Lisa Alspector

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Chicago Reader
For 550 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 44% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 54% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 13.3 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Lisa Alspector's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 52
Highest review score: 100 Tarzan
Lowest review score: 0 Bless the Child
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 178 out of 550
  2. Mixed: 239 out of 550
  3. Negative: 133 out of 550
550 movie reviews
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    • 43 Metascore
    • 30 Lisa Alspector
    M. Butterfly
    The fundamental problems with David Cronenberg's disastrous 1993 adaptation, written by Hwang himself, are twofold: the unsuitability of such a premise for film, where the actors and audience no longer share the same space, and the miscasting of Jeremy Irons as the accountant and John Lone as the diva.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 70 Lisa Alspector
    Dark Blue World
    This is a sensitive and at times gently humorous love-and-war story; the flight scenes are exciting and exquisitely crafted, the characters lovingly drawn.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 50 Lisa Alspector
    Palmetto
    Because so many female characters spend so much time trying to seduce Harrelson (usually successfully), the notion that multiplicity enhances intrigue is pretty worn out by the time any duplicity is revealed.
    • 24 Metascore
    • 40 Lisa Alspector
    See Spot Run
    All of this comedy's jokes are old.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Lisa Alspector
    Chopper
    The connection between his boasting about killing and killing so he can boast about it -- is made beautifully insidious.
    • 28 Metascore
    • 40 Lisa Alspector
    Pokémon: The Movie 2000
    The feature has some lovely effects.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 30 Lisa Alspector
    Ride with the Devil
    The plot is largely a series of excuses for one-liners expertly delivered by Maguire, making all the hatred, maiming, and killing seem like digressions.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 70 Lisa Alspector
    Election
    The treatment of this touchy material is impressive, neither gratuitous nor mincing, but this satirical comedy doesn't really go anywhere.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 40 Lisa Alspector
    The Beach
    A narrative that tries to juggle thriller elements, tons of pop culture imagery, and way too much philosophical baggage.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 20 Lisa Alspector
    The Forsaken
    Its ponderous explanations about why there are vampires in Arizona in the new millennium (blah, blah, blah).
    • 29 Metascore
    • 50 Lisa Alspector
    Snow Dogs
    I never thought I'd see a slapstick animal action movie about the beauty of interracial relationships and nonmarital sex, but that's what this is, and kids seem to love it.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Lisa Alspector
    Beyond the Mat
    All the macho men who let down their guard for Blaustein can be proud of the loving deconstruction of violence-as-entertainment that resulted.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 70 Lisa Alspector
    Brassed Off
    The music's great, but frequent tight shots of actors ostensibly blowing their horns look phony enough to be distracting.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 80 Lisa Alspector
    Segunda piel
    It goes beyond sympathy and authenticity to insight as it examines the plight of a man who loves a man but feels he must love a woman.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Lisa Alspector
    Slums of Beverly Hills
    Though hypocritical in the way it sensationalizes sexuality, this serious and funny 1998 movie about a 15-year-old coming to terms with her body and her family in 1976 is, refreshingly, never coy or ironic.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 90 Lisa Alspector
    Butterfly Tongues
    Some delicately interwoven and unresolved subplots help make the young character's rite of passage wholly, disturbingly compelling.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Lisa Alspector
    A River Runs Through It
    An admirable if frequently soporific 1992 adaptation of Norman Maclean's account of life in Missoula, Montana.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Lisa Alspector
    Picture Perfect
    Olympia Dukakis and Illeana Douglas come off poorly in silly supporting roles that make Aniston seem to have screen presence by default. Her character's habit of compulsively adjusting her bodice ensures our attention has the proper focus.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 20 Lisa Alspector
    Teaching Mrs. Tingle
    The story is painfully slow.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 60 Lisa Alspector
    Dead or Alive
    It's marvelous or unwatchable.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 40 Lisa Alspector
    What Planet Are You From?
    The buildup to social criticism in what at first appears to be pointless and partly misogynist exploitation is subtly impressive.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Lisa Alspector
    Together
    A wonderfully complex examination of sexual and material politics that's full of bravely provocative, gently funny, and warmly human encounters.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 80 Lisa Alspector
    Orgazmo
    A consistently light yet derisive tone, modest production values, and masterful comic timing allow writer-director-star Trey Parker to expose cultural hypocrisies with precision. His performance--in both the movie and the movie within the movie--is dramatic and poker-faced, seamless and hilarious.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 30 Lisa Alspector
    An Everlasting Piece
    Writer Barry McEvoy and director Barry Levinson might want to brush up on the use of metaphor.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Lisa Alspector
    Go Tigers!
    Takes too long to get its themes and characters out on the field.
    • 22 Metascore
    • 30 Lisa Alspector
    Running Free
    The majesty of the landscape and the sweetness of a plot strand about the horse learning survival skills from a 12-year-old girl might have been more intriguing without the cloying voice-over.
    • 20 Metascore
    • 0 Lisa Alspector
    Whatever It Takes
    Disingenuously naive romantic comedy.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 60 Lisa Alspector
    Jurassic Park III
    Isn't terribly frightening or gory, and at times it's even atmospheric. It also has a sense of humor, and the digs at the prequels hit pay dirt.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Lisa Alspector
    Guinevere
    Partly because the seducer's technique is methodical--as a former conquest explains to the naive heroine--the movie's answers are too easy.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 30 Lisa Alspector
    The Bachelor
    Viewers have almost two hours to become thoroughly disgusted.
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