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| 1. |
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04/27/13 |
Poor |
 "The script deals in reactionary emotions... the self-seriousness of the film underlines both the laziness of the writing and the dull safety of the direction." |
| 2. |
|
03/26/13 |
Weak |
 "...a shambling, inept micro-actioner with zero ideas to match the ambitious sweep of the imagery... omits any sense of humor or life's unpredictable pulse..." |
| 3. |
|
04/19/11 |
Weak |
 "...ultimately too dumb to be satisfyingly dumb and its attempts at being smart are always too brief and pointless... doesn't have a clue as to what it wants to be." |
| 4. |
|
05/08/12 |
Poor |
 "...so rigidly formulaic and lethargically spun that even the looseness and spontaneity that the setting affords feels dull and constricting." |
| 5. |
|
05/09/13 |
Very Good |
 "Wang's no-frills style of documentation visually echoes a preadolescent trio's simple yet unforgiving world and its sense of labor as life." |
| 6. |
|
06/12/12 |
Very Good |
 "...a work of genre mechanics, in this case a supernaturally flecked thriller... throbs with substantial personal weight and bristles with a violent, haunting interior life." |
| 7. |
|
02/27/13 |
Poor |
 "Clichés abound... trades in thoughtless, thuggish posturing, notable only for an involving-enough 'Heat'-meets-'Point Break' heist centerpiece." |
| 8. |
|
08/29/12 |
Poor |
 "...an abysmal supernatural ordeal 'presented' by Sam Raimi.... a bag of cliché-ridden tricks, donning the ever-dubious label of being 'based on a true story'..." |
| 9. |
|
09/16/12 |
Poor |
 "Stephen Chbosky's boldly cheesy script suggests a fantasia of concurrent self-pity and self-aggrandizement, set to a vaguely hip soundtrack..." |
| 10. |
|
10/24/12 |
Weak |
 "...the filmmakers focus almost entirely on matters of displacement of cultural identity in scenes that are at once passably engaging and stunningly shortsighted." |
| 11. |
|
10/03/12 |
Poor |
 "...exudes an unmistakable, odious attitude of feigned trendiness, bawdiness, and wisdom from the start.... a wasteful study of the white and privileged..." |
| 12. |
|
03/13/13 |
Weak |
 "...the jokes feel like they're only good enough to elicit an ending, and director Don Scardino eventually obliges in a flutter of hurried loose end-tying..." |
| 13. |
|
05/23/13 |
Poor |
 "The passiveness of the characters -- and the script -- more or less renders the movie into a sequel every bit as disposable as its predecessor." |
| 14. |
|
03/20/13 |
Weak |
 "Visually, the film keeps the hits coming, but the comedy regularly reverts to broad familial jokes about how adorable overprotection is." |
| 15. |
|
03/31/13 |
Weak |
 "...a lamb in lion's clothing, a would-be thriller... a long, dry monument to the reliability and comfort of community, blindly cocooned by its own nostalgic self-regard." |
| 16. |
|
11/28/12 |
Very Good |
 "...lean, fleet-footed... The pacing is propulsive, the death pieces are creative, and though the performances are one-note, they're never stiff or distracting." |
| 17. |
|
10/28/12 |
Moderate |
 "...aesthetically adventurous, if not terribly original... At once impassioned and wholly manipulative... a ruminative worst-case scenario as genre piece..." |
| 18. |
|
08/15/12 |
Poor |
 "Nick Murphy expresses no recognizable, personal style, and his insistence on the grim seriousness of his pulpy premise corrodes the pace of the narrative." |
| 19. |
|
08/24/12 |
Poor |
 "...lacks any daring expressive touches... Much of the film's interior shots of the house feel lifted from B-roll of a real estate magnate's promotional material..." |
| 20. |
|
03/21/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...a lopsided, if irrefutably involving, act of gonzo reportage, part absurdist how-to guide on becoming a diamond smuggler, part outsider tour of a truly lawless land..." |
