Scary Movie 4 (2005)

Comedy Rated PG-13

If this had a sell-by date, it would be 12/31/05. Any viewing after then may cause food poisoning. The freshest film to be lampooned is Brokeback Mountain and Brokeback jokes were already old before the 2006 Oscars. Much of the first third of the picture is modeled on 2004’s The Grudge, and the targets only

Triplets of Belleville, The (2003)

Comedy Rated PG-13

A breezy, often bizarre animated feature straight from the id of writer-director Sylvain Chomet. The story follows a morose little boy who becomes a world-class bicyclist under the rigorous training of his grandmother, but that’s just a basic premise. Chomet’s sensibility, brought to life through a rough drawing style resembling lovely scribbles, combines an eye

Shallow Hal (2001)

Comedy Rated PG-13

A sweet romance in a tasteless joke’s clothing, the Farrelly brothers’ latest farce follows a self-deluded skirt-chaser (Jack Black) who is hypnotized so that he sees people for their inner beauty; hence the overweight Peace Corps volunteer he meets looks to him like Gwyneth Paltrow. If this makes you uncomfortable, it’s supposed to – Shallow

Whipped (2000)

Comedy Rated R

Amanda Peet stars as the object of affection for three best friends, each of whom is as lame as he is despicable (one guy refers to his apartment as a “stabbin’ cabin”). The movie tries to put a feminist twist on things at the end by having Peet dump the trio, but I’m not sure

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

“…what’s good about The Phantom Menace is what’s always been good about Star Wars.”

Young Black Stallion, The (2003)

Family Rated G

A labored attempt to cash in on the legacy of 1979’s classic children’s film The Black Stallion, this Imax feature falls short even in visual terms. In what amounts to a prequel, a young girl (Biana G. Tamimi) in 1947 North Africa befriends a black colt and enters it into a prestigious local race. In

Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

Attack of the Clones is great, mostly for the way it makes the original three episodes of writer-director George Lucas’ ongoing space sage even greater. A prequel full of ominous foreshadowing and detailed background, Clones has the ingenious special effects and dazzling action to work brilliantly as a popcorn movie, while its resonance in relation

Night Listener, The (2006)

Thriller Rated R

Adapted from an Armistead Maupin novel – Maupin had a hand in the screenplay – The Night Listener is an oddly inert thriller, a movie of shocking revelations and sneaky twists that somehow still never jars you. Part of the problem is Robin Williams, who tends to become inert when giving one of his ‘serious’

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

George Lucas’ Star Wars series, whose six movies have been spread over nearly 30 years, is one of the rare motion-picture experiences epic enough – in the Homeric, not the Ridley Scottish, sense – to attain a literary resonance. This brooding finale serves as both the capper to the franchise and the bridge between the

Animal, The (2001)

Comedy Rated PG-13

Watching The Animal – in which Rob Schneider plays a would-be cop who survives a car accident by having animal parts put into his body – is like witnessing the slow, excruciating death of a single joke over the course of 83 minutes. For every gag that works – yes, I laughed when Schneider combs