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| 1. |
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06/16/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "What's missing: a brief history of stepdancing, a sense of what makes one dancer better than another, and competition footage that's not cut with endless audience reaction shots." |
| 2. |
|
04/27/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...what amounts to a classy TV-movie... there's plenty of shadowy sex, and that, unfortunately, trumps the potentially interesting relationships... [director Tom] Tykwer settl[es] for a feel-good ending..." |
| 3. |
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03/31/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...you have a TV-movie diatribe against 'honor killing' instead of a feature film. What elevates it is the three-dimensional acting and the larger context." |
| 4. |
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03/17/11 |
Outstanding |
 "...might well be the best of the lot.... It's a big-screen first: a 19th-century 'Jane Eyre.' " |
| 5. |
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01/20/11 |
Outstanding |
 "Nénette and the other orangutans (who include her son Tübo) swing from ropes, play with big plastic tubs, drink bottles of tea, and gaze inscrutably at the camera, as if waiting for us to figure out what they already know." |
| 6. |
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11/04/10 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "A conventional, bare-bones sister act." |
| 7. |
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10/14/10 |
Very Good |
 "Throw in a broken nose, the email Valentine, the livestock stampede, and the dog that comes to a bad end and you have a film that does Simmonds justice and would make Hardy proud." |
| 8. |
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10/07/10 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Mike Rich's screenplay goes straight to the cliché factory... What keeps the film out of the claiming ranks is a tough Diane Lane..." |
| 9. |
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06/10/10 |
Moderate |
 "...damning mess of a documentary purports to reveal that Italy is TV- and celebrity-besotted -- which is true but not new." |
| 10. |
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05/27/10 |
Very Good |
 "For a franchise that was supposed to be adventurous about sex, this film is about as cutting-edge as 'The Love Boat.' But if you're a fan, you'll get your money's worth." |
| 11. |
|
04/22/10 |
Very Good |
 "...looks at first to be limited by its feel-good story arc. But it dances beyond that, largely on the strength of its subject, the now 27-year-old Sokvannara Sar, and his SAB [School of American Ballet] teacher, Russian émigrée Olga Kostritzky." |
| 12. |
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03/18/10 |
Outstanding |
 "...it's the way the visuals tap into mediæval Celtic art that elevates this Oscar-nominated animation from Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey..." |
| 13. |
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12/10/09 |
Outstanding |
 "...for both company and audience, it's tough love, in Wiseman's usual fashion: no ID of the dancers (apart from the odd first name), no ID of any of the seven works they rehearse and perform (apart from what you see on placards), few subtitles." |
| 14. |
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11/05/09 |
Moderate |
 "...set in the simpler (?) time of 1007 AD, and it's more or less what you'd have if Ingmar Bergman had shot 'The Blair Witch Project' back then." |
| 15. |
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09/24/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Fanny Brawne deserved more than just a generic place in the heavens as a Great Lover Thwarted by Fate. 'Bright Star' is only second-magnitude." |
| 16. |
|
06/04/09 |
Very Good |
 "...a dizzying fugue, not just on Italian politics but on Italian filmmaking (from Antonioni and Fellini to Coppola and Scorsese), all to music that ranges from Sibelius's Second Symphony to '80s German band Trio's 'Da Da Da.' " |
| 17. |
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05/14/09 |
Very Good |
 "Throw in a plot that careers all over Rome, a soundtrack that's Carl Orff on steroids, and an antimatter explosion whose roiling sky would make Tintoretto jealous and you have a Baroque goodie that mostly justifies its extravagant conceits." |
| 18. |
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05/07/09 |
Outstanding |
 "There are surprises, a big one being the object of Uhura's romantic interest. There's Leonard Nimoy as Old Spock to anchor the proceedings." |
| 19. |
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04/30/09 |
Moderate |
 "...a baby-steps ballet doc, especially next to 'Ballets Russes,' which spends its entire two hours proudly on pointe." |
