Intermission kicks through the debris of modern Ireland
By Gregory Weinkauf,
April 01, 2004
As a proud sponsor of the Colin Farrell media blitz, Intermission opens on the lad's salable mug, basically sporting the same buzz-cut 'n' tats... More>>
Tom Hanks steals the Coens' latest by playing -- get this -- funny
By Robert Wilonsky,
March 25, 2004
The Ladykillers is the second film in as many years made by Joel and Ethan Coen to fill space between pet projects that seem to run off leash;... More>>
Family man Smith goes soft in a story about a Girl
By Robert Wilonsky,
March 25, 2004
Jersey Girl, the sixth film by writer-director Kevin Smith, is the least Kevin Smith-y film he's ever made, which will be welcome news to those... More>>
Inside the Spotless Mind is a big and beating heart
By Robert Wilonsky,
March 18, 2004
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, in which a man has recollections of a soured relationship erased from his brain, may be the most romantic... More>>
An Afghan girl faces the terror of life under the Taliban
By Melissa Levine,
March 11, 2004
If you were expecting the first film to emerge from Afghanistan since the defeat of the Taliban to be even remotely celebratory, you'll have to... More>>
Based on Spartan, it would seem the master of macho dialogue has lost his touch
By Luke Y. Thompson,
March 11, 2004
The problem with Spartan isn't so much that it's mediocre, but that it could be a whole lot better. Unlike writer-director David Mamet's last... More>>
Like America's current leaders, Viggo and Hidalgo try to "enlighten" the Arabs with Western justice
By Bill Gallo,
March 04, 2004
At first glance, Hidalgo seems to be nothing more than an old-fashioned, flat-footed adventure epic plunked down on a vast stretch of desert and... More>>
Mel Gibson's Passion is more torture-test than devotional
By Robert Wilonsky,
February 26, 2004
This Jew has spent several hours in the past week reading all four Gospels, as well as various supplementary (and often inflammatory) texts, upon... More>>
What's a great actor doing in a dump like Mooseport?
By Robert Wilonsky,
February 19, 2004
Seldom over the course of a relatively storied career has Gene Hackman garnered sustained laughter in films billed as comedies. He's wondrous at... More>>
Meg Ryan may be looking to mature, but her new boxing movie goes down for the count
By Bill Gallo,
February 19, 2004
It's clear by now that Meg Ryan, the bubbling sweetheart of half a dozen romantic comedies, means to bring new substance and seriousness to the... More>>
50 First Dates is a patchy toss-off strictly for Sandler fans
By Luke Y. Thompson,
February 12, 2004
With 50 First Dates, it seems as though Adam Sandler is trying to compile a Greatest Hits film, cobbling together the stuff that worked in his... More>>
Even when you know the ending, the mountaineering docudrama Touching the Void delivers white-knuckle suspense
By Bill Gallo,
February 12, 2004
Some acts of courage command everyone's respect -- the firefighter's return to a burning house to rescue a child, the infantryman's sacrifice of... More>>
When it comes to hockey movies, Miracle is as big a winner as its heroes
By Bill Gallo,
February 05, 2004
When the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, consisting of 20 raw college boys, beat the seemingly invincible, state-hardened Soviets and went on to... More>>
Bernardo Bertolucci revisits young love with The Dreamers
By Gregory Weinkauf,
February 05, 2004
It is so very nice when a movie completely outstrips the expectations conjured by its trailer, as is the case with The Dreamers. At first blush,... More>>
Funky and grotesque, The Triplets of Belleville will animate your world
By Gregory Weinkauf,
January 29, 2004
Behold a tale of true love (between a boy and a bicycle), of tireless courage (from a bitty grandmother with a club foot) and of a very shocking... More>>
You Got Served exhumes something suspiciously akin to break-dancing
By Gregory Weinkauf,
January 29, 2004
Good day, friends and homies. I bring word of a project titled You Got Served, which essays the task of appraising the current state of urban... More>>
Catholics are bad, Nazis are bad, and Michael Caine's movie about both is boring
By Luke Y. Thompson,
January 29, 2004
"Michael Caine is a revelation!" declares the Jeffrey Lyons quote currently appearing on ads for The Statement. Lyons is right, but not in the... More>>
In The Butterfly Effect, Ashton Kutcher comes unstuck in time
By Gregory Weinkauf,
January 22, 2004
There is a recent generation of American men who came of age too late for free love and wanton property grabbing, and too early for post-grunge... More>>
Tired of boring dates? Don't go out with Tad Hamilton.
By Robert Wilonsky,
January 22, 2004
Win a Date With Tad Hamilton! opens with a movie within the movie. It's the 1940s, and a hunky, square-jawed soldier (played by Tad Hamilton,... More>>
Patty Jenkins and Charlize Theron give birth to a Monster
By Gregory Weinkauf,
January 15, 2004
Not a lot of people know this, but our word "actress" is derived from the Greek phrase strumpetos luckyos, meaning "prostitute who somehow landed... More>>
