|
| 1. |
|
05/18/12 |
Fair |
 "...dominated by the characters shouting over one another and overcompensating for largely unfunny material by overacting by about 300 percent.... it's conspicuously unmodulated..." |
| 2. |
|
05/16/12 |
Very Good |
 "...a highly idiosyncratic, impeccably made portrait of young love... even the most minute detail has been attended to in the manner of the most obsessive maker of 19th century dollhouses." |
| 3. |
|
05/11/12 |
Very Good |
 "Baron Cohen employs a comic range that ricochets between wicked political barbs and the lowest anatomical farce, to often funny and occasionally hilarious effect." |
| 4. |
|
05/08/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...hesitates to go all the way.... the humor slithers between the clever and the sophomoric and the film too often seems willing to settle for mild humor at the expense of hippie-era mores..." |
| 5. |
|
04/19/12 |
Outstanding |
 "Joss Whedon pulls off a stunning feat in bringing balance to this superhuman circus... the film gives every single one of the superstar characters his or her due." |
| 6. |
|
04/17/12 |
Weak |
 "...stubbornly soggy... Despite their inner turmoil, the characters remain bland and superficial, never expressing gut feelings when homilies about destiny and life's little surprises will do." |
| 7. |
|
04/16/12 |
Moderate |
 "Good-looking nature documentary resorts to good chimp/bad chimp dramatics... this sort of throwback aimed squarely at little kids feels very old school." |
| 8. |
|
04/12/12 |
Good |
 "The boinks, pokes, slaps, nyuk-nyuks and nyaaahhhs mostly sound right and hit their marks... a funny, good-hearted resuscitation of Hollywood's beloved lowbrow lunkheads." |
| 9. |
|
03/28/12 |
Fair |
 "...a relentlessly mechanical piece of work that will not or cannot take the imaginative leaps to yield even fleeting moments of awe, wonder or charm." |
| 10. |
|
03/15/12 |
Good |
 "Jennifer Lawrence anchors this futuristic and politicized elaboration of 'The Most Dangerous Game' with impressive gravity and presence... director Gary Ross gets enough of what matters in the book up on the screen..." |
| 11. |
|
03/12/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...a mirthful feel emanates from this melodrama parody simply by virtue of Will Ferrell's turn as the slow-witted, black-sheep member of a Mexican ranch family infected by the drug trade." |
| 12. |
|
03/06/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Derivative but charming and fun enough.... both spectacular and a bit cheesy.... Neither classic nor fiasco, the film will likely delight sci-fi geeks most of all..." |
| 13. |
|
03/02/12 |
Weak |
 "...a creaky haunted house that, once the big twist is revealed, makes very little sense at all.... it's hokum increasingly drugged by tedium." |
| 14. |
|
03/01/12 |
Poor |
 "...grimly depressing, glumly unfunny... a sort of crude art object upon which viewers can project whatever feelings they have about the degenerative hijinks on display..." |
| 15. |
|
02/20/12 |
Very Good |
 "The sources of the film's gratifying equilibrium would seem to lie equally with the carefully balanced structure of Weitz's script and Paul Dano's restrained but open-hearted performance." |
| 16. |
|
02/09/12 |
Poor |
 "...the whole picture should have been sent back for a reshoot.... an eye-roller from start to finish..." |
| 17. |
|
02/08/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Terse and understated... designed to minimize talk and maximize action, not at all a bad thing in movies but over-worked to near-exhaustion here." |
| 18. |
|
02/08/12 |
Fair |
 "Cornball... has the benefit of being based on a true story, but its melodramatic premise more than anything resembles soapy tearjerkers of the '30s and '40s..." |
| 19. |
|
02/03/12 |
Very Good |
 "Director James Watkins ('Eden Lake') shows he well knows what he's doing; the genre has certain requirements and he honors them, with sincerity and style." |
| 20. |
|
02/02/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...a clever twist on superpowers and hand-held filmmaking that stumbles before the ending.... the script doesn't take advantage of the ideal opportunity it sets up to explore..." |
