Deadgirl (2008)
[7] Two high school buddies discover a girl chained to a table in an abandoned mental hospital. At first she appears dead, but she's actually one of the "living" dead. And she's all theirs... Yes, just when you thought zombies…
Ghosts of Mars (2001)
[2] John Carpenter has given us a handful of gems over the years, but Ghosts of Mars is not one of them. The movie's too exotic for its own good. It starts with some quick but tedious exposition, then plops…
Hannibal (2001)
[7] Hannibal Lecter is still on the lam (no pun intended) after the events in The Silence of the Lambs, but now there's another killer who wants to bring him to justice. Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner) directs this time,…
Baby Mama (2008)
[5] A prim and proper lady discovers she is infertile and hires a street-smart gal to be her 'Baby Mama.' As much as I like everyone in the cast -- from stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, to Steve Martin,…
17 Again (2009)
[4] A dude (Matthew Perry) gets an opportunity to go back in time (where he's played by Zac Efron) to better appreciate his life. I'm not sure what it would take to overcome a scenario as stale as the one…
Saw IV (2007)
[3] The fourth Saw film isn't nearly as clever as it tries so desperately to be, and the death traps for which the series is so famous are woefully uninspired. The movie also deflates the mystique of its central character,…
28 Days Later (2002)
[7] 28 Days Later is a bright feather in the multi-colored cap of director Danny Boyle, who also gave us Trainspotting, Sunshine, and Slumdog Millionnaire. Cillian Murphy wanders post-apocalyptic England after a virus has turned most of the population into…
The Return (2006)
[4] Sarah Michelle Gellar (TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer) stars as a woman who has visions of a murder, eventually coming to realize the murderer may be coming for her, too. This supernatural thriller is okay for the first half-hour, but…
The Boys are Back (2009)
[6] This story of a widower struggling to be a good father to his two boys refrains from indulging in too much sentimentality, but never fully shakes that "Lifetime Movie" feeling. Clive Owen and young George MacKay are very good,…
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
[8] A lonely writer falls in love with a singing, dancing courtesan in this bawdy musical that soars on the charms of co-stars Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. The song numbers cannibalize lyrics from love songs over the past century,…