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| 1. |
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05/02/12 |
Weak |
 "...oscillates between Lifetime-channel melodrama, lazy barbs ('I don't have to think; I'm a Catholic') and facile irony... It never synthesizes into something whole or believable." |
| 2. |
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04/26/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Some flawed elements mar this documentary... But if you can look past them, and the over-familiar inspiration-speak of some of the talking heads, there are interesting bits..." |
| 3. |
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04/25/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Eugene Gussenhoven's script is so basic as to be rudimentary... visually gorgeous... the thrust and power of the film lies in its poetic imagery..." |
| 4. |
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04/25/12 |
Moderate |
 "...wants to be both a wry, intelligent romantic comedy and a softly satiric look at the ways sensitive types struggle in a world where brutal materialism infects even our most intimate relationships." |
| 5. |
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04/11/12 |
Poor |
 "The fact that real-life deadly racial animus in America is often cartoonish in its manifestation doesn't excuse the film's cliché-ridden characterizations of bigotry." |
| 6. |
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04/11/12 |
Very Good |
 "...a deceptively simple film, gingerly peels layer after layer of sharp insights into the dynamics of familial love, using compassion and droll humor as its tools." |
| 7. |
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04/04/12 |
Good |
 "...lets viewers know that there will be no easy answers to the questions it's posing, as the opening query, 'What is progress?' leaves some of the world's most agile minds at a loss for an answer." |
| 8. |
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03/28/12 |
Very Good |
 "...proves smarter on the subject of love than a host of dreary dramas.... a surprisingly moving look at the machinations of the heart." |
| 9. |
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03/21/12 |
Very Good |
 "Lean, fast-moving, and filled with game-changing fight sequences that have a brutally beautiful (or beautifully brutal) quality..." |
| 10. |
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03/01/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...offers some smart insights into inner-city life -- not only the dysfunction and despair, but something of what it takes to hold on to hope.... There are crucial glitches in the film, though." |
| 11. |
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02/22/12 |
Excellent |
 "...what pushes the film toward sublimity is the way Joshua Marston delicately captures all of the characters' inner lives as their world slowly crumbles." |
| 12. |
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01/18/12 |
Very Good |
 "Tightly directed and well acted (even though many characters are cut-outs from every war movie you've ever seen)... shoehorns little known history into a familiar format, and it works." |
| 13. |
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01/18/12 |
Very Good |
 "Given the ongoing shredding of the social safety net in America, the film's greatest service might be to remind us that programs and services for the poor have always had hostile enemies." |
| 14. |
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11/30/11 |
Very Good |
 "Even those who closely follow African (or global) politics will likely be bowled over by the real-life plot twists unfolding before [director Jarreth] Merz's camera." |
| 15. |
|
11/30/11 |
Excellent |
 "...fascinating and often devastating. The men and women who cover wars and conflicts around the globe are almost uniformly tough (at least outwardly), driven, and obsessed with their jobs." |
| 16. |
|
11/30/11 |
Good |
 "Culled from true stories and told elliptically in chapters (i.e., 'She's Tutsi/He's Hutu') that flash back and forward through time... filled with moments both charming and horrifying, sometimes all at once." |
| 17. |
|
11/30/11 |
Excellent |
 "The film's scope is staggering, including its detailed outlining of BP's origins and fingerprints across decades of unrest in Iran.... stretches into a mandatory-viewing critique of widespread government corruption..." |
| 18. |
|
11/16/11 |
Excellent |
 "Anecdotes and analysis from people who knew them, worked with them, or actually were Croquettes is illuminating, funny, and deeply moving, but it's the mind-blowing performance footage (and there's lots of it) that makes this a must-see film." |
| 19. |
|
11/03/11 |
Excellent |
 "What elevates the film into the realm of artful is the way writer/director Michaël Roskam unpeels the backstory of Jacky, the ostensibly dim-witted muscle of his criminal team." |
| 20. |
|
11/03/11 |
Good |
 "...based on a news story that shocked Korea in 2005, when it was revealed that students in a school for deaf children had been abused for years.... [director Hwang Dong-Hyuk] frequently veers into the pornographic (i.e. extreme) in order to shock and break your heart. Despite its own crimes of excess, the film does both." |
