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34
10,000 B.C.
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31
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53
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55
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33
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93
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64
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36
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54
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93
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79
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76
Shine a Light
73
Kung Fu Panda
71
Horton Hears a Who!
69
Redbelt
67
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
64
Wanted
62
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The
61
Stop Loss
61
Incredible Hulk, The
58
Mist, The
57
Forbidden Kingdom, The
57
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
55
Street Kings
55
Nim's Island
55
Baby Mama
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
54
Get Smart
53
Sex and the City: The Movie
49
Hancock
48
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
47
Strangers, The
44
Ruins, The
41
Drillbit Taylor
37
Made of Honor
37
Shutter
37
Speed Racer
36
College Road Trip
36
What Happens in Vegas...
35
Jumper
34
Happening, The
34
10,000 B.C.
33
Superhero Movie
31
Deception
24
Love Guru, The
22
Postal
xx
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
xx
Mamma Mia!
xx
Dark Knight, The
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

83
Alexandra
80
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76
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47
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80
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59
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55
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70
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49
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Chop Shop
83
Chris & Don. A Love Story
78
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52
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73
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62
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51
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86
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63
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55
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69
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74
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63
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54
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70
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79
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62
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37
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64
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66
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55
Without the King
72
Woman on the Beach
64
XXY
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75
Young@Heart
86
Up the Yangtze
86
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
84
My Winnipeg
84
Edge of Heaven, The
83
Chop Shop
83
Paranoid Park
83
Alexandra
83
U2 3D
83
Chris & Don. A Love Story
82
Last Mistress, The
81
Tell No One
80
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
80
Band's Visit, The
79
Reprise
79
Encounters at the End of the World
79
Visitor, The
78
Counterfeiters, The
76
Beauty in Trouble
76
Shotgun Stories
75
Young@Heart
75
Mongol
74
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
72
Woman on the Beach
72
Priceless
72
Tuya's Marriage
72
Surfwise
71
To the Limit
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
71
Roman de gare
70
Standard Operating Procedure
70
Trumbo
70
Love Songs
70
Caramel
69
Go-Getter, The
69
Operation Filmmaker
69
Jellyfish
68
Kabluey
68
Heartbeat Detector
68
Honeydripper
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
66
Son of Rambow
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
64
Married Life
64
Dreams with Sharp Teeth
64
XXY
64
Water Lilies
64
Fall, The
63
Foot Fist Way, The
63
Gunnin for that #1 Spot
63
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
62
Wackness, The
62
Stuck
62
Expired
62
Kiss the Bride
61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
61
On the Rumba River
60
Fugitive Pieces
60
Brick Lane
60
Jihad for Love, A
59
Blind Mountain
57
Flawless
56
Unknown Woman
56
Then She Found Me
56
Sangre de mi sangre
55
Quid Pro Quo
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
55
Irina Palm
55
Bra Boys
55
Without the King
54
Tracey Fragments, The
53
Mister Lonely
52
Diminished Capacity
52
Elsa & Fred
52
Mother of Tears, The
52
My Blueberry Nights
51
Finding Amanda
51
Promotion, The
51
Savage Grace
49
Children of Huang Shi, The
47
Bella
45
Full Grown Men
38
Life Before Her Eyes, The
37
War, Inc.
34
Holding Trevor
33
Miss Conception
30
Meet Bill
29
Red Roses and Petrol
xx
Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Asylum
Paramount Classics
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for strong sexuality, some violence and brief language
Starring
Natasha Richardson,
Ian McKellen,
Hugh Bonneville,
and
Marton Csokas
Set in 1950's England, this tale of erotic obsession tells the story of Stella Raphael (Richardson), a restless, beautiful woman who desperately desires to find in romantic love the one thing that will change everything. (Paramount Classics)
| GENRE(S): |
Foreign
|
Romance
|
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Patrick Marber
Chrysanthy Balis
Patrick McGrath (novel)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
David Mackenzie
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: January 17, 2006
Theatrical: August 12, 2005
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
90 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
UK / Ireland |
Prize of the Guild of German Art House Cinemas, 2005 Berlin International Film Festival

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
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Paula Nechak
A film that takes you by surprise, refusing to relinquish its grim, fascinating hold. Better yet, it has crept up on us without much advance promotional fanfare. The less known about its twists, the better.

80
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
David Mackenzie, who directed the remarkable Scottish drama "Young Adam" (2003), delivers another masterful, disturbing tale of illicit passion, erotic obsession, and sudden death set in the 1950s.

80
Salon.com
Andrew O'Hehir
It's one of the year's signature film experiences.

75
Miami Herald
Connie Ogle
The film, with its uniformly terrific cast, stern Gothic overtones and steady but measured pacing, is a crisp, old-fashioned delight, eschewing cheap tricks for repeated tiny pricks of unease that work up to a continuous gnawing dread.

75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Patrick McGrath's novel provides a solid and suspenseful story, even if it loses much of its bite in Mackenzie's hands.

67
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
The delectably atmospheric Asylum remains gothic to its morally maggoty core.

63
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
A classy unintentional hoot.

63
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
Asylum is as dark as Dracula's mood on a moonless night, and people suffering from depression should think twice before opening the coffin. This thing would put off Mary Poppins.

63
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
Natasha Richardson glides through the film version of Patrick McGrath's novel Asylum in various states of fear, desire and undress, a swan among Yorkshire frumps.

60
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Keith Phipps
Mackenzie's film could almost use one or two lurid touches in place of its stately distance. Then again, a more stylized approach might have allowed less room for Richardson, whose unsparing performance makes other elements almost irrelevant.

60
Empire
Anna Smith
It may not be as daring as Young Adam, but this is a well-performed adaptation of an absorbing melodrama.

50
Slate
David Edelstein
McKellen's actions are queerly unpredictable (pun intended), but every plot other twist is portentously foreshadowed.

50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Alternately tedious, cliched and unintentionally funny.

50
San Francisco Chronicle
Jonathan Curiel
Mostly meets expectations.

50
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Nothing wrecks the mood of a high-toned British period piece about erotic obsession quicker than an unintentional laugh. In which case, prepare for Asylum to be derailed by snorts in all the wrong places.

50
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
I hope to God that Patrick McGrath's novel Asylum, about a bunch of repressed Brits manipulating the stuffing out of one another in a 1950s psychiatric hospital, is better than the shallowly competent exercise in nastiness that British director David Mackenzie and screenwriter Patrick Marber have made of it.

50
Variety
Eddie Cockrell
Overly plotted erotic drama.

50
Village Voice
Jessica Winter
Mackenzie and Marber opt for an anonymous viewpoint of clinical detachment, which generates about the same psychodramatic tension as reading the "DSM-IV."

50
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
It's an overwrought Gothic melodrama that has a nice first act before it descends into shameless absurdity.

50
The New Yorker
Anthony Lane
Much of the dialogue is scissor-sharp--you would expect no less of Marber, who wrote "Closer"--but he is up against blunt and obvious material.

50
Dallas Observer
Robert Wilonsky
The best you can say of Asylum is that it plays like a topless "Twilight Zone."

50
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
The strong cast keeps the material from descending into sheer smutty tripe, but it's an uphill battle and in the end, not really worth their considerable efforts.

50
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
McKellen, Csokas, Bonneville and particularly Richardson are so good and convincing in their characterizations that you can almost overlook the increasingly unbelievable twists that Asylum takes. Almost.

40
The Hollywood Reporter
Kirk Honeycutt
A psychological thriller without bothering much with psychology. Come to think of it, the thrills are pretty much missing, as well.

40
The New York Times
Manohla Dargis
Dreary, claustrophobic drama.

40
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
It's too over-the-top, too lurid and at times simply too silly to represent any kind of valid commentary on the repressive '50s or the way in which institutions tend to destroy rather than cure. "Far From Heaven," which nailed '50s angst to perfection, Asylum could not be farther from.

40
Wall Street Journal
Joanne Kaufman
Ms. Richardson and Mr. Csokas are sunk mainly by the script (it's the handiwork of "Closer" playwright Patrick Marber and Chrysanthy Balis) and by their complete lack of chemistry. Still, their performances do them no credit.
30
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
It's just so darn annoying to watch this attractive, seemingly smart woman throw her life away for some (admittedly rather hot) sex in the greenhouse.

10
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
Shouldn't fool viewers into thinking it's anything but a pseudo-artsy piece of tripe.


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