Many critics called Gigli one of the worst movies ever made, but their condemnation isn't entirely justified. The movie's got plenty of problems, such as inconsistent tone, gag-inducing... read more

Many critics called Gigli one of the worst movies ever made, but their condemnation isn't entirely justified. The movie's got plenty of problems, such as inconsistent tone, gag-inducing dialogue, and a meandering plot that fails to generate momentum over 124 minutes. And yet, this character-based vehicle for Hollywood sweethearts Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez is not without its charms: To begin with, there's J-Lo, whose beauty and presence flourish despite her ill-conceived role as a lesbian contract killer. Critics were also wrong in saying Lopez lacks on-screen chemistry with her off-screen beau; there are moments when they click, but director Martin Brest's screenplay maintains sexual confusion right up to an ending that's a total cop-out. Affleck (who did the lesbian-love thing in Chasing Amy) plays another good-natured killer, and their joint kidnapping job (involving the mentally disabled brother of a federal prosecutor) is destined to fail for all the right reasons, even as this anti-romantic comedy (featuring scenery-chewing cameos by Christopher Walken and Al Pacino) fails for all the wrong ones. --Jeff Shannon (hide)

When Battlefield Earth was released in May 2000, this inept sci-fi epic qualified as an instant camp classic, prompting Daily Variety to call it "the Showgirls of sci-fi... read more

When Battlefield Earth was released in May 2000, this inept sci-fi epic qualified as an instant camp classic, prompting Daily Variety to call it "the Showgirls of sci-fi shoot-'em-ups." Other reviews were united in their derision, and toy stores were left with truckloads of Battlefield Earth action figures that nobody wanted. As the film's star and coproducer, John Travolta must have felt an urge to enlist in the witness protection program.

Recklessly adapted from the novel by sci-fi author and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and set in the year 3000, the film is no worse than many cheesy sci-fi flicks, but the sight of Travolta as a burly, dreadlocked alien from the planet Psychlo provokes unintentional laughter from first frame to final credits. As Terl, the Psychlo security chief who conquers Earth and hatches a secret scheme to steal all the gold from Fort Knox (which sits conveniently in wide-open vaults), Travolta hams it up as if he knows he's in a camp-fest. (In a cameo as a long-tongued Psychlo seductress, Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston, only adds to the absurdity.) Barry Pepper (the praying sharpshooter from Saving Private Ryan) tries his best to convey charisma as Jonnie, the human slave who leads an uprising against Terl's tyranny, but he's adrift in a foolish plot that makes even smart humans look stupid.

The decrepit look of a dreary future is convincingly established (the ruins of Washington D.C. recall Logan's Run on a grander scale), but in the wake of its ludicrous climax, the best that Battlefield Earth can hope for is a Dune-like fate: it might improve in a longer director's cut--but that's wishful thinking. --Jeff Shannon (hide)

Despite box-office failure and the highly publicized fatigue of its star at the time of its fall 2001 release, Glitter is a surprisingly effective vehicle for pop diva... read more

Despite box-office failure and the highly publicized fatigue of its star at the time of its fall 2001 release, Glitter is a surprisingly effective vehicle for pop diva Mariah Carey, who will delight her many fans in her appealing screen debut. The standard rags-to-riches plot unfolds with the predictability of falling dominoes, but there's simple, infectious charm in Carey's portrayal of Billie Frank, an urban thrush who's discovered by ace club DJ Dice (Max Beesley) and rises to stadium-filling stardom in the post-disco New York of 1983. One hoary subplot works (Billie's quest for her long-lost mother) and another doesn't (Dice's debt to a threatening rival), while Carey plays a variant of herself with a gentle blend of vulnerability and good-girl fortitude. With a bright supporting cast and a stellar soundtrack, this movie didn't deserve the bad rap it got, and like her determined yet delicate character, Carey emerges unscathed despite considerable odds against her. --Jeff Shannon (hide)

When the theatrical release of James Cameron's Titanic was delayed from July to December of 1997, media pundits speculated that Cameron's $200 million disaster epic would cause the... read more

When the theatrical release of James Cameron's Titanic was delayed from July to December of 1997, media pundits speculated that Cameron's $200 million disaster epic would cause the director's downfall, signal the end of the blockbuster era, and sink Paramount Studios as quickly as the ill-fated luxury liner had sunk on that fateful night of April 14, 1912. Some studio executives were confident, others horrified, but the clarity of hindsight turned Cameron into an Oscar-winning genius, a shrewd businessman, and one of the most successful directors in the history of motion pictures. Titanic would surpass the $1 billion mark in global box-office receipts (largely due to multiple viewings, the majority by teenage girls), win 11 Academy Awards including best picture and director, produce the best-selling movie soundtrack of all time, and make a global superstar of Leonardo DiCaprio. A bona fide pop-cultural phenomenon, the film has all the ingredients of a blockbuster (romance, passion, luxury, grand scale, a snidely villain, and an epic, life-threatening crisis), but Cameron's alchemy of these ingredients proved more popular than anyone could have predicted. His stroke of genius was to combine absolute authenticity with a pair of fictional lovers whose tragic fate would draw viewers into the heart-wrenching reality of the Titanic disaster. As starving artist Jack Dawson and soon-to-be-married socialite Rose DeWitt Bukater, DiCaprio and Kate Winslet won the hearts of viewers around the world, and their brief but never-forgotten love affair provides the humanity that Cameron needed to turn Titanic into an emotional experience. Present-day framing scenes (featuring Gloria Stuart as the 101-year-old Rose) add additional resonance to the story, and although some viewers proved vehemently immune to Cameron's manipulations, few can deny the production's impressive achievements. Although some of the computer-generated visual effects look artificial, others--such as the sunset silhouette of Titanic during its first evening at sea, or the climactic splitting of the ship's sinking hull--are state-of-the-art marvels. In terms of sets and costumes alone, the film is never less than astounding. More than anything else, however, the film's overwhelming popularity speaks for itself. Titanic is an event film and a monument to Cameron's risk-taking audacity, blending the tragic irony of the Titanic disaster with just enough narrative invention to give the historical event its fullest and most timeless dramatic impact. Titanic is an epic love story on par with Gone with the Wind, and like that earlier box-office phenomenon, it's a film for the ages. --Jeff Shannon (hide)

Movies with "wacky" titles are almost never any good, and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! was intentionally made to be an instant golden turkey. Despite that, and the... read more

Movies with "wacky" titles are almost never any good, and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! was intentionally made to be an instant golden turkey. Despite that, and the grade-Z production values, this is a regularly funny film. You need to be a fan of the kind of low-budget horror movie it's spoofing, and you need to be very forgiving of the technical ineptness and frequent clunkers, but it works. The story? Well, tomatoes attack, basically. Jack Riley and the San Diego Chicken are in it, and that genuinely alarming helicopter crash you see in an early scene was a real accident. Seen now, the whole ratty affair brings back agreeable memories of the circa-1978 college-movie/midnight-cinema era, when seeing this film was virtually unavoidable. The sequel, Return of the Killer Tomatoes! (with a young George Clooney), is actually an even funnier film. Director John De Bello would continue to squeeze the Tomatoes franchise for years to come. --Robert Horton (hide)

Kelly Clarkson's fresh-faced, small-town-girl charm--the charisma that led her to win the first season of American Idol--is on full display in From Justin to Kelly, a contemporary beach-party... read more

Kelly Clarkson's fresh-faced, small-town-girl charm--the charisma that led her to win the first season of American Idol--is on full display in From Justin to Kelly, a contemporary beach-party movie co-starring her former competition, Justin Guarini. The flimsy plot--Kelly and two gal pals go to the beach for spring break, where one of her friends gets jealous of Kelly and tries to ruin her budding romance with Justin--is just an excuse for glossy pop musical numbers, in which Kelly, Justin, and the rest of the cast exercise their glossy throats with lots of white soul vocal stylings. The best musical numbers suggest a new kind of disco-fueled pop operetta, with everyone singing the story along; you may wish that Kelly and Justin sang their way through the entire movie, never speaking at all. Plenty of skin--from girls and boys--is on display, but the overall tone is squeaky clean. --Bret Fetzer (hide)

Pop idol Britney Spears stars in this sweet coming-of-age movie about three childhood friends who've grown apart, but find out they may still have a lot in common.... read more

Pop idol Britney Spears stars in this sweet coming-of-age movie about three childhood friends who've grown apart, but find out they may still have a lot in common. After graduating from high school, Lucy (Spears), Kit (Zoe Saldana), and Mimi (Taryn Manning) decide to take a road trip to L.A. to audition for a record label. Along the way, there's a lot of heartbreak and female bonding (not to mention a lot of midriff-baring--in her first scene, Spears jumps on her bed in her underwear, singing along to a Madonna song), as each of the three girls learns more about herself and life. Crossroads could have been trite schmaltz, but the script has some grit and the direction is fresh and relaxed--and, most significantly, Spears is far more sympathetic and engaging than you might expect. Also featuring Dan Aykroyd and Kim Cattrall. --Bret Fetzer (hide)

Let's be honest: this 1995 epic isn't nearly as bad as its negative publicity led us to expect. At the time it was the most expensive Hollywood production... read more

Let's be honest: this 1995 epic isn't nearly as bad as its negative publicity led us to expect. At the time it was the most expensive Hollywood production in history (it had a Titanic-sized $200 million budget), and the film arrived in theaters with so much controversy and negative gossip that it was an easy target for ridicule. The movie itself, a flawed but enjoyable post-apocalypse thriller, deserves better. Waterworld stars Kevin Costner as the Mariner, a lone maverick with gills and webbed feet who navigates the endless seas of Earth after the complete melting of the polar ice caps. The Mariner has been caged like a criminal when he's freed by Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and enlisted to help her and a young girl (Tina Majorino) escape from the Smokers, a group of renegade terrorists led by Dennis Hopper in yet another memorably villainous role. It is too bad the predictable script isn't more intelligent, but as a companion piece to The Road Warrior, this seafaring stunt-fest is adequately impressive. --Jeff Shannon (hide)

The Spice Girls have plenty of personality, and that helps make up for the lapses in inspiration that keep their feature debut from being a truly good movie... read more

The Spice Girls have plenty of personality, and that helps make up for the lapses in inspiration that keep their feature debut from being a truly good movie and potential cult piece. As with Richard Lester's Hard Day's Night, Spice World is about a few days in the collective life of the all-female British group; and the banter is suggestively representative of how the Girls all speak to one another. But the value of individual scenes is woefully inconsistent, reaching a low point in a dumb sequence when a gaggle of extraterrestrials hit them up for autographs. Fortunately, the film is full of great people, or in some cases good people doing great things: Richard E. Grant, Roger Moore, Alan Cummings, Mark McKinney, and tons of cameos from the likes of Elton John, Elvis Costello, and Bob Hoskins. You don't have to be 11 years old and female to get some enjoyment out of this movie, but it might help. --Tom Keogh (hide)

For a certain segment of the population, the vision of Halle Berry in shredded skin-tight leather is reason enough to see Catwoman. As Patience Philips, Berry plays a... read more

For a certain segment of the population, the vision of Halle Berry in shredded skin-tight leather is reason enough to see Catwoman. As Patience Philips, Berry plays a mousy graphic designer for a cosmetics company who learns a little too much about her employer's new beauty cream and gets flushed down a waste-disposal pipe. A supernatural cat brings Patience back to life and brings up a new persona from the depths of her psyche; soon she's bounding around fire escapes, cracking a whip, and getting framed for a couple of murders by a villainous ex-supermodel (Sharon Stone, Total Recall, Basic Instinct). If you're hoping for a Catwoman with bite, this is not your movie--this Catwoman rescues children from malfunctioning ferris wheels and apologizes for stealing jewels. The movie's script and visual style are as fresh as used kitty litter. Also featuring Benjamin Bratt (Miss Congeniality), and Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under). --Bret Fetzer (hide)

Following Val Kilmer's portrayal of the caped crusader in Batman Forever, the fourth Batman feature stars George Clooney under the pointy-eared cowl, with Chris O'Donnell returning as Robin... read more

Following Val Kilmer's portrayal of the caped crusader in Batman Forever, the fourth Batman feature stars George Clooney under the pointy-eared cowl, with Chris O'Donnell returning as Robin the Boy Wonder. This time the dynamic duo is up against the nefarious Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger), who is bent on turning the world into an iceberg, and the slyly seductive but highly toxic Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman), who wants to eliminate all animal life and turn the Earth into a gigantic greenhouse. Alicia Silverstone lends a hand as Batgirl, and Elle McPherson plays the thankless role of Batman/Bruce Wayne's fiancée. A sensory assault of dazzling colors, senseless action, and lavish sets run amok, this Batman & Robin offers an overdose of eye candy, but it is strictly for devoted Bat-o-philes. --Jeff Shannon (hide)

At the time of its release in 1987, this Elaine May production was bandied about as one of the worst films of the decade. It was nominated for... read more

At the time of its release in 1987, this Elaine May production was bandied about as one of the worst films of the decade. It was nominated for three Razzie Awards that year--Worst Picture, Screenplay, Direction--but it still was not the nadir detractors claimed it to be. (Remember, that was the year Norman Mailer's self-indulgence spilled all over the screen in Tough Guys Don't Dance.) If this comedy had been made by unknowns, it would have simply faded into the obscurity it deserves. The fuss came about because May squandered much talent and a ridiculously large budget, rumored to exceed $40 million, returning less than half of that in ticket sales. Two artistically challenged lounge musicians (Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman) are jettisoned out of the States by their agent, who finds them a gig in Morocco. En route, they become pawns in an international power play between the CIA, the mythical emir of Ishtar, and upstarts hoping to overthrow the emir's regime. There are some humorous bits, such as when Hoffman and Beatty so badly perform their horrible ditties that audiences are left appalled. Most of the time however, we are the ones lulled into a near daze by a hokey script and boorish jokes about blind camels. If Abbott and Costello had made this flick, it might have worked. --Rochelle O'Gorman (hide)

A sad, melancholy ache pervades Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee's haunting, moving film that, like his other movies, explores societal constraints and the passions that lurk underneath. This time,... read more

A sad, melancholy ache pervades Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee's haunting, moving film that, like his other movies, explores societal constraints and the passions that lurk underneath. This time, however, instead of taking on ancient China, 19th-century England, or '70s suburbia, Lee uses the tableau of the American West in the early '60s to show how two lovers are bound by their expected roles, how they rebel against them, and the repercussions for each of doing so--but the romance here is between two men. Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) are two itinerant ranchers looking for work in Wyoming when they meet and embark on a summer sheepherding job in the shadow of titular Brokeback Mountain. The taciturn Ennis, uncommunicative in the extreme, finds himself opening up around the gregarious Jack, and the two form a bond that surprisingly catches fire one cold night out in the wilderness. Separating at the end of the summer, each goes on to marry and have children, but a reunion years later proves that, if anything, their passion for each other has grown significantly. And while Jack harbors dreams of a life together, the tight-lipped Ennis is unable to bring himself to even consider something so revolutionary.

Its open, unforced depiction of love between two men made Brokeback an instant cultural touchstone, for both good and bad, as it was tagged derisively as the "gay cowboy movie," but also heralded as a breakthrough for mainstream cinema. Amidst all the hoopla of various agendas, though, was a quiet, heartbreaking love story that was both of its time and universal--it was the quintessential tale of star-crossed lovers, but grounded in an ever-changing America that promised both hope and despair. Adapted by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana from Annie Proulx's short story, the movie echoes the sparse bleakness of McMurtry's The Last Picture Show with its fading of the once-glorious West; but with Lee at the helm, it also resembles The Ice Storm, as it showed the ripple effects of a singular event over a number of people. As always, Lee's work with actors is unparalleled, as he elicits graceful, nuanced performances from Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway as the wives affected overtly and subliminally by their husbands' affair, and Gyllenhaal brings surprising dimensions to a character that could have easily just been a puppy dog of a boy. It's Ledger, however, who's the breakthrough in the film, and his portrait of an emotionally repressed man both undone and liberated by his feelings is mesmerizing and devastating. Spare in style but rich with emotion, Brokeback Mountain earns its place as a classic modern love story. --Mark Englehart (hide)