Nationwide Releases
Click
Adam Sandler gets a hold of a universal remote that controls everything in his universe, but it starts going wacky and he can’t control it.
RT Score: 29%
RT Consensus: This latest Adam Sandler vehicle borrows shamelessly from It’s A Wonderful Life and Back To The Future, and fails to produce the necessary laughs that would forgive such imitation.
“The comic genius is evolving toward Bill Murray territory – that of a bright soul beaten and worn down by life, with a humorous shine tantalizingly repressed.”
– Phil Villarreal, ARIZONA DAILY STAR
“I have a soft spot for the low-comic high jinks of Adam Sandler, including Happy Gilmore and even the unfairly maligned Waterboy. But Sandler has a sappy side that makes me puke. I damn near choked on Click.”
– Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE
“It’s a movie that shoots lazily for Capraesque and settles happily for Crapesque.”
– Scott Weinberg, EFILMCRITIC.COM
“The movie’s ending will come as a complete surprise to anyone not familiar with It’s a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol, or the 7th season of Dallas.”
– Pete Vonder Haar, FILM THREAT
“Umm, did I mention Kate Beckinsale is hot?”
– Brent Simon, FILMSTEW.COM
Waist Deep
A man with two strikes against him gets out of jail and immediately has his son kidnapped. He needs to rob some banks in order to get the ransom money by the next day.
RT Score: 29%
RT Consensus: A well-meaning B-movie that suffers from a cliche-ridden script and poorly drawn characters that fail to inspire much sympathy.
“Suffering from an extremely flawed script from which it never recovers, Deep is awesomely bad, and not in a ‘Hey, I actually like Starship’s “We Built this City”‘ way.”
– Monica A. Reyhani, PREMIERE MAGAZINE
“The dialogue by Curtis-Hall and Darin Scott is a degrading string of profanities and inanities, interspersed with sadism and exploitation of women. Their opinion of their target audience should depress moviegoers of any color.”
– Lawrence Toppman, CHARLOTTE OBSERVER
“Waist Deep is what used to be called a B movie, back in the days when there were double features… It’s a hard little melodrama, done well.”
– Daniel M. Kimmel, WORCESTER TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
“What do you expect from the man who not only directed Glitter, but spent an entire DVD commentary track defending the film?”
– Brian Orndorf, EFILMCRITIC.COM
Limited Releases
The Road to Guantanamo is the only Certified Fresh movie of the week.
The Road to Guantanamo
Docudrama about three British Muslims that were taken to Guantanamo under the assumption they were Al-Queda.
RT Score: 84%
RT Consensus: A gut-wrenching and riveting docu-drama that serves as a stinging indictment of U.S. military justice in an era of ever-increasing scrutiny.
“The Road to Guantanamo has a soul-stirring power and immediacy that’s tough to look away from. Whatever you do, don’t miss this one.”
– Aaron Hillis, PREMIERE MAGAZINE
“If its argument is flawed, then at least it’s an argument worth making.”
– Rob Vaux, FLIPSIDE MOVIE EMPORIUM
“Powerful, insightful and yet disturbing, this is a film that’ll stay with you; and that’s a very good thing.”
– Joe Utichi, FILMFOCUS
“It’s probably safe to say that most of what the film depicts happened that way. A film as determined as this one is to make an impassioned statement, though, ought to have made me feel that in my heart, not just accept it intellectually.”
– Bob Strauss, LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
“This is excellently made propaganda, how much of it is genuinely true is another story and we can’t really be sure how much is and how much isn’t.”
– Eric Lurio, GREENWICH VILLAGE GAZETTE
“A riveting and disturbing documentary that falls short of greatness by not providing enough insight into the characters.”
– Claudia Puig, USA TODAY
Hidden Blade
A lowly samurai is falling in love with his family’s maid, which is forbidden. He has also been contracted to kill an old samurai friend, but knows he can’t win.
RT Score: 79%
“The Hidden Blade is tranquil, touching, and, in its climactic sword fight, excitingly real.”
– Owen Gleiberman, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
“Beautifully observed, with strong characters and a lovely romantic plot, although it’s as a bit too subdued.”
– Rich Cline, SHADOWS ON THE WALL
“Yoji Yamada redefines the words ‘cinematic perfection’ with a film that looks and feels like a true classic.”
– Edward Douglas, COMINGSOON.NET
“Back to the woodshed with this dull blade!”
– Phil Hall, FILM THREAT
“Even when it comes to the climactic blade battle, the director holds back with samurai-style self-control. In spite of this muted mood, the resolution of the film’s love story manages to work the heart-strings.”
– Matthew Leyland, BBC
“Casually paced and filled with telling detail, Yamada’s delicate drama with swordplay (there’s not much, but what there is packs an emotional wallop) transcends its specific setting in its depiction of Katagiri’s internal struggle.”
– Maitland McDonagh, TV GUIDE’S MOVIE GUIDE
Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man
Tribute concert and documentary about singer-songwriter Leondard Cohen.
RT Score: 67%
RT Consensus: A moving, if somewhat uneven, look at the legendary singer-songwriter, I’m Your Man treats Cohen’s body of work with the reverence it deserves.
“A funny, frank and incisive look at the philosophical singer and poet.”
– Shlomo Schwartzberg, BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE
“It’s enough to send fans and converts alike to the Cohen library for more of the master himself.”
– Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE
“I’m not generally a big fan of tribute concerts, but this is a glorious exception.”
– Owen Gleiberman, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
“The concert achieves mixed success, lurching back and forth between earnest folk renditions of Cohen classics versus twitchy, indulgent freak shows and post-punk gravitas.”
– Jeremiah Kipp, SLANT MAGAZINE
“How odd, that someone would make a documentary about Leonard Cohen with so little Leonard Cohen in it!”
– MaryAnn Johanson, FLICK FILOSOPHER
“No matter how much unique artistry they bring to their interpretations, something essential is lost when anyone other than Cohen is at the mike.”
– Ken Fox, TV GUIDE’S MOVIE GUIDE
The Great New Wonderful
Five stories of people in New York one year after 9/11 and how they are dealing with loss and a new look on life.
RT Score: 56%
“A riveting and quirky movie about the aftershocks of 9/11 in the lives of a group of people still in denial a year later.”
– Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, SPIRITUALITY AND PRACTICE
“Sam Catlin’s script may actually be a little too subtle, and connective tissue joining this diverse group of characters is rendered perilously thin.”
– Ken Fox, TV GUIDE’S MOVIE GUIDE
“Keenly observed and beautifully acted, Danny Leiner’s The Great New Wonderful is a seriocomic gem of rare grace and psychological nuance.”
– Timothy Knight, REEL.COM
“This is one of the more depressing films to come out this year.”
– Eric Lurio, GREENWICH VILLAGE GAZETTE
“Finally, here is a film that addresses this major American catastrophe without shoving important messages down the audience’s throat.”
– Susan Michals, FILMSTEW.COM
Wassup Rockers
Some Latino kids from South Central L.A. don’t fit in since they like punk rock instead of hip hop. They go skateboarding in Beverly Hills where they get in trouble for not being around there, but some white girls take a fancy to them.
RT Score: 37%
“Hollywood has long stereotyped Latino teens as violent, gangbanging thugs steeped in drugs and misogyny. Wassup Rockers is a welcome and different portrayal of Latino teenagers in America.”
– Julian Roman, MOVIEWEB
“Some moments of off-the-cuff beauty aren’t enough to mask the creepy heart of Larry Clark’s latest look at outcast kids.”
– Elizabeth Weitzman, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
“Wassup Rockers could have been a spiky culture clash. When it tries to shock us with its alleged realism, though, it is entirely a bore.”
– Kyle Smith, NEW YORK POST
“Wassup Rockers evokes some of Clark’s fetishistic quirks. But you get the feeling that this time around, he’s giving his appealing core cast of amateur actors more room to be human.”
– Gene Seymour, NEWSDAY
“It’s hard to believe this shoddy, dishonest mess is Clark’s sixth feature film.”
– Ken Fox, TV GUIDE’S MOVIE GUIDE
“This portrait of young South Central Latino boys cutting a skateboarding swath through the ritzy environs of Beverly Hills is ultimately more laughable than illuminating, at times approaching a level of camp commensurate with John Waters.”
– Frank Scheck, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
Say Uncle
A guy who misses his godson after his friends move to Japan, finds himself on a playground having fun with all the kids there. When one mom finds out he doesn’t have a kid of his own, she suspects the worst and causes havoc.
RT Score: 25%
“Peter Paige’s Say Uncle aims to be a dark comedy about the dangers of preconceived ideas, but the movie plays as a broad cartoon that speaks to the peril of having no ideas as a filmmaker.”
– Glenn Whipp, LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
“…[the hero is] such a mess that you wouldn’t trust him with anything, let alone your kids.”
– Andy Klein, LOS ANGELES CITYBEAT
“Page makes the mistake of arguing a thorny case from the same juvenile perspective of his colossally self-absorbed character.”
– Ed Gonzalez, SLANT MAGAZINE
