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| 1. |
|
03/26/12 |
Good |
 "Pang Ho-cheung offers another painfully on-target analysis of modern love in all its truth and lies, with only a wee bit of wheel-spinning towards the end..." |
| 2. |
|
11/26/11 |
Good |
 "...an unusual glimpse into Russia.... amusing... The overall effect is tragi-comic, even considering the dark events that bring the film to an unexpected dramatic climax." |
| 3. |
|
09/22/11 |
Very Good |
 "...delightful and uplifting... immersed in a magical time that sometimes moves at the speed of a bullet train and sometimes passes very slowly..." |
| 4. |
|
09/21/11 |
Very Good |
 "A youthful, melancholy film that draws on literature and writing for its inspiration... has a lot of the homegrown whimsy that animated Chilean writer-director Cristian Jimenez's first film, 'Optical Illusions.' " |
| 5. |
|
09/05/11 |
Excellent |
 "...one of the few films so visually absorbing, felicitous shot after shot, that its emotional coldness is noticed only at the end... a solid piece of thinking-man's entertainment..." |
| 6. |
|
09/01/11 |
Good |
 "Spectacular rain forest combat scenes are non-stop in an authentic-feeling actioner... Stunning to look at, authentic to a fault and a little tedious to follow for over two and a half hours..." |
| 7. |
|
08/31/11 |
Good |
 "...illuminated by a terrific ensemble cast.... shifts into a film noir mode which is not unpleasant, but certainly less than could have been hoped for by the film's piquant and original first half." |
| 8. |
|
05/21/11 |
Good |
 "A long, slow haul but for the willing, a haunting journey into the heart of darkness in Turkish Anatolia." |
| 9. |
|
05/20/11 |
Outstanding |
 "What can a talented, award-winning director do after being legally banned from making movies in his country?" |
| 10. |
|
05/16/11 |
Very Good |
 "Both an elegiac salute to the demise of Paris's fin-de-siècle brothels and a poetic critique of the white slave trade... fascinates with its exquisite period atmosphere and repulses in its cruel spectacle of young women trapped in a life from which there is practically no exit." |
| 11. |
|
05/14/11 |
Very Good |
 "Fast and dangerous.... derives much of its interest from its insider's view of drug traffickers who live in symbiosis with the police." |
| 12. |
|
04/15/11 |
Good |
 "...a well-written, surprisingly mainstream comedy with an unbeatable setting, the Vatican's inner chambers, brilliantly recreated by production designer Paola Bizzarri.... full of inventive moments.... But the finale is a let-down..." |
| 13. |
|
02/15/11 |
Outstanding |
 "Apparently simple on a narrative level yet morally, psychologically and socially complex, it succeeds in bringing Iranian society into focus in a way few other films have done." |
| 14. |
|
02/14/11 |
Very Good |
 "...captures Bausch's oeuvre with grace and assurance, mirroring its modernity in a striking, idiosyncratic use of the 3D format.... Wenders favors the stylistic device of making foreground figures stand out sharply from a deep background, giving the film a modern, painterly look." |
| 15. |
|
11/08/10 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...engaging, often personal... chronicles the last 20 years of Goodall's life as an environmental activist with fervent admiration bordering on cheery hagiography..." |
| 16. |
|
10/15/10 |
Fair |
 "The circus has been used in just about every conceivable way in films, but perhaps not since Todd Browning's 1932 'Freaks' has it gone so far over the top in horror..." |
| 17. |
|
10/15/10 |
Excellent |
 "A superbly guilty pleasure for a rainy day.... a what-happens-next page-turner of a film." |
| 18. |
|
10/15/10 |
Very Good |
 "...has a funny cast of characters and a wry, unpretentious charm... distinguished by its sense of off-beat, low-key humor and a carefully measured shooting style, it is much in line with such quiet Argentine and Uruguayan titles as 'Whiskey' and 'The Custodian.' " |
| 19. |
|
10/15/10 |
Moderate |
 "Miike opts to follow the samurai genre's social code and dramaturgy almost slavishly, and the result is a beautifully lensed but rather unremarkable Japanese period piece." |
| 20. |
|
10/15/10 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "The clash of civilizations competing for the same land is a principal theme here, worked out in a subtly modern, progressive key. Missing is a touch of John Ford's warmth and humor." |
