DAWN OF THE DEAD Fans of George Romero’s nightmarish horror classic won’t be disappointed by this rollicking remake. Director Zack Snyder remains faithful to the original in both its satiric tone and gruesome violence.
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OFTHE SPOTLESS MIND Once in a great while a film comes along with which it’s difficult to find any fault, and this is just such a movie. A quasi-surrealist gem in the spirit of Godard that will no doubt leave audiences breathless.
TAKING LIVES The film’s biggest mystery is not the identity of the killer, rather what an Academy Award-winner like Angelina Jolie is doing squandering her talent in a second-rate whodunit.
SECRET WINDOW The great Johnny Depp is the best thing going in this otherwise run-of-the-mill suspense thriller.
SPARTAN A hard-charging, artful thriller that takes aim at the amoral political establishment and the media that serves them.
STARSKY & HUTCH While not quite as consistently hilarious as “Old School,” the most notable gut-buster in director Todd Phillips’ oeuvre, this is easily the funniest film of the year so far.
HIDALGO Looks great and the race sequences are quite a rush, but there are far too many pace-halting interludes that aren’t very original and make this already lengthy picture (141 minutes) seem a bit tedious.
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST A misguided, almost unendurable frenzy of explicit violence intended to inspire exaltation but that ultimately leads to revulsion.
TWISTED Stinks so exquisitely that theaters should be required to hand out nostril clamps.
EUROTRIP Vapid young American backpackers encounter virtually every played-out European stereotype in the book in this contemptible clunker.
WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT The film, like the sleepy Maine hamlet where it’s set, certainly has pastoral charm, but there just isn’t much going on. Nice place to visit, but you won’t want to spend two hours there.
AGAINST THE ROPES Ryan and Epps both hang tough and deliver despite being saddled with some weak dialogue and a story that loses focus midway through.
CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN There’s no mistaking what this ridiculously predictable fairy tale is about: Promoting Lindsay Lohan’s pop music career. 50 FIRST DATES The film see-saws between laugh-out-loud-funny and downright stupid, ultimately hopping aboard the Hokey Express, with direct service to Cornball.
THE DREAMERS Flawed, yet undeniably provocative. Even when he’s missing the mark, Bertolucci’s incomparable perception of the human condition is inspirational.
THE FOG OF WAR Errol Morris may be our greatest living documentari-an, and his virtuosity is on full display in this examination of former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 26, 2004. Read the original PDF.