• June 20, 2004
• Action, Adventure, At Home, Comedy

Admittedly, I wasn’t expecting much from this adaptation of the Jules Verne classic, especially since it stars Jackie Chan – whose last two big-screen forays (The Medallion and Shanghai...

• June 14, 2004
• At Home, Comedy, Drama

Contrary to the impression you might get from your average American sex “comedy,” it is not necessary to add vomit, animal feces, superglue, forest creatures, or anything else to...

• May 28, 2004
• Action, At Home, Science Fiction

Disaster film formula: Heal a broken family by putting them in the middle of a disaster. Estranged father makes up for past of broken promises by saving estranged teenage...

• April 21, 2004
• At Home, Drama, Mystery

Equus is a prime example of what happens when creepy, overprotective parents drum a lot of talk about religion into a kid’s head, then give him a room way...

• April 17, 2004
• At Home, Crime, Drama, Romance

A Soldier’s Girl is based on a tragic true story, about the affair between a soldier, Pvt. Barry Winchell, falling for a “local girl” who is a transgender nightclub singer...

• April 2, 2004
• At Home, Comedy, Fantasy

It’s not campy or colorful, but gorgeously dark and gothic and shadowy, like a black-and-white technicolor movie. Ron Perlman, who last donned mucho prosthetic make-up as Vincent in the...

• March 9, 2004
• At Home, Drama, Romance, Science Fiction

Charlie Kaufman has earned the somewhat unique honor of being a screenwriter who is a household name, with the creation of such cinematic head trips as Being John Malkovich...

• February 28, 2004
• At Home, Drama

My award for the cutest on-screen family EVER goes to In America‘s Sullivan family. There’s moon-faced mom Sarah (the cherubic Samantha Morton). There’s the scruffy yet sweet dad Johnny...

• February 20, 2004
• At Home, Comedy

When the press kit for … Drama Queen arrived in my mailbox, it contained a letter to the press from the film’s newbie director, Sara Sugarman, detailing what a...

• February 12, 2004
• Action, At Home, Crime, Drama

I love guy movies. I love onscreen explosions. What’s not to love about Backdraft? I spent the entire movie working on that question, and finally realized that it has...

• February 6, 2004
• At Home, Drama

I may have been only 9 at the time of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, but I was conscious enough to remember that a certain...

• January 16, 2004
• At Home, Comedy, Romance

Reuben Feffer (Ben Stiller) is a guy who likes things that are safe and well-planned out. He works at a big insurance company, assessing the risks involved in insuring...