The Secret Life of Bees

Despite the sincere coming-of-age story at the heart of this movie rife with singers-turned-actresses, there's no denying the pleasures found in the film's soulful matriarchy.

"...the storyline in a couple of instances but generally exists in a bubble that's devoid of racial bigotry and..."

Oct. 17, 2008 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Julian Schnabel's unorthodox but true story about a protagonist who is stripped of all self-movement and expression is equal parts reverie, despair, and social experiment.

"...sense of cynicism) to create an original world that exists almost entirely inside his protagonist’s head and that’s equal..."

Jan. 11, 2008 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

Eye of the Dolphin

This family film is charming enough to inspire young girls to grow up wanting to swim with live dolphins rather than groom My Little Ponies.

"...time to meet the father who doesn't know she exists. "He studies dolphins in the Bahamas. How bad can..."

Aug. 24, 2007 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Idiocracy

Mike Judge's underrated comedy Idiocracy is the story of a man who awakes 500 years in the future to find a society so dumbed-down that he instantly becomes the smartest person alive.

"...in the dystopic future imagined in Idiocracy. Judge's future exists 500 years from now and postulates a dumbed-down world..."

Sept. 8, 2006 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Scoop

Woody Allen's second British film with Scarlett Johansson finds the director falling back into the rut he carved for himself with every forgettable comedy since the underrated Deconstructing Harry.

"...he can't overcome the fact that his part only exists to serve the plot. Allen puts forth an inspiring..."

July 28, 2006 Movie Review by Brian Clark

Wolf Creek

Wolf Creek is an accomplished Aussie version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre; it's also a viscerally told slasher film that manages to do an awful lot with very little.

"...Wolf Creek (much like the new Saw horror franchise) exists for no reason other than to inflict an acute..."

Dec. 30, 2005 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

NBT: Never Been Thawed

Mockumentary about the members of a Frozen Food Enthusiasts Club is funny when it stays on topic but becomes scattered when it strays.

"...to a baseball-card collector. Of course this Arizona club exists only for the purposes of this mockumentary (one hopes),..."

Nov. 11, 2005 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Keane

An unconventional psychological thriller without much plot, Keane is the gripping and uncompromising story of a man's attempt to hang on to his sanity.

"...a new dress. We wonder whether the child really exists, or whether he actually had anything to do with..."

Nov. 4, 2005 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Proof

As with many film adaptations of stage successes, David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play about mathematics and madness loses something in its translation to celluloid.

"...of sorts, one that explores the thin line that exists between sanity and genius. The brittle edge in Mary-Louise..."

Oct. 7, 2005 Movie Review by Steve Davis

Schultze Gets the Blues

The life of a retired German miner and accordion player is spurred toward change by the sound of zydeco music.

"...life. Schultze is neither happy nor unhappy: He just exists. Then one night he hears a snatch of zydeco..."

March 25, 2005 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie

Would that you could activate a "Dark Clown" card on this bewildering anime import.

"...collar-wearing boys and puckish schoolgirls in really short skirts exists a card game; players "duel" each other with cards..."

Aug. 20, 2004 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Lost in Translation

Sofia Coppola spins a unique tale about a yearning, indelible love-affair-that-isn’t between characters played by Bill Murray and this season's It Girl Scarlett Johansson.

"...Translation is a film about catharsis, the kind that exists outside of movies: the slow reawakening, triggered by the..."

Sept. 26, 2003 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

The Weather Underground

Former members of the Weather Underground still know a thing or two about "which way the wind blows" in this always timely documentary.

"...these old revolutionaries bear about the thin line that exists between political determination and social despair has never sounded..."

Sept. 26, 2003 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Horns and Halos

"...of the publishing world, offering a case study that exists apart from all the movie’s political ramifications. Local filmmaker..."

March 21, 2003 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

City of Lost Souls

"...Lost Souls one of his lesser efforts. The movie exists in a warring Tokyo criminal milieu in which factions..."

Aug. 9, 2002 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Amélie

Why not get happy? Why not celebrate love, and little twists of fate, and a sepia-in-Technicolor portrait of Paris? Amélie's heart is in the right place – squarely on its sleeve. And what better place for it?

"...the Montmarte of The 400 Blows, a place that exists only in sentimental minds, with an accordion creaking happily..."

Nov. 16, 2001 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Adventures of Felix

"...allowing the disease to define its character. Yet, it exists. It does define the character, at least in some..."

Sept. 14, 2001 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Adapted for film from the off-Broadway musical hit, this movie is a rousing screen spectacle about a surgically botched transsexual from East Germany (played charismatically by John Cameron Mitchell, the show's creator and film director).

"...instead, a surgically botched transsexual from East Germany, who exists in an indeterminate but politically charged space between freedom..."

Aug. 31, 2001 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Mifune

"...Like one of the tenets of Dogma 95, Mifune exists entirely in its here and now...."

April 21, 2000 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Buena Vista Social Club

Intended less as a concert film than as a set of cinematic liner notes, BVSC is about the vanishing musical culture of Cuban stars who became famous in the Forties and Fifties while playing in the legendary Havana night club of the title.

"...again with Havana -- both the crumbling place that exists now and the splendid, immaculate one that lives on..."

July 2, 1999 Movie Review by Russell Smith

Rushmore

A modern cult classic.

"...John's Academy (Anderson's alma mater), Rushmore as a film exists out of time and place, locked into a vaguely..."

Feb. 5, 1999 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

American Job

"...job. What Randy discovers is that no such animal exists. American Job is a fiction film that in many..."

March 6, 1998 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

La Haine

With great passion and intelligence, Kassovitz graphically illustrates the violent disaffection of French immigrant youth.

"...not with each other. The “hate” of the title exists between the young men and the cops who, with..."

July 19, 1996 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Rhythm Thief

"...all too rare that one finds a movie that exists simply because it must. Rhythm Thief is that kind..."

Feb. 16, 1996 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Home for the Holidays

"...the overwhelming comfort gained from the knowledge that there exists a “home” to which you can return. Maybe it's..."

Nov. 3, 1995 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Love on Delivery

"...sweetheart. As with all of Chow's pictures, the plot exists to set up a series of delirious comic sequences,..."

May 20, 1994 Movie Review by Joey O'Bryan

Faraway, So Close

"...Emit Flesti (read it backwards), a mysterious stranger who exists in both the angelic and human planes. If this..."

April 8, 1994 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Heaven & Earth

"...fury. Nothing in-between the poles of good and bad exists in Stone's universe -- no gray, no subtlety, no..."

Dec. 24, 1993 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Macross II: Lovers Again

"...defend Earth. The only good thing about this film exists in the space battle sequences, where fluidity and spectacular..."

July 9, 1993 Movie Review by Pamela Bruce

Clearcut

"...and pathetic. To a certain extent the political struggle exists only as a backdrop for the lawyer's internal struggle...."

Sept. 18, 1992 Movie Review by Kathleen Maher

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