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| 1. |
|
11/14/07 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Although it sometimes suffers from ennui overload, the film gets under the skin, its darkly comic observations filtered through Tarkovsky, Kieslowski and Cassavetes but alive with their own bracing melancholy." |
| 2. |
|
12/12/08 |
Weak |
 "The connective tissue of its episodes and set pieces is not a compelling story line but the painterly physicality of the movie's stop-motion animation." |
| 3. |
|
01/23/09 |
Weak |
 "With no unifying sensibility, the magic thuds more often than it soars... that territory between the tangible and the imaginary never attains true vitality." |
| 4. |
|
02/06/09 |
Poor |
 "The scant good news about this slapstick piffle is that it's not as painfully unfunny as its 2006 predecessor." |
| 5. |
|
06/12/09 |
Good |
 "Marked by the reserve and sincerity... the rare World War II film told from the perspective of the Japanese home front.... Yamada's eye for domestic detail is astute." |
| 6. |
|
06/12/09 |
Moderate |
 "...as the women learn to wield pasties and feathers and create their burlesque characters, the idea of their pursuit is more interesting than the actual pursuing." |
| 7. |
|
06/19/09 |
Good |
 "Henry Jaglom's 16th feature is gangly and graceful, awkward and tender, a jumble of astute observation and clunkily heightened reality." |
| 8. |
|
06/22/09 |
Good |
 "Writer-director Matthew Bissonnette, a transplanted Canadian, brings a fresh perspective to the horizontal stretch of Los Angeles and environs, presenting them as usually experienced -- through a windshield." |
| 9. |
|
06/23/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "As a depiction of youthful resilience, the film works, but Max's trials and tribulations might have had more dramatic impact with a trained actor in the role." |
| 10. |
|
06/30/09 |
Weak |
 "Even the atmospherics feel secondhand in this ultraderivative coming-of-age crime drama." |
| 11. |
|
09/11/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...slight, if often riveting... a portrait of unapologetic girlie power... director R.J. Cutler has made a documentary of access, not revelation." |
| 12. |
|
09/14/09 |
Excellent |
 "...the film belongs to the always-compelling Cera, who provided the only real rooting interest in 'Juno.' " |
| 13. |
|
09/18/09 |
Very Good |
 "...what lifts 'Paris' from the subgenre pack is a fine ensemble... what's fresh and affecting is the way Binoche's and Duris' characters navigate life and death." |
| 14. |
|
10/08/09 |
Weak |
 "What might have had power as a short film is, at feature length, a mashup of boilerplate and bizarre." |
| 15. |
|
10/14/09 |
Very Good |
 "Anderson has created a world as stylized and inventive as anything he's done." |
| 16. |
|
10/23/09 |
Very Good |
 "...presents a less-than-indelible story but gets the details right as it delves into the business of art and the politics of aesthetic fashion." |
| 17. |
|
12/03/09 |
Very Good |
 "The impact of the quietly observant film builds until the unlikeliest of elements - an old Broadway tune, an empty garage, a conversation about fenders - detonate with long-buried emotion, anguished and tender." |
| 18. |
|
01/14/10 |
Very Good |
 "The well-crafted film benefits from the understated lament of Oscar winner Gustavo Santaolalla's score. But the main melody here is the voices of the Tibetan people." |
| 19. |
|
01/28/10 |
Weak |
 "...the movie is a letdown, stringing together pointless episodes to little effect. It's the kind of thinly conceived, quirk-for-quirk's-sake indie that gives indies a bad name." |
| 20. |
|
02/07/10 |
Weak |
 "...yet another Hollywood romantic comedy that's all but devoid of romance and laughs." |
