- Cooler Climate, A directed by Susan Seidelman (1999)
[6/10]
"A Cooler Climate promotes the standard American dream: with the right combination of attitude, determination, and skill you can achieve just about anything. Too bad so many of the characters had to explore immoral options before coming about."
- Elizabethtown directed by Cameron Crowe (2005)
[7/10]
"I found Elizabethtown an enjoyable, pleasant, interesting, and funny study of Drew's developing character."
- Hope Floats directed by Forest Whitaker (1997)
[3/10]
"Dull performances by all. Lackluster cinematography. Don't waste your time."
- Horse Whisperer, The directed by Robert Redford (1998)
[5/10]
"In order to enjoy The Horse Whisperer, you must meet at least five of the following six criteria: you like horses or movies about horses, you like to look at Robert Redford, you like movies with panoramic scenes of the American West, you like semi-tragic romance movies, and you are a woman. If you meet these criteria, then you will not even notice that 160 minutes passed by while watching The Horse Whisperer."
- Ice Storm, The directed by Ang Lee (1997)
[5/10]
"Director Ang Lee skillfully creates the bleak mood of The Ice Storm through carefully crafted scenes and an excellent cast that easily portray the film's hollow characters."
- Joy Luck Club, The directed by Wayne Wang (1993)
[8/10]
"The Joy Luck Club examines the lives of eight women: four mothers and their daughters. Each mother went through harrowing experiences to come to the United States from pre-Communist China. And even though the daughters only know fragments of their mothers' stories, these events define major aspects of their personalities and their relationships with their mothers and others."
- Magnolia directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (1999)
[8/10]
"Somehow, in spite of all the negative situations, Magnolia has a voyeuristic charm. I think we all can sympathize with one or more of the characters, and perhaps we realize (especially after the World Trade Center disaster) how easily outside events can pull our lives out of the track that we carefully planned an place us on a collision course with our past."
- Music of the Heart directed by Wes Craven (1999)
[4/10]
"Pamela Grey created an excellent script that demonstrates Roberta's personality and her caring for her students, and Wes Craven (Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street) demonstrates that he can create emotions other than terror. Unfortunately, Meryl Streep never seemed comfortable in her role and always looked stiff and unnatural -- especially when playing the violin."
- Straight Story, The directed by David Lynch (1999)
[4/10]
"Imagine how bored would you get driving a riding lawn mower across Iowa? Now imagine watching a movie about a 73-year-old man driving a riding lawn mower across Iowa -- a serious movie, not a comedy. Now add a folksy violin ditty on an endless 30-second loop for 110 minutes of 5 mile-per-hour lawn mower adventures and you have The Straight Story."
- Walk the Line directed by James Mangold (2005)
[7/10]
"Hats off to the casting director who discovered these hidden depths and talents in Joaquin Phoenix, who so completely takes on the persona of Johnny Cash that you might think Cash's spirit had returned and possessed Phoenix's body."
- World Trade Center directed by Oliver Stone (2006)
[6/10]
"Stone does an excellent job of developing his characters, in spite of having his main characters immobolized in a pile of rubble. He also never allows the story to get overly sentimental and avoids overtly manipulating the audience's emotions."
Average score: 5.73
