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Richard Corliss, Time: FAIR "[John] Sayles is like a traveler with a voracious appetite for exotic places, and when he returns with accounts of his exploits, his listeners go numb and nod off.... Sayles' fondness for narrative clichés works for him in the more intimates moments [but] the pot of intrigue takes ages to boil, and the cook refuses to turn up the heat." (Read the full review...) 1,280 words, 08/19/11 Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: VERY GOOD (cg) "...combustible filmmaking, something that stays with you long after the final credits. In an entertainment universe of escapism and short attention spans, 'Amigo' is a rousing antidote and a cause for celebration." (Read the full review...) 308 words, 08/18/11 Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com: VERY GOOD (cg) "...politically aware, occasionally melodramatic and maintains a certain intimacy despite sprawling across multiple characters and stories." (Read the full review...) 1,511 words, 09/16/11 James Rocchi, MSN Movies: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...feels more florid and earnest -- a little too eager to make friends -- than Sayles' other films, but it also feels more passionate and provocative than 99% of everything else out there." (Read the full review...) 739 words, 08/16/11
A.O. Scott, New York Times: EXCELLENT "Though Mr. Sayles's eye is on the present, his storytelling methods are sturdy and old-fashioned. 'Amigo' is a well-carpentered narrative, fast-moving and emphatic, stepping nimbly from gravity to good humor." (Read the full review...) 909 words, 08/19/11 Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: EXCELLENT (cg) "...an engrossing, perceptive, supremely humane drama about imperialism and loyalty." (Read the full review...) 144 words, 08/19/11 Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: GOOD "...sheds welcome light on a long-suppressed episode in American foreign policy.... Uneven but ultimately affecting... the contemporary resonance of this portrait of racism and war, however obvious, is fully felt." (Read the full review...) 241 words, 08/19/11 Lou Lumenick, New York Post: MODERATE (cg) "...has its heart in the right place, but its approach to complex issues is too simplistic to win over unconverted minds." (Read the full review...) 183 words, 08/19/11 Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: VERY GOOD (cg) "...politically aware, occasionally melodramatic and maintains a certain intimacy despite sprawling across multiple characters and stories." (Read the full review...) 1,511 words, 09/16/11 J. Hoberman, Village Voice: VERY GOOD "...aspires more to educate than entertain, but it's no less engrossing for that.... Sayles's politics are impeccable... His filmmaking is highly functional... Dialogue is blunt... 'Amigo' is intelligently rip-roaring, a thoughtful action film, a teachable moment." (Read the full review...) 698 words, 08/17/11 Mike D'Angelo, LA Weekly: WEAK "...means to use this forgotten chapter of [Filipino] history to make pointed statements about our current adventures in the Middle East. Trouble is, it does so entirely via earnest platitudes and schematic irony." (Read the full review...) 139 words, 11/04/10
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: WEAK (cg) "...so heavy-handed - and its execution so crude - that by the time the movie winds its way to a predictable but uninvolving conclusion, nobody will be listening anymore." (Read the full review...) 577 words, 09/02/11 Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...would make a good springboard for a classroom debate, but it's wooden filmmaking." (Read the full review...) 107 words, 09/16/11 Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: EXCELLENT (cg) "...maybe it's not one of [John Sayles'] best films, but it is a good one, highly enjoyable, if a little too obvious a metaphor for American involvement in practically every war... a compelling look at history and its continuing influence." (Read the full review...) 596 words, 10/07/11 Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: VERY GOOD (cg) "...if this movie makes you think of noncombatants in Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan, and the collateral damage they can become... well, that's as Sayles would prefer it." (Read the full review...) 558 words, 08/19/11 Walter Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: MODERATE (cg) "...a heavy-handed attack on U.S. imperialism with little to compensate in the way of character interest and genuine drama." (Read the full review...) 284 words, 08/19/11 John Hartl, Seattle Times: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...engrossing... Sayles gives [his cast] opportunities to do something memorable, and they do." (Read the full review...) 451 words, 09/02/11 Marc Mohan, Portland Oregonian: MODERATE (cg) "...there's no real sense of the atmosphere of a sticky, buggy, fetid jungle, and no intensity to a story that cries out for a sense of moral outrage." (Read the full review...) 295 words, 09/02/11 Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: VERY GOOD (cg) "...a Sayles movie -- intelligent, thoughtful, deeply resonant and wearing its political heart on its sleeve -- we know that determining what is holy is a tricky business." (Read the full review...) 513 words, 11/14/11
J. Hoberman, Village Voice: VERY GOOD "...aspires more to educate than entertain, but it's no less engrossing for that.... Sayles's politics are impeccable... His filmmaking is highly functional... Dialogue is blunt... 'Amigo' is intelligently rip-roaring, a thoughtful action film, a teachable moment." (Read the full review...) 698 words, 08/17/11 Mike D'Angelo, LA Weekly: WEAK "...means to use this forgotten chapter of [Filipino] history to make pointed statements about our current adventures in the Middle East. Trouble is, it does so entirely via earnest platitudes and schematic irony." (Read the full review...) 139 words, 11/04/10 Tasha Robinson, AV Club: VERY GOOD (cg) "...a beautifully shot, beautifully acted, rich piece that whispers its messages rather than shouting them. Sometimes that makes them hard to hear, but better adult subtlety than childish obviousness." (Read the full review...) 469 words, 08/18/11 Michelle Orange, Movieline: MODERATE (cg) "Though Sayles seems to be setting up a study of what it means to be moral during wartime, the theme is too complex to be developed through the film's series of studied, expository two-shot conversations." (Read the full review...) 794 words, 08/18/11 Fernando F. Croce, Slant: MODERATE (cg) "...finds the auteur [John Sayles] stumbling in the direction of Robert Redford's bloodless lectures ('Lions for Lambs,' 'The Conspirator')... frustratingly sacrifices cinematic expressiveness and human nuance in favor of anachronistic, on-the-nose parallels." (Read the full review...) 553 words, 08/15/11
A.O. Scott, New York Times: EXCELLENT "Though Mr. Sayles's eye is on the present, his storytelling methods are sturdy and old-fashioned. 'Amigo' is a well-carpentered narrative, fast-moving and emphatic, stepping nimbly from gravity to good humor." (Read the full review...) 909 words, 08/19/11 Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: GOOD "...sheds welcome light on a long-suppressed episode in American foreign policy.... Uneven but ultimately affecting... the contemporary resonance of this portrait of racism and war, however obvious, is fully felt." (Read the full review...) 241 words, 08/19/11
Joe Leydon, Daily Variety: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "Admirably sincere but bluntly simplistic... John Sayles comb[s] through a nearly forgotten chapter of history -- specifically, the American occupation of the Philippines, circa 1900 -- for thought-provoking parallels to recent misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan." (Read the full review...) 643 words, 09/18/10 Ray Bennett, Hollywood Reporter: GOOD "Good looking, atmospheric and steeped in the culture of the rural Philippines of the time.... a familiar tale, but the setting is different, and [John] Sayles tells it with his usual cinematic vigor and attention to small detail." (Read the full review...) 613 words, 10/15/10 Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: GOOD "...sheds welcome light on a long-suppressed episode in American foreign policy.... Uneven but ultimately affecting... the contemporary resonance of this portrait of racism and war, however obvious, is fully felt." (Read the full review...) 241 words, 08/19/11 Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: VERY GOOD (cg) "Captured with [director John Sayles's] typical felicity for character, mood and historical breadth... an original work that wields his fascination with personalities and history to a rambling and chaotic exploration of caste, class and color." (Read the full review...) 812 words, 09/16/10 A.O. Scott, New York Times: EXCELLENT "Though Mr. Sayles's eye is on the present, his storytelling methods are sturdy and old-fashioned. 'Amigo' is a well-carpentered narrative, fast-moving and emphatic, stepping nimbly from gravity to good humor." (Read the full review...) 909 words, 08/19/11
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