|
| 21. |
|
12/10/12 |
Good |
 "...has many thrills, and rather too many spills, but it never sheds its bouquet of mere moonshine.... on balance, honor has been done to Tolkien..." |
| 22. |
|
11/26/12 |
Very Good |
 "...glitters and flares with the urge to renew those things -- limbs, knuckles, lovemaking, and parental bonds -- which are easily fractured..." |
| 23. |
|
11/26/12 |
Very Good |
 "...you feel the juddering impact of low life against the high hopes on which politics and community spirit rely, and it leaves you shaking." |
| 24. |
|
11/12/12 |
Very Good |
 "...a curious beast.... a cramped and ornery affair... As befits a chamber piece, we pass from one chamber to the next..." |
| 25. |
|
10/22/12 |
Fair |
 "...so richly accoutred is the character, and so attentive to nuance is Sean Penn's every move, that Cheyenne smothers the film.... it feels like a terrible fit." |
| 26. |
|
10/22/12 |
Moderate |
 "...it could, and should, turn into a properly divisive film, touching off feuds between the fervid and the splenetic, but one has to ask: does it allow for immersion?" |
| 27. |
|
10/08/12 |
Poor |
 "...a joyless ride, and its frights are too contrived to be surprising... None of this is fair to Ethan Hawke.... somewhere is a much less foolish film with Hawke at its heart." |
| 28. |
|
10/08/12 |
Very Good |
 "...most enjoyable of all is Alan Arkin as Lester Siegel... Affleck has a lot of fun... feels clever, taut, and restrained." |
| 29. |
|
09/24/12 |
Very Good |
 "There are many clever things about Rian Johnson's 'Looper,' but the coup is in the casting.... for all its mayhem, the film runs like a mad and slightly sad machine..." |
| 30. |
|
09/10/12 |
Outstanding |
 "...casts a spell as bewitching, but also as controlled, as anything that the writer and director, Paul Thomas Anderson, has wrought before.... gives us so much to revere..." |
| 31. |
|
08/27/12 |
Good |
 "Jessica Chastain, as usual, manages to seem both paper-frail and tough enough... Shia LeBeouf gives John Hillcoat's film a pulse and a purpose that it sorely needs." |
| 32. |
|
08/27/12 |
Good |
 "Anyone who soldiered through 'The Expendables,' two years ago, will be touched, and a little surprised, to learn that there is more to expend." |
| 33. |
|
07/30/12 |
Fair |
 "What McConaughey is doing here, as he does in 'Magic Mike,' is clambering out of a rut.... If only the film didn't let him down with such a thump." |
| 34. |
|
07/30/12 |
Good |
 "...the impression that lingers is not merely of raunchiness, or shock tactics, or jovial humiliation... under cover of that chaos, the film inserts a coruscating portrait of men..." |
| 35. |
|
07/17/12 |
Moderate |
 "...murky, interminable... Nolan, for all his visionary flair, wants to suck the comic out of comic books; Hathaway wants to put it back in." |
| 36. |
|
07/02/12 |
Moderate |
 "If anything, Andrew Garfield is rather too mournful.... There are joyous moments when we share Peter's point of aerial view..." |
| 37. |
|
07/02/12 |
Moderate |
 "Sarah Polley has a wonderful eye... yet the dialogue strains and grunts... Your best option, perhaps, is to zone out from the implausible kinks in the setup..." |
| 38. |
|
06/18/12 |
Very Good |
 "There is a hint of Bergman.... Only at the end do we sense Shelton forcing her hand, and arranging, rather too neatly, for the rebalancing and desaddening of all concerned." |
| 39. |
|
06/18/12 |
Fair |
 "...not a spoof, but it might as well be, given how little there is to root for. Even Cruise seems to blur within our focus." |
| 40. |
|
05/28/12 |
Outstanding |
 "...for every note of provable precision, a more fanciful detail flutters past.... Anderson's great gift is to catch the generations as they intersect..." |
