|
| 1. |
|
05/02/13 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...the film makes much of character-based surprises -- who knew Gwyneth Paltrow's Potts spent so much time at the gym, for instance?" |
| 2. |
|
04/17/13 |
Excellent |
 "One BBC journalist talks on screen about how Jay reduced her to tears with a trick he did just for her -- an audience of one.... It's magic, pure and simple." |
| 3. |
|
04/11/13 |
Good |
 "...earnestly grandiose.... Brian Helgeland lays out the history in bold, clear strokes, with little nuance but lots of atmosphere.... Shameless, sure. But effective." |
| 4. |
|
03/21/13 |
Moderate |
 "...structurally crude.... as family viewing, it's pleasant enough: primitive, yes, but in a digitally sophisticated way that's boisterous, funny and will no doubt sell a lot of toys." |
| 5. |
|
03/14/13 |
Very Good |
 "...steeped in '60s jazz, shot through with earthy color.... an intriguingly complex portrait of both of its characters and of the time of flux they live in." |
| 6. |
|
03/07/13 |
Moderate |
 "...tells the story of how the Wizard came to Oz, answering a question I suspect no one was asking, but with considerable digital wizardry." |
| 7. |
|
02/14/13 |
Excellent |
 "...rousing... an expansive political thriller. And it's a resonant one for American audiences today..." |
| 8. |
|
02/07/13 |
Poor |
 "...a catalog of missed opportunities... this uninspired trudge of a road movie is the biggest waste of all." |
| 9. |
|
01/31/13 |
Very Good |
 "...blends life offstage and on until it's hard to say whether the lifers scrambling to their cells after a jail-yard assassination are acting or simply engaged in self-preservation." |
| 10. |
|
01/31/13 |
Very Good |
 "Levine really gets this hero's predicament... he finds strategies to make what has long been considered a deathless tale undead in a new way." |
| 11. |
|
12/18/12 |
Outstanding |
 "...the degree of complexity Bigelow and Boal bring to their story has to be counted a surprise in a major Hollywood film.... uncommonly freighted with the weight of history." |
| 12. |
|
12/13/12 |
Good |
 "...even if it's mostly technology this time rather than story that's providing the depth, there is a new feel to reckon with... Jackson takes to 3-D like an orc to battle..." |
| 13. |
|
11/20/12 |
Very Good |
 "...it takes awhile to get going, and it feels strangely flat at the very end. But in between is an adventure yarn that is gloriously old-fashioned -- and often just glorious." |
| 14. |
|
11/08/12 |
Outstanding |
 "Wait'll you see the vertigo-inducing fight in Shanghai, backlit with building-sized video displays. Spectacle, these guys can do." |
| 15. |
|
10/25/12 |
Moderate |
 "...it would be hard not to admire what's being attempted here... [but] flashy visuals and fortune-cookie philosophizing do not a resonant movie make." |
| 16. |
|
10/11/12 |
Outstanding |
 "...the real accomplishment here is how Affleck manages to segue from 'Ocean's 11'-style repartee to pulse-pounding tension and back again." |
| 17. |
|
09/07/12 |
Excellent |
 "...a nuanced portrait of emotional turmoil, persuasively acted, richly sensual one moment, wrenching the next... evocative of a place and time..." |
| 18. |
|
08/24/12 |
Very Good |
 "New York actually looks like New York, with a largely Asian-, Hispanic-, and African-American cast.... And that's really New York they're all careering through..." |
| 19. |
|
07/03/12 |
Very Good |
 "Garfield and Emma Stone are terrific together, and they're surrounded by performers with the acting chops to root a comic-book narrative in the real world..." |
| 20. |
|
06/29/12 |
Good |
 "Once you stop fighting him, MacFarlane makes Ted really funny... profane enough that it's not a movie real kids should be allowed anywhere near. But it's also a date movie..." |
