|
| 1. |
|
05/16/12 |
Poor |
 "Once you've seen enough of these kinds of films, you accept the predictability and unrelenting ideological determinism... offers mostly rote sentimentality..." |
| 2. |
|
05/15/12 |
Weak |
 "What it winds up being is kind of mushy. Not actively unpleasant to sit through for the most part, but not particularly engaging or illuminating or charming." |
| 3. |
|
05/10/12 |
Very Good |
 "...somewhat slight but commendably brisk... Baron Cohen balances the stupid, outrageous, over-the-top stuff with almost, ahem, radically provocative observations and pronouncements..." |
| 4. |
|
05/09/12 |
Excellent |
 "Depp is having a ball as usual, bringing a balletic grace that's both eerie and funny to his undead man out of time. And raising his eyebrows very amusingly." |
| 5. |
|
05/07/12 |
Moderate |
 "I don't get the sense that the filmmaker appreciates that his own negatively-idealized teen character is every bit as much a construct as Diablo Cody's Adorable Pregnant Waif/Pixie was." |
| 6. |
|
05/01/12 |
Weak |
 "...doling out dollops of the most conventional wisdom imaginable along carpe diem and live-and-let-live lines... utterly pat material... tolerable..." |
| 7. |
|
05/01/12 |
Very Good |
 "...a quote from a 20-somethingish guy: 'Without telling you anything, it was the single most enjoyable two-and-a-half-hours I've ever spent in a movie theater ever ever ever.' " |
| 8. |
|
04/25/12 |
Outstanding |
 "...the smartest, most likable such film I've seen in years, even if you might think it does need to have its mouth washed out with soap." |
| 9. |
|
04/23/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...oft-ludicrous but not unengaging... a partial throwback to old-school B-movies like 'Death Wish,' not to mention old-school art-house wanna-B's like Cassavetes' 'Gloria.' " |
| 10. |
|
04/19/12 |
Moderate |
 "As cheesy and trite as it comes off from its general outline, the particular pleasures it offers are enjoyable and reasonably consistent." |
| 11. |
|
04/18/12 |
Weak |
 "Kasdan's movie is weirdly unwieldy... All of the fine actors do fine enough work that if you're a big fan of any of them, you'll get some pleasure out of the picture." |
| 12. |
|
04/18/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...technically ravishing... But it feels more contrived, finally, than most other such invariable contrivances often do. Which means it doesn't quite accomplish its trick." |
| 13. |
|
04/14/12 |
Moderate |
 "...a hit-and-miss affair... being a Stooges person would seem to be a prerequisite for your bothering to go see it in the first place." |
| 14. |
|
04/10/12 |
Weak |
 "...a largely half-hearted effort in which some of the major set pieces are so indifferently executed that they literally look exactly like sequences out of video games." |
| 15. |
|
04/10/12 |
Very Good |
 "...a kind of sendup/critique of contemporary horror films that delivers scares while upending the clichés of the genre... reasonably smart and exceptionally well-constructed..." |
| 16. |
|
04/05/12 |
Poor |
 "...a near-relentless intellectual muddle, throwing out signifiers and metaphors lazily and to no particular effect.... a cloud of bland nothing..." |
| 17. |
|
04/04/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "I even found myself happy to see Tara Reid, and rooted for her as she didn't stumble too badly through her line readings. It brought me back; back to a simpler time." |
| 18. |
|
03/29/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...one needn't be asking too much of 'Mirror Mirror' in order to be at least occasionally disarmed by its pockets of genuine eccentricity. And to be at least passably entertained by it overall." |
| 19. |
|
03/28/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...brings the pomp and portent with a script that makes much of a world that has Stopped Believing In Its Gods. And it has those Gods played by the best multi-tasking serious thespians..." |
| 20. |
|
03/20/12 |
Weak |
 "...pretty standard not-with-a-bang-but-with-a-whimper-punctuated-by-an-occasional-blowup stuff.... I can't say that I was particularly surprised or moved by the film's resolution." |
