| 1. |
|
06/01/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
"Though told here with appealing drollness, Marks's story makes an odd vessel for the filmmakers' casually advanced drug legalization arguments..." |
| 2. |
|
06/15/11 |
Fair |
"...a useful primer... but figures who might have made more compelling documentary subjects than the always on-message Daniel Goldstein crowd the sidelines." |
| 3. |
|
06/29/11 |
Good |
"...lobbies for the rights of battered women, and, like many cause documentaries, it looks rather plain.... But otherwise does justice to its subject's wrenching story." |
| 4. |
|
07/07/11 |
Good |
"...sounds like a repeat-offender case study, but instead concerns the injustice done to Deborah Peagler, an incarcerated mother of two." |
| 5. |
|
07/13/11 |
Weak |
"...for a time almost works as a sordid cross-purposes noir, set in a woodsy nowhere-in-particular. But implausibilities mount..." |
| 6. |
|
08/10/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
"...sure to unsettle those who prefer films to pass clear judgment on not-so-upstanding types, but it's hard not to admire such a drolly off-kilter pass at the domestic regionalist indie." |
| 7. |
|
08/10/11 |
Excellent |
"...remarkable not merely for documenting the disappearing way of life of Tibetan nomads, but for registering the depth of Yama and Locho's uncertainty about moving on from it." |
| 8. |
|
08/17/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
"...by playing Seung-chul as extremely sullen, and by constantly calling attention to his disheveled appearance, writer/director/star Park provokes viewers to blame the character for his own problems -- and thus confront their similarity to the movie's hard-hearted citizens." |
| 9. |
|
08/17/11 |
Moderate |
"...examines the psychological trauma wrought by a serial killer... By making absurd connections between the killer and the sick-fuck society-at-large, 'A Horrible Way to Die' gradually undermines the creepy intimacy that had distinguished it." |
| 10. |
|
08/18/11 |
Fair |
"...recounts the tireless anti-Atlantic Yards efforts of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn co-founder Daniel Goldstein." |
| 11. |
|
09/08/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
"...refreshingly declines to put its protagonist through the motions of repentance as it descends into legal morass..." |
| 12. |
|
09/14/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
"...cringe comedy... questionable black-historical shorthand detracts from what is otherwise a well-performed and fitfully amusing film." |
| 13. |
|
09/15/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
"...a story about overcoming prejudices to gain self-respect; perhaps director Anne Sewitsky is just going for gleefully un-PC quirk." |
| 14. |
|
09/15/11 |
Excellent |
" 'There is a lot of work to be done in the summer,' says Tibetan nomad Yama... Yama collects yak dung, wrangles pots and pans in the yurt, and milks the livestock..." |
| 15. |
|
09/28/11 |
Poor |
"...a blockhead espionage thriller... Most of this takes place in and around Pittsburgh, and none of it has anything to do with abduction." |
| 16. |
|
09/29/11 |
Poor |
"Lautner gets emotional: 'I just saw my parents get murdered in front of my eyes,' he says at one point, looking very much like a stranger in his own performance." |
| 17. |
|
10/12/11 |
Good |
"...uplifting... shot over the course of several years, takes a surprisingly unflinching look at the home lives of the three high schoolers." |
| 18. |
|
10/19/11 |
Moderate |
"...succeeds in fleshing out its troubled main character; [however,] the actions of his peers are consistently harder to accept." |
| 19. |
|
10/20/11 |
Moderate |
"Norman (Dan Byrd) is as sarcastically disconsolate a protagonist as you'll see in a movie involving a romance with the new girl in school..." |
| 20. |
|
11/03/11 |
Good |
"On balance, the message stays positive: Two of 'To Be Heard's' four credited directors (Roland Legiardi-Laura and Amy Sultan) co-founded the South Bronx after-school program the documentary revolves around..." |