| 1. |
|
02/20/13 |
Weak |
"...berserkly inconsistent. What's unexpected is how thoroughly the movie's ample duds overshadow its treasures, and how uninspired it feels as a whole." |
| 2. |
|
09/13/12 |
Excellent |
"Startlingly intimate and direct... It's impossible not to care about these people... a deeply personal explication of resistance..." |
| 3. |
|
08/30/12 |
Good |
"...this follow-up to 1992's 'Baraka' by director Ron Fricke and producer Mark Magidson nails its intent as 'guided meditation.' " |
| 4. |
|
08/22/12 |
Good |
"...a visual panache that short-circuits the need for narrative discipline.... the film's imagery is epic and trance-inducing. It's the 'guided' part where 'Samsara' stumbles." |
| 5. |
|
08/02/12 |
Very Good |
"...the white-knuckle climax, in which the newly shorn filmmaker reveals his inner Garden Stater to team Kumaré, is incredibly moving..." |
| 6. |
|
07/26/12 |
Very Good |
"...sidesteps arthritic VH1-style 'where are they now' antics in favor of a more equivocal interrogation of celebrity culture." |
| 7. |
|
07/25/12 |
Very Good |
"Fluid, open-ended documentaries that demand more of an audience than foregone assent or fleeting bouts of passive outrage are rare these days..." |
| 8. |
|
06/28/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
"...a deeper, fresher perspective might have given 'The Last Ride' a better shot at being, cinematically speaking, the last word on the troubled superstar." |
| 9. |
|
06/21/12 |
Very Good |
"...satisfies on practically every level -- provided you allow its narcotic pace, lysergic visuals, and throbbing soundtrack to tickle your cortex into a contained frenzy..." |
| 10. |
|
06/21/12 |
Weak |
"...achieves the colorless tedium of a safe, dozy dream of catastrophe instead of anything like the real deal." |
| 11. |
|
06/20/12 |
Weak |
"By turns bizarrely affectless and then prattlingly manic... What's missing is the one element any apocalypse narrative suffocates without: a sense of urgency." |
| 12. |
|
06/20/12 |
Very Good |
"Prepare to have your assumptions pitched out the window by this tense, surprisingly probing satirical documentary... an immersive lark..." |
| 13. |
|
06/20/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
"Country music devotees will either love or hate this speculative account of the last three days in the life of Hank Williams... Henry Thomas acts his guts out." |
| 14. |
|
06/20/12 |
Good |
"Raw yet respectful and tenderly observed.... For all of its big ideas, which Asli Özge deploys with remarkable grace, it's the film's small moments that linger..." |
| 15. |
|
06/14/12 |
Poor |
"David Ren is at least savvy enough to make 'Naked Eye's' pulp inspirations plain, though the opening zoom into the flipping pages of a dime novel is unforgivable." |
| 16. |
|
06/13/12 |
Poor |
"...unimaginative and tension-deprived... methodically alternates between bland, snarly exposition and competent but repetitive martial arts set pieces.... militantly dull..." |
| 17. |
|
06/06/12 |
Very Good |
"...minutely observed, emotionally complex... refreshing... An anti-spectacle in every way.... the ideal cinematic antidote to the summer doldrums." |
| 18. |
|
06/06/12 |
Good |
"...an eco-disaster documentary... elicits the combination of rage and helplessness (and guilty wanderlust) unique to the genre with admirable thoroughness and balance." |
| 19. |
|
05/31/12 |
Good |
"An exposé in the purest, most pissed-off sense..." |
| 20. |
|
05/30/12 |
Good |
"...digs into the bizarre elision of philanthropy, corporate sponsorship, and sanitized pseudo-activism... This is uncomfortable territory, but that's precisely the point..." |