- 1408 directed by Mikael Håfström (2007)
[8/10]
"You can easily overlook the few minor problems and enjoy the creative torments the room inflicts on Cusack's character and loose count of the number of times the film makes you jump in your chair."
- All the King's Men directed by Steven Zaillian (2007)
[3/10]
"Terrible editing, overblown acting by Penn, and underdeveloped characterization make All the King's Men not worth seeing. The depth of character that earned Robert Penn Warren a Pulitzer prize never appears in Zaillian's emaciated screenplay and leaves us with a shallow, uninteresting film."
- Apt Pupil directed by Bryan Singer (1998)
[6/10]
"Ian McKellen and Brad Renfro provide the life force in Apt Pupil, but even with such good efforts, the final act leaves us wanting more."
- Density of Souls, A by Christopher Rice (2000)
[5/10]
"Even though I had some problems with the construction of A Density of Souls, I found the plot reasonably well formed for a first novel. The story keeps you reading because you find the characters interesting although ultimately underdeveloped."
- Elizabethtown directed by Cameron Crowe (2005)
[7/10]
"I found Elizabethtown an enjoyable, pleasant, interesting, and funny study of Drew's developing character."
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1970)
[8/10]
"While the accepted Aristotelian idea of the 'tragic flaw' provides a convenient means to discuss the characters in Hamlet, none of the characters actually demonstrate the 'tragic flaw' as defined by Aristotle."
- 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."
- L.I.E. directed by Michael Cuesta (2001)
[8/10]
"Through the excellent performances of Dano and Cox, L.I.E. embues each character with both positive and negative qualities. These people don't live in a black and white world, but in a grey world where we have to accept the good we can find."
- Light before Day by Christopher Rice (2005)
[6/10]
"Still not great literature and probably won't last like his mother's works, but nevertheless the story pulls you along much better than the previous two novels and gives you a few satisfying thrills."
- Loverboy directed by Kevin Bacon (2006)
[5/10]
"I'm not sure what message director Kevin Bacon wanted me to take away from his film. As a moral tale, Loverboy shows that both neglect and over-protectiveness create dysfunctional relationships. We don't really see any contrasting non-dysfunctional relationships, so we don't have a counter-example to know what Bacon thinks a good relationship looks like."
- 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."
- Omen, The directed by John Moore (2006)
[5/10]
"Even though each of the parts of the remake surpasses the scenes in the original, the sum of the parts doesn't surpass the effect of the original."
- Omen, The directed by Richard Donner (1976)
[8/10]
"Donner has created a horror classic that lives on in popular culture and has done so without resorting to the pools of blood and gore employed much of today's horror genre."
- Sixth Sense, The directed by M. Night Shyamalan (1999)
[8/10]
"I must admit that on my first viewing the ending took me totally by surprise. Usually I can see 'surprise' endings within a few minutes of the opening of the film. Shyamalan has built a plot that supports the surprise ending in every way and never telegraphs the ending."
- Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk (1999)
[6/10]
"I found this the most enjoyable of the Palahniuk novels I have read. The plot keeps taking unexpected turns, and Palahniuk avoids overusing his tendency to repeat key phrases throughout the book."
Average score: 6.60
