September 1, 1999 | Chill Factor is a tepid thriller that got lost on its way to the video store, and inexplicably ended up on megaplex screens. First-time feature filmmaker Hugh…

February 25, 2004 |  There's something creepily masochistic about Mel Gibson's penchant for playing characters who endure extreme and extended torture. Whatever the movie -- Braveheart or Payback , Lethal Weapon…

September 6, 2002 | It's based on a true story, a tragically ironic tale reported by Pulitzer Prize winner Mike McAlray in a 1997 Esquire magazine article. Even so, City…

October 5, 1998 | Bill Clinton might sympathize with the plight of Clay Bidwell (Joaquin Phoenix), the hapless protagonist of Clay Pigeons. Like the embattled chief executive, Clay gets into trouble…

September 14, 1995 | You're still getting settled in your seat, balancing the popcorn on your lap, when Clockers first backhands you across the face. The opening credits glide past…

March 29, 2002 | Some movies are immoderately enjoyable simply because they don't live down to your worst expectations. Yes, I know, we critics are supposed to walk into movies…

December 3, 2004 | "How did you like it?" If you're a film critic, you're often asked this question, or some variation, before you can get out of the theater…

February 27, 2004 | There is no excuse for Broken Lizard's Club Dread, a fiasco bad enough to leave a stain on the screen. Super Troopers, the previous movie written…

June 6, 1996  |  For more than 60 years, readers have delighted in the sly satire of Stella Gibbons' Cold Comfort Farm, a mischievous send-up of D.H. Lawrence, Thomas Hardy…

October 17, 1986 | The casting is dead solid perfect. Paul Newman, the gracefully aging veteran, returns to his fighting trim to reprise his role as Fast Eddie Felson, the would-be pool…