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82
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49
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53
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36
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71
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70
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93
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64
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47
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54
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93
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82
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79
Iron Man
78
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
73
Kung Fu Panda
71
Tropic Thunder
71
Horton Hears a Who!
70
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
64
Wanted
64
Pineapple Express
63
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The
61
Incredible Hulk, The
58
House Bunny, The
57
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
54
Get Smart
53
Sex and the City: The Movie
53
Longshots, The
52
Rocker, The
51
Mamma Mia!
50
Step Brothers
49
Hancock
47
Swing Vote
47
X-Files: I Want to Believe, The
43
Meet Dave
36
Space Chimps
36
Fly Me to the Moon
35
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
35
Death Race
34
Happening, The
33
Mirrors
31
Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The
24
Love Guru, The
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

85
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39
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66
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73
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xx
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61
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55
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xx
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47
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80
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
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75
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55
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61
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78
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80
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78
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52
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81
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56
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71
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81
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83
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86
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79
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61
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53
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66
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64
XXY
75
Young@Heart
90
Momma's Man
89
Man on Wire
86
Up the Yangtze
86
Edge of Heaven, The
86
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
85
Alexandra
83
U2 3D
83
Frozen River
81
Trouble the Water
81
Tell No One
80
Encounters at the End of the World
80
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
80
Order of Myths, The
79
Visitor, The
78
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
78
Last Mistress, The
75
Young@Heart
75
Boy A
74
Mongol
73
Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer
73
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
72
Priceless
72
I.O.U.S. A
71
To the Limit
71
Transsiberian
71
Roman de gare
70
Love Songs
68
Girl Cut in Two, A
67
Jellyfish
66
Patti Smith: Dream of Life
66
American Teen
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
64
Brideshead Revisited
64
XXY
64
Fall, The
63
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
62
Elegy
62
Kabluey
62
Girls Rock!
62
In Search of a Midnight Kiss
61
Bustin' Down the Door
61
Wackness, The
61
Baghead
61
Man Named Pearl, A
61
Red
61
Brick Lane
58
Hamlet 2
56
Bottle Shock
56
Then She Found Me
55
Beautiful Losers
55
Bra Boys
54
CSNY: Déjà Vu
53
What We Do Is Secret
52
Elsa & Fred
52
Sixty Six
51
Savage Grace
50
Last Stop for Paul
49
Children of Huang Shi, The
47
Before the Rains
46
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
44
Henry Poole is Here
39
America the Beautiful
25
Hell Ride
xx
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xx
Bachna Ae Haseeno
xx
Cthulhu
xx
Beer for My Horses
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Insomnia
Warner Bros.
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for language, some violence and brief nudity
Starring
Al Pacino,
Robin Williams,
Hilary Swank,
Maura Tierney,
Martin Donovan,
Nicky Katt,
Paul Dooley,
and
Jonathan Jackson
From acclaimed director Christopher Nolan ("Memento") comes the story of Will Dormer (Pacino), a veteran LAPD detective who travels to a small Alaskan town with his partner Hap (Donovan) to investigate the disturbing murder of a seventeen year-old girl. (Warner Bros.)
| GENRE(S): |
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Hillary Seitz
Nikolaj Frobenius (1997 screenplay)
Erik Skjoldbjærg (1997 screenplay)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Christopher Nolan
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: October 15, 2002
Video: October 15, 2002
Theatrical: May 24, 2002
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
116 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
This is the English-language remake of the 1997 Norwegian film, "Insomnia," starring Stellan Skarsgard.

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...
100
USA Today
Mike Clark
A perfect fit between filmmaker (Memento's Christopher Nolan) and material (Norway's same-name psycho-chiller from 1997), this remake gets all there is to get out of a peculiar premise with promise.

100
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
A rare case of an American remake that actually improves on a European movie.

100
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
It's taut, tense and terrific.

100
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Something to treasure: a thriller whose style, structure and rhythms are so integrated with the story, you cannot separate them.

100
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
About as good a movie as you could have hoped for. Really good. Hole-in-one good.

91
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Superb psychological thriller.

90
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
The anomalous proliferation of scenic beauty gives Mr. Nolan irony to play with, and he uses it spectacularly. The director and his gifted cinematographer, Wally Pfister, are clearly turned on by all this wasted beauty.

90
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Insomnia shows an equally welcome ability: a gift of creating intelligent, engrossing popular entertainment.

90
Variety
Todd McCarthy
Gripping, highly dramatic thriller that more than confirms the distinctive talent of young Brit helmer Christopher Nolan.

88
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Unlike most remakes, the Nolan "Insomnia" is not a pale retread, but a re-examination of the material, like a new production of a good play.

88
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
Less gloriously showy than "Memento," but it proves you can still craft fine art under the auspices of a big studio.

83
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
Despite the cat-and-mouse games between cop and criminal, this is less a battle of wills than one man's battle for his own soul. Nolan bravely treads where few American films dare to delve -- into the world of ambivalence and ambiguity -- and emerges with a compelling portrait.

80
Slate
David Edelstein
Sensationally made and in patches pretty nerve-jangling.

80
LA Weekly
John Powers
Nolan gets his two larger-than-life leads playing off each other in the same frame (which is something Michael Mann couldn't pull off in "Heat's" pairing of Pacino and De Niro) and coaxes a melancholy turn from Pacino, an icon of angst whose real strength has always been his capacity for eloquent silence.

80
Newsweek
David Ansen
It might, however, have been a greater film if its villain were as compelling as its flawed hero. Williams is effectively creepy, but next to Pacinos rich, multileveled portrait he seems one-note, and one weve seen before.
80
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott Tobias
Nolan reverses the emphasis -- no surprise from the director of a plot-driven film like "Memento" -- but achieves the same end, bringing Hollywood noir under the harsh glare of permanent daylight.

80
Village Voice
Dennis Lim
Nolan, withholding master of disorientation in his previous non-linear films, allows far too easy access into the psychic tumult of Al Pacino's cop and Robin Williams's prime suspect.

80
Salon.com
Andrew O'Hehir
Like the best thrillers it dives below the ordered surface of the genre into the coldest waters of the individual soul, where Hitchcock and David Lynch and Dostoyevsky have ventured. Does Christopher Nolan belong in that company? Not quite yet, but he's on the way.

80
New Times (L.A.)
Andy Klein
What Nolan does accomplish here that we haven't seen from him before is staging a few horrifyingly effective suspense set pieces -- one of which, in particular, is likely to stay with you for a long time.
78
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Nolan creates an effective thriller, although he keeps his stylistic pyrotechnics to a minimum.

75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
In the ongoing case of the fan versus the movies, the evidence suggests that a good policier is damn hard to find. So when you come across one that can boast a decent script, taut direction and a single superb performance, there's no need for prolonged deliberation.

75
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
Under the relentless glare of the Midnight Sun, the only darkness is in the hearts and actions of the characters.

75
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
Pacino is masterful as the sharp-witted, seen-it-all detective.
75
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
Has to be appreciated simply for doing its job, for being the only thriller I've seen recently that made me wonder how my knuckles ended up in my mouth.

75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
With Insomnia, his third feature, Nolan, 32, has proven himself a precocious master of the thriller, unsettling the audience with a brief image of blood seeping through fabric.

75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
So thoroughly absorbing while it's unfolding that later, when you play the movie back in your head, it's surprising to realize how ordinary it is. That's a testament to Nolan's talent: He's able to make even the hoariest clichés feel fresh.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Haunting psychological drama.

75
Chicago Tribune
Mark Caro
Smart and well-crafted, and it boasts complex characters, effective star turns and evocative photography of a small Alaskan town in summertime, when the sun never sets. It's a solid Hollywood thriller.

70
Film Threat
David Grove
A good movie, atmospheric and sometimes creepy. It grabs us with the premise and holds our attention and doesnt let go, right up to the explosive climax.

70
New York Magazine
Peter Rainer
The best thing about Insomnia is that despite director Christopher Nolan's soft spot for moody-blues obfuscation, he has the good sense to keep his star in practically every shot.

70
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
This one is nowhere near as original -- it's a flawed remake of a fine first feature from Norway -- but "Insomnia" still stands on its own as a thriller with brains and scenic beauty.
70
Chicago Reader
Ted Shen
Pacino is typically excitable but also strangely sad, as if the case could take all he's got; Williams, on the other hand, tries playing against type but still goes over the top.

60
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Nolan's intention was clearly to cast the material in a more conventional Hollywood mold without turning it into namby-pamby nonsense, and he succeeds admirably.

60
The New Yorker
Anthony Lane
In Insomnia, the crunch comes as the hero and his opposite number hook up on a ferry, to discuss what each of them knows about the other. This should be Nolan's big moment, his answer to that quiet, magnificent interlude in Michael Mann's "Heat," when Pacino met De Niro in a coffee shop. -- But Williams and Pacino just don't mesh. [27 May 2002, p.124]
40
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
In this film, Nolan seems overwhelmed by the budget, the egos of the stars, the thinness of the script, and he doesn't impose much personality on the picture. It's all Pacino.

38
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
Nolan pushes the twilight-zone atmosphere so hard that it loses its capacity for mystery. When it's not assaulting us with jolting audiovisual expressions of fatigue, this movie plays like a pedestrian response to David Lynch's effortlessly eerie "Twin Peaks."


The average user rating for this movie is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 49 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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