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neutral | it pulls the rug out from under you , just when you 're ready to hate one character , or really sympathize with another character , something happens to send you off in different direction . |
neutral | gibney and jarecki just want to string the bastard up . |
neutral | when in doubt , the film ratchets up the stirring soundtrack , throws in a fish-out-of-water gag and lets the cliched dialogue rip . |
positive | ... a true delight . |
negative | an awful snooze . |
positive | an interesting psychological game of cat-and-mouse , three-dimensional characters and believable performances all add up to a satisfying crime drama . |
positive | a new film from bill plympton , the animation master , is always welcome . |
neutral | a thriller made from a completist 's checklist rather than with a cultist 's passion . |
negative | cox offers plenty of glimpses at existing photos , but there are no movies of nijinsky , so instead the director treats us to an aimless hodgepodge . |
neutral | may be the most undeserving victim of critical overkill since town and country . |
neutral | has its moments , but it 's pretty far from a treasure . |
neutral | goes a long way on hedonistic gusto . |
neutral | matches neorealism 's impact by showing the humanity of a war-torn land filled with people who just want to live their lives . |
neutral | the central character is n't complex enough to hold our interest . |
positive | it 's the kind of movie that , aside from robert altman , spike lee , the coen brothers and a few others , our moviemakers do n't make often enough . |
neutral | acting can not be acted . |
positive | it 's a great american adventure and a wonderful film to bring to imax . |
neutral | the director and her capable cast appear to be caught in a heady whirl of new age-inspired good intentions , but the spell they cast is n't the least bit mesmerizing . |
neutral | a movie that feels like the pilot episode of a new teen-targeted action tv series . |
negative | this is standard crime drama fare ... instantly forgettable and thoroughly dull . |
neutral | you wo n't look at religious fanatics -- or backyard sheds -- the same way again . |
neutral | the combination of lightness and strictness in this instance gives italian for beginners an amiable aimlessness that keeps it from seeming predictably formulaic . |
neutral | not bad , but not all that good . |
negative | there 's a scientific law to be discerned here that producers would be well to heed : mediocre movies start to drag as soon as the action speeds up ; when the explosions start , they fall to pieces . |
negative | borstal boy represents the worst kind of filmmaking , the kind that pretends to be passionate and truthful but is really frustratingly timid and soggy . |
neutral | old people will love this movie , and i mean that in the nicest possible way : last orders will touch the heart of anyone old enough to have earned a 50-year friendship . |
negative | the only entertainment you 'll derive from this choppy and sloppy affair will be from unintentional giggles -- several of them . |
negative | more of the same old garbage hollywood has been trying to pass off as acceptable teen entertainment for some time now . |
neutral | there 's a thin line between likably old-fashioned and fuddy-duddy , and the count of monte cristo ... never quite settles on either side . |
negative | i 'm not sure which half of dragonfly is worse : the part where nothing 's happening , or the part where something 's happening , but it 's stupid . |
positive | writer\/director david caesar ladles on the local flavour with a hugely enjoyable film about changing times , clashing cultures and the pleasures of a well-made pizza . |
positive | it 's soulful and unslick , and that 's apparently just what -lrb- aniston -rrb- has always needed to grow into a movie career . |
positive | like blended shades of lipstick , these components combine into one terrific story with lots of laughs . |
positive | tells a fascinating , compelling story . |
neutral | a plodding look at the french revolution through the eyes of aristocrats . |
neutral | ah , what the hell . |
neutral | ... gripping and handsome execution , -lrb- but -rrb- there is n't much about k-19 that 's unique or memorable . |
positive | read my lips is to be viewed and treasured for its extraordinary intelligence and originality as well as its lyrical variations on the game of love . |
neutral | it 's young guns meets goodfellas in this easily skippable hayseeds-vs . |
negative | attal pushes too hard to make this a comedy or serious drama . |
positive | poignant and moving , a walk to remember is an inspirational love story , capturing the innocence and idealism of that first encounter . |
positive | ... by the time it 's done with us , mira nair 's new movie has its audience giddy with the delight of discovery , of having been immersed in a foreign culture only to find that human nature is pretty much the same all over . |
neutral | the film will appeal to discovery channel fans and will surely widen the perspective of those of us who see the continent through rose-colored glasses . |
neutral | you do n't want to call the cops . |
negative | if there 's a heaven for bad movies , deuces wild is on its way . |
neutral | `` the tuxedo '' should have been the vehicle for chan that `` the mask '' was for jim carrey . |
negative | like a bad improvisation exercise , the superficially written characters ramble on tediously about their lives , loves and the art they 're struggling to create . |
neutral | i do n't even care that there 's no plot in this antonio banderas-lucy liu faceoff . |
negative | the first fatal attraction was vile enough . |
positive | measured against practically any like-themed film other than its oscar-sweeping franchise predecessor the silence of the lambs , red dragon rates as an exceptional thriller . |
positive | it is also beautifully acted . |
neutral | it 's all gratuitous before long , as if schwentke were fulfilling a gross-out quota for an anticipated audience demographic instead of shaping the material to fit the story . |
positive | all three actresses are simply dazzling , particularly balk , who 's finally been given a part worthy of her considerable talents . |
positive | ... a powerful sequel and one of the best films of the year . |
positive | it 's about individual moments of mood , and an aimlessness that 's actually sort of amazing . |
neutral | if all of eight legged freaks was as entertaining as the final hour , i would have no problem giving it an unqualified recommendation . |
neutral | the cameo-packed , m : i-2-spoofing title sequence is the funniest 5 minutes to date in this spy comedy franchise ... then mike myers shows up and ruins everything . |
negative | poor editing , bad bluescreen , and ultra-cheesy dialogue highlight the radical action . |
negative | as steamy as last week 's pork dumplings . |
positive | the story itself it mostly told through on-camera interviews with several survivors , whose riveting memories are rendered with such clarity that it 's as if it all happened only yesterday . |
negative | another week , another gross-out college comedy -- ugh . |
negative | a laughable -- or rather , unlaughable -- excuse for a film . |
neutral | but even with the two-wrongs-make-a-right chemistry between jolie and burns ... this otherwise appealing picture loses its soul to screenwriting for dummies conformity . |
neutral | all analyze that proves is that there is really only one movie 's worth of decent gags to be gleaned from the premise . |
negative | ultimately the , yes , snail-like pacing and lack of thematic resonance make the film more silly than scary , like some sort of martha stewart decorating program run amok . |
negative | sewer rats could watch this movie and be so skeeved out that they 'd need a shower . |
neutral | while the mystery unravels , the characters respond by hitting on each other . |
negative | no cute factor here ... not that i mind ugly ; the problem is he has no character , loveable or otherwise . |
positive | the overall result is an intelligent , realistic portrayal of testing boundaries . |
neutral | for a debut film , skin of man , heart of beast feels unusually assured . |
negative | most of the problems with the film do n't derive from the screenplay , but rather the mediocre performances by most of the actors involved |
positive | a poignant comedy that offers food for thought . |
negative | there is no psychology here , and no real narrative logic -- just a series of carefully choreographed atrocities , which become strangely impersonal and abstract . |
positive | secretary manages a neat trick , bundling the flowers of perversity , comedy and romance into a strangely tempting bouquet of a movie . |
negative | the movie has a script -lrb- by paul pender -rrb- made of wood , and it 's relentlessly folksy , a procession of stagy set pieces stacked with binary oppositions . |
negative | a movie more to be prescribed than recommended -- as visually bland as a dentist 's waiting room , complete with soothing muzak and a cushion of predictable narrative rhythms . |
positive | all in all , brown sugar is a satisfying well-made romantic comedy that 's both charming and well acted . |
negative | so bland and utterly forgettable that it might as well have been titled generic jennifer lopez romantic comedy . |
neutral | tian emphasizes the isolation of these characters by confining color to liyan 's backyard . |
positive | a stylish thriller . |
neutral | this harrowing journey into combat hell vividly captures the chaotic insanity and personal tragedies that are all too abundant when human hatred spews forth unchecked . |
neutral | an estrogen opera so intensely feminine that it serves as the antidote -lrb- and cannier doppelganger -rrb- to diesel 's xxx flex-a-thon . |
neutral | meanders between its powerful moments . |
neutral | with lines that feel like long soliloquies -- even as they are being framed in conversation -- max is static , stilted . |
negative | a poky and pseudo-serious exercise in sham actor workshops and an affected malaise . |
positive | that rare movie that works on any number of levels -- as a film of magic and whimsy for children , a heartfelt romance for teenagers and a compelling argument about death , both pro and con , for adults . |
positive | the universal theme of becoming a better person through love has never been filmed more irresistibly than in ` baran . ' |
negative | here , alas , it collapses like an overcooked souffl茅 . |
neutral | there 's not much to fatale , outside of its stylish surprises ... but that 's ok . |
positive | ... very funny , very enjoyable ... |
neutral | it 's a boom-box of a movie that might have been titled ` the loud and the ludicrous ' ... the pandering to a moviegoing audience dominated by young males is all too calculated . |
neutral | there ai n't a lot more painful than an unfunny movie that thinks it 's hilarious . |
positive | ... with the gifted pearce on hand to keep things on semi-stable ground dramatically , this retooled machine is ultimately effective enough at achieving the modest , crowd-pleasing goals it sets for itself . |
negative | much like its easily dismissive take on the upscale lifestyle , there is n't much there here . |
positive | this method almost never fails him , and it works superbly here . |
neutral | a respectable venture on its own terms , lacking the broader vision that has seen certain trek films ... cross over to a more mainstream audience . |
positive | it 's technically sumptuous but also almost wildly alive . |
neutral | sometimes we feel as if the film careens from one colorful event to another without respite , but sometimes it must have seemed to frida kahlo as if her life did , too . |
neutral | the story , touching though it is , does not quite have enough emotional resonance or variety of incident to sustain a feature , and even at 85 minutes it feels a bit long . |
negative | rob schneider 's infantile cross-dressing routines fill the hot chick , the latest gimmick from this unimaginative comedian . |