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| 1. |
|
05/05/11 |
Moderate |
 "...a perfectly acceptable rom-com, with a few nice performances.... may not get too high off the ground, but it does, as they say, stick the landing, and that's good enough." |
| 2. |
|
06/01/11 |
Poor |
 "...a prison -- and a cruel one -- for both the actors in it and the audience watching, one with walls made of rock-hard, impenetrable stupidity and bars of cold-forged clichés." |
| 3. |
|
06/01/11 |
Excellent |
 "Bello gives her best performance since 'A History of Violence'... Sheen also delivers an excellent performance... a rare chance to see real actors doing real work." |
| 4. |
|
06/09/11 |
Poor |
 "I felt like I wanted to drink some caffeinated soda and play video games for a few hours to bring my heart rate down after its mix of sharing and shouting." |
| 5. |
|
06/14/11 |
Outstanding |
 "...an unexpected Zen journey in chaps and plaid, and the rare documentary as intellectually and philosophically rewarding as it is emotionally moving." |
| 6. |
|
06/30/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Gomez is a likable enough presence... the sort of multilevel bland brand who can both star in a film and sing over its closing credits without risking disgrace..." |
| 7. |
|
07/13/11 |
Poor |
 "Wang's trying to reheat a dish he's served up before, but it has none of the flavor or the freshness it had 18 years ago... tasteless, tear-jerking, artificially flavored..." |
| 8. |
|
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." |
| 9. |
|
07/19/11 |
Very Good |
 "...has the grace and power of life as we know it.... the score -- credited to a group called Fall on Your Sword -- pulses under everything with sinister beauty." |
| 10. |
|
07/20/11 |
Excellent |
 "...light and bright and brisk, but never glib.... more than just pretty solid. It's great in spots, good in others, and hits exactly the right tone..." |
| 11. |
|
07/21/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...it's like being promised the flexible fun of the Kama Sutra as foreplay and then getting the comedic equivalent of the missionary position as the finale." |
| 12. |
|
07/26/11 |
Poor |
 "The workmanship and effort are evident in every straining moment, but the end result is so completely phony as to be without value." |
| 13. |
|
08/02/11 |
Outstanding |
 "...warm and beautiful and terrible and scary, full of heart and blood and truly unique.... one of the best American movies of the year." |
| 14. |
|
08/16/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...feels more florid and earnest -- a little too eager to make friends -- than Sayles' other films, but it also feels more passionate and provocative than 99% of everything else..." |
| 15. |
|
08/22/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...in line with Guillermo Del Toro's cinematic universe of dark fantasy... a welcome enough place to stay for a few hours..." |
| 16. |
|
08/23/11 |
Very Good |
 "...stands apart in a territory few films have the intelligence, courage and yes, faith, to even try to explore." |
| 17. |
|
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.' " |
| 18. |
|
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." |
| 19. |
|
09/21/11 |
Moderate |
 "...the gulf between the sacred and the profane has rarely gaped so wide within the same film... a hard-to-take mix of aspiration at its highest and human cruelty at its lowest." |
| 20. |
|
10/05/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...earns no small amount of points for being better than it might have been.... a well-made, well-managed family fighting fantasy..." |
