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| 1. |
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09/15/06 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...most alive when it doesn't take the teen Kate/older Kate mix-up so seriously. The scenes of 20-something Kate in rehearsals, accommodating her deluded director and dealing with hormone-driven fellow actors, are consistently sharp and funny." |
| 2. |
|
01/16/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "If you can get into the frenetic rhythm of the thing, it has its charms. An African sequel is promised/threatened." |
| 3. |
|
02/06/09 |
Weak |
 "Martin behaves as if he dislikes Clouseau's clueless, hopelessly romantic awkwardness -- which Sellers always embraced as the source of his enduring appeal." |
| 4. |
|
02/13/09 |
Weak |
 "Everyone's working with a much bigger budget this time, but the end result is just as stupid and not as scary as the original." |
| 5. |
|
03/13/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Wayne Kramer earned some fans for his 2003 sleeper, 'The Cooler'... He's certainly good with actors, but he tends to push the big tear-jerker moments." |
| 6. |
|
03/20/09 |
Moderate |
 "...overlong... far too solemn for its own good. A little levity, applied at key moments, might have helped it make its points and lend plausibility to its characters." |
| 7. |
|
03/27/09 |
Very Good |
 "...a goofy and remarkably topical comedy-drama that won a jury prize at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival..." |
| 8. |
|
03/27/09 |
Outstanding |
 "...a sublime tale... the filmmakers stop and listen, almost literally smelling the roses as they discover the miraculous in the seemingly mundane." |
| 9. |
|
04/03/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Essentially three midnight movies rolled into one overstuffed feature-length package... 'a fantasy in three movements, three directors interpreting a single motif.' " |
| 10. |
|
04/03/09 |
Moderate |
 "R.W. Goodwin's silly homage to 1950s science-fiction movies.... tweaks enough plot points to keep you from guessing exactly where the story line is headed." |
| 11. |
|
04/10/09 |
Outstanding |
 "...deservedly made a splash at this year's Sundance Film Festival, earning prizes for Adriano Goldman's fluid widescreen cinematography and Fukunaga's sharp direction." |
| 12. |
|
04/24/09 |
Weak |
 "...nearly plotless, mostly boring... the biggest problem with 'Fighting' is that 'Fight Club' got there first." |
| 13. |
|
05/01/09 |
Very Good |
 "...more than merely watchable. Despite all the rough edges and predictable touches, the film becomes quite moving in its final act." |
| 14. |
|
05/01/09 |
Outstanding |
 "...deserves comparison with grade-A Hitchcock.... the film gradually achieves a purity that's quite startling." |
| 15. |
|
05/08/09 |
Very Good |
 "...an enigmatic tale of a Senegalese taxi driver who picks up a cranky Southerner in North Carolina.... Still, the ending is something less than illuminating..." |
| 16. |
|
05/15/09 |
Very Good |
 "Wajda has been making movies for half a century, but it's doubtful that any of the Polish director's previous films could be as personal or as wrenching as 'Katyn.' " |
| 17. |
|
05/15/09 |
Very Good |
 "...a warts-and-all portrait... He rages; he weeps; he makes excuses for himself; and occasionally, when he's at his most vulnerable, he admits to failure." |
| 18. |
|
05/22/09 |
Weak |
 "...a collection of disconnected chase sequences, machine-gun battles and state-of-the-art CGI explosions, including, most impressively, a towering atomic cloud..." |
| 19. |
|
05/22/09 |
Moderate |
 "...comes off as neither homage nor satire. It's just toothless. When a gun is introduced at a family gathering, apparently to settle an argument, the threat seems contrived." |
| 20. |
|
05/29/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Raimi fans, especially those who discovered him during his low-budget horror phase, will be thrilled by the movie's giddy mixture of shocks and slapstick." |
