|
| 21. |
|
03/28/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...the plotting is ruthlessly streamlined and efficient, leaving little room for ponderous sermonizing or leaden comic relief as the pic zips from one ordeal to the next..." |
| 22. |
|
03/21/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Whatever the film's failings, its central message is a fine one, and though it's a resolutely paint-by-numbers affair, it never really professes to be otherwise." |
| 23. |
|
01/27/12 |
Poor |
 "Shrill, unfocused and irregularly attempting a deep New Jersey accent that seems destined for lasting infamy, Heigl acts with an almost standoffish lack of conviction." |
| 24. |
|
12/06/11 |
Weak |
 "...aggressively agreeable mini-stories spliced together and spit out with lawnmower-style eloquence... The effect is like being crushed under an avalanche of throw pillows." |
| 25. |
|
11/10/11 |
Poor |
 "...the pic's general stupidity, careless direction and reliance on a single-joke premise that was never really funny to begin with are only the most obvious of its problems." |
| 26. |
|
10/05/11 |
Good |
 "...it's Hart's gimlet-eyed take on his own rather unfunny troubles -- a drug-addict father, a recently deceased mother, a divorce -- that mark him as a funnyman worthy of attention." |
| 27. |
|
09/22/11 |
Weak |
 "...a haggardly slapdash 'Bourne Identity' knockoff, never rising above the level of basic competence." |
| 28. |
|
09/18/11 |
Good |
 "...a surprisingly solid, earnest family pic, based very loosely on the story of Winter, the first dolphin to be successfully fitted with a prosthetic tail." |
| 29. |
|
09/13/11 |
Weak |
 "...a film with few notions of its own... it becomes merely an abrasive potboiler, still viscerally unpleasant but no longer meaningfully so." |
| 30. |
|
09/10/11 |
Poor |
 "...one of the most astonishingly unfunny films of this or any other year.... applies a brain-dead kidpic mentality to hard-R subject matter." |
| 31. |
|
08/29/11 |
Moderate |
 "...a pleasantly passable Christian sports parable delivered as a sort of Texan golfer's version of 'The Karate Kid.' " |
| 32. |
|
08/19/11 |
Poor |
 "...assembled with minimal imagination or effort.... various action setpieces simply come and go, without much in the way of mounting tension or coherent throughlines..." |
| 33. |
|
06/20/11 |
Moderate |
 "...can't help but play like a poorer cousin to 'Bridesmaids,' with its smattering of femme-centric gross-out humor melding into its scenester single-mother storyline..." |
| 34. |
|
05/23/11 |
Weak |
 "...the rote professionalism on display verges on cynicism, and despite some occasional sparks, this ranks as a considerable disappointment." |
| 35. |
|
05/12/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...almost brings to mind Umberto Eco's famous description of 'Casablanca' as a hundred different cliches celebrating a reunion." |
| 36. |
|
05/10/11 |
Weak |
 "...a borderline unintelligible, scattershot attempt... certainly the only film in theaters that features Snoop Dogg comparing himself to Alfred Hitchcock." |
| 37. |
|
04/18/11 |
Excellent |
 "Astounding wildlife footage is given a kid-friendly narrative hook, but never overly cuddlified... a remarkably cohesive piece of work." |
| 38. |
|
04/13/11 |
Weak |
 "Offering a fitfully funny sitcom plot clumsily stretched to 90 minutes, then goosed with increasingly tiresome doses of smuttiness and political incorrectness..." |
| 39. |
|
04/04/11 |
Outstanding |
 "Expertly applying a microcosmic perspective to an enormous issue... a heartbreakingly lived-in portrait of three Afghanistan-bound soldiers from the same tiny Michigan town." |
| 40. |
|
04/01/11 |
Weak |
 "...seems to expect its audience to actually keep track of its poorly balanced blitz of subplots.... The average viewer can only chuckle uncomprehendingly for so long." |
