Other Crap

This is the week when top-notch directors fell from grace. The reviewers call Where the Truth Lies the worst film from Atom Egoyan in many, many years, possibly the worst ever, and the links below lead to films which may be the lifetime worst from Cameron Crowe and Tony Scott.

This week's movies (NY,LA only): Where The Truth Lies - 29% positive reviews. If there is any bigger Atom Egoyan fan than I am, it would be the reviewer James Berardinelli, and even he had harsh words for this film, as cited below:

• "Welcome to the lurid world of Atom Egoyan, B-grade schlock filmmaker. Until seeing Where the Truth Lies, I never would have considered applying this title to Egoyan, the eclectic filmmaker of some of the '90s most compelling features (Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter, to name a pair). But the evidence speaks for itself. Where the Truth Lies is a potboiler - a whodunnit/whydunnit filled to the brim with genre clichés. It's compelling in the way many B-movies are - cheap, sleazy, and lacking the depth we have come to associate with this director. The difference between a good potboiler and a bad one comes down to tone, and Egoyan chooses the wrong approach. Where the Truth Lies is slow and dreamy when it should be light and self-mocking. This is Brian De Palma material. The plotline is pure cheese down to the incessant voiceover and needlessly explicit exposition. To add proverbial insult to injury, not only is the movie poorly written, but it is at times boring."