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>>
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>>
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>>
Bernardo Bertolucci revisits young love with The Dreamers
By Gregory Weinkauf,
March 04, 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>>
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>>
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>>
A son goes looking for his late father and finds some buildings
By Robert Wilonsky,
February 12, 2004
There have been copious books written about architect Louis I. Kahn, whose monumental creations were like ancient Roman buildings transplanted... More>>
Highwaymen is much like its villain, a former automobile insurance man who cruises the nation's freeways in search of young women to run down in... 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>>
At the opening of The Fog of War, the brilliant new documentary from director Errol Morris, we see a composed, sharply groomed and middle-aged... More>>
Bus 174 vividly displays the unfocused anger of the disenfranchised
By Bill Gallo,
February 05, 2004
On its surface, Jose Padilha's absorbing documentary Bus 174 shows us how a homeless 21-year-old named Sandro Rosa de Nascimento hijacked a city... More>>
This may seem incredible, but there's a group of people in the world called "the Japanese," and apparently some of them like to travel to other... 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>>
In The Butterfly Effect, Ashton Kutcher is interesting, if not all that thrilling
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>>
Win a date with beautiful people in predictable romance
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>>
Ben Coccio's mock documentary gratuitously rehearses the school shooting scenario
By Melissa Levine,
January 22, 2004
The setting: an institutional high school in the affluent suburbs. The protagonists: two boys--intelligent, charming and smoldering--with typical... More>>
Robert Altman's love letter to ballet is beautiful but empty
By Melissa Levine,
January 15, 2004
Feel like an evening at the ballet? Robert Altman's The Company, a lovely and superficial montage of performance, is less a movie than a series... More>>
A populist leader triumphs in Venezuela, and it's all on film
By Melissa Levine,
January 15, 2004
In 1998, a passionate majority of Venezuelans elected a new president. His name was Hugo Chavez, and he was the first leader in generations to... More>>
A picture may say 1,000 words, but this film about one says considerably less
By Luke Y. Thompson,
January 08, 2004
So, have you ever wondered what exactly goes into the painting of a portrait? You might have suspected there's more to it than a painter saying... More>>
