Luke Y. Thompson

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Dallas Observer, New Times (L.A.), The A.V. Club, Village Voice
For 520 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 55% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 41% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 8 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Luke Y. Thompson's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 58
Highest review score: 100 Dragon Inn (1967)
Lowest review score: 0 Slackers
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 204 out of 520
  2. Mixed: 228 out of 520
  3. Negative: 88 out of 520
520 movie reviews
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per page
    • tbd Metascore
    • 75 Luke Y. Thompson
    How to Rob a Bank
    Where visuals of certain events are unavailable, like Scurlock writing in his journal at night, fully colored and animated storyboards fill in the gaps. It’s an odd semi-glorification, even as How To Rob A Bank throws in a few token mentions of robbery survivors with PTSD at the end, and offers a sense that Scurlock fell into the Butch Cassidy trap of being so hooked on robberies he never knew when to quit.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 91 Luke Y. Thompson
    Abigail
    Once intended as a remake of Dracula’s Daughter, Abigail evolved into its own thing, and fans of original horror ought to applaud. The former, honestly, isn’t all that great; the latter, figuratively and literally, dances rings around it.
    • 27 Metascore
    • 67 Luke Y. Thompson
    Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2
    This is cinema at its most punk rock—a raucous, unpolished, cheap, sacred-cow shredding middle finger to the mainstream with just enough raw talent inside to keep it from being dismissable.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Sleeping Dogs
    Crowe is quite capable of being compelling even when doing banal stuff—the highlight here is a variation on the “falling off the wagon” trope, as he captures the sheer delight of a guy who has literally forgotten how much he loves whiskey. The end point, like the movie’s, feels inevitable, but the journey there contains small joys.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 58 Luke Y. Thompson
    Hundreds of Beavers
    Hundreds Of Beavers is one of the most distinctive movies you’ll see all year, and one made for midnight viewings if ever anything was.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 42 Luke Y. Thompson
    Ricky Stanicky
    In the wrestling ring, Cena used to wear a shirt which read “Rise Above Hate,” and indeed, he does so here. It would be better if he found a project where he didn’t have to.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 58 Luke Y. Thompson
    Land of Bad
    If you can get through a rough first act, you’ll see both absurd military superheroics and the greatest grocery run ever.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 91 Luke Y. Thompson
    Orion and the Dark
    Though Orion And The Dark appears to go through the motions of a family flick, it throws some serious curves en route to a loving yet emotionally devastating resolution.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 83 Luke Y. Thompson
    Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
    It’s rare to see family animated films as purely focused on fun as this one.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 91 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Boy and the Heron
    If The Boy And The Heron is indeed Miyazaki’s final film, it can serve as both a victory lap and a plea for a successor to arrive and take up the mantle of trying to make the world a better place through art.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 58 Luke Y. Thompson
    Five Nights at Freddy's
    Yes, there are kills, but they’re often as comical as they are scary, and deliberately so. It’s a fun gateway horror movie for kids—and the easily scared who want to test their limits lightly.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 75 Luke Y. Thompson
    Saw X
    Fans who tune in mainly for the insane timeline twists won’t get them, but otherwise, this is the most satisfying Saw installment since the first three. Also, be sure to stick around for a mid-credits scene.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 33 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Nun II
    At least the jump scares are effective, especially in IMAX theaters where the headrests rumble every time Valak makes a sudden move. That, and a couple of decent makeup tricks are pretty much all The Nun II has. The character deserves better, and so do you really.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 67 Luke Y. Thompson
    Retribution
    Unlike Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, what you’re going to get from this box of travel sweets is usually something you can expect. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be effectively tasty in the moment.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 83 Luke Y. Thompson
    Sympathy for the Devil
    Cage may hate that people quote his over-the-top moments out of context, but since this entire movie is one, you can’t really take any of it the wrong way.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 42 Luke Y. Thompson
    Haunted Mansion
    The movie at times feels like an eternal cycle of the nine-minute ride, which loses its luster after 123 of those minutes. It offers you this chilling challenge—find a way out! Better yet, refrain from being the mortal foolish enough to enter in the first place.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 33 Luke Y. Thompson
    God Is a Bullet
    Cut God Is A Bullet down to a tight 90 minutes, and it might at least consistently deliver the cheap thrills and nihilistic kick it only occasionally achieves.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 67 Luke Y. Thompson
    Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story
    It certainly captures a side of the man, and maybe that’s all anyone would ask of it. But it’s hard to shake the feeling there’s an even better movie waiting to be made from all this material.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Machine
    Hamill, however, is the MVP, continuing to deliver some of his best work as an older man. When he leaves the action for a spell, the energy leaves the movie.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 75 Luke Y. Thompson
    Hypnotic
    Hypnotic isn’t just refreshingly straightforward for Rodriguez, but for Ben Affleck too.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 33 Luke Y. Thompson
    Ghosted
    There’s a funny notion in Chris Evans effectively playing a damsel in distress, but like everything else in Ghosted, the filmmakers have no idea how to play it.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Pope's Exorcist
    It’s impossible to take any of this remotely seriously, or find it particularly frightening. But it is its own sort of fun, at least for a while.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Murder Mystery 2
    It’s a set-up too contrived to feel real, yet not quite over-the-top enough to be hilarious.
    • 22 Metascore
    • 25 Luke Y. Thompson
    Children of the Corn
    There’s no reason a movie with this premise couldn’t be better. Just not in these folks’ hands.
    • 16 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey
    To say that Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood And Honey delivers everything a slasher movie should is higher praise than it used to be. Marketing alone would have guaranteed this movie a certain percentage of curious eyeballs, but Frake-Waterfield made sure that what genre fans see is everything they expected.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 83 Luke Y. Thompson
    Magic Mike's Last Dance
    Since more moviegoers are likely coming to a Magic Mike movie for the moves than the plot, let it be stated the moves are outstanding, even if the movers remain mostly blank slates.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 42 Luke Y. Thompson
    You People
    For the first half-hour, Netflix has a high-concept hit on its hands. Pause it there, and imagine the rest—you won’t do any worse than Barris and Hill’s script at conceiving an ending.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 67 Luke Y. Thompson
    Alice, Darling
    Nighy feels like she’s finding her way in a new format. She’s got the hard part down, pulling off effective emotional beats even when the story seems to be operating on screenwriting 101 paradigms. All that remains is to find a script that’s up to the rest of it.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Drop
    The Drop isn’t really about dropping a baby. But it’s not about much else, either.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 58 Luke Y. Thompson
    House Party
    To its credit, and this isn’t damning with faint praise, the new House Party is frequently very funny. (The R-rated language and creative insults are a great asset, even if they might restrict the potential teen audience.) What it has in humor, though, it lacks in pace.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 91 Luke Y. Thompson
    Wildcat
    Wildcat may have a tiny fraction of Avatar’s budget, and the bad guys—loggers, mostly—remain off-camera. But at heart, it has the same appeal. Get back to nature, put others first, be as good to your family as you can, but let them go their own way.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 83 Luke Y. Thompson
    Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
    Carlo Collodi’s serialized story for kids may have inspired it, but del Toro isn’t going for fealty. He very much has a take, and if he creeps you out with it, so much the better.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 58 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Last Manhunt
    Momoa’s clearly abetting a passion project here, but unfortunately, Camargo hasn’t managed to capture a similar passion from his main cast.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 58 Luke Y. Thompson
    Poker Face
    When the entire theme is about misdirection, then yes, assessing how enjoyable the swerves and bluffs are, both narratively and conceptually, feels entirely appropriate. And they all too often feel like letdowns.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Falling for Christmas
    It’s silly, sitcom-y, and impossible to call “good,” but Falling For Christmas is the kind of bad that feels almost appealing.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 58 Luke Y. Thompson
    Nocebo
    The “mystery” elements simply aren’t mysterious. Yet without them, the sparse moments of gore and icky bugs aren’t quite enough to pad things out.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 33 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Curse of Bridge Hollow
    Watching it feels like attending a Halloween party and never striking up a conversation with anyone; you can only look at the decorations for so long before getting bored.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 83 Luke Y. Thompson
    Piggy
    As much as Piggy certainly has points to make about passive-aggressive status quo maintenance versus open violence, it unabashedly delivers enough terror, tension, and gore before it’s done.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 58 Luke Y. Thompson
    Luckiest Girl Alive
    The unquestionably well-intentioned and obviously deeply personal Luckiest Girl Alive would benefit from more mature guidance.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 75 Luke Y. Thompson
    Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile
    The result is a movie likely to appeal as much to anyone who enjoys pop-scored animal hijinks on TikTok as to anyone who actually remembers the books.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 67 Luke Y. Thompson
    Pretty Problems
    The humor in Pretty Problems isn’t often laugh-out-loud funny, but the observational satire is astute: it highlights how charity may be a performative act for donors, but that makes the need no less urgent for recipients, while acknowledging how far wealth distances some people from reality.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 75 Luke Y. Thompson
    Smile
    It’s obvious that Finn draws heavily from his own favorites, but Smile suggests that their skill and effectiveness have successfully been passed along to him.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 83 Luke Y. Thompson
    Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon
    It’s less a story of the supernatural than one about a party on the wrong side of town, with hints of danger, interesting strangers to meet, and an overall cool vibe that even lingers the morning after.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 75 Luke Y. Thompson
    Blank
    When the all-important moment of catharsis that every good scary movie requires comes around, it’s palpable. But writers, and other creative types, just might feel it a little bit extra.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 42 Luke Y. Thompson
    Dig
    The goal of a movie like Dig ought to be simple: keep ratcheting up the tension to the point that when our main character(s) finally turn the tables, it’s hugely cathartic. Unfortunately, the “ratcheting” part is where Dig fails to hit paydirt.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 67 Luke Y. Thompson
    About Fate
    Despite the off-putting blandness of its poster, soundtrack, and setup, About Fate proves surprisingly charming. Old pros (especially for their relatively young ages) Mann and Roberts manage to sell some significant character flaws.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 42 Luke Y. Thompson
    Pinocchio
    Far be it from us to actively reveal what scuttles Zemeckis’ film, but let’s just say that it seems like the people who made its biggest creative choices have more wood for brains than the character they brought to life.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 42 Luke Y. Thompson
    Gigi & Nate
    For a solid portion of its running time, Gigi & Nate at least delivers what it promises: a young man and his monkey—to be more specific, a young, newly quadriplegic man and his service monkey.
    • 25 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Me Time
    It’s not just that more timely humor would do better; it’s that most comedy fans would probably rather be watching MacGruber again. Instead of sitting down for Me Time, do that, and hope that Hart and Wahlberg figure out a proper story next time that gives their chemistry somewhere to go.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 25 Luke Y. Thompson
    Get Away If You Can
    One hopes the entire process made for great couples therapy, because watching it certainly doesn’t.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 42 Luke Y. Thompson
    Delia's Gone
    James does a decent job with what he’s been given, but it’s never clear exactly what the movie hopes to do with his character. Is this just another crime and punishment retread? Or is it meant to serve as a metaphor for dealing with grief while disabled? It’s too broad to work as the latter, and too unhurried for the former.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 16 Luke Y. Thompson
    Purple Hearts
    Purple Hearts would be a lot more interesting if it interrogated the specific moments of weakness that attract Cassie to Luke, but that’s far too complex an idea to explore in this kiddie pool of sentimentality.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 42 Luke Y. Thompson
    Paradise Highway
    As intriguing as the combination of Binoche and Grillo might sound, it would be much more impactful if they shared the screen for more than a handful of scenes. As such, the movie begins with a bang, but it ends with a whimper.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 91 Luke Y. Thompson
    A Love Song
    On the surface, there’s little more simple than a story of two people trying to make a connection. On an emotional level, however, few things are more complicated. Like life, A Love Song offers no easy conclusions—just simple realizations. In expert hands, that’s enough.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 75 Luke Y. Thompson
    Alone Together
    While we may soon tire of movies using the pandemic as a narrative catalyst (if we haven’t already), Katie Holmes’ Alone Together feels vitally of-the-moment at a time when so many films are ignoring the poignancy of that moment altogether.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 58 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Deer King
    Though the recipe of a feudal setting with fantasy and myth-making elements ought to be strong, the mixture is off, like a handsomely plated sandwich where the ingredients are more bland than anticipated.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 67 Luke Y. Thompson
    This Is GWAR
    For all the documentary reveals about the band, it leaves you asking further questions, and wanting much more—an apt metaphor for a band that created an impressive legacy, and yet whose members rarely came to a consensus.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 83 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Gray Man
    Gosling’s one of those actors for whom a recurring action hero role somehow feels long overdue, and the Russos have taken advantage of more than just his good looks and smoldering gazes.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 25 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Man from Toronto
    For a character-driven “mistaken identity” comedy that lives or dies based on the humorous interactions between two A-list leads, its lousy script barely constitutes life support.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 83 Luke Y. Thompson
    Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe
    Beavis And Butt-head Do The Universe is pretty much what you expect—and it’s, uhhhhh, pretty cool.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 58 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Good Neighbor
    The only benefit the soul is likely to get from watching this is the comforting knowledge that you, the viewer, are not any of the people onscreen. Which doesn’t mean you can’t have fun watching them be bad, of course. But it’s a detached kind of fun.
    • 29 Metascore
    • 25 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Lost Girls
    After watching, you may well wish that Peter Pan could be re-copyrighted to be kept out of the hands of anyone inclined to make this much of a mess of it.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 25 Luke Y. Thompson
    Unhuman
    If you’re a fan of Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, scribes of the later Saw sequels and the Feast trilogy, you know what to expect from them: gore, vomit, red filters, and maybe a half-clever plot twist. If you’re not a fan, it’s best to stay as far away as possible from Unhuman, a cheap-looking, awkwardly calibrated horror-comedy which only the team’s truest devotees could love.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 67 Luke Y. Thompson
    Watcher
    Without spoiling, this is one movie where it’d be extremely interesting to know what happens five minutes after the final scene. But while the subsequent events may be up for vigorous debate, the film’s message is crystal clear: Screw you if you ever doubted a woman afraid for her safety.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Innocents
    Childhood is hard, and childhood grudges run harder. The Innocents pulls no punches in turning that fact into horror.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 42 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Twin
    Generally speaking, the best kinds of story surprises illuminate the material; the worst simply laugh at you for falling for red herrings. Much of what happens in The Twin bounces back and forth between those ends of the spectrum.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Luke Y. Thompson
    Vortex
    Vortex looks unsparingly at characters at the end of life, and finds their experiences as scary as any traditional horror tale.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Memory
    It’d be nice to think that the forgettable nature of Memory was a deliberate irony. Then we could grant it bonus points for cleverness, rather than an average grade for just being bland.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 67 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Bad Guys
    Like the Despicable Me series, The Bad Guys may find ever-diminishing returns once the villain protagonists no longer qualify as despicable or bad. For now, at least, that mixed morality is not just part of the fun, but the primary selling point.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 42 Luke Y. Thompson
    Chariot
    From the cast to its odd, intriguing locations, Sigal was successful in assembling many of the right ingredients. Unfortunately, they lack a chef who knows how to properly combine them, whether that’s to create a meaningful sense of cohesion or to truly create the kind of beautiful chaos that makes Lynch such a mesmerizing source of inspiration.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 83 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
    If the movie were just meme-able moments, it might run out of steam, even with Cage delivering them practically nonstop. Thankfully, there’s an actual plot, which allows everyone else (and the film as a whole) to spoof less Cage-specific tropes.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 67 Luke Y. Thompson
    All the Old Knives
    All The Old Knives is compelling moment by moment, but afterward viewers may have some lingering questions about what characters hoped to accomplish, or why they were involved at all.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 83 Luke Y. Thompson
    a-ha: the Movie
    It’s a compelling tale of three perfectionists who consider music to be their bond, but don’t work together very well unless they have to.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Bubble
    Even if the characters on screen didn’t become better artists during the pandemic, then Apatow at least should have. With The Bubble, he seems to have mistaken jokes about moviemaking for moviemaking that shouldn’t be taken seriously.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 75 Luke Y. Thompson
    You Won't Be Alone
    Stolevski ably balances art-house and horror tones to a degree that fans of both will appreciate, but like the film’s pointedly empathetic point of view, his emphasis on each helps fans of one style understand and appreciate the other.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    Naples '44
    It’s basically a high-caliber book-on-tape augmented with actual (as opposed to horror-movie fake) found footage — a missing link between full-on dramatization and simply reading the book while imagining visuals.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Killing Ground
    What the film doesn’t do, much to its credit, is make the killers into charismatically “cool” villains, à la Wolf Creek‘s Mick Taylor.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    96 Souls
    That some of the super-visions manage to disturb regardless is arguably a testament to writer-director Stanley Jacobs, but he’d have been better off keeping this as his demo reel and showing whatever he does next to the public at large.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Luke Y. Thompson
    Legion of Brothers
    It’s clear in their eyes that they’ve seen some shit—and this doc not only gives us a glimpse of it too, but adds valuable context in a way not many others do.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Luke Y. Thompson
    Bang! The Bert Berns Story
    Blending stock footage, vintage audio, re-creation, and many testimonials from heavy hitters from Ben E. King to Van Morrison, Berns' son Brett keeps things visually lively, and not as morose as may be implied.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Void
    The twisty story and imaginative monsters are enough to overcome the relatively humdrum leads.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    Mine
    The co-director/co-writer team of Fabio Guaglione and Fabio Resinaro are none too subtle, and their reliance on hallucination sequences suggests a (misguided) lack of faith in Hammer to pull this off by himself.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Mean Dreams
    For better or for worse, Paxton's performance will be the focus of viewers’ attention, so it is decidedly to the good that he doesn't just deliver. He gives a sort of master class on why we've loved him: Paxton was amazing in the role of regular guys, and equally compelling as the subversion of same.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Bye Bye Man
    If you miss the slasher icons of old and have little patience for the reboot attempts they get periodically, it's nice to see at least a worthy attempt to add to that pantheon.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Ma
    It's audacious enough to warrant attention.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    Behind 'The Cove'
    The movie is not without some appeal, mainly due to the fact that the whaling town of Taiji is beautiful to look at, and principals from the original The Cove, Louie Psihoyos and Ric O'Barry, gamely give interviews to explain that of course they want to hear both sides.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    You've Been Trumped Too
    If you don't know who to vote for by now, whatever you do, don't see this movie. It's only going to tell you bad things. We're having fun here, right?
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Luke Y. Thompson
    Silicon Cowboys
    Director Jason Cohen (the Oscar-nominated short Facing Fear) wants his documentary history of Compaq computers to be fun — and indeed, compared to the overly earnest clips of Halt and Catch Fire inserted for contrast, the real slow-talking Texans in the tale are a hoot.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    Klown Forever
    So long as they're only stupidly endangering themselves along the way, it's easy to watch this with a sort of libertarian detachment. It's also annoyingly predictable this time around, though the leads at first maintain their strong chemistry and essential likability.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Kickboxer: Vengeance
    This reboot smartly doesn't try to escalate the material to bigger and better status, keeping things small and scrappy and relying on the fighters to be the best special effects.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Edge of Winter
    Director Rob Connolly may well think he's upping the stakes by plunging his film into borderline horror territory, but in fact he's minimizing them.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    Citizen Soldier
    Paradoxically, this technique both keeps you from getting to know the soldiers better and puts you completely in their boots, understanding directly that (as one character puts it) war is boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Mind's Eye
    The Mind's Eye ought to hit the sweet spot for fans of early David Cronenberg, the more violent X-Men comics, and the kinds of indie horror movies Larry Fessenden always cameos in, as he does again here.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Shelley
    Director Ali Abbasi excels at atmosphere, understanding that any beautiful landscape can be made terrifying with the right sound design and that a cut to a silent interior can be as jarring as any jump scare. His script, unfortunately, is not as interesting.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    Cell
    King's decision to co-write the script and turn it into a CliffsNotes version of The Stand only makes things worse.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Len and Company
    You think you can guess what happens next, but the beauty of Tim Godsall's film, adapted from a play by Carly Mensch, is that it eschews the obvious arcs and come-to-Jesus moments of your typical Bad Dad pics.
    • 100 Metascore
    • 100 Luke Y. Thompson
    Dragon Inn (1967)
    The slow build of the action is deceptive, as at first the martial arts are all in the editing.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    Bringing Down the House
    The movie's not without moments of genuine humor--no comedy starring Steve Martin could be--but sad to say, his Oscar-hosting gig two years ago was funnier.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    Wicker Park
    If Alfred Hitchcock were retarded, lobotomized, and freshly dug up, he might possibly c--- out a movie like this one.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Singing Detective
    Try to forget about Michael Gambon in Potter's original BBC miniseries; Keith Gordon's film is its own thing, full of Brechtian artifice and oddball humor -- Mel Gibson's old man act in particular.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Ambush
    Beautifully shot and finely acted movie.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    A Galaxy Far, Far Away
    Of all the various low-budget documentaries chronicling the Star Wars phenomenon, Tariq Jalil's is certainly the most recent. There's not a whole lot else to say about it.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    Drumline
    If you were ever in marching band, you'll love this; if not, stay far away.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Breakin' All the Rules
    Writer-director Daniel Taplitz seems to be trying to invoke classic screwball with this convoluted setup, but it plays like mediocre sitcom.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Luke Y. Thompson
    Sunshine State
    Almost two and a half hours long, and mostly consists of calm conversations. But don't be deterred, or you'll miss out on a study of character, class and changing times that puts Robert Altman's stodgy "Gosford Park" to shame.
    • New Times (L.A.)
    • 43 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    9 Songs
    This movie is, essentially, porn, and whether it's a turn-on is likely to be subjective to each viewer. Those who find traditional porn too artificial should be pleased.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    High Crimes
    Film falls into the same trap as the book: a moderately interesting setup ultimately undone by an ending that makes the audience feel like fools for investing any sympathy with the characters.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Da Vinci Code
    All in all, a respectable and predictable adaptation.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Rugrats Go Wild
    The animation looks good, especially when CG-enhanced, but the Rugrats babies' constant snot jokes, bug-eating and "cute" mispronunciations grate after a while.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Teacher's Pet
    The musical numbers are energetic and fun.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Intimate Strangers
    Props to translator Nigel Palmer for keeping the subtitles witty instead of blindly literal.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 10 Luke Y. Thompson
    Lansdown
    Lansdown has a pretty good score by Atli Orvarsson... Nope, nothing else nice to say.
    • New Times (L.A.)
    • 35 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    Man of the House
    It's not a terrible premise -- It is, however, terribly executed.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    Stuck on You
    That sweet streak has grown, like a cancer, and gradually killed off any of the edge their (Farrellys) humor may have once had.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Romeo Must Die
    May not have the best script in the world, but it brings Jet Li to the big screen in a way that all action junkies, not just the video-store geeks, will appreciate.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Elvira's Haunted Hills
    Don't go to this movie looking to be actually scared, but as a gothic romp it's surprisingly effective.
    • 25 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    Enough
    You probably saw this film the last time around, when it was called "Sleeping With the Enemy." This one merely adds a better car chase and more ass-kicking.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    Hollywood Homicide
    When the movie works, it gleefully skewers the clichés of the buddy cop genre... When it doesn't work, it's exactly what it purports to be lampooning--a lame, boring cop buddy movie.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    Open Water
    It's moderately compelling drama, but also fairly static stuff, image-wise.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    Joe Somebody
    It isn't until Joe starts getting confident and cocky that Allen starts to feel a little more natural in the role, and by then the movie's plot has all but evaporated into a series of wispy gags that barely register.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 90 Luke Y. Thompson
    Session 9
    Horror fans and those who just plain enjoy a well-told story should thank the cinematic gods. Session 9 is not only the scariest movie of the year, but also perhaps the most easy to believe since the first "Blair Witch."
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Luke Y. Thompson
    28 Days Later...
    The deep thematic concerns are never fully developed, but the characters are, and the story compels. Also, the movie's pretty scary.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    A Love Divided
    What saves the film from utter forgettability are the strong supporting performances, especially from Peter Caffrey as the town atheist, and Tony Doyle.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Patriot
    Sentimental, overbearing, flag-waving--and a crowd-pleaser.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    House of 1000 Corpses
    If your expectations aren't too high, there's lots of cool shit on-screen.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 20 Luke Y. Thompson
    Clockstoppers
    Its most redeeming quality is that it's so inoffensive parents can feel OK about taking kids.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 Luke Y. Thompson
    Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
    There's a lot of imagination at work here; too bad just a little bit of it couldn't have been channeled into the creation of a better narrative.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 20 Luke Y. Thompson
    Sorority Girls' Revenge
    OK, so you can't afford women who'll bare flesh for what you're paying. Then don't make an exploitation film!
    • 52 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    Last Holiday
    If you really want to live life to the fullest, step one is to avoid wasting an hour and a half of your life in a theater showing Last Holiday.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    Escape to Life: The Erika and Klaus Mann Story
    It's a bad sign when you're rooting for the film to hurry up and get to its subjects' deaths just so the documentary will be over, but it's indicative of how uncompelling the movie is unless it happens to cover your particular area of interest.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Life of David Gale
    Some of this stuff should give you some good laughs. Unfortunately, the film's not a comedy, and once the conservative-bashing wears off, the alleged thriller elements kick in. Too bad that for you, the viewer, there's still another hour to go.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Break-Up
    Is The Break-Up worth your time? Let's put it this way: Whenever Vaughn is onscreen, it is. When he's not, it ain't. The movie's a comedy, but it's also about a breakup, so it gets a bit maudlin toward the end.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 90 Luke Y. Thompson
    Mau Mau Sex Sex
    No B-movie fan, save perhaps the extremely obsessive for whom this is old hat, should miss it.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Luke Y. Thompson
    Jump Tomorrow
    The acting is superb across the board, especially from Adebimpe.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 80 Luke Y. Thompson
    Men in Black II
    Delivers a quick buzz, lots of stuff to look at, and a totally nonnutritious joy that can only be attained with the aid of artificial flavorings and Yellow #5. In a nutshell, it's the perfect summer movie.
    • New Times (L.A.)
    • 31 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    In the Mix
    All of the plot developments seem half-hearted -- which is a shame, because the star has the charm to succeed if given a better movie.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Price of Milk
    This sort of thing is the problem with making stuff up as you go along.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Night Watch: Nochnoi Dozor
    And remember, this is just part one of a trilogy. While all may not be clear yet, there's certainly enough here to make you curious about the other two parts.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Country Bears
    This film is just too damn weird to pass up, and for the blacklight crowd, way cheaper (and better) than Pink Floyd tickets.
    • New Times (L.A.)
    • 32 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    Boogeyman
    Director Stephen T. Kay (The Last Time I Committed Suicide) busts off some cool shots, and Eric Kripke's story is pretty sound until the finale. Worth a look for horror fans, but nothing classic.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    xXx
    Doesn't hit a home run on every action sequence -- an early bit set in Colombia is too long and too disjointed -- but there are one or two bits in the movie's latter third that are guaranteed to hook action fans.
    • New Times (L.A.)
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Edukators
    Unlike in, say, "Fight Club," director Hans Weingartner does not hedge his bets on the notion of whether simple-minded anarchy is any better than societal conformity -- his heart is with the Edukators, period.
    • 10 Metascore
    • 10 Luke Y. Thompson
    Whipped
    Hang out at a frat house or sports bar, and you can hear this kind of talk for free.
    • 24 Metascore
    • 10 Luke Y. Thompson
    A Sound of Thunder
    Shoddy and ridiculous.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    Rebound
    Rebound isn't funny.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    In Search of Peace
    History buffs will find this film lacking, and it isn't really deep enough to educate the rest of us as thoroughly as it should.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    Bully
    Like the recent "Baise-moi," Bully is a whole lot of shock and titillation trying to pretend it's saying something. Unlike the French import, however, there's no awareness of its own absurdity, nor anything for the audience to care about in the slightest.
    • 27 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Garfield
    If it weren't for Murray, there'd be nothing at all to the film, which forgets all conventional notions of story or characterization.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Luke Y. Thompson
    Dinner Rush
    Some of the finest ensemble acting this year.
    • New Times (L.A.)
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Luke Y. Thompson
    Red Eye
    May not seem to be your typical Wes Craven movie. It's not really horror, there are no marketable monsters, and unlike "Cursed," "Scream 3" and other recent Craven offerings, it's actually an enjoyable time at the movies.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Get Rich or Die Tryin'
    50 Cent sounds articulate in his raps, but as a lead actor, he talks like his mouth is filled with food.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 Luke Y. Thompson
    Last Orders
    The film's biggest strength is the same characteristic that may cause people to underrate it: that the group of friends we watch onscreen feel not like England's greatest actors showing off, but rather a group of friends who have indeed known each other for years through life's little triumphs and large tragedies.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 100 Luke Y. Thompson
    The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
    The central theme of the movie is the pure joy the cartoon takes in childishness.
    • 19 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    Underclassman
    Some fairly standard shenanigans ensue, and when the clichéd high school culture clash stuff stops, there's clichéd cop movie stuff going on.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Æon Flux
    Kusama offers moments of inspiration, but it frustrates like hell that she couldn't nail it completely.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    Friday After Next
    Director Marcus Raboy hasn't made a bad movie, exactly -- just one that seems to have forgotten its own jokes, much as those who watch it will forget everything about it a week later, stoned or not.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Old School
    Ferrell owns the screen.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    Ice Princess
    Silly, yes, but sweet and fun too.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Once Upon a Time in Mexico
    God bless Johnny Depp. For the second time this year, the man has almost single-handedly redeemed an action movie that would otherwise be indistinguishable from the pack.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    Titan A.E.
    Is it worth the goofy characters and weak story for the effects and action sequences? Absolutely.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Shape of Things
    Neil LaBute is back to his old self, and the cinematic world is a better place for it.
    • 15 Metascore
    • 20 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Cookout
    There might have been a decent comedy here if someone had remembered to insert some actual humor.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Burning Man: The Burning Sensation
    The film feels like a violation of the festival's philosophy of "participants only, no spectators": Who, after all, is going to sit in a theater to see this but a spectator? It is fun stuff to look at, though.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV
    The whole thing is best enjoyed while really drunk.
    • New Times (L.A.)
    • 44 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Ring Two
    The movie works while you watch it, with plenty of scares both sudden and psychological.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Unleashed
    Only Kerry Condon, as Freeman's geeky adopted daughter, plays anything approaching a realistic character.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    What's the Worst That Could Happen?
    Actually boasts a decent script with character development, a sense of pace and some well-drawn supporting roles.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Just Friends
    Where are our Tracy/Hepburn screwball combos? Part of the appeal of "Wedding Crashers" was that Isla Fisher truly did have the comedic chops to match Vince Vaughn, and Just Friends suggests that Reynolds and Faris have potential greatness together too. Just not so much in this film.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 100 Luke Y. Thompson
    Grizzly Man
    Herzog is primarily interested in Treadwell the filmmaker, but you'll likely be fascinated with him as a human being.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 90 Luke Y. Thompson
    Domino
    Sure, it's amusing, but it isn't much more.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Crazy as Hell
    Utilizing lots of complicated, well-choreographed steadicam shots, La Salle directs with confidence -- this may yet be his true calling.
    • New Times (L.A.)
    • 39 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    When Will I Be Loved
    It's unfortunate that, nudity and all, this is one of Toback's absolute worst efforts.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Honeymooners
    No less amusing than an average sitcom, but that's certainly not reason enough to buy a ticket.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    O
    The film generally looks like a TV special, with low production values and lots of closeups.
    • 29 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    Driven
    Stallone's script is well structured, though the jaw-droppingly banal dialogue gives us little reason to care.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Luke Y. Thompson
    Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
    In the grand scheme of things, Goblet of Fire is perhaps closest to the original "Sorcerer's Stone."
    • 43 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Malibu's Most Wanted
    Kennedy is funny, but too cartoonish to ever identify with -- Diggs and Anderson are the real stars of the show, and need more screen time.
    • 20 Metascore
    • 20 Luke Y. Thompson
    Soul Survivors
    The film was cut down from an R rating to get a PG-13, but even if it had full-on Eliza Dushku nudity -- and it doesn't have anything close -- Soul Survivors would still suck.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Club Dread
    The Broken Lizard types bring the best out of Paxton, only to abandon him in the second half and focus on themselves. A bit more humility might have served them in better stead.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    Spriggan
    The best way to watch it is with a loaded bong, the volume turned down and the Orb cranked up on your stereo.
    • 32 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Wrong Turn
    Horror fans will have a blast, though it's unlikely anyone else will be won over.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 90 Luke Y. Thompson
    Solaris
    For all its flaws, though, Solaris is a good try, and a definite improvement over the dull remakes Soderbergh has been sleepwalking through lately.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    High Tension
    High Tension often feels like a ’70s exploitation movie in the best sense; unfortunately, the ending is so bad that it mars everything that comes before.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy
    The new documentary Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy shows, all is not quite as it seems.
    • New Times (L.A.)
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    Laurel Canyon
    Laurel Canyon lacks the sense of risk that "High Art" had, and in doing so, emasculates its apparent protagonist in Sam.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 Luke Y. Thompson
    Up and Down
    Ought to gain some viewers here with its dark sense of humor and stylish cinematography by Jan Malir. Director Jan Hrebejk names Mike Leigh as an influence, but frankly he's way cooler.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Crazy in Alabama
    Feels like two films that aren't closely related enough, either tonally or narratively, to warrant their intertwining.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Sea
    As family reunion trauma flicks go, The Sea is by no means up to the standards of Thomas Vinterberg's "The Celebration," but it does make clear that Kormákur is a director whose evolution will be interesting to watch.
    • 13 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Freddy Got Fingered
    The film is a somewhat disjointed affair that, like the man himself (Green), is occasionally brilliant, frequently repetitive and sometimes merely annoying.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Green Street Hooligans
    The world of football riots seems rife with potential for the big screen, but Green Street Hooligans only periodically rises to it.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    American Wedding
    Against all odds, the American Pie movies have actually gotten a little better each time out, though that's certainly not to say that they're, uhhh, "masterpieces."
    • 34 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    End of Days
    Nothing worse than a silly movie that takes itself seriously, that bores us to death while we wait for the finale that comes too late.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    Saw
    It's brutal horror, where anyone can die at any time, and gorehounds will love it. Average folks may find it too intense.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 90 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
    If you're a fan of C.S. Lewis' Narnia books, all you need to know is this: Disney has done right by The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It's impossible to imagine it done much better, in fact.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    Just a Kiss
    Not just another disposable romantic comedy, but an ambitious, overreaching mess.
    • New Times (L.A.)
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Dirt Boy
    Jeffrey Greeley's loving photography of the wintry landscapes is beautiful, but lead actor Jacob Lee Hedman is nowhere near as charismatic as he needs to be for a film with this few characters.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Ushpizin
    A good-hearted movie aimed at Orthodox Jews who don't normally go to the movies.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    Drive Me Crazy
    Actually quite agreeable, but only because of a group of actors who are able to salvage the paper-thin material.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Find Me Guilty
    The characters may be based on real people, with much of the dialogue culled directly from court transcripts, but Find Me Guilty plays the whole thing as comedy, and as everyone knows, putting a self-serious egomaniacal movie star in a bad hairpiece is comedy gold.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    Margaret Cho: Assassin
    It's hard to see why her audience seems so much more rabid than that of other, funnier comics. The secret seems to be in her appeal to the gay community.
    • 25 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    American Outlaws
    So desperate are the filmmakers to create a "hip" western that they try to cram it with action sequences that aren't very exciting.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    Sidewalks of New York
    Too bad it isn't quite funny enough to be mistaken for "Jackass."
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Princess Bride
    Though not as visually impressive as comparable Terry Gilliam fare such as Jabberwocky, the verbal wit is fast and abundant (abetted with cameos by Billy Crystal, Peter Cook and Mel Smith), and you'd better believe the midnight movie crowd will remember almost all of it.
    • 32 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Wedding Date
    It seems like a slam-dunk pitch -- "Pretty Woman" with the genders reversed -- but there's one major problem: The whole hooker-fantasy bit is much more of a guy thing.
    • 32 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    Beyond Borders
    It's not a bad film, exactly, just a confused one, too violent to be a straight romance and too focused on aid relief to be an ass-kicking action flick.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    K-PAX
    Isn't quite as offensive as it sounds, nor is it in any way rousing; Spacey and Bridges are watchable, but nothing more.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Dust Factory
    Turns out to be one of the most original and imaginative children's films in a long time.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course
    The next time Irwin wants to make a feature, however, he should find a director who knows how.
    • New Times (L.A.)
    • 63 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    Thomas in Love
    "Center of the World" portrays a much more believable example of what happens when a computer nerd realizes that his erotic fantasies aren't the same thing as love.
    • New Times (L.A.)
    • 52 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    The King Is Alive
    The prettiest Dogme film to date may be the one that has the least to say.
    • New Times (L.A.)
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Luke Y. Thompson
    I Remember Me
    You'll feel fatigued watching it, but more out of empathy than boredom.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Simian Line
    Since we know most of this cast is capable of acting, one must assume they received little instruction. Even if they did, who could blame them for not listening? After all, they are dealing with a script that tries to play scenes featuring drunken ghosts with silly accents for tragedy.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Secuestro express
    It's a skillfully made film, but not especially fun to watch, and the apparent thesis that poverty justifies such acts doesn't quite wash.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Drillbit Taylor
    Rare is the star vehicle that is as poorly matched to its star as Drillbit Taylor, which casts Owen Wilson as a homeless Army deserter and con man, able to fool people into believing he's both a substitute teacher and a master of hand-to-hand combat.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Bowling for Columbine
    Where Bowling for Columbine is at its most valuable is in its examination of America's culture of fear as a root cause of gun violence.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    50 First Dates
    If you've never seen a Sandler movie, however, this isn't the one to start with. Proceed only if you're sure you like the guy.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Collateral Damage
    Feels dated in the post-9/11 world. But it would have felt passé and unnecessary regardless; it's the sort of film Michael Dudikoff, Chuck Norris and their ilk cranked out on a near-monthly basis when Reagan was president.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Cave
    There's no reason to see this film in a theater -- you'll hate yourself for paying full price. Plus, you'll need beer, and lots of it, to appreciate the movie properly.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Captain Pantoja and the Special Services
    This may not seem to be the stuff of comedy, but a comedy it is, and a compelling one too, laden with hot sex and standout performances.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    Hustle & Flow
    Spends most of its 114 minutes on the making of a demo tape. People in a studio, rapping and recording. If you're going to watch that, wouldn't you prefer it to be Dr. Dre, or Lil Jon, or whoever, rather than actors pretending to be their kind?
    • 45 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    EuroTrip
    The opening credits -- animated sequences that spoof airline safety cards -- are a high point, but if you're not a prude, the rest of the flick ain't bad either.
    • 20 Metascore
    • 20 Luke Y. Thompson
    Marci X
    A romantic comedy with neither humor nor sparks between the leads, Marci X attempts to lampoon gangsta rap clichés so obvious they feel ten years old -– “Malibu's Most Wanted” brought more to the table.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    Jackpot
    Where "Twin Falls" was slow, brooding and haunting in a manner that fit the subject matter -- the imminent death of one of the principal characters -- Jackpot is just slow and uneventful, like a cross-country Greyhound bus trip that never stops.
    • 25 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    Venom
    The final showdown between sole survivor and killer is sufficiently well done that you wonder why the rest didn't measure up.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 90 Luke Y. Thompson
    An Affair of Love
    By boiling the characters down to the most basic emotions and eliminating lifestyle-specific idiosyncrasies, we can enter the world of the story with ease.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    Everything Put Together
    Roberto Schaefer's cinematography keeps things visually interesting, but spending an hour and a half with a gloomy, static lunatic hardly makes for a scintillating evening out, no matter how pretty she may be.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 100 Luke Y. Thompson
    The New World
    At the heart of it all is an entrancing lead performance by the teenage Kilcher.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    Assisted Living
    Assisted Living's overall mix doesn't quite jell, though there are worthwhile moments.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 100 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Insider
    The final product is great populist entertainment and may even leave audiences with a feeling of comfort, however fleeting, in the knowledge that corrupt corporations don't always win
    • 86 Metascore
    • 100 Luke Y. Thompson
    Raiders of the Lost Ark
    Spielberg can never top this. Period.
    • Dallas Observer
    • 52 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Blade II
    Just be advised guys, Blade II is as estrogen-free as movies get, so you might want to leave your date behind for this one, or she's gonna make you feel like you owe her big-time.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Luke Y. Thompson
    Ha-Chaverim Shel Yana
    Swept Israel's version of the Oscars two years ago, and though it won't do as well here, it's an accomplished debut with heart, war and sex. In the age of paranoia, it just might be the perfect date movie.
    • New Times (L.A.)
    • 84 Metascore
    • 100 Luke Y. Thompson
    Glengarry Glen Ross
    The directing's a bit obtrusive, but the script and the acting gets to the heart of Mamet's glorious obsession with macho B.S.
    • Dallas Observer
    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Land of the Dead
    If the Star Wars movies have taught us anything, it's that waiting 20 years for a new sequel by a guy named George can lead to disappointment.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    Deliver Us from Eva
    Not that there aren't funny moments in the film, but they're cobbled together so awkwardly that you'd never suspect the director had made a film before.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Gunner Palace
    Why don't we see this kind of thing on the news every night? Undoubtedly military censorship comes into play, but probably more so it's the prevailing notion that talking-head shoutfests stacked with pundits bring in the ratings, while actual field reporting costs more money.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Beautiful Creatures
    For folks who like a genuinely tense suspense film with heavy doses of black humor, however, this ought to do it.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Winter Passing
    Ferrell and Warner, however, are distractions--the obligatory dose of "eccentricity" thrown in as seasoning to make the real story more digestible. But they serve instead as irritants; too much spice, if you will.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Mule Skinner Blues
    Stephen Earnhart's documentary lovingly covers the process -- veering between pathos, inspiration and mockery
    • 61 Metascore
    • 100 Luke Y. Thompson
    Fast Times at Ridgemont High
    Perfectly capturing the zeitgeist of American high school life in the '80s, complete with a Rubik's cube reference, the funny and occasionally harsh Fast Times, with all due apologies to John Hughes and Mickey Rooney, may be the greatest teen movie ever made (even though Cates was the only real teen).
    • 30 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Where the Heart Is
    A top-notch cast compensates for dubious credibility.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Bubba Ho-tep
    This horror-comedy about an aging Elvis in a haunted rest home proves not only is "Evil Dead's" Bruce Campbell a good actor, but possibly a great one.
    • 27 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Perfect Man
    It's a lame Heather Locklear romantic comedy and a lame Hilary Duff romantic comedy all in one!
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Zathura: A Space Adventure
    Neither pandering nor dull, Zathura plays exactly like a no-limits replica of the kind of space adventure that imaginative kids left to their own devices might enact.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Gift
    The bottom line, however, is that cheap and unoriginal as The Gift may be, it sucks you in.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    Fast Food Fast Women
    One of those genially paced, character-driven indies, and succeeds as such very well.
    • New Times (L.A.)
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Others
    If you like being scared, you should have fun. Bring a date to hold hands with.
    • 15 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2
    While not entirely successful, at least deserves points for creativity.
    • 23 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    Darkness Falls
    Once you get past the inherent silliness of the premise, what we've got here is actually a deft little chiller, stylishly directed despite the so-so cast.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Heaven
    Isn't a bad movie by conventional standards, just a boring one.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D
    Robert Rodriguez and his kids conjure up a charming 3-D fantasy.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Eyes of Tammy Faye
    It contains nary a dull moment.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    Stripped
    There are no stunning revelations herein, but then, that's not why you're going to go see it, is it?
    • 73 Metascore
    • 100 Luke Y. Thompson
    Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
    The zingers come so fast and furious that if you miss a few (and even the most alert viewer will the first time), there are always more.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Luke Y. Thompson
    Illusion
    The movie is therefore better than it ought to be, but without Douglas, it ought not to be at all
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    Mondays in the Sun
    Neorealism it ain't, but if you have a sufficiently long attention span, there are moments of laugh-out-loud absurdity that are worth the price of admission.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Polar Express
    If you have a chance to see the 3-D IMAX version of the movie ignore any objections. But if your only choice is a regular 2-D screen, The Polar Express is still three-fourths of a great movie.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Luke Y. Thompson
    How I Killed My Father
    The pleasure is in watching veteran star Bouquet and the versatile Berling go at it -- they even seem to look alike.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Luke Y. Thompson
    Rize
    Fashion photographer David LaChapelle expands upon his award-winning short film "Krumped," introducing us to the new dance forms popular in South Central Los Angeles via the charismatic "ghetto celebrity" known as Tommy the Clown.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 40 Luke Y. Thompson
    First Descent
    It's dull enough to make a Mormon fidget.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 60 Luke Y. Thompson
    The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
    The skeleton's a hoot, and the score, credited to the solo-monikered Valentino, is pitch-perfect. Some judicious editing would make a huge improvement, however, because even at 90 minutes, it feels like Blamire's stretching the joke a bit thin.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 70 Luke Y. Thompson
    Freddy vs. Jason
    To the fan of ’80s slashers, this return to glorious excess is a beautiful thing.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Luke Y. Thompson
    Two Brothers
    Tigers are such rare and beautiful creatures that you could just film them running around an enclosure for an hour or so and many would pay to see it. Annaud adds much more, and has made a compelling story that's truly for the whole family, without being overly sentimental.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    Revolution OS
    Ultimately, the film amounts to being lectured to by tech-geeks, if you're up for that sort of thing.
    • 18 Metascore
    • 30 Luke Y. Thompson
    Gigli
    So how bad, in the final analysis, is Gigli? The best that can be said is that it doesn't beat out "The Ladies Man" as the most abrasively awful film of the past five years, nor does it top "Battlefield Earth" for sheer misguided lunacy.
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