|
| 1. |
|
09/02/12 |
Excellent |
 "...impressive... Rama Burshtein is keen to show that women in the Haredi community have a voice that's valued, and Shira is the perfect vehicle." |
| 2. |
|
08/31/12 |
Excellent |
 "...a winning, handsomely crafted story with a charismatic lead guaranteed to charm.... young thesp Waad Mohammed captivates with a palpable confidence..." |
| 3. |
|
05/06/08 |
Excellent |
 "...slyly sardonic... an overarching concept that lifts these jokes into uncharted areas of existential, even religious thinking..." |
| 4. |
|
09/07/12 |
Very Good |
 "...an eye-opening, deeply human look at an impoverished family whose rudimentary living conditions are a sharp riposte to the illusion of China's economic boom." |
| 5. |
|
01/14/11 |
Very Good |
 "...one of the genre's most dazzling recent examples.... will undoubtedly confound some viewers with its jam-packed narrative and jargon-heavy dialogue..." |
| 6. |
|
10/15/10 |
Very Good |
 "...a bleak, clear-eyed look at the murky heart of human nature.... writer/director/star Park Jung-bum turns liberal-humanist clichés about discrimination inside out into a character and social study far more cynical and thought-provoking." |
| 7. |
|
10/14/10 |
Very Good |
 "A must for the mutt-obsessed... a skillfully told man-dog love story." |
| 8. |
|
03/18/10 |
Very Good |
 "Alternately straightforward and impressionistic.... the quietly inquisitive lensing picks up textures and details that reveal as much as the spoken word." |
| 9. |
|
03/06/09 |
Very Good |
 "Heiskanen is a revelation as the put-upon wife, and the cinematography (some by Troell) effortlessly transports us back 100 years." |
| 10. |
|
09/08/08 |
Good |
 "...may strike some as overly whimsical but should delight the filmmaker's many fans." |
| 11. |
|
05/14/11 |
Good |
 "...amiable, stylish, low-key picture should strike chords with fans of filmmaking where performances are restrained, information is withheld and catharsis is avoided." |
| 12. |
|
06/17/10 |
Good (Not Great) |
 " 'Winter's Bone' is in no mad rush, but stick with it. The Sundance winner's slow-burn approach creates some powerful tension." |
| 13. |
|
11/12/10 |
Moderate |
 "...the human side of the movie sputters, with barely functional back-stories and power-jostling dialogue that attach a patina of human drama to the locomotive action." |
| 14. |
|
11/13/09 |
Moderate |
 "It's as if writer/director Troy Duffy threw every idea he had at the wall, creating a very messy wall." |
| 15. |
|
07/08/09 |
Moderate |
 "Stereotypes abound, and the soundtrack is annoyingly wallpapered with campily deployed hymns, but the perfs, guileless good intentions and competent assembly prove diverting enough." |
| 16. |
|
04/27/09 |
Moderate |
 "...at least 20 minutes too long. By the time Fleck gets to the final stop, Mali, the film, directed by Sascha Paladino (a half-brother of Fleck), has worn out its welcome." |
| 17. |
|
01/30/09 |
Moderate |
 "...tells us just about everything we might want to know about her - except why she did what she did. That important information will have to wait for another film." |
| 18. |
|
05/08/08 |
Moderate |
 "...it certainly looks good, even while the pivotal tragedy is unfolding amid an orgy of underwater shots, careless youth and unresolved resentments. 'Newcastle' is a bit of a soap which, when combined with this much water, tends to wind up a bit thick." |
| 19. |
|
01/22/10 |
Fair |
 "...slick film builds its case methodically, relying on globe-trotting field studies and interviews with a number of prominent AIDS researchers and activists to build legitimacy and to also, it seems, reveal damning contradictions." |
| 20. |
|
09/09/12 |
Weak |
 "...amateurish and ill-defined.... Talking heads provide some valuable commentary, drowned out by an avalanche of movie clips seemingly sourced from mediocre videos." |
