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| 1. |
|
11/04/10 |
Very Good |
 "...hypnotic... with two irritably virtuoso performances and gorgeous mise-en-scène elevated way above tourist porn." |
| 2. |
|
02/25/09 |
Very Good |
 "Watching someone have their moral certainty evaporate is a powerful thing -- and more than adequate compensation for the film's technical flaws." |
| 3. |
|
11/04/10 |
Good |
 "...hypnotic rather than cloyingly twee.... this is Weerasethakul's most linear, incident-filled work yet, making a perfect introduction for beginners." |
| 4. |
|
09/08/10 |
Good |
 "...takes an unflinching look at a small-town guy who thinks of himself as an inspirational speaker, but whose overwhelming rage and weirdness (used as an aggressive weapon) are deeply frightening." |
| 5. |
|
06/24/10 |
Good |
 "Cinematographer Alex Schneppat frames the film gorgeously, and director Haim Tabakman knows where the occasional showy effect can be inserted for emphasis." |
| 6. |
|
02/03/10 |
Good |
"...a few missteps... Mostly, though, it wins with excellent performances: Shtrauss never overplays his character's internal tension, nor does Danker camp up his youthful virility." |
| 7. |
|
09/16/09 |
Good |
 "Slight, indifferently shot, and entirely lacking in ballast, 'Harmony and Me's' sole justification for being is that it's consistently very funny." |
| 8. |
|
08/12/09 |
Good |
 "...a blackly amusing two hours about the persistence of pathology.... The documentary's cultural impact is lost in translation -- Yasukuni initially had trouble getting shown at all in Japan -- but the skill of the enterprise isn't." |
| 9. |
|
12/31/08 |
Good |
 "...an unflinching portrait of the grim vileness of Soviet Russia in 1984... it feels as if you're watching some kind of deranged performance-art piece.... beautifully filmed and completely disturbing for its entire running time." |
| 10. |
|
09/02/10 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...car and foot chases, long 'Entourage'-esque stretches fetishizing expensive clothing, and a generous dose of explosions. That's more than enough to entertain..." |
| 11. |
|
08/29/10 |
Good (Not Great) |
"...a cheerfully derivative attempt to merge the epically ponderous L.A.-scapes of Michael Mann's 'Heat' with the digital blur of Michael Mann's 'Collateral'..." |
| 12. |
Village Voice Alternative Weeklies |
09/10/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "In the near future, over-enthusiastic gamers play first-person shooters by controlling real death-row convicts (via implanted gibberish nanotechnology)." |
| 13. |
|
09/09/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
"Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor have slowly started garnering actual critical consideration for their 'Crank' movies; with 'Gamer,' they make another good case..." |
| 14. |
|
09/02/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
"Neveldine and Taylor's spazzy (but coherent) action scenes rely mostly on blood spurts instead of feats of badassery, but their dystopia is inventive..." |
| 15. |
|
06/25/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...a decent, if stylistically dull, case that Lyme disease is far deadlier and more neurologically debilitating than most doctors want to admit..." |
| 16. |
Village Voice Alternative Weeklies |
06/18/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
"...isn't content to merely make its case and get out of the room. It has to convince us we're looking at The Greatest Threat to Civilization of Our Time." |
| 17. |
|
06/17/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
"...a decent, if stylistically dull, case that Lyme disease is far deadlier and more neurologically debilitating than most doctors want to admit..." |
| 18. |
|
02/10/10 |
Moderate |
 "...combines footage from the '80s with interviews and archival footage of Ernst Aebi's artist days, his first trip to the desert, and his return... There's some mildly interesting ethnographic footage here, and Aebi is an engagingly blustery presence." |
| 19. |
|
09/24/09 |
Moderate |
 "Most of 'The Vanished Empire's' appeal (as its title less suggests than shouts) is its evocative production design and some unique Brezhnev-era set pieces..." |
| 20. |
|
07/30/09 |
Moderate |
 "...well-meaning..." |
