Full Frontal (2002)

Drama Rated R

Full Frontal represents the first time you know from the start you’re watching a Steven Soderbergh film, and that’s not necessarily a good thing. Like the eclectic filmmaker’s breakthrough debut, 1989’s Sex, Lies and Videotape, this low-budget ensemble effort follows a bunch of 30-somethings (Blair Underwood and Julia Roberts among them) yammering about their love

Garfield (2004)

Family Rated PG

I went into Garfield knowing little about the title feline aside from the fact that I held a vague hatred toward him. Garfield gave me specific reasons for such emotion. As inane and insipid as I always suspected the comic strip of being, Garfield follows somebody’s favorite fat, lazy cat – a computer-generated creature here

Hanging Up (2000)

Drama Rated PG-13

You may go into Hanging Up expecting to laugh, but don’t be surprised to come out of the theater in tears – and cheap ones at that. Meg Ryan, Lisa Kudrow and Diane Keaton star as sisters who are caring for their ailing father (Walter Matthau), but the movie bypasses any interplay between the three

Japanese Story (2003)

Drama Rated R

A provocative showcase for the underappreciated talents of Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense), this follows an Australian geologist (Collette) who gets stuck chaperoning a Japanese businessman (Gotaro Tsunashima) through the Outback. Australian director Sue Brooks clearly is influenced by her regional predecessors. Her landscapes echo the ghostly atmosphere of Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock,

Jarhead (2005)

Drama Rated R

Pulsing with gung-ho machismo, the Desert Storm war drama Jarhead is like having one of those manly energy drinks injected right into your veins. There is a conscience to be found beneath the bravado, but it is the grunting that wins out. In the movie, the American soldiers get juiced up by watching various war

Head of State (2003)

Comedy Rated PG-13

Star, co-producer, co-writer and director Chris Rock takes a simple premise – what would happen if a black man ran for president? – and injects it with his blistering brand of political humor. Many of the speeches play like excerpts from his standup act, but what the movie lacks in polish it makes up for

Kissing Jessica Stein (2001)

Romantic Comedy Rated R

This independent comedy about two New York women who are so fed up with men they decide to date each other takes a refreshingly casual attitude to the same-sex issue – there’s no political agenda here, just a snapshot of two people’s lives. Unfortunately, the people at hand are the sort of desperately trendy types

Host, The (2007)

Horror Rated R

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Simpsons Movie, The (2007)

Comedy Rated PG-13

“…a conclusive portrait of the dysfunctional American family – stuck with each other and, deep down, OK with it.

Disney’s Teacher’s Pet (2004)

Family Rated PG

This adaptation of the children’s television show has little to dislike – including unique animation and a clever premise, in which a pet dog masquerades as a boy while his young owner just wants to play fetch – but at 66 minutes long it’s still cheating. Watching it, I felt as if the theater had