|
| 1. |
|
05/18/12 |
Weak |
 "...grindingly dull, digitally rendered naval warfare; the flick could easily be retitled 'Flying Ordinance and Forgettable Stars: The Motion Picture.' " |
| 2. |
|
05/11/12 |
Good |
 "Batmanglij lets the mystery unfold in an immersive way that's probably a bit more compelling than its actual scripted payoff deserves." |
| 3. |
|
04/27/12 |
Very Good |
 "...it's better at being droll than laugh-out-loud funny.... What's best about 'Pirates!' is that you never quite know where it's heading." |
| 4. |
|
04/20/12 |
Moderate |
 "...blandly pleasant enough.... But when the film tries to inject anything resembling high drama, it gets dumb in a hurry." |
| 5. |
|
04/06/12 |
Poor |
 "...worthless, cynical, tone-deaf, witless, cash-grabbing garbage.... Even worse, very little of it is remotely funny." |
| 6. |
|
04/06/12 |
Very Good |
 "...a big-hearted, bittersweet story about a boy desperate to connect with his father." |
| 7. |
|
03/09/12 |
Very Good |
 "...overpowering, joyously unhinged pulp.... too wickedly strange not to recommend. Movies this expensive usually play it much safer." |
| 8. |
|
02/16/12 |
Good |
 "The doc's first 20 minutes, detailing Nasheed's bold journey from prison to power, are its most compelling. The doc turns into a less-compelling rallying cry after Nasheed launches an initiative to make Maldives carbon-neutral..." |
| 9. |
|
02/10/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Reynolds avoids his usual wisecracking routine and gives a grim, conflicted performance... director Daniel Espinosa makes good use of the South African locations..." |
| 10. |
|
02/03/12 |
Moderate |
 "...eventually undermined by the film's increasing reliance on shock-scares, in which something suddenly and noisily jumps into the frame, over and over and over." |
| 11. |
|
12/23/11 |
Moderate |
 "...a modestly charming family crowd-pleaser despite too-broad characterizations by many in the supporting cast." |
| 12. |
|
12/16/11 |
Good |
 "...has all the merits and demerits of its predecessor, only with a less snarly antagonist, a more thoughtful final showdown and broader Holmes/Watson relationship jokes." |
| 13. |
|
11/23/11 |
Very Good |
 "Arthur is sort of a dull hero, but the grandfather is classic, hilarious Aardman -- a thoroughly British eccentric prone to weird nostalgic/fatalistic utterances." |
| 14. |
|
10/28/11 |
Very Good |
 "Niccol is practicing the old-school craft of making a barn-broad alternate-reality that forces you to think about the way we all consensually agree to participate in systems..." |
| 15. |
|
10/21/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "I just wish the movie wasn't so monologue-choked, muted to a fault and fond of oversimplifying financial lingo to the point of meaninglessness." |
| 16. |
|
10/14/11 |
Very Good |
 "Hark's action movies have a what-did-I-just-see giddiness, as if their choreography were springing straight from a cartoon id." |
| 17. |
|
10/07/11 |
Moderate |
 "...sporadically crowd-pleasing but frequently brain-dead... It is wish-fulfillment for children who think their wayward dads can be redeemed by playing video games." |
| 18. |
|
09/23/11 |
Moderate |
 "Charles Martin Smith and his screenwriters have chosen to lard the true-life saga up with a bunch of easily digested imaginary detail straight out of the bland Hollywood feel-good recipe mix." |
| 19. |
|
09/09/11 |
Excellent |
 "...a tough, funny, fast-moving and tightly constructed John Carpenter riff in which a bickering group fights a pack of space monsters in and around a single location." |
| 20. |
|
08/26/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...lives in a sort of relaxed in-between place where it doesn't really bite as drama or comedy, but the movie's world-class cast and big heart push it over." |
