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82
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73
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72
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71
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70
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66
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65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
64
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63
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The
63
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61
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
60
Traitor
59
Role Models
58
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58
Quantum of Solace
58
City of Ember
57
Secret Life of Bees, The
57
Body of Lies
57
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
57
High School Musical 3: Senior Year
57
Twilight
57
Flash of Genius
56
W.
56
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
55
House Bunny, The
54
Get Smart
53
Quarantine
53
Rocker, The
53
Lucky Ones, The
52
Longshots, The
51
Mamma Mia!
49
Sex Drive
49
Family That Preys, The
49
Soul Men
47
Swing Vote
47
X-Files: I Want to Believe, The
46
Lakeview Terrace
45
Blindness
45
Pride and Glory
43
Eagle Eye
43
Meet Dave
43
Death Race
41
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
39
Nights in Rodanthe
37
Miracle at St. Anna
36
Space Chimps
36
Righteous Kill
36
Fly Me to the Moon
35
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
35
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
35
Mirrors
34
My Best Friend's Girl
31
Max Payne
28
Haunting of Molly Hartley. The
27
Women, The
26
Babylon A.D.
24
Bangkok Dangerous
20
American Carol, An
19
Saw V
15
Disaster Movie
15
College
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

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84
Ballast
84
Momma's Man
84
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83
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83
U2 3D
82
Tell No One
82
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82
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81
Let the Right One In
81
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80
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79
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79
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79
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78
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78
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77
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75
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75
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74
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73
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73
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72
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72
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70
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69
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69
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69
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68
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67
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67
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66
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66
Elegy
66
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64
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64
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64
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64
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63
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63
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63
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63
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62
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62
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62
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62
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62
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61
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61
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61
Universe of Keith Haring
59
Nights and Weekends
59
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58
Splinter
57
Towelhead
57
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57
Sixty Six
56
Save Me
56
Religulous
56
Bottle Shock
55
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55
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55
Ping Pong Playa
54
Humboldt County
54
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54
Good Dick
53
RocknRolla
53
Allah Made Me Funny: Live in Concert
52
First Basket, The
52
Virtual JFK: Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived
52
Special
51
Morning Light
50
Breakfast with Scot
49
Children of Huang Shi, The
47
How About You
47
Choke
46
Choose Connor
46
Elephant King, The
45
Shoot on Sight
44
Henry Poole is Here
44
Dukes, The
43
Call and Response
43
Tru Loved
43
Gardens of the Night
41
Johnny Got His Gun
41
Cthulhu
40
Igor
40
Other End of the Line, The
40
Passengers
37
Forever Strong
34
Otto; or Up with Dead People
33
My Name Is Bruce
32
Repo! The Genetic Opera
31
Hounddog
30
Guitar, The
28
Fireproof
27
House of the Sleeping Beauties
27
Lake City
26
Everybody Wants to Be Italian
26
Filth and Wisdom
xx
Dostana
xx
Phoebe in Wonderland
xx
All of Us
xx
Matador, The
xx
Billy: The Early Years
xx
Roadside Romeo
xx
B.O.H.I.C.A.
xx
Eden Lake
xx
Just Buried
xx
Beer for My Horses
xx
Mary
xx
Lower Learning
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Afterglow
Sony Pictures Classics
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for sexuality and some language
Starring
Nick Nolte,
Julie Christie,
Lara Flynn Boyle,
Jonny Lee Miller,
Jay Underwood,
Domini Blythe,
Yves Corbeil,
and
Alan Fawcett
Set in the city of Montreal, Alan Rudolph's romantic comedy-drama Afterglow paints a wryly comic portrait of two modern marriages drifting toward the rocks. (Sony Pictures Classics)
| GENRE(S): |
Comedy
|
Drama
|
Romance
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Alan Rudolph
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Alan Rudolph
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: October 14, 2003
Video: March 16, 1999
Theatrical: December 26, 1997
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
113 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
Nominated, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Christie), 70th Annual Academy Awards; Best Female Lead (Christie), 1998 Independent Spirit Awards; Best Actress (Christie), 1998 National Society of Film Critics Awards; Best Actress (Christie), 1997 New York Film Critics Circle Awards

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
91
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
Romantic comedies usually strike one or two moods, but in Afterglow, the writer-director Alan Rudolph runs through rainbows of feeling in a single scene.

90
Variety
Emanuel Levy
Followers of Alan Rudolph's career will rejoice at his latest effort, Afterglow, an incredibly and incurably romantic comedy-drama that most perceptively dissects the delicate imbalances of two very modern but very different marriages.

80
Dallas Observer
Jimmy Fowler
Although Afterglow bears the lyrical slow-zooms, tracking shots, and idle character development Rudolph learned while working as an associate director on such Altman classics as Nashville (where he first met Christie), it's safe to say that much of the film's strong critical reception is due to the director's showcasing Christie's undiminished movie-star grace so reverently.

80
Empire
Simon Braund
Proceedings are further distinguished by Christie who is simply outstanding in a fiercely demanding role. It's an utterly absorbing performance and the keystone of a film which could, with some justification, be labelled a small masterpiece.

80
LA Weekly
F. X. Feeney
It's a first-rate chamber piece for actors, but Julie Christie brings a particularly layered depth to what could have been a very flat role; a combination of bereaved mother and castaway wife. Her torment and her intermittent joys are so fully communicated that they anchor the film.

80
The New York Times
Elvis Mitchell
Even after the film's last half-hour descends into a silly season, Mr. Rudolph writes and directs with obvious affection for his characters and with a deep knowledge of whatever makes them tick.

80
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Nathan Rabin
Afterglow gets off to a weak start—and it's occasionally hampered by stilted dialogue and cutesy conceits; Nolte's character is named Lucky Mann—but it is nevertheless a strong, frequently touching film that benefits from a pair of brilliant performances by Nolte and Christie.

75
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
While these may not be the most unusual themes to fashion into a motion picture, Rudolph's atypical approach to the characters and their situations makes for an intriguing, if not always pleasant, movie.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
Ruthe Stein
Mate swapping is so '70s. But Alan Rudolph, who wrote and directed Afterglow, avoids making it seem dated by presenting the menage a quatre as accidental.

75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The plot to this point could be the stuff of soap opera, but there's always something askew in an Alan Rudolph film, unexpected notes and touches that maintain a certain ironic distance while permitting painful flashes of human nature to burst through.

75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Nick Nolte gives a superb performance and Julie Christie is positively incandescent.

75
New York Daily News
Dave Kehr
At his best, as he is here, Rudolph is always able to locate the emotional reality inside the dream. [26Dec1997 Pg53]
70
Newsweek
Andrea C. Basora
As a character study, the film is sensitive and precise, but the weak plot often flounders. Ultimately, Rudolph is a master at conveying mood, and gives Afterglow a melancholy feel that wisely never gives in to total despair.

67
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
The film itself tends to wander as it pokes around uneasily for its tone. Yet this is also, undeniably, the source of much of the film's charm. Afterglow bathes the screen with a warm amber light.

63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
Despite his flair for trenchant dialogue, nicely complemented by Mark Isham's bluesy jazz score, Rudolph whets our appetite but then fails to deliver. The picture limps to its ending and leaves us with nothing to hold onto.

60
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Julie Christie is glorious, and that's most of what you need to know about this slight, loosely structured and self-consciously ironic soap opera in which two couples -- one young and troubled, the other older but hardly wiser -- get themselves into a series of fine messes.

60
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Writer-director Alan Rudolph has been remaking his own romantic comedy-dramas for so long now that even when he gives us two couples instead of one or substitutes Montreal for Seattle--both of which he does here--the film still comes out feeling the same.

60
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Afterglow may not bestow Julie Christie with the hip imprimatur of a Travolta-style comeback. But the British actress coyly and elegantly updates the siren-ish presence she exuded in "Darling," "Far From the Madding Crowd," "Petulia," "The Go-Between" and even "Shampoo." [16Jan1998 Pg N.32]
60
Time
Richard Schickel
Christie has already won prizes for the knowing weariness of her performance, and Flynn Boyle probably deserves some for her ferociously stated frustrations. But their clarity can't quite cut through the thickness of the film's air or compensate for the wooziness it induces.

50
USA Today
Mike Clark
Were this movie a naval battle, it would be Lord Nelson vs. Judd Nelson, so decisively do the older actors knock the younger off the screen. [26Dec1997 Pg03.D]
50
San Francisco Examiner
Walter Addiego
The comedy-drama is worth seeing for Christie's performance as a former B-actress married to a philandering handyman. She radiates a mature sexuality that's a rare treat on screen these days, and when the camera strays from her, you want to reach over and turn it back.

40
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
Afterglow is a lazy river of a movie that chooses beauty over sense and rhythm over reason. It goes nowhere slowly. [16Jan1998 Pg B.06]

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