|
| 1. |
|
02/18/05 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...even packs in a few stylized special effects and has some outright funny moments, a pleasant surprise from a helmer hardly known for laffs." |
| 2. |
|
02/18/08 |
Outstanding |
 "...small but perfectly formed... an affectionate tribute to cross-cultural friendship... its final note is one of gentle uplift..." |
| 3. |
|
02/25/08 |
Good |
 "...doesn't feel like the personal project one might expect from the son of one slain at Katyn. Instead, this plays almost like an academic master class..." |
| 4. |
|
03/13/08 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Gallic helmer Cedric Klapisch ('L'Auberge espagnole') stays well within his comfort zone... a likeable if hardly groundbreaking dramedy..." |
| 5. |
|
05/18/08 |
Outstanding |
 "...strikes a just-so balance between absurdist humor and sadness. Yet pic never puts a wrong foot forward in the direction of sentimentality or cliche." |
| 6. |
|
05/20/08 |
Good |
 "...a highly personal film essay... by turns moving, droll and charming, and niftily assembled, but not necessarily that profound." |
| 7. |
|
05/22/08 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...the denouement is chilling, but doesn't provide the same kind of enigmatic kicker that graced 'The Holy Girl.' " |
| 8. |
|
05/22/08 |
Poor |
 "Ludicrously unrealistic details and hammy overacting distract as story plods along, and then goes into an out-of-control tailspin with the twist's revelation..." |
| 9. |
|
05/23/08 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "A skittery, rambling but often absorbing portrait of the Chelsea Hotel..." |
| 10. |
|
05/26/08 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "McQueen really overeggs the pudding in the final reel, where (and this is no spoiler for anyone glancingly versed in Sands' story) the protagonist wastes away..." |
| 11. |
|
06/09/08 |
Good |
 "Balancing black humor against allegorical indictment of the Pinochet regime's oppression on narrow stack heels... a striking, very offbeat period pic..." |
| 12. |
|
06/23/08 |
Moderate |
 "...neither edgy enough to satisfy the arthouse crowd nor, given its downbeat arc, sufficiently lovey-dovey for the mainstream." |
| 13. |
|
06/30/08 |
Excellent |
 "...gleefully cruel.... As a black comedy, the script is admirably merciless... However, pic's success is mostly due to Mark Doherty and Dylan Moran, both in the comedy zone but showing just enough proper acting chops to generate sympathy." |
| 14. |
|
07/07/08 |
Excellent |
 "The daily life of ordinary Soviet citizens during the 1950s and '60s -- from collective farming to Young Pioneer parades -- is explored in fascinating fashion... a commentary free zone, allowing material to speak simply for itself." |
| 15. |
|
08/11/08 |
Good |
 "Strikingly assembled and charmingly offbeat... pays elegiac tribute to the fast-disappearing way of life of farmers in western Wales." |
| 16. |
|
12/18/08 |
Very Good |
 "Two formidable Iranian femmes meet and establish a wary rapport in the quietly moving docu... A simply told tale that touches on both women's personal histories as well as that of their troubled homeland..." |
| 17. |
|
01/05/09 |
Excellent |
 "...celebrates the courage of a group of underground journalists who risked their lives to document the 2007 uprising against the junta." |
| 18. |
|
02/05/09 |
Excellent |
 "...personal, occasionally irreverent... an ace slice of provocative, timely docu-making..." |
| 19. |
|
02/07/09 |
Fair |
 "Almost nothing happens in the first half-hour, and then, suddenly, nothing much else happens.... so slight and featherweight one viewer sneezing could blow it all offscreen." |
| 20. |
|
02/07/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...capitalist-critiquing chicanery and fat-cat-fooling fun.... deliberately cheap-looking but likable... owes much to Michael Moore's stunts..." |
