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| 1. |
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03/11/09 |
Excellent |
 "...a sharp, thoroughly enjoyable exploration of seminal South Los Angeles hip-hop hotspot the Good Life Cafe.... clearly the product of real love, bubbling over with enthusiastic performances and an indelible sense of place." |
| 2. |
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03/13/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...admirably ambitious, an attempt to sculpt an otherworldly, postmodern noir out of gauzy tableaux vivants and fever-dream imagery.... [but] misses the mark..." |
| 3. |
|
03/24/09 |
Very Good |
 "...a deeply strange, breezily existential cocktail of Milan Kundera and Federico Fellini.... unwieldy, overstuffed and at times hopelessly clunky, yet it's also touchingly funny, visually arresting and somehow a consistent joy to watch." |
| 4. |
|
04/20/09 |
Weak |
 "Young helmer Russ Emanuel injects the material with more pizzazz than it deserves, and the cast make the most of paper-thin, unlikeable roles, but no one involved seems to have considered whether they were filming a tale worth telling." |
| 5. |
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05/01/09 |
Fair |
 "...a skin-deep portrait of the adult-film world... scattered and platitudinous, skimming the surface of Michael Grecco's subjects and betraying his high-art aspirations with a shallow E! aesthetic." |
| 6. |
|
05/07/09 |
Poor |
 "...a violent, cartoonish noir... Amazingly, it still manages to be crushingly dull.... strives for grindhouse thrills but lacks the verve and style that made those films so beloved..." |
| 7. |
|
06/12/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Unfashionable, irony-free and only sporadically funny... relies on a strong cast and an underlying sweetness to push its earnest charms... takes a strangely successful detour toward poignancy..." |
| 8. |
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06/19/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...another of Henry Jaglom's amiable, discursive chamber pieces documenting the mild neuroses of the rich and voluble. Breezy and indulgent..." |
| 9. |
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06/19/09 |
Moderate |
 "...a film that wants to be a wry, intimate character study, forced into an unhappy marriage with a big, gimmicky hook.... Emma Stone does most of the film's heavy lifting..." |
| 10. |
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06/26/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Gorgeously shot and ethically problematic... A nearly unrelenting sense of despair is alleviated through the poetic grace of Palmieri and Mosher's camerawork..." |
| 11. |
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06/29/09 |
Poor |
 "...plodding mediocrity.... hits all the requisite beats of the romantic-comedy liturgy with precision, but does so perfunctorily, as though filling out a quota." |
| 12. |
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07/06/09 |
Very Good |
 "...a sly slice-of-life that starts as a random string of events, then moves obliquely but purposefully toward a poignant epiphany.... showcases an original young filmmaking talent coming into his own." |
| 13. |
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08/18/09 |
Fair |
 "...a relatively unimaginative take on the proceedings, coupled with occasionally bizarre stereoscopic work and awkward narration, causes the pic to bail out more often than it soars." |
| 14. |
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09/27/09 |
Fair |
 "Biting off more than he can chew for his first feature, Matthew Scott Krentz proves a skilled composer of individual scenes, capable of wielding a camera with style, yet never assembles these pieces into anything resembling an intelligible film." |
| 15. |
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10/02/09 |
Poor |
 "...a dead-serious, skid-row-set film about homelessness, sexual abuse, incest and the exploitation of immigrants... manages to provide unintentional laughs by the barrel." |
| 16. |
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10/15/09 |
Good |
 "...efficiency is the primary virtue of 'Astro Boy,' a well-oiled CG-animated superhero pic that makes up in competence and vitality what it lacks in originality." |
| 17. |
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10/19/09 |
Poor |
 "...an abrasively unpleasant comedy, whose nauseating visual style and senseless 'Benny Hill'-style editing are perfectly matched for the incompetence of its plotting and the humorlessness of its jokes." |
| 18. |
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10/22/09 |
Moderate |
 "Consisting mostly of handheld footage of characters walking aimlessly and staring off into space, the pic has moments of surprising resonance, yet it's hard to imagine it finding much of an audience." |
| 19. |
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10/26/09 |
Outstanding |
 "...alternately hilarious, insightful and sad, and entirely allergic to sentimentality or easy platitudes.... Filmmaker Niko von Glasow asks serious questions of the participants and makes no bones about his own unceasing anger over his condition." |
| 20. |
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10/28/09 |
Outstanding |
 "...a classy film that only affirms the man's talent.... there's an incredible amount to enjoy here, and the star's fans will be in rapture." |
