Criminal (2004)

Drama Rated R

Another pointless Hollywood remake of a foreign film that was just fine to begin with, this updates the 2000 Argentinian con-man drama Nine Queens with half the panache and none of the surprise of the original. John C. Reilly steps out of character-actor status as the lead, a middle-aged grifter who teams up with a

Pathfinder (2007)

Action/Adventure Rated R

Are these really the ancestors of IKEA? Set 600 years before Columbus, this depicts a showdown between peaceful Native Americans and invading Vikings, who rape and pillage with all the sadistic glee of characters in a film directed by Marcus Nispel (2003’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre). The movie is so ludicrously savage that it almost

Forgotten, The (2004)

Thriller Rated PG-13

I wouldn’t dare reveal where The Forgotten goes, but suffice it to say the movie ends up in a place that is very, very far from where it starts. That’s too bad, for the first third of this increasingly erratic thriller works as a moody meditation on the nature of grief. Julianne Moore stars as

Kiss of the Dragon (2001)

Action/Adventure Rated R

In this routine martial-arts thriller, Jet Li gets upstaged by overblown violence and raunchy sex. Li looks uncomfortable during most of it, especially during his awkward scenes opposite Bridget Fonda as a hooker with a heart of cliches.

Monster-in-Law (2005)

Comedy Rated PG-13

It takes awhile for Monster-in-Law to bare its teeth, but once the movie does, everything on screen begins to click. As the harridan future in-law, Jane Fonda embraces the over-the-top, blackly comic tone from the start, and once Jennifer Lopez, as the tormented bride-to-be, joins in, she proves surprisingly light on her feet. With invaluable

Prince & Me, The (2004)

Drama Rated PG

The Prince & Me may be about a Wisconsin farm girl (Julia Stiles) who unwittingly falls for the heir to the throne of Denmark (Luke Mably), but it isn’t a lightweight, frothy fantasy – well, it is, but in a different way than usual. Here the girl gets the guy, but struggles with giving up

Truth About Charlie, The (2002)

Thriller Rated PG-13

A botched remake of the 1963 Audrey Hepburn-Cary Grant romance thriller involving lost money and mistaken identities in Paris. Thandie Newton does a serviceable Hepburn impersonation, but Mark Wahlberg couldn’t evoke Grant if he tried, so he doesn’t. Meanwhile, director Jonathan Demme is too busy making irrelevant references to films of the French New Wave

Unfinished Life, An (2005)

Drama Rated PG-13

Robert Redford plays a weathered Wyoming rancher bitterly nursing his life’s regrets until one of them shows up on his doorstep: his estranged daughter-in-law (Jennifer Lopez) and her young daughter. A lot of sentimental healing ensues (par for the course for this Oscar hopeful directed by Lasse Hallstrom), with only the gruffness of Redford –

Brown Bunny, The (2003)

Drama Rated NR

A road-trip movie that never leaves its writer-director-editor-producer-star’s bloated head. Vincent Gallo plays a motorcycle racer who travels across the country to reunite with his tragically separated girlfriend (Chloe Sevigny). It’s a dull journey – this is the kind of movie that makes you afraid to check your watch for fear of what you might

Bulletproof Monk (2003)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

Guilty pleasure Seann William Scott (American Pie, Road Trip) trades in his usual air of dimwitted smugness for action-hero posturing in this shoddy Shanghai Noon–Rush Hour rip-off. As a holy man who gets mixed up with Scott’s pickpocket while protecting an all-powerful scroll, Chow Yun-Fat (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) manages to express amusement at his