|
| 1. |
|
10/30/12 |
Outstanding |
 "...while it might seem speedy and stuffed to bursting, all of the story and craft and cleverness never overwhelm the sincere and rewarding heart..." |
| 2. |
|
04/05/12 |
Very Good |
 "...clearly a labor of love... there's a lot here that would be good for kids to see, with more than a spoonful of sugar to help the not-actually-that-bad medicine go down." |
| 3. |
|
05/22/13 |
Excellent |
 "...an unblinking, inspiring examination of what needing to keep secrets -- and needing to not keep them -- can do to our institutions and to ourselves." |
| 4. |
|
02/14/12 |
Excellent |
 "...the biggest compliment I can give the Oscar-nominated documentary is that it feels like great sportswriting.... the story is a familiar one, but it is superbly told..." |
| 5. |
|
08/02/12 |
Moderate |
 "...slick, sleek and technically, though soullessly, well-made... It moves constantly, perhaps for fear of it keeling over dead if it should stop." |
| 6. |
|
09/21/11 |
Excellent |
 "...the joy and friendship of the band gives the film its bright brassy swing even as the passage of time, unrelenting and yet not unkind, gives the film its backbeat." |
| 7. |
|
11/01/12 |
Moderate |
 "...more interesting than it is out-and-out bad, but interesting alone doesn't cut it... The supporting cast is good... I can't tell about Penn." |
| 8. |
|
11/03/11 |
Weak |
 "...fairly turgid... the elements of drama clutter up the frame so thoroughly that you'd think Montiel was sprinkling toppings on a sundae, not constructing a narrative." |
| 9. |
|
10/25/11 |
Weak |
 "...winds up being the laborious equivalent of a drunkard clumsily retracing dance steps he first made when he was much younger and more alert." |
| 10. |
|
04/26/12 |
Excellent |
 "...a busy, buzzy bit of fun, loaded with sight gags and wordplay and silly surrealism in lovely 3-D." |
| 11. |
|
05/01/12 |
Very Good |
 "...pulls off having both luster and gravitas, with a brisk 84-minute running time never outstaying its welcome but still giving us time to know even smaller characters..." |
| 12. |
|
08/13/12 |
Excellent |
 "...a fable of love and life, told with real insight, warm humor and excellent filmmaking.... glows with real health and vitality and true emotion." |
| 13. |
|
07/19/11 |
Outstanding |
 "David Robert Mitchell gets how teen life is made of rumors and lies and secrets and hopes -- out of myths.... as brief and beautiful as the right kind of summer night." |
| 14. |
|
10/18/11 |
Weak |
 "...falls into the lonely middle ground... Incredible enough to be captured in a film, but not made as exciting as the real-life events that inspired it." |
| 15. |
|
04/18/12 |
Poor |
 "...it's about rigorously, robotically following a predetermined 'tried and true' phony and false formula that got watered down to nothingness a couple films back." |
| 16. |
|
08/26/11 |
Outstanding |
 "Steve James has given us one of the truly great documentaries of 2011, and given us a film that, in many ways, is just as good as 'Hoop Dreams.' " |
| 17. |
|
12/17/12 |
Weak |
 "...both majestic and manipulative, spectacular and appalling.... a confounding misfire: so much artistic vision, combined with moral and emotional shortsightedness." |
| 18. |
|
05/23/13 |
Poor |
 "...it simply isn't funny.... The first film was a funny bromance; the second, a less funny bro-lationship; the third film just feels like it's bro-ver before it even begins." |
| 19. |
|
10/26/11 |
Weak |
 "...remarkably retro in its plot, tone and casting.... less bad than it is simply musty... gives off the unmistakable whiff of being past some indefinable cultural sell-by date." |
| 20. |
|
04/11/13 |
Moderate |
 "...never quite takes off, either as a thriller armored up with serious political discussions to give it ballast and gravitas, or as a drama..." |
