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| 1. |
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05/06/12 |
Very Good |
 "...follows novelist W.G. Sebald's path with only occasional detours, while intermittently glimpsed talking heads fade in and out of artful black-and-white landscapes." |
| 2. |
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04/22/12 |
Outstanding |
 "...fascinating, must-see... The constant intercutting between old and new black-and-white footage focuses on the changes 50 years have wrought -- and those changes' limitations." |
| 3. |
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02/10/12 |
Fair |
 "...the docu's impact is mitigated by the benefactor's constant presence and paternalistic, infomercial-like exposition.... Yunus' beaming visage projects a patronizing, top-down image of problem-solving that contradicts his practices." |
| 4. |
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02/09/12 |
Very Good |
 "...a paean to a vanished working-class culture. A century of striking black-and-white archival footage centered around the town of Durham, which commissioned the work, is set to a score inspired by local miners' brass bands." |
| 5. |
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02/06/12 |
Very Good |
 "...finds a group of cadets left behind at their military academy for four days rehearsing Shakespeare's tragedy in and out of class... a dynamite ensemble cast of young actors invests the Bard's poetry with energetic immediacy.... vibrant..." |
| 6. |
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02/01/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...takes mumblecore to its reductio ad absurdum, featuring a hero whose utterances border on the unintelligible.... Kentucker Audley somehow infuses Eddie with a compelling presence that exerts an offbeat authenticity." |
| 7. |
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01/31/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Robin Hardy's companion piece to his legendary 1973 'Wicker Man' opts for humor rather than psychological horror.... rather likable journeyman pic seldom stumbles or soars, content to deliver midrange thrills and yuks." |
| 8. |
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01/26/12 |
Fair |
 "...may polarize auds, who will judge whether writer/director/actor Eric Schaeffer's wit and perception sufficiently balance his operatic self-pity." |
| 9. |
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01/18/12 |
Fair |
 "The Gotham adventures of three exchange students from mainland China are told from the vantage point of the neighbor who befriends them.... feels fundamentally old-fashioned in its storytelling.... the conversations feel artificial, overly concerned with re-creating period detail or interjecting relevant philosophical life concepts..." |
| 10. |
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01/18/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...presents three disparate accounts of a central event, the rape of a college girl by the mentally handicapped 26-year-old she was hired to tend. Carefully crafted and impressively thesped... But the resolution of its conflicting truths proves so bizarre and idiotically off-the-wall that it mitigates all that precedes it." |
| 11. |
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01/11/12 |
Fair |
 "...weakly channels Sam Fuller's 'Pickup on South Street' but without the explosive action, iconic thesping and stylistic punch.... offers some funky down-home Gothamites, a few minor thrills, strained romantic banter and an improbably convenient solution to its central conflict." |
| 12. |
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01/11/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...helmer Mike Woolf records his every step, from months of intensive training at the former Soviet Star City to varied weightless adventures in space, in exhaustive detail." |
| 13. |
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01/03/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...split between Mellencamp's highly professional music-making and director Kurt Markus' hokey homemovie voiceovers. Luckily, the music trumps the indifferently shot concert footage and lends shape to the evocatively lensed recording sessions in iconic locations." |
| 14. |
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12/29/11 |
Poor |
 "While there is a great deal of weeping and wailing going on in the town of Angels Crest, little of it is connected to a comprehensible or cohesive plot.... one has the feeling of stumbling into a soap opera, having missed all the preceding episodes." |
| 15. |
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12/28/11 |
Good |
 "...an action-filled caper that stretches from Malaysia to Germany.... Writer-director Akhtar handles the 'Ocean's Eleven'-type bank job with aplomb... the viewer cannot help but revel in his cleverness even when disturbed by his unapologetic villainy, knowing smirk and arrogant self-assurance." |
| 16. |
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12/26/11 |
Moderate |
 "...generally lacks imagination; once the premise is established, familiar plot conventions reign.... offers off-the-beaten-track holiday family fare, purr-fect for young cat-lovers hungry for romance and unfazed by talking kitties." |
| 17. |
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12/11/11 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...a tale of a sexy con artist and his comeuppance at the hands of three women he's fleeced.... relies on rapid-fire editing, vibrant perfs, snappy dialogue and a driving score to accelerate the film past the speed at which auds will notice repetition and inconsistencies." |
| 18. |
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11/30/11 |
Very Good |
 "A delightfully inventive valentine to his 83-year-old Lebanese grandmother, Mahmoud Kaabour's film tenderly deconstructs the family-portrait genre, investing all manner of postmodernist distancing devices with emotional resonance." |
| 19. |
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11/28/11 |
Moderate |
 "Part personal quest, part testimonial and part fund-raiser... fulfills disparate agendas for helmer Dina Rosenmeier, a mildly resentful daughter wondering why her humanitarian mother prioritized orphaned Indian children over her own offspring." |
| 20. |
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11/17/11 |
Poor |
 "...[a] naive, amateurish documentary.... Some six or seven men (women conspicuously absent), including a mayor, an immigration lawyer, a congressman and a 'coyote,' offer views on immigration. Unfortunately, they all say the same thing -- and it's nothing new, affecting or articulate." |
