| 1. |
|
05/23/08 |
Very Good |
"A savagely unpleasant journey into the darkest corners of human depravity... absorbingly unpredictable and original film emerges as the blackest of black comedies." |
| 2. |
|
06/26/08 |
Outstanding |
"Meadows and cinematographer Natasha Braier present their story with a gritty, unfussy lyricism that finds unexpected glimpses of beauty in overlooked corners..." |
| 3. |
|
11/18/08 |
Excellent |
"...genuinely playful... sufficiently erudite and extract-packed to satisfy cinephiles but also accessible to those for whom her name rings only vague bells." |
| 4. |
|
02/07/09 |
Very Good |
"...built four-square round Zoe Kazan's persuasive performance.... via her skilled, nuanced, empathetic characterization, we're with this girl every step of the way." |
| 5. |
|
02/07/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
"...a bold, ambitious hybrid that only intermittently reaches the heights toward which it audaciously aims.... Ozon can't quite manage to sustain the necessary focus..." |
| 6. |
|
02/11/09 |
Good |
"Entertaining record of legendary mid-70s concert spectacular is fine -- as far as it goes." |
| 7. |
|
02/17/09 |
Moderate |
"The directors succeed all too well in evoking the sedentary, unhurried pace of country life: Many shots and sequences drag unproductively and repetitively, on and on." |
| 8. |
|
02/24/09 |
Weak |
"Talky analysis of modern-day relationships and insecurities can't quite shake its self-satisfied air... likely to mainly inspire exasperated 'so what?' reactions..." |
| 9. |
|
11/16/09 |
Good |
"...isn't without its faults, but there's enough here to detain admirers of contemporary Euro art-cinema - particularly those who want to be challenged but not too excessively shaken." |
| 10. |
|
11/16/09 |
Moderate |
"...a glacier-paced experimental independent feature that downplays narrative development in favor of elemental atmospherics with intriguing but ultimately frustrating results." |
| 11. |
|
02/15/10 |
Moderate |
"...so-so... the bland title and featureless Milan settings fit a picture that's content to competently and unimaginatively traverse exceedingly familiar terrain." |
| 12. |
|
10/14/10 |
Outstanding |
"Scattered with moments of genuine transcendence, it steadily builds in emotional impact and never comes across as any kind of over-rarefied intellectual exercise." |
| 13. |
|
11/01/10 |
Good |
"...has its share of hokey, corny moments but has sufficient charm, largely thanks to Hernán Mauricio Ocampo, to ensure it never tiptoes into dangerously mawkish, over-sentimental terrain." |
| 14. |
|
02/09/11 |
Fair |
"If ever a film cried out for the 3D treatment, it's this, an ambitious but frustratingly flat attempt to explore, analyze and dramatize a masterpiece of 16th-century art." |
| 15. |
|
02/17/11 |
Good |
"The life and times and current plight of incarcerated Russian oil-billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky are given a thorough examination... accessible..." |
| 16. |
|
02/28/11 |
Weak |
"A tedious double-whammy of scrappy, mid-length, no-budget indie movies on the navel-gazing theme of scrappy, no-budget, indie-moviemaking.... Swanberg's choppy cutting between different layers of film-within-film yields diminishing rewards." |
| 17. |
|
02/28/11 |
Weak |
"...tedious... two actors perform in what could be a porno movie, or perhaps a misguided art-movie with porno elements.... Swanberg repeatedly punctures the mood with shots of himself pondering the editing process." |
| 18. |
|
07/28/11 |
Outstanding |
"An outstanding Russian drama of fractured families, money and quiet desperation... stands out by harking back to classic noir thrillers." |
| 19. |
|
08/31/11 |
Fair |
"There's probably a decent enough film lurking somewhere in this overlong, overcomplicated, double-pronged, supernatural-tinged tale of amour fou..." |
| 20. |
|
09/03/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
"...a slow-burning adaptation of Joseph Conrad's 1895 novel.... The main problem is its focus on two main characters who are, for various reasons, less than engaging." |