|
| 1. |
|
07/07/10 |
Weak |
 "...principally channels 'The Exorcist' and 'Aliens'... Contrived panic abounds, as do expiring camcorder batteries and expletive-laden variations on 'Shoot it in the head!' " |
| 2. |
|
07/08/10 |
Weak |
"...subtext and even text remain scant unless one counts the creeping misogyny of a script in which pure evil tends to be female..." |
| 3. |
|
03/30/09 |
Poor |
 "Heavy on stunts but light on plausibility, humor, surprise, visual ingenuity or psychological depth..." |
| 4. |
|
02/25/10 |
Weak |
 "Whatever suspense 'A Prophet' musters involves our predictable unease about how far the student may be willing to go for -- or against -- his master." |
| 5. |
|
02/24/10 |
Weak |
"...not naturalistic so much as neutered, less revisionist than rote.... Jacques Audiard's approach to cinematic '70s-isms is slavish -- and downright corny." |
| 6. |
|
11/01/09 |
Good |
 "Irresistibly good-natured even when it's cheesy... fine performances from Connie Nielsen, Aidan Quinn and, as young Tomas, newcomer John Bell... the melodrama goes even further over the top than one could've thought possible." |
| 7. |
|
01/19/09 |
Very Good |
 "...a culture-clash dramedy whose background in Middle-East conflict is leavened with vibrant energy, balanced politics and droll humor..." |
| 8. |
|
01/24/10 |
Excellent |
 "Brilliant editing of a slew of performance and interview footage, much of it suitably raw, locates every chilling irony within a deeply poetic life." |
| 9. |
|
01/30/11 |
Weak |
 "Mistakes over-the-top dysfunctional family cruelty for comedy and drama... fails to channel 'Rachel Getting Married' in its protracted tale of a wedding-party weekend..." |
| 10. |
|
12/07/09 |
Fair |
 "A so-so heist-gone-awry thriller, light on the thrills, 'Armored' doesn't exactly take its audience captive." |
| 11. |
|
05/30/11 |
Moderate |
 "...the pic's attractive young actors manage reasonable chemistry, although Bojanov fails to reward them with a sufficiently novel approach to the love-on-the-road genre." |
| 12. |
|
08/10/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...an awkward, earnest, almost irresistible indie... Todd Graff's ingratiating show-must-go-on(-and-on) sensibility pushes formulaic material past sweet and into sappy..." |
| 13. |
|
06/02/11 |
Good |
 "...has no shortage of the adorable.... might sound insufferable, but it isn't -- or at least not completely.... has way too many quirks for its own good, but it works..." |
| 14. |
|
08/03/11 |
Good |
 "...impresses less for its screeching take on extended adolescent fury than for its own macho, wacko, pedal-to-metal embodiment of same.... damn near undeniable..." |
| 15. |
|
01/21/09 |
Excellent |
 "A vastly entertaining film, with a playfully suave and acrobatic perf by co-writer Michael Jai White in the title role..." |
| 16. |
|
04/28/10 |
Moderate |
 "Keenan's hands-on passion for his Verde Valley grapes appears genuine, though the filmmakers raise doubt by wandering stylistically from sober biography to staged comedy..." |
| 17. |
|
05/31/10 |
Very Good |
 "Adhering to the auteur's trademark fly-on-the-wall style, pic favors portraiture over narrative... for those in Wiseman's corner, 'Boxing Gym' goes the distance." |
| 18. |
|
11/18/09 |
Good |
 "Equal parts comic melodrama and film noir, and twice as fun as it ought to be... boasts more bifurcations than any two Hitchcock classics." |
| 19. |
|
12/10/09 |
Good |
"For all its narrative incident, related through a flurry of loosely motivated flashbacks and -forwards, the film goes disarmingly light on cause and effect." |
| 20. |
|
01/26/10 |
Excellent |
 "...an ingenious exercise in sustained tension that would make Alfred Hitchcock turn over in his grave." |
