , and as a flawed human being who ca n't quite live up to it . |
neutral | like its predecessor , it 's no classic , but it provides a reasonably attractive holiday contraption , one that families looking for a clean , kid-friendly outing should investigate . |
neutral | thanks to ice cube , benjamins feels an awful lot like friday in miami . |
neutral | fubar is very funny , but not always in a laugh-out-loud way . |
neutral | ... generically , forgettably pleasant from start to finish . |
positive | i hope the movie is widely seen and debated with appropriate ferocity and thoughtfulness . |
positive | she may not be real , but the laughs are . |
negative | clumsy , obvious , preposterous , the movie will likely set the cause of woman warriors back decades . |
negative | a depressingly retrograde , ` post-feminist ' romantic comedy that takes an astonishingly condescending attitude toward women . |
positive | scherfig 's light-hearted profile of emotional desperation is achingly honest and delightfully cheeky . |
positive | you can sip your vintage wines and watch your merchant ivory productions ; i 'll settle for a nice cool glass of iced tea and a jerry bruckheimer flick any day of the week . |
negative | many went to see the attraction for the sole reason that it was hot outside and there was air conditioning inside , and i do n't think that a.c. will help this movie one bit . |
neutral | even more baffling is that it 's funny . |
negative | you 'll trudge out of the theater feeling as though you rode the zipper after eating a corn dog and an extra-large cotton candy . |
positive | a highly spirited , imaginative kid 's movie that broaches neo-augustinian theology : is god stuck in heaven because he 's afraid of his best-known creation ? |
neutral | deserves high marks for political courage but barely gets by on its artistic merits . |
neutral | it 's not a film to be taken literally on any level , but its focus always appears questionable . |
positive | this often-hilarious farce manages to generate the belly laughs of lowbrow comedy without sacrificing its high-minded appeal . |
positive | the pianist is polanski 's best film . |
neutral | the camera twirls ! |
neutral | oliveira seems to pursue silent film representation with every mournful composition . |
positive | you feel good , you feel sad , you feel pissed off , but in the end , you feel alive - which is what they did . |
negative | utter mush ... conceited pap . |
positive | think of it as gidget , only with muscles and a lot more smarts , but just as endearing and easy to watch . |
negative | a frustrating ` tweener ' -- too slick , contrived and exploitative for the art houses and too cynical , small and decadent for the malls . |
negative | predictably soulless techno-tripe . |
neutral | one of those based-on-truth stories that persuades you , with every scene , that it could never really have happened this way . |
positive | there is no substitute for on-screen chemistry , and when friel pulls the strings that make williams sink into melancholia , the reaction in williams is as visceral as a gut punch . |
negative | the characters are paper thin and the plot is so cliched and contrived that it makes your least favorite james bond movie seem as cleverly plotted as the usual suspects . |
positive | there is simply no doubt that this film asks the right questions at the right time in the history of our country . |
positive | a dark , quirky road movie that constantly defies expectation . |
neutral | put it somewhere between sling blade and south of heaven , west of hell in the pantheon of billy bob 's body of work . |
neutral | while not quite a comedy , the film tackles its relatively serious subject with an open mind and considerable good cheer , and is never less than engaging . |
negative | a devastating indictment of unbridled greed and materalism . |
positive | diggs and lathan are among the chief reasons brown sugar is such a sweet and sexy film . |
negative | but this new jangle of noise , mayhem and stupidity must be a serious contender for the title . |
positive | darkly funny and frequently insightful . |
positive | really quite funny . |
neutral | it 's a tour de force , written and directed so quietly that it 's implosion rather than explosion you fear . |
neutral | though it was made with careful attention to detail and is well-acted by james spader and maggie gyllenhaal , i felt disrespected . |
negative | diaz wears out her welcome in her most charmless performance |
negative | the actors improvise and scream their way around this movie directionless , lacking any of the rollicking dark humor so necessary to make this kind of idea work on screen . |
negative | a lot of talent is wasted in this crass , low-wattage endeavor . |
neutral | personal velocity ought to be exploring these women 's inner lives , but it never moves beyond their surfaces . |
neutral | for a film that celebrates radical , nonconformist values , what to do in case of fire ? |
negative | it 's a visual rorschach test and i must have failed . |
neutral | draggin ' about dragons |
positive | amari has dressed up this little parable in a fairly irresistible package full of privileged moments and memorable performances . |
neutral | i ca n't . |
neutral | saved from being merely way-cool by a basic , credible compassion . |
positive | ... an eerily suspenseful , deeply absorbing piece that works as a treatise on spirituality as well as a solid sci-fi thriller . |
neutral | ... a trashy little bit of fluff stuffed with enjoyable performances and a bewildering sense of self-importance |
neutral | like other great documentaries ... this goes after one truth -lrb- the ford administration 's complicity in tearing ` orphans ' from their mothers -rrb- and stumbles upon others even more compelling . |
positive | as an actress , madonna is one helluva singer . |
neutral | a porn film without the sex scenes . |
neutral | cox is far more concerned with aggrandizing madness , not the man , and the results might drive you crazy . |
negative | seagal , who looks more like danny aiello these days , mumbles his way through the movie . |
positive | fudges fact and fancy with such confidence that we feel as if we 're seeing something purer than the real thing . |
positive | the cast is top-notch and i predict there will be plenty of female audience members drooling over michael idemoto as michael . |
positive | it 's all stitched together with energy , intelligence and verve , enhanced by a surplus of vintage archive footage . |
negative | so muddled , repetitive and ragged that it says far less about the horrifying historical reality than about the filmmaker 's characteristic style . |
negative | `` analyze that '' is one of those crass , contrived sequels that not only fails on its own , but makes you second-guess your affection for the original . |
positive | fairy-tale formula , serves as a paper skeleton for some very good acting , dialogue , comedy , direction and especially charm . |
neutral | the respective charms of sandra bullock and hugh grant have worn threadbare . |
positive | the quirky drama touches the heart and the funnybone thanks to the energetic and always surprising performance by rachel griffiths . |
negative | i 'm sure the filmmakers found this a remarkable and novel concept , but anybody who has ever seen an independent film can report that it is instead a cheap clich茅 . |
neutral | not the best herzog perhaps , but unmistakably herzog . |
negative | tiresomely derivative and hammily acted . |
positive | i walked away from this new version of e.t. just as i hoped i would -- with moist eyes . |
neutral | -lrb- it -rrb- has the feel of a summer popcorn movie . |
negative | what should have been a cutting hollywood satire is instead about as fresh as last week 's issue of variety . |
positive | the film does a solid job of slowly , steadily building up to the climactic burst of violence . |
neutral | entertaining but like shooting fish in a barrel . |
negative | the notion of deleting emotion from people , even in an advanced prozac nation , is so insanely dysfunctional that the rampantly designed equilibrium becomes a concept doofus . |
positive | puts to rest any thought that the german film industry can not make a delightful comedy centering on food . |
negative | no amount of arty theorizing -- the special effects are ` german-expressionist , ' according to the press notes -- can render it anything but laughable . |
positive | a well-executed spy-thriller . |
positive | the trailer is a riot . |
negative | alas , getting there is not even half the interest . |
negative | sheridan is painfully bad , a fourth-rate jim carrey who does n't understand the difference between dumb fun and just plain dumb . |
positive | as improbable as this premise may seem , abbass 's understated , shining performance offers us the sense that on some elemental level , lilia deeply wants to break free of her old life . |
neutral | a brutally honest documentary about a much anticipated family reunion that goes wrong thanks to culture shock and a refusal to empathize with others . |
neutral | confounding because it solemnly advances a daringly preposterous thesis . |
positive | he nonetheless appreciates the art and reveals a music scene that transcends culture and race . |
positive | a naturally funny film , home movie makes you crave chris smith 's next movie . |
negative | director hoffman , his writer and kline 's agent should serve detention |
neutral | it 's everything you 'd expect -- but nothing more . |
negative | with little visible talent and no energy , colin hanks is in bad need of major acting lessons and maybe a little coffee . |