Film & TV

The original Shrek lost a lot over repeat viewings. People frequently quoting the parfait line didn't help, either.
May 21, 2004 at 12:00 am

The special effects are outstanding. After viewing the trailer, I thought they would be all I had to look forward to.
April 22, 2004 at 12:00 am

What do you get when you combine a happening '80s soundtrack with the storyline of a New York pre-teen who wants to become an adult?
April 22, 2004 at 12:00 am

The lines are longer, the shows are selling out and the Philadelphia Film Festival, now in its 13th year, is more fun than it's ever been.
April 15, 2004 at 12:00 am

Kill Bill Vol. 2 is such a hairpin turn away from the amusing but disappointing first chapter of Quentin Tarantino's epic that unsuspecting moviegoers can almost be forgiven for the knee-jerk negative response it is sure to elicit.
April 15, 2004 at 12:00 am

The Whole Ten Yards Starring Bruce Willis, Matthew PerryDirected by Howard DeutchRated PG-13 Every time I try to say something substantive about The Whole Ten Yards, the only thing that can come out of my mouth are variations on "it was a pile of crap." Director Howard Deutch gives us a barrage of ethnic jokes, repeated slapping and Matthew Perry waving his arms around and falling down, and leaves it up to the marketing department to make the movie seem funny.
April 15, 2004 at 12:00 am

San Antonio, TX. The Alamo story has graced film reels more than a dozen times. It's Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and Colonel Travis: add a few more ingredients, stir and repeat.
April 8, 2004 at 12:00 am

And yet another trainwreck for Kevin Spacey. In the tradition of perfectly respectable actors taking a step or 10 in the wrong direction, our man Kev follows K-Pax, Pay it Forward and The Life of David Gale with further punishment for unsuspecting moviegoers in the heartbreakingly vapid The United States of Leland. Spacey knows it's a bust and can't even show his face; on the movie poster, the man labeled as Kevin Spacey is not in fact Kevin Spacey, but the lesser known actor Martin Donovan -- who spends the entire movie making a big stink just because someone up and knifed his autistic son.
April 8, 2004 at 12:00 am

What happened last night [at Wrestlemania]? We got beat. I had a blast last night. It was a lot of fun, it was cool.
April 1, 2004 at 12:00 am

We're all relatively acquainted with the slew of coming-of-age teen comedies wherein implausibly attractive high school students overcome the bounds of social status, find love and provide a fortune cookie-sized moral to the tune of "Teenage Wasteland." The recipe works, though it usually makes for movies so saccharine that diabetics crumple to the floor of America's movie theaters.
April 1, 2004 at 12:00 am

There are things out there that go bump in the night," quips Professor Bruttenholm (John Hurt). "We are the ones who bump back." No, this isn't your average weekend-drunken-sorority-girl- hook-up; it's Guillermo del Toro's above average comic-to-movie film Hellboy. Mix two parts X-Men, two parts Men In Black technology and a sprinkle of The Hulk's big buff looks, and you have the recipe that not only looks good but doesn't leave a bad taste in your mouth. Based on Mike Mignola's comic book series, Hellboy opens in 1944 as the Nazis, led by Grigori Rasputin, attempt to open a portal to another dimension.
April 1, 2004 at 12:00 am

No, the problem child was and always will be Dogma. Nothing can be more problematic than that.
March 25, 2004 at 12:00 am

Con artists are en vogue right now. Brad Pitt, Mark Wahlberg and Nicolas Cage have all dabbled in thievery.
March 25, 2004 at 12:00 am

With Hollywood constantly churning out thrillers with obligatory "surprise endings," it's great to see a satisfying conclusion that doesn't make the movie fold like a house of cards.
March 18, 2004 at 12:00 am

Carnage, carnage, blood, blood and then more carnage. The remake of the 1974 horror classic Dawn of the Dead retains elements of the original, while changing the story entirely.
March 18, 2004 at 12:00 am

Everyone already knows that Charlie Kaufman is a genius. This is an acknowledged fact. The man who brought us both Being John Malkovich and Adaptation could not possibly be anything less.
March 18, 2004 at 12:00 am

Movies and religion have never mixed well. Inevitably, a movie will misrepresent one religion or another and be faced with protests and threats of boycotts.
February 26, 2004 at 12:00 am

In Twisted, directed by Philip Kaufman, Ashley Judd plays Detective Jessica Shepard. After the gruesome death of her parents, Jessica is raised by John Mills (Samuel Jackson), the San Francisco Police Commissioner.
February 26, 2004 at 12:00 am

Badass. This movie is simply badass. When was the last time you heard of actors filming on the side of a mountain with 100 mph winds and ice crusting on their faces?
February 19, 2004 at 12:00 am

Getting punched in the face really hurts. Doing it for a living is brutal and difficult. Yet both are easier than taking a no-name boxer to the championship, especially as a woman. In Against the Ropes, chick flick diva Meg Ryan breaks out of her stereotypical role to play boxing's most prolific female coach, Jackie Kallen.
February 19, 2004 at 12:00 am