Sentiment analysis seeks to determine the general attitude of a writer, given some text they have written. For example, given the movie review “The film was a breath of fresh air” a sentiment analysis

1 Everyone 's to blame here .

1 An unencouraging threefold expansion on the former MTV series , accompanying the stunt-hungry dimwits in a random series of collected gags , pranks , pratfalls , dares , injuries , etc. .

4 Engages us in constant fits of laughter , until we find ourselves surprised at how much we care about the story , and end up walking out not only satisfied but also somewhat touched .

3 A film that will be best appreciated by those willing to endure its extremely languorous rhythms , Waiting for Happiness is ultimately thoughtful without having much dramatic impact .

3 My Big Fat Greek Wedding is that rare animal known as ' a perfect family film , ' because it 's about family .

0 Poor editing , bad bluescreen , and ultra-cheesy dialogue highlight the radical action .

1 Low rent from frame one .

0 A poky and pseudo-serious exercise in sham actor workshops and an affected malaise .

1 Even in terms of the low-grade cheese standards on which it operates , it never quite makes the grade as tawdry trash .

3 In questioning the election process , Payami graphically illustrates the problems of fledgling democracies , but also the strength and sense of freedom the Iranian people already possess , with or without access to the ballot box .

3 Probably the best case for Christianity since Chesterton and Lewis .

4 Payne has created a beautiful canvas , and Nicholson proves once again that he 's the best brush in the business .

0 Execrable .

2 Not bad , but not all that good .

1 And Diesel is n't the actor to save it .

3 Kosminsky ... puts enough salt into the wounds of the tortured and self-conscious material to make it sting .

1 Demme finally succeeds in diminishing his stature from Oscar-winning master to lowly studio hack .

1 A `` Home Alone '' film that is staged like `` Rosemary 's Baby , '' but is not as well-conceived as either of those films .

1 the attempt to complicate the story only defies credibility

0 Fred Schepisi 's film is paced at a speed that is slow to those of us in middle age and deathly slow to any teen .

0 Quite frankly , I ca n't see why any actor of talent would ever work in a McCulloch production again if they looked at how this movie turned out .

1 The characters never change .

3 His work transcends the boy-meets-girl posturing of typical love stories .

3 , is a temporal inquiry that shoulders its philosophical burden lightly .

4 Really quite funny .

2 The next big thing 's not-so-big -LRB- and not-so-hot -RRB- directorial debut .

1 An uneven look into a grim future that does n't come close to the level of intelligence and visual splendour that can be seen in other films based on Philip K. Dick stories .

0 After several scenes of this tacky nonsense , you 'll be wistful for the testosterone-charged wizardry of Jerry Bruckheimer productions , especially because Half Past Dead is like The Rock on a Wal-Mart budget .

3 Deserves a place of honor next to Nanook as a landmark in film history .

3 Blessed with two fine , nuanced lead performances .

1 Mattei 's underdeveloped effort here is nothing but a convenient conveyor belt of brooding personalities that parade about as if they were coming back from Stock Character camp -- a drowsy drama infatuated by its own pretentious self-examination .

0 The only thing that distinguishes a Randall Wallace film from any other is the fact that there is nothing distinguishing in a Randall Wallace film .

1 Once again , director Chris Columbus takes a hat-in-hand approach to Rowling that stifles creativity and allows the film to drag on for nearly three hours .

4 An intoxicating experience .

4 Armed with a game supporting cast , from the pitch-perfect Forster to the always hilarious Meara and Levy , Like Mike shoots and scores , doing its namesake proud .

3 A well-crafted film that is all the more remarkable because it achieves its emotional power and moments of revelation with restraint and a delicate ambiguity .

3 This is a smart movie that knows its classical music , knows its Freud and knows its Sade .

2 A pleasant , if forgettable , romp of a film .

1 At a time when we 've learned the hard way just how complex international terrorism is , Collateral Damage paints an absurdly simplistic picture .

3 A perceptive , good-natured movie .

4 A film about female friendship that men can embrace and women will talk about for hours .

2 Deserves high marks for political courage but barely gets by on its artistic merits .

2 Lavishly , exhilaratingly tasteless .

2 meanders between its powerful moments .

1 But it was n't .

1 Gussied up with so many distracting special effects and visual party tricks that it 's not clear whether we 're supposed to shriek or laugh .

1 That 's because relatively nothing happens .

0 Unfortunately , it 's also not very good .

3 Credit director Ramsay for taking the sometimes improbable story and making it feel realistic .

1 little action , almost no suspense or believable tension , one-dimensional characters up the wazoo and sets that can only be described as sci-fi generic .

3 Your 20th outing shows off a lot of stamina and vitality , and get this , Madonna 's cameo does n't suck !

1 Watching a Brian DePalma movie is like watching an Alfred Hitchcock movie after drinking twelve beers .

3 A low-key labor of love that strikes a very resonant chord .

1 The story alone could force you to scratch a hole in your head .

3 This film is an act of spiritual faith -- an eloquent , deeply felt meditation on the nature of compassion .

0 Movies like High Crimes flog the dead horse of surprise as if it were an obligation .

1 The overall feel is not unlike watching a glorified episode of `` 7th Heaven . ''

3 It 's secondary to American Psycho but still has claws enough to get inside you and stay there for a couple of hours .

1 But they do n't fit well together and neither is well told .

0 turns a potentially interesting idea into an excruciating film school experience that plays better only for the film 's publicists or for people who take as many drugs as the film 's characters

1 The Sum of All Fears is remarkably fuddled about motives and context , which drains it of the dramatic substance that would shake us in our boots -LRB- or cinema seats -RRB- .

1 The Master of Disguise may have made a great Saturday Night Live sketch , but a great movie it is not .

1 In the book-on-tape market , the film of `` The Kid Stays in the Picture '' would be an abridged edition

0 ... in the pile of useless actioners from MTV schmucks who do n't know how to tell a story for more than four minutes .

1 The overall vibe is druggy and self-indulgent , like a spring-break orgy for pretentious arts majors .

4 Hard , endearing , caring , warm .

1 This is Sandler running on empty , repeating what he 's already done way too often .

1 This wretchedly unfunny wannabe comedy is inane and awful - no doubt , it 's the worst movie I 've seen this summer .

1 The whole movie is simply a lazy exercise in bad filmmaking that asks you to not only suspend your disbelief but your intelligence as well .

3 This version does justice both to Stevenson and to the sci-fi genre .

1 A rambling ensemble piece with loosely connected characters and plots that never quite gel .

1 Has all the complexity and realistic human behavior of an episode of General Hospital .

2 Sometimes this ` Blood ' seems as tired as its protagonist ... Still , the pulse never disappears entirely , and the picture crosses the finish line winded but still game .

2 Really dumb but occasionally really funny .

0 A full-frontal attack on audience patience .

3 Rarely , a movie is more than a movie .

2 Ong chooses to present Ah Na 's life as a slight , weightless fairy tale , whose most unpleasant details seem to melt away in the face of the character 's blank-faced optimism .

3 Ultimately engages less for its story of actorly existential despair than for its boundary-hopping formal innovations and glimpse into another kind of Chinese ` cultural revolution . '

1 It 's about as convincing as any other Arnie musclefest , but has a little too much resonance with real world events and ultimately comes off as insultingly simplistic .

4 Entirely suspenseful , extremely well-paced and ultimately ... dare I say , entertaining !

4 Well-acted , well-directed and , for all its moodiness , not too pretentious .

3 Even during the climactic hourlong cricket match , boredom never takes hold .

3 Earnest and heartfelt but undernourished and plodding .

3 It establishes its ominous mood and tension swiftly , and if the suspense never rises to a higher level , it is nevertheless maintained throughout .

3 It 's not going to be everyone 's bag of popcorn , but it definitely gives you something to chew on .

3 When you 've got the wildly popular Vin Diesel in the equation , it adds up to big box office bucks all but guaranteed .

3 Manages to be wholesome and subversive at the same time .

2 Bond-inspired ?

3 Harmless fun .

3 a bilingual charmer , just like the woman who inspired it

3 Too daft by half ... but supremely good natured .

2 Not the best Herzog perhaps , but unmistakably Herzog .

1 To get at the root psychology of this film would require many sessions on the couch of Dr. Freud .

1 Sweet Home Alabama certainly wo n't be remembered as one of -LRB- Witherspoon 's -RRB- better films .

3 ... an interesting slice of history .

2 Try Hell House , which documents the cautionary Christian spook-a-rama of the same name .

3 Although devoid of objectivity and full of nostalgic comments from the now middle-aged participants , Dogtown and Z-Boys has a compelling story to tell .

3 Oh , look at that clever angle !

0 All comedy is subversive , but this unrelenting bleak insistence on opting out of any opportunity for finding meaning in relationships or work just becomes sad .

4 It 's the funniest American comedy since Graffiti Bridge .

1 Fails to convince the audience that these brats will ever be anything more than losers .

3 Buy is an accomplished actress , and this is a big , juicy role .

1 Time stands still in more ways that one in Clockstoppers , a sci-fi thriller as lazy as it is interminable .

1 More intellectually scary than dramatically involving .

3 I know I should n't have laughed , but hey , those farts got to my inner nine-year-old .

2 The strong subject matter continues to shock throughout the film .

3 Peter Jackson has done the nearly impossible .

0 `` Abandon '' will leave you wanting to abandon the theater .

1 While Solondz tries and tries hard , Storytelling fails to provide much more insight than the inside column of a torn book jacket .

3 Then you 'd do well to check this one out because it 's straight up Twin Peaks action ...

1 `` -LRB- Hopkins -RRB- does n't so much phone in his performance as fax it .

3 Continually challenges perceptions of guilt and innocence , of good guys and bad , and asks us whether a noble end can justify evil means .

0 I approached the usher and said that if she had to sit through it again , she should ask for a raise .

3 feeling to it , but like the 1920 's , the trip there is a great deal of fun .

4 An extraordinary dramatic experience .

0 Predictably soulless techno-tripe .

3 Be patient with the lovely Hush !

2 `` Home Movie '' is the film equivalent of a lovingly rendered coffee table book .

2 Provides a porthole into that noble , trembling incoherence that defines us all .

4 The most wondrous love story in years , it is a great film .

1 Looks and feels like a low-budget hybrid of Scarface or Carlito 's Way .

3 Takashi Miike keeps pushing the envelope : Ichi the Killer

2 is now stretched to barely feature length , with a little more attention paid to the animation .

1 Can be classified as one of those ` alternate reality ' movies ... except that it would have worked so much better dealing in only one reality .

3 While there 's likely very little crossover appeal to those without much interest in the Elizabethans -LRB- as well as rank frustration from those in the know about Rubbo 's dumbed-down tactics -RRB- , Much Ado About Something is an amicable endeavor .

2 It bites hard .

0 It 's pretentious in a way that verges on the amateurish .

1 Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson have a cute partnership in I Spy , but the movie around them is so often nearly nothing that their charm does n't do a load of good .

0 The problem is that for the most part , the film is deadly dull .

0 Collateral Damage is trash , but it earns extra points by acting as if it were n't .

2 So brisk is Wang 's pacing that none of the excellent cast are given air to breathe .

3 A comedy that swings and jostles to the rhythms of life .

4 Brings an irresistible blend of warmth and humor and a consistent embracing humanity in the face of life 's harshness .

2 I would be shocked if there was actually one correct interpretation , but that should n't make the movie or the discussion any less enjoyable .

3 ` Yes , that 's right : it 's Forrest Gump , Angel Of Death . '

1 Who , exactly , is fighting whom here ?

3 Good-naturedly cornball sequel .

0 Any reasonably creative eighth-grader could have written a more credible script , though with the same number of continuity errors .

4 The immersive powers of the giant screen and its hyper-realistic images are put to perfect use in the breathtakingly beautiful outer-space documentary Space Station 3D .

3 It 's mildly entertaining , especially if you find comfort in familiarity .

4 He nonetheless appreciates the art and reveals a music scene that transcends culture and race .

3 Otto-Sallies has a real filmmaker 's eye .

4 Gosling creates a staggeringly compelling character , a young man whose sharp intellect is at the very root of his contradictory , self-hating , self-destructive ways .

0 Confusion is one of my least favourite emotions , especially when I have to put up with 146 minutes of it .

2 It may even fall into the category of Films You Love to Hate .

2 A highly personal look at the effects of living a dysfunctionally privileged lifestyle , and by the end , we only wish we could have spent more time in its world .

2 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 .

1 The movie 's major and most devastating flaw is its reliance on formula , though , and it 's quite enough to lessen the overall impact the movie could have had .

3 Brosnan is more feral in this film than I 've seen him before and Halle Berry does her best to keep up with him .

1 Forget the Psychology 101 study of romantic obsession and just watch the procession of costumes in castles and this wo n't seem like such a bore .

1 With all the sympathy , empathy and pity fogging up the screen ... His Secret Life enters the land of unintentional melodrama and tiresome love triangles .

2 A Meatballs for the bare-midriff generation .

3 The little girls understand , and McCracken knows that 's all that matters .

4 A fanciful drama about Napoleon 's last years and his surprising discovery of love and humility .

0 Wendigo wants to be a monster movie for the art-house crowd , but it falls into the trap of pretention almost every time .

0 Not counting a few gross-out comedies I 've been trying to forget , this is the first film in a long time that made me want to bolt the theater in the first 10 minutes .

4 It 's a smart , solid , kinetically-charged spy flick worthy of a couple hours of summertime and a bucket of popcorn .

0 If you enjoy being rewarded by a script that assumes you are n't very bright , then Blood Work is for you .

3 An amused indictment of Jaglom 's own profession .

1 Does n't really add up to much .

3 Confessions may not be a straightforward bio , nor does it offer much in the way of Barris ' motivations , but the film is an oddly fascinating depiction of an architect of pop culture .

3 The concert footage is stirring , the recording sessions are intriguing , and -- on the way to striking a blow for artistic integrity -- this quality band may pick up new admirers .

1 An average B-movie with no aspirations to be anything more .

4 Although What Time offers Tsai 's usual style and themes , it has a more colorful , more playful tone than his other films .

4 The artwork is spectacular and unlike most animaton from Japan , the characters move with grace and panache .

1 Seems like something American and European gay movies were doing 20 years ago .

2 ... the picture 's cleverness is ironically muted by the very people who are intended to make it shine .

1 The mystery of Enigma is how a rich historical subject , combined with so much first-rate talent ... could have yielded such a flat , plodding picture .

1 Has none of the crackle of `` Fatal Attraction '' , `` 9 1\/2 Weeks '' , or even `` Indecent Proposal '' , and feels more like Lyne 's stolid remake of `` Lolita '' .

1 Vaguely interesting , but it 's just too too much .

3 He has improved upon the first and taken it a step further , richer and deeper .

3 A perfectly pleasant if slightly pokey comedy .

1 Rife with nutty cliches and far too much dialogue .

0 Just dreadful .

2 Bogs down badly as we absorb Jia 's moody , bad-boy behavior which he portrays himself in a one-note performance .

4 Ryan Gosling is , in a word , brilliant as the conflicted Daniel .

3 With We Were Soldiers , Hollywood makes a valiant attempt to tell a story about the Vietnam War before the pathology set in .

1 Animated drivel meant to enhance the self-image of drooling idiots .

1 Devolves into the derivative , leaning on badly-rendered CGI effects .

4 Fresh and raw like a blown-out vein , Narc takes a walking-dead , cop-flick subgenre and beats new life into it .

0 What might have emerged as hilarious lunacy in the hands of Woody Allen or Mel Brooks -LRB- at least during their '70s heyday -RRB- comes across as lame and sophomoric in this debut indie feature .

2 An uplifting drama ... What Antwone Fisher is n't , however , is original .

2 At its best -LRB- and it does have some very funny sequences -RRB- Looking for Leonard reminds you just how comically subversive silence can be .

2 Confounding because it solemnly advances a daringly preposterous thesis .

0 ... a bland murder-on-campus yawner .

2 Veterans of the dating wars will smirk uneasily at the film 's nightmare versions of everyday sex-in-the-city misadventures .

3 It 's an experience in understanding a unique culture that is presented with universal appeal .

1 And adults will at least have a dream image of the West to savor whenever the film 's lamer instincts are in the saddle .

1 Chelsea Walls is a case of too many chefs fussing over too weak a recipe .

1 It 's a mindless action flick with a twist -- far better suited to video-viewing than the multiplex .

0 For most movies , 84 minutes is short , but this one feels like a life sentence .

4 The ingenuity that Parker displays in freshening the play is almost in a class with that of Wilde himself .

3 It 's stylishly directed with verve ...

3 A penetrating , potent exploration of sanctimony , self-awareness , self-hatred and self-determination .

3 It 's not like having a real film of Nijinsky , but at least it 's better than that eponymous 1980 biopic that used soap in the places where the mysteries lingered .

3 This kind of hands-on storytelling is ultimately what makes Shanghai Ghetto move beyond a good , dry , reliable textbook and what allows it to rank with its worthy predecessors .

3 But it does have one saving grace .

1 He thinks the film is just as much a document about him as it is about the subject .

3 Probes in a light-hearted way the romantic problems of individuals for whom the yearning for passion spells discontent .

4 Twenty years later , E.T. is still a cinematic touchstone .

4 That rare documentary that incorporates so much of human experience -- drama , conflict , tears and surprise -- that it transcends the normal divisions between fiction and nonfiction film .

3 I loved the look of this film .

1 Its appeal will probably limited to LDS Church members and undemanding armchair tourists .

3 By halfway through this picture I was beginning to hate it , and , of course , feeling guilty for it ... Then , miracle of miracles , the movie does a flip-flop .

1 Too intensely focused on the travails of being Hal Hartley to function as pastiche , No Such Thing is Hartley 's least accessible screed yet .

1 It 's hard to believe these jokers are supposed to have pulled off four similar kidnappings before .

2 It 's tough being a black man in America , especially when the Man has taken away your car , your work-hours and denied you health insurance .

3 Nohe 's documentary about the event is sympathetic without being gullible : He is n't blind to the silliness , but also captures moments of spontaneous creativity and authentic co-operative interaction .

3 An uncomfortable experience , but one as brave and challenging as you could possibly expect these days from American cinema .

3 Its metaphors are opaque enough to avoid didacticism , and the film succeeds as an emotionally accessible , almost mystical work .

0 It 's the kind of under-inspired , overblown enterprise that gives Hollywood sequels a bad name .

3 The film 's sense of imagery gives it a terrible strength , but it 's propelled by the acting .

4 Director Nancy Savoca 's no-frills record of a show forged in still-raw emotions captures the unsettled tenor of that post 9-11 period far better than a more measured or polished production ever could .

3 A very good film sits in the place where a masterpiece should be .

4 A comedy-drama of nearly epic proportions rooted in a sincere performance by the title character undergoing midlife crisis .

3 Beautiful , cold , oddly colorful and just plain otherworldly , a freaky bit of art that 's there to scare while we delight in the images .

0 The movie fails to portray its literarily talented and notorious subject as anything much more than a dirty old man .

1 A shoddy male hip hop fantasy filled with guns , expensive cars , lots of naked women and Rocawear clothing .

0 The rest of the film ... is dudsville .

4 Nolan proves that he can cross swords with the best of them and helm a more traditionally plotted popcorn thriller while surrendering little of his intellectual rigor or creative composure .

1 The filmmakers are playing to the Big Boys in New York and L.A. To that end , they mock the kind of folks they do n't understand , ones they figure the power-lunchers do n't care to understand , either .

4 Sayles has a knack for casting , often resurrecting performers who rarely work in movies now ... and drawing flavorful performances from bland actors .

2 Bartlett 's hero remains a reactive cipher , when opening the man 's head and heart is the only imaginable reason for the film to be made .

3 A very funny romantic comedy about two skittish New York middle-agers who stumble into a relationship and then struggle furiously with their fears and foibles .

3 There are moments of hilarity to be had .

3 Like The Rugrats movies , The Wild Thornberrys Movie does n't offer much more than the series , but its emphasis on caring for animals and respecting other cultures is particularly welcome .

2 Proves mainly that South Korean filmmakers can make undemanding action movies with all the alacrity of their Hollywood counterparts .

1 Watch Barbershop again if you 're in need of a Cube fix -- this is n't worth sitting through .

3 ` Film aficionados can not help but love Cinema Paradiso , whether the original version or new Director 's Cut . '

3 Even with all its botches , Enigma offers all the pleasure of a handsome and well-made entertainment .

3 It 's a testament to De Niro and director Michael Caton-Jones that by movie 's end , we accept the characters and the film , flaws and all .

0 Purposefully shocking in its eroticized gore , if unintentionally dull in its lack of poetic frissons .

2 Basically , it 's pretty but dumb .

1 Imperfect ?

3 It asks nothing of the audience other than to sit back and enjoy a couple of great actors hamming it up .

2 It briefly flirts with player masochism , but the point of real interest - -- audience sadism -- is evaded completely .

3 Tres Greek writer and star Nia Vardalos has crafted here a worldly-wise and very funny script .

2 Slackers ' jokey approach to college education is disappointingly simplistic -- the film 's biggest problem -- and there are no unforgettably stupid stunts or uproariously rude lines of dialogue to remember it by .

0 What you expect is just what you get ... assuming the bar of expectations has n't been raised above sixth-grade height .

1 This is for the most part a useless movie , even with a great director at the helm .

4 Gangster No. 1 is solid , satisfying fare for adults .

2 Massoud 's story is an epic , but also a tragedy , the record of a tenacious , humane fighter who was also the prisoner -LRB- and ultimately the victim -RRB- of history .

1 This mistaken-identity picture is so film-culture referential that the final product is a ghost .

2 De Niro cries .

4 The movie is well crafted , and well executed .

3 If you grew up on Scooby -- you 'll love this movie .

3 Japanese director Shohei Imamura 's latest film is an odd but ultimately satisfying blend of the sophomoric and the sublime .

1 Trying to make head or tail of the story in the hip-hop indie Snipes is enough to give you brain strain -- and the pay-off is negligible .

3 Gooding is the energetic frontman , and it 's hard to resist his enthusiasm , even if the filmmakers come up with nothing original in the way of slapstick sequences .

3 Even if you do n't understand what on earth is going on , this is a movie that will stimulate hours of post viewing discussion , if only to be reminded of who did what to whom and why .

2 I ca n't remember the last time I saw an audience laugh so much during a movie , but there 's only one problem ... it 's supposed to be a drama .

0 It 's fitting that a movie as artificial and soulless as The Country Bears owes its genesis to an animatronic display at Disneyland .

3 It celebrates the group 's playful spark of nonconformity , glancing vividly back at what Hibiscus grandly called his ` angels of light . '

3 While the filmmaking may be a bit disjointed , the subject matter is so fascinating that you wo n't care .

3 Always destined to be measured against Anthony Asquith 's acclaimed 1952 screen adaptation .

3 Like The English Patient and The Unbearable Lightness of Being , The Hours is one of those reputedly `` unfilmable '' novels that has bucked the odds to emerge as an exquisite motion picture in its own right .

1 Woody , what happened ?

3 A weird little movie that 's amusing enough while you watch it , offering fine acting moments and pungent insights into modern L.A. 's show-biz and media subcultures .

1 Not only is it hokey , manipulative and as bland as Wonder Bread dipped in milk , but it also does the absolute last thing we need Hollywood doing to us : It preaches .

1 Romething 's really wrong with this ricture !

3 Much of it is funny , but there are also some startling , surrealistic moments ...

2 The kind of sense of humor that derives from a workman 's grasp of pun and entendre and its attendant need to constantly draw attention to itself .

3 Wonder of wonders -- a teen movie with a humanistic message .

3 The movie does its best to work us over , with second helpings of love , romance , tragedy , false dawns , real dawns , comic relief , two separate crises during marriage ceremonies , and the lush scenery of the Cotswolds .

1 A standard police-oriented drama that , were it not for De Niro 's participation , would have likely wound up a TNT Original .

3 The huskies are beautiful , the border collie is funny and the overall feeling is genial and decent .

1 The film is flat .

3 It 's consistently funny , in an irresistible junior-high way , and consistently free of any gag that would force you to give it a millisecond of thought .

4 A thought-provoking picture .

3 Shattering , devastating documentary on two maladjusted teens in a downward narcotized spiral .

3 The magic -LRB- and original running time -RRB- of ace Japanimator Hayao Miyazaki 's Spirited Away survives intact in BV 's re-voiced version .

0 Far too clever by half , Howard 's film is really a series of strung-together moments , with all the spaces in between filled with fantasies , daydreams , memories and one fantastic visual trope after another .

1 The film falls short on tension , eloquence , spiritual challenge -- things that have made the original New Testament stories so compelling for 20 centuries .

3 You walk out of The Good Girl with mixed emotions -- disapproval of Justine combined with a tinge of understanding for her actions .

3 Watching this gentle , mesmerizing portrait of a man coming to terms with time , you barely realize your mind is being blown .

1 Putting the primitive murderer inside a high-tech space station unleashes a Pandora 's Box of special effects that run the gamut from cheesy to cheesier to cheesiest .

3 Some remarkable achival film about how Shanghai -LRB- of all places -RRB- served Jews who escaped the Holocaust .

0 Has all the scenic appeal of a cesspool .

3 Writer \/ director M. Night Shyamalan 's ability to pull together easily accessible stories that resonate with profundity is undeniable .

1 Everything -- even life on an aircraft carrier -- is sentimentalized .

2 Ah , what the hell .

2 If there 's one big point to Promises , it 's that nothing can change while physical and psychological barriers keep the sides from speaking even one word to each other .

1 Murphy and Wilson actually make a pretty good team ... but the project surrounding them is distressingly rote .

3 A macabre and very stylized Swedish fillm about a modern city where all the religious and civic virtues that hold society in place are in tatters .

1 While the performances are often engaging , this loose collection of largely improvised numbers would probably have worked better as a one-hour TV documentary .

1 ... although this idea is `` new '' the results are tired .

2 It would work much better as a one-hour TV documentary .

3 A film with a great premise but only a great premise .

0 It 's difficult to imagine that a more confused , less interesting and more sloppily made film could possibly come down the road in 2002 .

0 And it 's not that funny -- which is just generally insulting .

3 Children and adults enamored of all things Pokemon wo n't be disappointed .

3 It lets you brush up against the humanity of a psycho , without making him any less psycho .

4 An example of quiet , confident craftsmanship that tells a sweet , charming tale of intergalactic friendship .

2 Perhaps not since Nelson Eddy crooned his Indian Love Call to Jeanette MacDonald has there been a movie so unabashedly Canadian , not afraid to risk American scorn or disinterest .

3 she of the impossibly long limbs and sweetly conspiratorial smile

3 Slight but enjoyable documentary .

3 The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys ' take on adolescence feels painfully true .

1 Odd and weird .

0 This thing is just garbage .

1 In between all the emotional seesawing , it 's hard to figure the depth of these two literary figures , and even the times in which they lived .

4 Great over-the-top moviemaking if you 're in a slap-happy mood .

0 This loud and thoroughly obnoxious comedy about a pair of squabbling working-class spouses is a deeply unpleasant experience .

0 Depicts the sorriest and most sordid of human behavior on the screen , then laughs at how clever it 's being .

2 Oozes condescension from every pore .

0 I do n't blame Eddie Murphy but should n't Owen Wilson know a movie must have a story and a script ?

3 The film is delicately narrated by Martin Landau and directed with sensitivity and skill by Dana Janklowicz-Mann .

3 Roman Polanski 's autobiographical gesture at redemption is better than ` Shindler 's List ' - it is more than merely a Holocaust movie .

3 Russian Ark is a new treasure of the Hermitage .

2 Nair does n't use -LRB- Monsoon Wedding -RRB- to lament the loss of culture .

1 Too stagey , talky -- and long -- for its own good .

0 Irwin and his director never come up with an adequate reason why we should pay money for what we can get on television for free .

3 Sharp edges and a deep vein of sadness run through its otherwise comic narrative .

4 Like The Full Monty , this is sure to raise audience 's spirits and leave them singing long after the credits roll .

0 An ugly-duckling tale so hideously and clumsily told it feels accidental .

4 Informative , intriguing , observant , often touching ... gives a human face to what 's often discussed in purely abstract terms .

0 None of this sounds promising and , indeed , the first half of Sorority Boys is as appalling as any ` comedy ' to ever spill from a projector 's lens .

2 For all the complications , it 's all surprisingly predictable .

1 Simplistic , silly and tedious .

3 Still , the updated Dickensian sensibility of writer Craig Bartlett 's story is appealing .

1 Almost peerlessly unsettling .

1 While Hollywood Ending has its share of belly laughs -LRB- including a knockout of a closing line -RRB- , the movie winds up feeling like a great missed opportunity .

4 A compelling pre-WWII drama with vivid characters and a warm , moving message .

1 A battle between bug-eye theatre and dead-eye matinee .

2 The cast has a high time , but de Broca has little enthusiasm for such antique pulp .

4 Everyone 's insecure in Lovely and Amazing , a poignant and wryly amusing film about mothers , daughters and their relationships .

3 No doubt the star and everyone else involved had their hearts in the right place .

4 A witty , low-key romantic comedy .

0 A dull , dumb and derivative horror film .

4 ... a series of tales told with the intricate preciseness of the best short story writing .

3 None of this is meaningful or memorable , but frosting is n't , either , and you would n't turn down a big bowl of that , would you ?

2 Not everyone will play the dark , challenging tune taught by The Piano Teacher .

3 While the material is slight , the movie is better than you might think .

1 Nothing too deep or substantial .

2 Even though it is infused with the sensibility of a video director , it does n't make for completely empty entertainment

0 Once the expectation of laughter has been quashed by whatever obscenity is at hand , even the funniest idea is n't funny .

2 If the very concept makes you nervous ... you 'll have an idea of the film 's creepy , scary effectiveness .

1 Something must have been lost in the translation .

1 An admitted egomaniac , Evans is no Hollywood villain , and yet this grating showcase almost makes you wish he 'd gone the way of Don Simpson .

4 The unique niche of self-critical , behind-the-scenes navel-gazing Kaufman has carved from Orleans ' story and his own infinite insecurity is a work of outstanding originality .

3 You live the mood rather than savour the story .

3 Juliette Binoche 's Sand is vivacious , but it 's hard to sense that powerhouse of 19th-century prose behind her childlike smile .

2 Halloween : Resurrection is n't exactly quality cinema , but it is n't nearly as terrible as it cold have been .

1 A sleek advert for youthful anomie that never quite equals the sum of its pretensions .

4 The mark of a respectable summer blockbuster is one of two things : unadulterated thrills or genuine laughs .

4 What results is the best performance from either in years .

1 The Transporter bombards the viewer with so many explosions and side snap kicks that it ends up being surprisingly dull .

2 Observant intelligence constantly vies with pretension -- and sometimes plain wacky implausibility -- throughout Maelstrom .

1 Watching `` Ending '' is too often like looking over the outdated clothes and plastic knickknacks at your neighbor 's garage sale .

0 There 's too much forced drama in this wildly uneven movie , about a young man 's battle with his inescapable past and uncertain future in a very shapable but largely unfulfilling present .

3 That ` Alabama ' manages to be pleasant in spite of its predictability and occasional slowness is due primarily to the perkiness of Witherspoon -LRB- who is always a joy to watch , even when her material is not first-rate -RRB- ...

2 Cox is far more concerned with aggrandizing madness , not the man , and the results might drive you crazy .

1 Boasting some of the most poorly staged and lit action in memory , Impostor is as close as you can get to an imitation movie .

4 A touching drama about old age and grief with a tour de force performance by Michel Piccoli .

4 When cowering and begging at the feet a scruffy Giannini , Madonna gives her best performance since Abel Ferrara had her beaten to a pulp in his Dangerous Game .

4 Manages to be both hugely entertaining and uplifting .

2 Shadyac , who belongs with the damned for perpetrating Patch Adams , trots out every ghost trick from The Sixth Sense to The Mothman Prophecies .

4 Adams , with four scriptwriters , takes care with the characters , who are so believable that you feel what they feel .

2 Life on the rez is no picnic : this picture shows you why .

2 A lot of its gags and observations reflect a woman 's point-of-view .

2 modeled

4 There are scenes of cinematic perfection that steal your heart away .

1 If you saw it on TV , you 'd probably turn it off , convinced that you had already seen that movie .

2 It arrives with an impeccable pedigree , mongrel pep , and almost indecipherable plot complications .

3 A complex psychological drama about a father who returns to his son 's home after decades away .

0 The acting is n't much better .

2 The date movie that Franz Kafka would have made .

4 An enormously entertaining movie , like nothing we 've ever seen before , and yet completely familiar .

3 Now here 's a sadistic bike flick that would have made Vittorio De Sica proud .

1 ... better described as a ghost story gone badly awry .

1 There 's little to recommend Snow Dogs , unless one considers cliched dialogue and perverse escapism a source of high hilarity .

0 The leads are so unmemorable , despite several attempts at lengthy dialogue scenes , that one eventually resents having to inhale this gutter romancer 's secondhand material .

1 And if you appreciate the one-sided theme to Lawrence 's over-indulgent tirade , then knock yourself out and enjoy the big screen postcard that is a self-glorified Martin Lawrence lovefest .

2 The results , if not memorable , are at least interesting .

1 To me , it sounds like a cruel deception carried out by men of marginal intelligence , with reactionary ideas about women and a total lack of empathy .

1 ... Pray does n't have a passion for the material .

4 It may also be the best sex comedy about environmental pollution ever made .

1 Halfway through , however , having sucked dry the undead action flick formula , Blade II mutates into a gross-out monster movie with effects that are more silly than scary .

0 It 's not a motion picture ; it 's an utterly static picture .

1 In the wrong hands , i.e. Peploe 's , it 's simply unbearable

3 What sets it apart is the vision that Taymor , the avant garde director of Broadway 's The Lion King and the film Titus , brings .

1 The nicest thing that can be said about Stealing Harvard -LRB- which might have been called Freddy Gets Molested by a Dog -RRB- is that it 's not as obnoxious as Tom Green 's Freddie Got Fingered .

2 A canny , derivative , wildly gruesome portrait of a London sociopath who 's the scariest of sadists .

1 Knockaround Guys plays like a student film by two guys who desperately want to be Quentin Tarantino when they grow up .

1 Qualities that were once amusing are becoming irritating .

1 Director Elie Chouraqui , who co-wrote the script , catches the chaotic horror of war , but why bother if you 're going to subjugate truth to the tear-jerking demands of soap opera ?

0 The premise itself is just SOOOOO tired .

0 A movie in which two not very absorbing characters are engaged in a romance you ca n't wait to see end .

1 A Blair Witch - style adventure that plays like a bad soap opera , with passable performances from everyone in the cast .

1 The only surprise is that heavyweights Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis agreed to produce this ; I assume the director has pictures of them cavorting in ladies ' underwear .

2 Though it inspires some -LRB- out-of-field -RRB- creative thought , the film is -- to its own detriment -- much more a cinematic collage than a polemical tract .

2 From beginning to end , this overheated melodrama plays like a student film .

3 Like Mike is n't going to make box office money that makes Michael Jordan jealous , but it has some cute moments , funny scenes , and hits the target audience -LRB- young Bow Wow fans -RRB- - with nothing but net .

0 Behind the glitz , Hollywood is sordid and disgusting .

1 Attal 's hang-ups surrounding infidelity are so old-fashioned and , dare I say , outdated , it 's a wonder that he could n't have brought something fresher to the proceedings simply by accident .

1 There 's more repetition than creativity throughout the movie .

3 For more than two decades Mr. Nachtwey has traveled to places in the world devastated by war , famine and poverty and documented the cruelty and suffering he has found with an devastating , eloquent clarity .

1 Unless Bob Crane is someone of particular interest to you , this film 's impressive performances and adept direction are n't likely to leave a lasting impression .

1 A moving picture that does not move .

3 A remarkable movie with an unsatisfying ending , which is just the point .

1 Spain 's greatest star wattage does n't overcome the tumult of maudlin tragedy .

4 One of the finest , most humane and important Holocaust movies ever made .

3 Coppola has made a film of intoxicating atmosphere and little else .

4 This quiet , introspective and entertaining independent is worth seeking .

1 It 's both sitcomishly predictable and cloying in its attempts to be poignant .

0 A Rumor of Angels does n't just slip -- it avalanches into forced fuzziness .

0 This movie , a certain scene in particular , brought me uncomfortably close to losing my lunch .

1 The locale ... remains far more interesting than the story at hand .

0 My only wish is that Celebi could take me back to a time before I saw this movie and I could just skip it .

2 It 's exactly what you 'd expect .

2 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 .

3 Though the film is well-intentioned , one could rent the original and get the same love story and parable .

3 Both exuberantly romantic and serenely melancholy , What Time Is It There ?

1 I suspect that there are more interesting ways of dealing with the subject .

2 That is made almost impossible by events that set the plot in motion .

3 As simple and innocent a movie as you can imagine .

4 Serious and thoughtful .

3 It 's not nearly as fresh or enjoyable as its predecessor , but there are enough high points to keep this from being a complete waste of time .

1 Grant is n't Cary and Bullock is n't Katherine .

0 It 's a stale , overused cocktail using the same olives since 1962 as garnish .

1 One senses in World Traveler and in his earlier film that Freundlich bears a grievous but obscure complaint against fathers , and circles it obsessively , without making contact .

3 An off-beat and fanciful film about the human need for monsters to blame for all that is amiss in the world .

4 Ms. Seigner and Mr. Serrault bring fresh , unforced naturalism to their characters .

2 Unfortunately , neither Sendak nor the directors are particularly engaging or articulate .

4 A shimmeringly lovely coming-of-age portrait , shot in artful , watery tones of blue , green and brown .

2 Frank McKlusky C.I. is that movie !

0 Crummy .

1 If you are curious to see the darker side of what 's going on with young TV actors -LRB- Dawson Leery did what ?!? -RRB- , or see some interesting storytelling devices , you might want to check it out , but there 's nothing very attractive about this movie .

2 You might say Tykwer has done all that Heaven allows , if you wanted to make as anti-Kieslowski a pun as possible .

1 One suspects that Craven endorses They simply because this movie makes his own look much better by comparison .

0 The project 's filmmakers forgot to include anything even halfway scary as they poorly rejigger Fatal Attraction into a high school setting .

0 Collapses after 30 minutes into a slap-happy series of adolescent violence .

3 The subtitled costume drama is set in a remote African empire before cell phones , guns , and the internal combustion engine , but the politics that thump through it are as timely as tomorrow .

2 Rob Schneider , Dana Carvey and Sarah Michelle Gellar in The Philadelphia Story ?

1 The film has -LRB- its -RRB- moments , but they are few and far between .

1 Here 's a case of two actors who do everything humanly possible to create characters who are sweet and believable , and are defeated by a screenplay that forces them into bizarre , implausible behavior .

1 Comes off more like a misdemeanor , a flat , unconvincing drama that never catches fire .

1 It 's a lot to ask people to sit still for two hours and change watching such a character , especially when rendered in as flat and impassive a manner as Phoenix 's .

1 If you are willing to do this , then you so crazy !

3 The film is reasonably entertaining , though it begins to drag two-thirds through , when the melodramatic aspects start to overtake the comedy .

2 The thing looks like a made-for-home-video quickie .

1 Lookin ' for sin , American-style ?

1 Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant make a great team , but this predictable romantic comedy should get a pink slip .

1 I 'm sorry to say that this should seal the deal - Arnold is not , nor will he be , back .

3 The ingenious construction -LRB- adapted by David Hare from Michael Cunningham 's novel -RRB- constantly flows forwards and back , weaving themes among three strands which allow us to view events as if through a prism

1 Director George Hickenlooper has had some success with documentaries , but here his sense of story and his juvenile camera movements smack of a film school undergrad , and his maudlin ending might not have gotten him into film school in the first place .

2 Many of Benjamins ' elements feel like they 've been patched in from an episode of Miami Vice .

1 If you want a movie time trip , the 1960 version is a far smoother ride .

1 Written , flatly , by David Kendall and directed , barely , by There 's Something About Mary co-writer Ed Decter .

3 I admire the closing scenes of the film , which seem to ask whether our civilization offers a cure for Vincent 's complaint .

1 The most opaque , self-indulgent and just plain goofy an excuse for a movie as you can imagine .

0 Director Douglas McGrath takes on Nickleby with all the halfhearted zeal of an 8th grade boy delving into required reading .

0 Nothing about this movie works .

1 The metaphors are provocative , but too often , the viewer is left puzzled by the mechanics of the delivery .

2 Bang !

0 Too bad none of it is funny .

1 Lacking substance and soul , Crossroads comes up shorter than Britney 's cutoffs .

2 Buries an interesting storyline

1 But it 's hardly a necessary enterprise .

3 The Four Feathers has rewards , from the exoticism of its seas of sand to the fierce grandeur of its sweeping battle scenes .

3 What makes it worth watching is Quaid 's performance .

0 No amount of arty theorizing -- the special effects are ` German-Expressionist , ' according to the press notes -- can render it anything but laughable .

4 An effortlessly accomplished and richly resonant work .

3 One of those rare films that come by once in a while with flawless amounts of acting , direction , story and pace .

1 This cloying , voices-from-the-other-side story is hell .

1 Plays like one of those conversations that Comic Book Guy on `` The Simpsons '' has .

3 Competently directed but terminally cute drama .

4 So beautifully acted and directed , it 's clear that Washington most certainly has a new career ahead of him if he so chooses .

3 More sophisticated and literate than such pictures usually are ... an amusing little catch .

3 ... a funny yet dark and seedy clash of cultures and generations .

2 There is one surefire way to get a nomination for a best-foreign-film Oscar : Make a movie about whimsical folk who learn a nonchallenging , life-affirming lesson while walking around a foreign city with stunning architecture .

2 A pure participatory event that malnourished intellectuals will gulp down in a frenzy .

3 The film 's gamble to occasionally break up the live-action scenes with animated sequences pays off , as does its sensitive handling of some delicate subject matter .

0 The secrets of time travel will have been discovered , indulged in and rejected as boring before I see this piece of crap again .

0 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 .

3 A dashing and absorbing outing with one of France 's most inventive directors .

0 Because the intelligence level of the characters must be low , very low , very very low , for the masquerade to work , the movie contains no wit , only labored gags .

2 Recoing 's fantastic performance does n't exactly reveal what makes Vincent tick , but perhaps any definitive explanation for it would have felt like a cheat .

2 It 's actually too sincere -- the crime movie equivalent of a chick flick .

3 ... quite endearing .

4 Schnitzler does a fine job contrasting the sleekness of the film 's present with the playful paranoia of the film 's past . '

2 No matter how firmly director John Stainton has his tongue in his cheek , the fact remains that a wacky concept does not a movie make .

3 The plot twists give I Am Trying to Break Your Heart an attraction it desperately needed .

3 As Antonia is assimilated into this newfangled community , the film settles in and becomes compulsively watchable in a guilty-pleasure , daytime-drama sort of fashion .

4 Beautifully crafted and cooly unsettling ... recreates the atmosphere of the crime expertly .

1 A sleep-inducing thriller with a single twist that everyone except the characters in it can see coming a mile away .

2 The film may not hit as hard as some of the better drug-related pictures , but it still manages to get a few punches in .

4 Davis ... gets vivid performances from her cast and pulls off some deft Ally McBeal-style fantasy sequences .

2 This rough trade Punch-and-Judy act did n't play well then and it plays worse now .

3 Huppert 's show to steal and she makes a meal of it , channeling Kathy Baker 's creepy turn as the repressed mother on Boston Public just as much as 8 Women 's Augustine .

4 Very well written and directed with brutal honesty and respect for its audience .

3 As relationships shift , director Robert J. Siegel allows the characters to inhabit their world without cleaving to a narrative arc .

3 There 's much tongue in cheek in the film and there 's no doubt the filmmaker is having fun with it all .

0 Thoughtless , random , superficial humour and a lot of very bad Scouse accents

1 The movie weighs no more than a glass of flat champagne .

1 Humor in I Spy is so anemic .

4 If you 're not deeply touched by this movie , check your pulse .

4 It will guarantee to have you leaving the theater with a smile on your face .

4 An exhilarating experience .

4 The strength of the film comes not from any cinematic razzle-dazzle but from its recovery of an historical episode that , in the simple telling , proves simultaneously harrowing and uplifting .

1 No new plot conceptions or environmental changes , just different bodies for sharp objects to rip through .

3 Rodriguez has the chops of a smart-aleck film school brat and the imagination of a big kid ...

3 Her performance moves between heartbreak and rebellion as she continually tries to accommodate to fit in and gain the unconditional love she seeks .

4 The world needs more filmmakers with passionate enthusiasms like Martin Scorsese .

1 Wanders all over the map thematically and stylistically , and borrows heavily from Lynch , Jeunet , and von Trier while failing to find a spark of its own .

3 Functions as both a revealing look at the collaborative process and a timely , tongue-in-cheek profile of the corporate circus that is the recording industry in the current climate of mergers and downsizing .

2 Certainly .

2 Well , it 's not as pathetic as The Animal .

2 Not a bad premise , but the execution is lackluster at best .

4 The kind of movie that comes along only occasionally , one so unconventional , gutsy and perfectly executed it takes your breath away .

4 It turns out to be smarter and more diabolical than you could have guessed at the beginning .

1 Noyce 's greatest mistake is thinking that we needed sweeping , dramatic , Hollywood moments to keep us

3 The picture 's fascinating byways are littered with trenchant satirical jabs at the peculiar egocentricities of the acting breed .

3 The new Insomnia is a surprisingly faithful remake of its chilly predecessor , and when it does elect to head off in its own direction , it employs changes that fit it well rather than ones that were imposed for the sake of commercial sensibilities .

2 Whereas the extremely competent hitman films such as Pulp Fiction and Get Shorty resonate a sardonic verve to their caustic purpose for existing , Who Is Cletis Tout ?

1 What 's worse is that Pelosi knows it .

3 A bit of a downer and a little over-dramatic at times , but this is a beautiful film for people who like their romances to have that French realism .

0 Sade achieves the near-impossible : It turns the Marquis de Sade into a dullard .

3 A portrait of hell so shattering it 's impossible to shake .

2 This is NOT a retread of `` Dead Poets ' Society . ''

1 Just consider what New Best Friend does not have , beginning with the minor omission of a screenplay .

1 Its plot and animation offer daytime TV serviceability , but little more .

2 near the end takes on a whole other meaning .

3 Cletis is playful but highly studied and dependent for its success on a patient viewer .

1 The film does n't show enough of the creative process or even of what was created for the non-fan to figure out what makes Wilco a big deal .

1 As a feature-length film , it wears out its welcome as tryingly as the title character .

4 Shot largely in small rooms , the film has a gentle , unforced intimacy that never becomes claustrophobic .

3 I like it .

2 John Carlen 's script is full of unhappy , two-dimensional characters who are anything but compelling .

2 Aptly named , this shimmering , beautifully costumed and filmed production does n't work for me .

1 Cheap , vulgar dialogue and a plot that crawls along at a snail 's pace .

3 Filmmakers David Weissman and Bill Weber benefit enormously from the Cockettes ' camera craziness -- not only did they film performances , but they did the same at home .

3 This is a dark , gritty , sometimes funny little gem .

1 There 's a little violence and lots of sex in a bid to hold our attention , but it grows monotonous after a while , as do Joan and Philip 's repetitive arguments , schemes and treachery .

2 Ultimately , Jane learns her place as a girl , softens up and loses some of the intensity that made her an interesting character to begin with .

2 The doofus-on - the-loose banter of Welcome to Collinwood has a cocky , after-hours loopiness to it .

2 You come away wishing , though , that the movie spent a lot less time trying to make a credible case for reports from the afterlife and a lot more time on the romantic urgency that 's at the center of the story .

3 The sword fighting is well done and Auteuil is a goofy pleasure .

3 The moral shrapnel and mental shellshock will linger long after this film has ended .

2 Just entertaining enough not to hate , too mediocre to love .

3 Until it goes off the rails in its final 10 or 15 minutes , Wendigo , Larry Fessenden 's spooky new thriller , is a refreshingly smart and newfangled variation on several themes derived from far less sophisticated and knowing horror films .

3 Nothing overly original , mind you , but solidly entertaining .

2 Was I scared ?

2 It is one more celluloid testimonial to the cruelties experienced by Southern blacks as distilled through a Caucasian perspective .

2 As self-aware movies go , Who is Cletis Tout ?

3 Manages to delight without much of a story .

1 Needed a little less bling-bling and a lot more romance .

2 A fine film , but it would be a lot better if it stuck to Betty Fisher and left out the other stories .

0 Despite terrific special effects and funnier gags , Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets finds a way to make J.K. Rowling 's marvelous series into a deadly bore .

3 -LRB- Barry -RRB- gives Assassin a disquieting authority .

3 I enjoyed the movie in a superficial way , while never sure what its purpose was .

1 Queen of the Damned is too long with too little going on .

3 Some of the most inventive silliness you are likely to witness in a movie theatre for some time .

1 Disney again ransacks its archives for a quick-buck sequel .

3 Another love story in 2002 's remarkable procession of sweeping pictures that have reinvigorated the romance genre .

4 A whale of a good time for both children and parents seeking Christian-themed fun .

0 We ca n't accuse Kung Pow for misfiring , since it is exactly what it wants to be : an atrociously , mind-numbingly , indescribably bad movie .

4 Mr. Caine and Mr. Fraser are the whole show here , with their memorable and resourceful performances .

2 The warnings to resist temptation in this film ... are blunt and challenging and offer no easy rewards for staying clean .

3 A deliberative account of a lifestyle characterized by its surface-obsession -- one that typifies the delirium of post , pre , and extant stardom .

1 Gooding and Coburn are both Oscar winners , a fact which , as you watch them clumsily mugging their way through Snow Dogs , seems inconceivable .

2 A glorious mess .

0 The problem is that it is one that allows him to churn out one mediocre movie after another .

0 The only camouflage Carvey should now be considering is a paper bag to wear over his head when he goes out into public , to avoid being recognized as the man who bilked unsuspecting moviegoers .

0 Features nonsensical and laughable plotting , wooden performances , ineptly directed action sequences and some of the worst dialogue in recent memory .

3 So fiendishly cunning that even the most jaded cinema audiences will leave the auditorium feeling dizzy , confused , and totally disorientated .

1 Everything 's serious , poetic , earnest and -- sadly -- dull .

0 Terrible .

2 Would I see it again ?

2 The central character is n't complex enough to hold our interest .

3 Smart and fun , but far more witty than it is wise .

3 Wang Xiaoshuai directs this intricately structured and well-realized drama that presents a fascinating glimpse of urban life and the class warfare that embroils two young men .

0 Rarely has sex on screen been so aggressively anti-erotic .

2 There 's no clear picture of who killed Bob Crane .

3 Unlike most surf movies , Blue Crush thrillingly uses modern technology to take the viewer inside the wave .

4 Move over Bond ; this girl deserves a sequel .

3 -LRB- P -RRB- artnering Murphy with Robert De Niro for the TV-cops comedy Showtime would seem to be surefire casting .

4 At once subtle and visceral , the film never succumbs to the trap of the maudlin or tearful , offering instead with its unflinching gaze a measure of faith in the future .

3 If you can push on through the slow spots , you 'll be rewarded with some fine acting .

1 Does not go far enough in its humor or stock ideas to stand out as particularly memorable or even all that funny .

1 A seriously bad film with seriously warped logic by writer-director Kurt Wimmer at the screenplay level .

1 Two-bit potboiler .

0 What 's missing in Murder by Numbers is any real psychological grounding for the teens ' deviant behaviour .

3 With an expressive face reminiscent of Gong Li and a vivid personality like Zhang Ziyi 's , Dong stakes out the emotional heart of Happy .

0 It 's super - violent , super-serious and super-stupid .

1 an essentially awkward version of the lightweight female empowerment picture we 've been watching for decades

0 The predominantly amateur cast is painful to watch , so stilted and unconvincing are the performances .

1 A disaster of a drama , saved only by its winged assailants .

4 The first Tunisian film I have ever seen , and it 's also probably the most good-hearted yet sensual entertainment I 'm likely to see all year .

3 It challenges , this nervy oddity , like modern art should .

4 More concerned with overall feelings , broader ideas , and open-ended questions than concrete story and definitive answers , Soderbergh 's Solaris is a gorgeous and deceptively minimalist cinematic tone poem .

3 Jolie gives it that extra little something that makes it worth checking out at theaters , especially if you 're in the mood for something more comfortable than challenging .

1 No Such Thing breaks no new ground and treads old turf like a hippopotamus ballerina .

3 Michel Piccoli 's moving performance is this films reason for being .

0 ... about as exciting to watch as two last-place basketball teams playing one another on the final day of the season .

1 Some episodes work , some do n't .

4 Mr. Koshashvili is a director to watch .

1 Enough is not a bad movie , just mediocre .

1 The film is way too full of itself ; it 's stuffy and pretentious in a give-me-an-Oscar kind of way .

2 As directed by Dani Kouyate of Burkina Faso , Sia lacks visual flair .

2 A plodding look at the French Revolution through the eyes of aristocrats .

1 An absurdist spider web .

0 The director , with his fake backdrops and stately pacing , never settles on a consistent tone .

4 The asylum material is gripping , as are the scenes of Jia with his family .

2 Not everything in the film works , including its somewhat convenient ending .

4 A special kind of movie , this melancholic film noir reminded me a lot of Memento ...

3 Much of what we see is horrible but it 's also undeniably exceedingly clever .

0 Before long , you 're desperate for the evening to end .

2 The sound of GUNFIRE and cell phones RINGING .

1 We have poignancy jostling against farce , thoughtful dialogue elbowed aside by one-liners , and a visual style that incorporates rotoscope animation for no apparent reason except , maybe , that it looks neat .

2 We get an image of Big Papa spanning history , rather than suspending it .

4 It 's sweet , funny , charming , and completely delightful .

1 Though clearly well-intentioned , this cross-cultural soap opera is painfully formulaic and stilted .

0 It 's a loathsome movie , it really is and it makes absolutely no sense .

3 Even when he 's not at his most critically insightful , Godard can still be smarter than any 50 other filmmakers still at work .

3 May be more genial than ingenious , but it gets the job done .

3 It treats Ana 's journey with honesty that is tragically rare in the depiction of young women in film .

1 It is bad , but certainly not without merit as entertainment .

1 The screenplay , co-written by director Imogen Kimmel , lacks the wit necessary to fully exploit the comic elements of the premise , making the proceedings more bizarre than actually amusing .

3 After an uncertain start , Murder hits and generally sustains a higher plateau with Bullock 's memorable first interrogation of Gosling .

2 Jonah is only so-so ... the addition of a biblical message will either improve the film for you , or it will lessen it .

1 The trouble is , its filmmakers run out of clever ideas and visual gags about halfway through .

3 It may not be particularly innovative , but the film 's crisp , unaffected style and air of gentle longing make it unexpectedly rewarding .

3 The auteur 's ear for the way fears and slights are telegraphed in the most blithe exchanges gives the film its lingering tug .

2 Call this The Full Monty on ice , the underdog sports team formula redux .

3 It 's light on the chills and heavy on the atmospheric weirdness , and there are moments of jaw-droppingly odd behavior -- yet I found it weirdly appealing .

2 Indeed , none of these words really gets at the very special type of badness that is Deuces Wild .

1 This is a heartfelt story ... it just is n't a very involving one .

1 -LRB- A -RRB- boldly stroked , luridly coloured , uni-dimensional nonsense machine that strokes the eyeballs while it evaporates like so much crypt mist in the brain .

1 Its impressive images of crematorium chimney fires and stacks of dead bodies are undermined by the movie 's presentation , which is way too stagy .

4 In a summer of clones , Harvard Man is something rare and riveting : a wild ride that relies on more than special effects .

0 Aloof and lacks any real raw emotion , which is fatal for a film that relies on personal relationships .

2 It 's not a particularly good film , but neither is it a monsterous one .

4 A tremendous piece of work .

3 A hypnotic portrait of this sad , compulsive life .

0 Reign of Fire has the disadvantage of also looking cheap .

1 Writer-director Stephen Gaghan has made the near-fatal mistake of being what the English call ` too clever by half . '

2 The images are usually abbreviated in favor of mushy obviousness and telegraphed pathos , particularly where Whitaker 's misfit artist is concerned .

2 Children of the Century , though well dressed and well made , ultimately falls prey to the contradiction that afflicts so many movies about writers .

0 It 's supposed to be post-feminist breezy but ends up as tedious as the chatter of parrots raised on Oprah .

2 The Spalding Gray equivalent of a teen gross-out comedy .

0 Generic thriller junk .

2 Director-writer Bille August ... depicts this relationship with economical grace , letting his superb actors convey Martin 's deterioration and Barbara 's sadness -- and , occasionally , anger .

2 The movie obviously seeks to re-create the excitement of such '50s flicks as Jules Verne 's ' 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ' and the George Pal version of H.G. Wells ' ` The Time Machine . '

3 The level of acting elevates the material above pat inspirational status and gives it a sturdiness and solidity that we 've long associated with Washington the actor .

0 From the choppy editing to the annoying score to ` special effects ' by way of replacing objects in a character 's hands below the camera line , `` Besotted '' is misbegotten

4 Time is a beautiful film to watch , an interesting and at times captivating take on loss and loneliness .

1 Snipes is both a snore and utter tripe .

3 Like its bizarre heroine , it irrigates our souls .

3 As much as I laughed throughout the movie , I can not mount a cogent defense of the film as entertainment , or even performance art , although the movie does leave you marveling at these guys ' superhuman capacity to withstand pain .

3 Strange and beautiful film .

1 It 's hard to believe that something so short could be so flabby .

3 The film presents visceral and dangerously honest revelations about the men and machines behind the curtains of our planet .

3 It 's nice to see Piscopo again after all these years , and Chaykin and Headly are priceless .

3 Surprisingly , the film is a hilarious adventure and I shamelessly enjoyed it .

2 Bacon keeps things interesting , but do n't go out of your way to pay full price .

2 Red Dragon makes one appreciate Silence of the Lambs .

1 You try to guess the order in which the kids in the house will be gored .

2 There are more shots of children smiling for the camera than typical documentary footage which hurts the overall impact of the film .

3 A lyrical metaphor for cultural and personal self-discovery and a picaresque view of a little-remembered world .

0 Like a bad improvisation exercise , the superficially written characters ramble on tediously about their lives , loves and the art they 're struggling to create .

3 Unfolds as one of the most politically audacious films of recent decades from any country , but especially from France .

0 As steamy as last week 's pork dumplings .

4 ... a true delight .

3 Unfolds in a series of achronological vignettes whose cumulative effect is chilling .

2 Melodrama with a message .

3 The unexplored story opportunities of `` Punch-Drunk Love '' may have worked against the maker 's minimalist intent but it is an interesting exercise by talented writer\/director Anderson .

0 After you laugh once -LRB- maybe twice -RRB- , you will have completely forgotten the movie by the time you get back to your car in the parking lot .

1 For all the time we spend with these people , we never really get inside of them .

3 The re-release of Ron Howard 's Apollo 13 in the IMAX format proves absolutely that really , really , really good things can come in enormous packages .

4 Duvall is strong as always .

1 These are textbook lives of quiet desperation .

2 To work , love stories require the full emotional involvement and support of a viewer .

3 Proves a servicable World War II drama that ca n't totally hide its contrivances , but it at least calls attention to a problem Hollywood too long has ignored .

0 It is that rare combination of bad writing , bad direction and bad acting -- the trifecta of badness .

1 The premise of `` Abandon '' holds promise , ... but its delivery is a complete mess .

0 The characters are never more than sketches ... which leaves any true emotional connection or identification frustratingly out of reach .

2 Oliveira seems to pursue silent film representation with every mournful composition .

0 Plotless collection of moronic stunts is by far the worst movie of the year .

2 Same guy with both hats .

1 A sloppy slapstick throwback to long gone bottom-of-the-bill fare like The Ghost and Mr. Chicken .

2 The tonal shifts are jolting , and though Wen 's messages are profound and thoughtfully delivered , more thorough transitions would have made the film more cohesive .

2 This film was made by and for those folks who collect the serial killer cards and are fascinated by the mere suggestion of serial killers .

4 10 minutes into the film you 'll be white-knuckled and unable to look away .

0 My own minority report is that it stinks .

1 Full Frontal had no effect and elicited no sympathies for any of the characters .

2 The movie is gorgeously made , but it is also somewhat shallow and art-conscious .

2 It plays like a big-budget , after-school special with a generous cast , who at times lift the material from its well-meaning clunkiness .

3 You 'll know a star when you see one .

3 Caruso sometimes descends into sub-Tarantino cuteness ... but for the most part he makes sure The Salton Sea works the way a good noir should , keeping it tight and nasty .

1 Ultimately , the film amounts to being lectured to by tech-geeks , if you 're up for that sort of thing .

4 Provides the kind of ` laugh therapy ' I need from movie comedies -- offbeat humor , amusing characters , and a happy ending .

1 Take Care is nicely performed by a quintet of actresses , but nonetheless it drags during its 112-minute length .

0 The cumulative effect of the movie is repulsive and depressing .

1 The first hour is tedious though Ford and Neeson capably hold our interest , but its just not a thrilling movie .

3 A sweet , tender sermon about a 12-year-old Welsh boy more curious about God than girls , who learns that believing in something does matter .

3 Paul Bettany is cool .

4 Standing in the Shadows of Motown is the best kind of documentary , one that makes a depleted yesterday feel very much like a brand-new tomorrow .

2 They should have found Orson Welles ' great-grandson .

1 Bears about as much resemblance to the experiences of most battered women as Spider-Man does to the experiences of most teenagers .

1 That frenetic spectacle -LRB- on the TV show -RRB- has usually been leavened by a charm that 's conspicuously missing from the Girls ' big-screen blowout .

2 All Analyze That proves is that there is really only one movie 's worth of decent gags to be gleaned from the premise .

1 Zellweger 's whiny pouty-lipped poof faced and spindly attempt at playing an ingenue makes her nomination as best actress even more of a an a

4 A work of extraordinary journalism , but it is also a work of deft and subtle poetry .

1 Naipaul fans may be disappointed .

1 But I had a lot of problems with this movie .

1 When the casting call for this movie went out , it must have read ` seeking anyone with acting ambition but no sense of pride or shame . '

0 This 90-minute dud could pass for Mike Tyson 's E !

0 ... has about 3\/4th the fun of its spry 2001 predecessor -- but it 's a rushed , slapdash , sequel-for-the-sake - of-a-sequel with less than half the plot and ingenuity .

2 Real Women Have Curves does n't offer any easy answers .

0 Merely -LRB- and literally -RRB- tosses around sex toys and offers half-hearted paeans to empowerment that are repeatedly undercut by the brutality of the jokes , most at women 's expense .

2 Has not so much been written as assembled , Frankenstein-like , out of other , marginally better shoot-em-ups .

3 Another entertaining romp from Robert Rodriguez .

3 Skins has a desolate air , but Eyre , a Native American raised by white parents , manages to infuse the rocky path to sibling reconciliation with flashes of warmth and gentle humor .

0 It 's just merely very bad .

1 We just do n't really care too much about this love story .

3 The movie , despite its rough edges and a tendency to sag in certain places , is wry and engrossing .

4 It 's a masterpeice .

4 One of the greatest films I 've ever seen .

0 Instead of making his own style , director Marcus Adams just copies from various sources -- good sources , bad mixture

3 Rife with the rueful , wry humor springing out of Yiddish culture and language .

2 The film 's only missteps come from the script 's insistence on providing deep emotional motivation for each and every one of Abagnale 's antics .

2 Like these Russo guys lookin ' for their Mamet instead found their Sturges .

2 If this movie leaves you cool , it also leaves you intriguingly contemplative .

2 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 .

1 Instead of panoramic sweep , Kapur gives us episodic choppiness , undermining the story 's emotional thrust .

3 Expect no major discoveries , nor any stylish sizzle , but the film sits with square conviction and touching good sense on the experience of its women .

4 There 's no reason to miss Interview with the Assassin

0 It 's petty thievery like this that puts flimsy flicks like this behind bars

4 Every moment crackles with tension , and by the end of the flick , you 're on the edge of your seat .

2 It 's an unusual , thoughtful bio-drama with a rich subject and some fantastic moments and scenes .

3 There is no denying the power of Polanski 's film ...

1 Talkiness is n't necessarily bad , but the dialogue frequently misses the mark .

3 But that they are doing it is thought-provoking .

4 She may not be real , but the laughs are .

0 Epps has neither the charisma nor the natural affability that has made Tucker a star .

2 The Santa Clause 2 is a barely adequate babysitter for older kids , but I 've got to give it thumbs down .

1 Solondz is without doubt an artist of uncompromising vision , but that vision is beginning to feel , if not morally bankrupt , at least terribly monotonous .

2 It 's a bizarre curiosity memorable mainly for the way it fritters away its potentially interesting subject matter via a banal script , unimpressive acting and indifferent direction .

1 prechewed

1 Glizty but formulaic and silly ... Cagney 's ` top of the world ' has been replaced by the bottom of the barrel .

2 The movie 's heavy-handed screenplay navigates a fast fade into pomposity and pretentiousness .

3 Boasts enough funny dialogue and sharp characterizations to be mildly amusing .

0 Slack and uninspired , and peopled mainly by characters so unsympathetic that you 're left with a sour taste in your mouth .

4 A graceful , moving tribute to the courage of New York 's finest and a nicely understated expression of the grief shared by the nation at their sacrifice .

0 We 've liked Klein 's other work but Rollerball left us cold .

3 Much of the movie 's charm lies in the utter cuteness of Stuart and Margolo .

1 It 's so crammed with scenes and vistas and pretty moments that it 's left a few crucial things out , like character development and coherence .

0 Nothing about the film -- with the possible exception of Elizabeth Hurley 's breasts -- is authentic .

3 It 's a diverting enough hour-and-a-half for the family audience .

2 -LRB- Allen 's -RRB- been making piffle for a long while , and Hollywood Ending may be his way of saying that piffle is all that the airhead movie business deserves from him right now .

1 The film 's desire to be liked sometimes undermines the possibility for an exploration of the thornier aspects of the nature\/nurture argument in regards to homosexuality .

3 A quaint , romanticized rendering .

2 There 's no real reason to see it , and no real reason not to .

1 Green ruins every single scene he 's in , and the film , while it 's not completely wreaked , is seriously compromised by that .

1 -LRB- Tries -RRB- to parody a genre that 's already a joke in the United States .

3 In its understanding , often funny way , it tells a story whose restatement is validated by the changing composition of the nation .

1 ... expands the horizons of boredom to the point of collapse , turning into a black hole of dullness , from which no interesting concept can escape .

3 A winning and wildly fascinating work .

3 Though the aboriginal aspect lends the ending an extraordinary poignancy , and the story itself could be played out in any working class community in the nation .

3 As a kind of colorful , dramatized PBS program , Frida gets the job done .

1 The gags , and the script , are a mixed bag .

3 The picture uses humor and a heartfelt conviction to tell a story about discovering your destination in life , but also acknowledging the places , and the people , from whence you came .

2 ... a fairly disposable yet still entertaining B picture .

2 Whether our action-and-popcorn obsessed culture will embrace this engaging and literate psychodrama is n't much of a mystery , unfortunately .

3 The action sequences are fun and reminiscent of combat scenes from the Star Wars series .

2 I have no problem with `` difficult '' movies , or movies that ask the audience to meet them halfway and connect the dots instead of having things all spelled out .

1 ... instead go rent `` Shakes The Clown '' , a much funnier film with a similar theme and an equally great Robin Williams performance .

2 In its own way

1 There 's something unintentionally comic in the film 's drumbeat about authenticity , given the stale plot and pornographic way the film revels in swank apartments , clothes and parties .

0 This pathetic junk is barely an hour long .

2 A perfectly acceptable , perfectly bland , competently acted but by no means scary horror movie .

1 It should be interesting , it should be poignant , it turns out to be affected and boring .

0 But the movie that does n't really deliver for country music fans or for family audiences

3 A thoroughly enjoyable , heartfelt coming-of-age comedy .

1 The movie 's biggest shocks come from seeing former nymphette Juliette Lewis playing a salt-of-the-earth mommy named Minnie and watching Slim travel incognito in a ridiculous wig no respectable Halloween costume shop would ever try to sell .

3 Much smarter and more attentive than it first sets out to be .

3 An edgy thriller that delivers a surprising punch .

1 One key problem with these ardently Christian storylines is that there is never any question of how things will turn out .

4 Thumbs up to Paxton for not falling into the Hollywood trap and making a vanity project with nothing new to offer .

1 Bad company .

2 A Lifetime movie about men .

2 Who is this movie for ?

1 An unintentionally surreal kid 's picture ... in which actors in bad bear suits enact a sort of inter-species parody of a VH1 Behind the Music episode .

1 ... for all its social and political potential , State Property does n't end up being very inspiring or insightful .

2 Few of the increasingly far-fetched events that first-time writer-director Neil Burger follows up with are terribly convincing , which is a pity , considering Barry 's terrific performance .

0 Dripping with cliche and bypassing no opportunity to trivialize the material .

2 In this film , Aussie David Caesar channels the not-quite-dead career of Guy Ritchie .

1 The makers of Mothman Prophecies succeed in producing that most frightening of all movies -- a mediocre horror film too bad to be good and too good to be bad .

0 Like many such biographical melodramas , it suffers from the awkwardness that results from adhering to the messiness of true stories .

4 One of those exceedingly rare films in which the talk alone is enough to keep us involved .

0 Like the Tuck family themselves , this movie just goes on and on and on and on

0 A chiller resolutely without chills .

0 It goes on for too long and bogs down in a surfeit of characters and unnecessary subplots .

3 Rehearsals are frequently more fascinating than the results .

2 Expanded to 65 minutes for theatrical release , it still feels somewhat unfinished .

1 Forgettable , if good-hearted , movie .

2 Dull and mechanical , kinda like a very goofy museum exhibit

1 Even kids deserve better .

0 The obnoxious special effects , the obligatory outbursts of flatulence and the incessant , so-five-minutes-ago pop music on the soundtrack overwhelm what is left of the scruffy , dopey old Hanna-Barbera charm .