Reviews »
Ghost World (2001) Movie Review
Saying that Terry Zwigoff’s Ghost World is quirky and funny is like saying the sky’s blue. It’s obvious and doesn’t need anyone to toot its horn. Ghost World was adapted by Zwigoff along with...
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Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000) Movie Review
Michael Lynch, the ordinary decent criminal of the title, is an ordinary Irish fellow who happens to make a living as a professional bank (and whatever else you got) robber. He has a big...
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Ashes of Time (1994) Movie Review
Wong Kar-wai’s “Ashes of Time” is a rare film. It manages to be complex, thoughtful, and incredibly entertaining at the same time. Based on a novel of the same name by Louis Cha, “Ashes...
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Failan (2001) Movie Review
Kang-Jae is not much of a man. In fact, he’s not much of a human being. He’s boisterous and loud, a tough guy without any toughness in him. His boss abuses him and his...
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) Movie Review
The year 2001 has been a banner year for fantasy novels turned event films. Both well-known book series, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter have been adapted from their print form into...
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Soldier (1997) Movie Review
Soldier is not a deep movie. It’s a sometimes too-violent film, but it’s never boring. At least, I never found it to be boring. The plot is a simple one: old supersoldier Todd and...
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For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (2000) Movie Review
For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story opens in 1991 with Cuban-born trumpeter Arturo Sandoval (Andy Garcia) entering an American embassy in London and asking for political asylum in hopes of defecting. David...
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Avalon (2001) Movie Review
Pointless. That’s how I feel after finally finishing a First Person Shooter (FPS) game. It doesn’t matter if the FPS was a good game, a bad game, or if it was too hard, too...
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Gonin (1995) Movie Review
A movie like Gonin astounds and fascinates me. Writer/director Takashi Ishii is obviously a very talented man. There are visuals and camera framing in Gonin that just takes my breath away. The man has...
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Exit Wounds (2001) Movie Review
Exit Wounds is one of those movies that you just have to shake your head at and let out a chuckle, because to do otherwise would be giving it too much credit, and it’s...
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Planet of the Apes (2001) Movie Review
Dumb. No other word can aptly describe this 2001 “re-imagining” (the filmmakers’ word, not mine) of the classic 1968 Charlton Heston sci-fi movie of the same name. There is absolutely nothing about this movie...
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New Dragon Inn (1992) Movie Review
The thing about New Dragon Inn is, I really don’t care all that much for the movie or its ridiculous plot. Still, I can’t bring myself to completely dislike it, if only for the...
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Amelie (2001) Movie Review
On more than one occasion in writer/director Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie a character leaves his motorpad unattended and unlocked for long periods at a time, but it’s always there when he comes back for it....
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Zoolander (2001) Movie Review
Writer/director Ben Stiller’s Zoolander is a mixed bag. It’s funny as hell when it hits the right note, but drags seemingly forever when Ben Stiller is onscreen for too long, furrowing his forehead at...
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Oceans 11 (2001) Movie Review
Danny Ocean has just been released from prison after a 4-year stint. He’s a confidence man (re: conman) who has lost his wife, Tess, after being incarcerated, something he hasn’t accepted yet, and doesn’t...
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The Others (2001) Movie Review
Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Amenabar’s The Others came along at the perfect time. The spooky horror film entered the marketplace at a time when teenybopper slasher flicks and supposedly “horror” films that relied on CGI...
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The Musketeer (2001) Movie Review
Alexandre Dumas is a French novelist, although you wouldn’t know it from all the countless film versions of his books by Americans, including ad nauseam versions of “The 3 Musketeers,” “The Count of Monte...
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Hana-Bi (1997) Movie Review
Detective Nishi (Takeshi Kitano) is having a very bad week. It starts with the death of his 4-year old daughter, which leads to his wife’s hospitalization and discovery that she has terminal cancer, and...
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Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) Movie Review
Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring” is an amazing film to behold. Consider that the movie, the first in a trilogy based on the J.R.R. Tolkien books, is probably...
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The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) Movie Review
I love period movies, but with one minor exception: I hate movie that takes place in the ’70s. I don’t know what it is about the era, maybe it’s the clothes that just completely...
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