Championship Contenders
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1.
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Pan's Labyrinth |
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A powerful, visually stunning, and highly imaginative fantasy. This is what movies are about. |
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2.
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A Scanner Darkly |
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Like a magnificent watercolor painting, it is a fascinating, engrossing, and highly impressive work. |
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3.
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The Departed |
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With Jack, Matt, Leo and Marty it's almost as awesome as you might imagine. It loses some steam and focus near the end though. |
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4.
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The Queen |
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A fascinating, and even-handed, account of the aftermath of Princess Di's death. You'll be hard-pressed to find a more well-acted movie. |
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5.
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United 93 |
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You know what happens, but the respectful and noble United 93 is thoroughly intense and frantic from start to finish. |
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6.
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Children of Men |
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Very surprised this isn't getting more awards attention, it is a great futuristic what-if. |
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7.
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Cars |
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The best animated movie since The Incredibles. A heart-warming story with good voice characterizations and exquisite details in the artwork. |
Bowl Bound
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8.
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Little Miss Sunshine |
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Just like National Lampoon's Vacation, but funnier, sweeter, and smarter. |
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9.
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The Last King of Scotland |
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Two outstanding lead performances, especially when they are on the screen at the same time. |
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10.
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Snakes on a Plane |
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Pure fun; you'll have a smile on your face the whole time. |
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11.
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An Inconvenient Truth |
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Whoever thought a movie-length slide show could be so entertaining? A film everyone should see. |
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12.
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Who Killed the Electric Car? |
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It'll infuriate you, it's sad at times, and at it's best you'll feel very guilty. |
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13.
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Slither |
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Provides a healthy dose of gore, humor, and scares. Less light-hearted than I was expecting, but well worth it if you like horror. |
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14.
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The Descent |
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A dark, claustrophobic and very scary movie. Sort of like a female (and more horrifying) version of Deliverance. |
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15.
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A Prairie Home Companion |
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This good, old-fashioned Altman film is a fitting way to go out. |
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16.
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Borat |
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The inventive project is hysterically funny at times, but has its misses and you wonder whether a couple scenes were staged. |
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17.
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The Devil Wears Prada |
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Good, biting performances from Streep and Hathaway. Too predictable though. |
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18.
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Clerks II |
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Gone is the indie charm, but this sequel is still damn funny. |
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19.
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This Film Is Not Yet Rated |
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An eye-opening account of the censorship, hypocrisy, and secrecy of the MPAA ratings board. |
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20.
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Hollywoodland |
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The good murder mystery leaves you with more questions than answers. Affleck and Brody are both impressive. |
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21.
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Flags of Our Fathers |
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Almost a great movie, though some of its parts are too fractured and the ending is a little flat. |
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22.
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Babel |
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The acting is great and it is technically impressive, though emotionally draining. |
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23.
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Sherrybaby |
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Maggie Gyllenhaal shows the rough edges, as well as the human side, to a woman that most people would regard as unredeemable. |
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24.
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World Trade Center |
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A fine movie overall, but it plays things too safe - it's missing something. I miss younger Oliver Stone. |
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25.
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Bubble |
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A strange movie with an underwhelming ending, but we ultimately wrap ourselves up in the atmosphere of the characters. |
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26.
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Feast |
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Tries to be something like Evil Dead, but it falls short. The Project Greenlight feature is a genuinely good movie though. |
Middle of the Pack
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27.
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Fast Food Nation |
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Strong and engrossing first-half seques into a second half that sometimes flails and forgets where or what it is. |
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28.
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Thank You for Smoking |
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It's a smart, funny, and even warm-hearted look at lobbyists, but not quite as biting as it should have been. |
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29.
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Lucky Number Slevin |
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It's a stupid title, but Slevin's story is stylish, fun, and well-paced. It tries a little too hard in the end though. |
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30.
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Why We Fight |
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Very engrossing, often thought-provoking doc but it eventually gets lost in critiquing Iraq rather than wondering why we fight. |
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31.
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V for Vendetta |
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A solid movie that refreshingly makes you think - something that is usually missing from big budget fare. |
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32.
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Inside Man |
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Well-paced and exciting heist drama, but could have done without one of the plots. |
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33.
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Scoop |
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It's a fun and quirky little romance-mystery story. |
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34.
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The Illusionist |
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Solid film and Norton is great as always, though not as compelling or magical as it could have been. |
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35.
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The Hills Have Eyes |
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It's a very stylish and creepy horror remake, but with violence that is often unsettling. |
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36.
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Poseidon |
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If you don't mind a rather mindless popcorn movie that spans the emotions with excitement, humor, terror and tragedy, it might be right up your alley. |
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37.
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Invincible |
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Pretty predictable and formulaic, but a good time nonetheless. |
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38.
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The Prestige |
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Too muddled, too long, and too much effort for too little payoff keeps this from being enjoyable. |
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39.
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Idiocracy |
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A good concept with some funny moments but... it's no Office Space. Sometimes stupid really is stupid. |
Coach on the Hot Seat
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40.
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The U.S. vs. John Lennon |
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It is a very interesting movie, but feels like an A&E special stretched to film length. |
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41.
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Rocky Balboa |
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An admirable ode to the first Rocky, but a bit too similar and mediocre in the middle. Still, a nice bookend to the saga. |
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42.
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Beerfest |
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Beerfest is ridiculously stupid, but it's also quite funny in spots. Not Broken Lizard's best effort, though. |
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43.
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The Black Dahlia |
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Some exciting and well-filmed moments, but nothing quite comes together in the end. Quite disappointing. |
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44.
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Monster House |
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Tries to be like an animated cross of The Goonies and The 'Burbs - that's a good thing. But the story turned rather boring and unexciting. |
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45.
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Firewall |
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There are a few fun moments, and some of the thrills work, but it's little more than ho-hum formulaic action. |
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46.
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Beer League |
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Its amateurishly stupid at times with its middle-school humor, but still rather fun. |
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47.
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Miami Vice |
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Visually nice, but still manages to feel uninteresting and almost stale. Falls short of the TV series. |
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48.
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My Super Ex-Girlfriend |
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It has some funny moments, but it is too slapsticky, too absurd, and the acting too mediocre to be anything close to "super." |
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49.
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The Break-Up |
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Masquerades as a romantic comedy, but is more drama. It's nasty too. Vince Vaughn is the best thing about it, as usual. |
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50.
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X-Men: The Last Stand |
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Ratner's X-debut isn't bad, but it's not good either. Rather unoriginal, a bland plot, and generally not much fun. |
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51.
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For Your Consideration |
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A big swing and a miss. A good idea, but takes a while to get going and just not funny when it does. |
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52.
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Bandidas |
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The plot is pretty flimsy and stupid, but it does have some nice eye candy. |
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53.
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Superman Returns |
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A limp effort with a poor plot and mediocre acting. Very disappointing. |
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54.
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Marie Antoinette |
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The colorful New Wave look and sound can't save it from Dunst, or from being unengaging and uninspired. |
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55.
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American Dreamz |
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Some inspired moments, but it comes apart fast and the ending is terrible. |
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56.
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Freedomland |
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Julianne Moore cries and screams her way through a meager and cynical take on race relations. |
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57.
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Hoodwinked! |
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At first it's a fresh take on the classic children's story, but ends up dragging into a barren story wasteland. |
Empty Seats, TV Blackout
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58.
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Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest |
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Has some fun moments, and some pretty good effects, but is ultimately an overlong and aimless mess. Much of it felt like an extended game of Mouse Trap. |
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59.
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The Da Vinci Code |
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A boring, tiresome, confusing mess that thoroughly wastes its strong cast and interesting premise. |
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60.
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16 Blocks |
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To think that Bruce Willis was once one of the world's leading action movie stars. |
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61.
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Click |
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An interesting idea, with some fun moments, but I couldn't get over how stupid and illogical it often was - even for a Sandler pic. |
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62.
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Brick |
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Is everything a noir shouldn't be: dull, uninteresting, and tiresome. It's a novel idea, but it lacks a pulse. |
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63.
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An American Haunting |
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Commits two horror movie sins: it's not very exciting, and it's rather stupid. |
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64.
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Lady in the Water |
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A well-intentioned fairy tale that devolves into a bumbling, self-indulgent delusion. |
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65.
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Hostel |
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Atmosphere and tension are completely missing, replaced with gratuitous nudity and gore just for the sake of it. |
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66.
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Final Destination 3 |
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If you've seen either of the first two, you've seen this recycled, mass-produced one too. |
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67.
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Date Movie |
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Terrible. I long for the days of Leslie Nielsen and the Naked Gun gang. |
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68.
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The Benchwarmers |
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One of the worst movies I've ever seen. Remarkably unfunny in every way. |