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| 1. |
|
05/18/12 |
Poor |
 "Nothing adds up... the loosely autobiographical movie aims for roller-coaster passion but only flatlines.... an excruciatingly slow train wreck." |
| 2. |
|
05/18/12 |
Very Good |
 "If not every piece of the puzzle delivers its intended impact, the movie as a whole gets under your skin, and the central characters resonate long after the screen goes dark." |
| 3. |
|
05/18/12 |
Excellent |
 "There's an unflashy clarity... Laudatory but never simplistic... a thoroughly engrossing portrait of William G. Wilson, his times and the visionary fellowship that is his legacy." |
| 4. |
|
05/11/12 |
Weak |
 "...contrivance is the engine of this young-adult comedy, which pretends to deconstruct storytelling clichés while never really transcending them.... defies credulity." |
| 5. |
|
05/11/12 |
Good |
 "...exuberant... Openhearted and kvetching... The performances are uneven, but there's a grimy thrill to seeing scenes from the play in subway cars and on fire escapes." |
| 6. |
|
05/10/12 |
Moderate |
 "...predictable... Amid the would-be and actual laughs, the screenplay tries to drum up drama, but every disagreement and tension is treated superficially and summarily resolved." |
| 7. |
|
05/04/12 |
Weak |
 "Gren Wells' screenplay throws around a few ideas about female independence and sexuality, but finally it's as shallow as it is mawkish." |
| 8. |
|
04/20/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Vickers' thesis and the arguments of his 'expert witnesses' might not be thrilling cinema, but they communicate a number of provocative and intriguing ideas with clarity." |
| 9. |
|
04/19/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...the collection of vivid, pounding details doesn't offer enough insight or drama to give it the broader impact of an athletes-and-hope documentary like 'Hoop Dreams.' " |
| 10. |
|
04/18/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...won't sit well with nature-film fans who appreciate a more grown-up edge.... [but] should be on solid ground with families and elementary and middle school classes." |
| 11. |
|
04/13/12 |
Moderate |
 "...more trudge than epiphany.... as moodily weird as Maddin's earlier work but not as seductive or transporting.... it overthinks its exploration of memory and forgiveness." |
| 12. |
|
04/13/12 |
Very Good |
 "...assured... a clear-eyed portrait of the love between a middle-aged man and his amah, the servant who has cared for him since he was born." |
| 13. |
|
04/06/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...a gentle fable whose humanist heart beats in Michel Piccoli's nuanced performance.... The comic misfires, mild though they are, distract from the pope-elect's story..." |
| 14. |
|
04/06/12 |
Very Good |
 "...writer-director Athina Rachel Tsangari centers her drama on a welling sense of grief and hope.... with a melancholy Godardian kick, she creates a world that's off-center..." |
| 15. |
|
04/06/12 |
Outstanding |
 "...exquisite... a police procedural as existential inquiry, set in a remote dreamscape of mystery and foreboding." |
| 16. |
|
03/30/12 |
Very Good |
 "...zings along on the sharp comic timing of the cast, led by a royally wicked Julia Roberts.... Lily Collins ('The Blind Side') is a convincing foil for Roberts' jealous Queen, personifying intelligence, innate goodness and fairest-of-them-all femininity." |
| 17. |
|
03/16/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...a goofy mix of cornball earnestness, telenovela melodrama and, for good measure, magical realism with stuffed animals.... the giddy laughs, though sometimes inspired, are too few and far between." |
| 18. |
|
03/09/12 |
Good |
 "...despite its wobbly tone and stumbles into implausible melodrama, the film succeeds as a study of realignments among friends and family, a gently cracked mirror held up to the insanity that would soon devastate the region." |
| 19. |
|
03/09/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...mildly engaging, often exasperating... poses a few good questions and offers some well-observed moments.... it sits quite comfortably in a well-worn romantic-comedy groove." |
| 20. |
|
03/09/12 |
Very Good |
 "...fresh ode to found sound and the music of silence casts an amused gaze at careerism, classical-music reverence and notions of artistic purity and ends with a pitch-perfect change of tune." |
