|
|
 |
Alynda Wheat, People: OUTSTANDING (cg) "Stylish and intense, with riveting performances... a great piece of Los Angeles noir about an icily controlled stunt/getaway driver... Gosling and Mulligan are magnetic..." (Read the full review...) 126 words, 09/15/11 Jessica Winter, Time: EXCELLENT "...a gleaming, goofy action-thriller.... To invest oneself emotionally in the central relationship, or the movie itself, would be akin to investing oneself emotionally in one's car. But when the car looks this good and drives this fast, why not?" (Read the full review...) 803 words, 09/16/11 Christy Lemire, Associated Press: VERY GOOD (cg) "...feels like an homage to early Michael Mann.... oozes sleek '80s style... offers some serious character actors in big, showy supporting performances, which offers the same sort of appealing, startling contrast as the film's violent streak." (Read the full review...) 646 words, 09/15/11 Mara Reinstein, Us Weekly: MODERATE (cg) "...too stylized for its own good.... Prepare for extended driving sequences set to moody music, as well as long, dramatic pauses punctuated only by the sound of gunshots. A joyride it isn't." (Read the full review...) 76 words, 09/15/11 Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: EXCELLENT (cg) "...revels in sensory detail; it's a visually and aurally edgy Euro-influenced American genre movie about the coolness of noir-influenced American genre movies about the coolness of driving -- especially in L.A." (Read the full review...) 694 words, 09/16/11 Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...a brilliant piece of nasty business that races on a B-movie track until it switches to the dizzying fuel of undiluted creativity. Damn, it's good. You can get buzzed just from the fumes coming off this wild thing." (Read the full review...) 615 words, 09/02/11 Claudia Puig, USA Today: OUTSTANDING (cg) "The look is artfully stylized, influenced by classic film noir; the mood is dark; the performances nuanced; and the story unnervingly exciting.... Thoroughly immersing..." (Read the full review...) 407 words, 09/16/11 Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...much more real than the usual action-crime-chase concoctions we've grown tired of. Here is a movie with respect for writing, acting and craft. It has respect for knowledgable moviegoers." (Read the full review...) 761 words, 09/16/11 Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...about two-thirds' worth of a pretty good to quite good action picture and one-third worth of affected, highfalutin, practically insufferably portentous, pretentious 'Hey, folks, here's the punch line' malarkey." (Read the full review...) 920 words, 09/13/11 James Berardinelli, Reel Views: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...a moody film, with moments of understated, dark humor and bleakness.... it shows that movies can generate a testosterone-and-adrenaline cocktail without requiring viewers to undergo a frontal lobotomy to appreciate the result." (Read the full review...) 775 words, 09/13/11
A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...the coolest movie around and therefore the latest proof that cool is never cool enough.... a colorful supporting cast is what saves 'Drive' from arch tedium... above all Albert Brooks's diabolically nebbishy incarnation of corruption and venality." (Read the full review...) 974 words, 09/16/11 Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: EXCELLENT (cg) "...the quiet, deathly still moments are the ones that count... this action-drama understands the elegant art of the car chase." (Read the full review...) 464 words, 09/16/11 Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...a neon-lit crime story made with lots of visual style. It's a film in love with both traditional noir mythology and ultra-modern violence, a combination that is not ideal." (Read the full review...) 729 words, 09/16/11 Lou Lumenick, New York Post: VERY GOOD (cg) "...not a bad movie by a long shot -- but it's the kind of thriller that's likelier to excite critics than the moviegoing public." (Read the full review...) 429 words, 09/16/11 Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...begins extremely well and ends in a muddle of ultraviolence, hypocrisy and stylistic preening.... If the movie were a movie star, it'd be looking just past you to see if someone cooler had recently come in." (Read the full review...) 643 words, 09/16/11 Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: VERY GOOD (cg) "This slick, stylish fusion of 1980s noirs can feel overly clever but still delivers a satisfying thrill ride." (Read the full review...) 363 words, 09/16/11 David Edelstein, New York Magazine: WEAK "...every bit as dumb as 'Conan the Barbarian' but awash in neon-lit nightscapes and existential dread, with killings so graphic that you can't entirely believe what you're gagging at.... takes Hollywood action movies to the next slick, amoral, and unbelievably vicious level." (Read the full review...) 647 words, 09/12/11 Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...much more real than the usual action-crime-chase concoctions we've grown tired of. Here is a movie with respect for writing, acting and craft. It has respect for knowledgable moviegoers." (Read the full review...) 761 words, 09/16/11 J. Hoberman, Village Voice/LA Weekly: VERY GOOD "...a sleek, tense piece of work... has a kind of daredevil control, swerving dangerously close to and abruptly away from self-parody.... a lovingly assembled, streamlined pastiche of '80s movies and TV.... It's a machine, but it works." (Read the full review...) 784 words, 09/14/11 Peter Howell, Toronto Star: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...rolls like a hybrid of 'Bullitt' and 'Taxi Driver,' with Gosling stepping up his game... doesn't reinvent the wheel of the automobile action movie but it certainly revs the engine." (Read the full review...) 716 words, 09/16/11 Liam Lacey, Toronto Globe & Mail: OUTSTANDING (cg) "Tense car chases, action scenes handled with crisp panache and Canadian actor Ryan Gosling channelling Steve McQueen as an existential wheel man... one of the best arty-action films since Steven Soderbergh's 'The Limey.' " (Read the full review...) 104 words, 09/09/11 Josep Parera, La Opinion: EXCELLENT (cg) "...un fascinante retrato del mundo del hampa: brutal, melancólico, perturbador y seductor." (Read the full review...) 426 words, 09/16/11 Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT (cg) "...it's Albert Brooks who walks off with the picture as a gimlet-eyed heavy with a fondness for edged weapons." (Read the full review...) 146 words, 09/15/11
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: OUTSTANDING (cg) "Low-key, sleek and sophisticated... provides the visceral pleasures of pulp without sacrificing art. It's cool and smart. Some critics might even call it European." (Read the full review...) 725 words, 09/16/11 Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: VERY GOOD (cg) "...stylish, suspenseful, and laced with sentimentality.... Nordic Noir for those who can stomach the violence. It's not art, but arty mainstream." (Read the full review...) 423 words, 09/16/11 Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: VERY GOOD (cg) "...a lean, pulsating thriller... unnerves us with its idling quiet, and then pins our ears back when they stomp the accelerator." (Read the full review...) 569 words, 09/16/11 Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: OUTSTANDING (cg) "Drama requires emotions and cool requires their suppression. The tautly paced, peerlessly stylish crime drama 'Drive' has it both ways.... It transforms pulp-pop hogwash into an experience that etches its way into the mind: miraculous." (Read the full review...) 597 words, 09/16/11 Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: EXCELLENT (cg) "...unadulterated pulp, but Refn's deliberately icy style gives it a sleek, contemporary edge.... The movie's throbbing, synthesizer-driven score by Cliff Martinez adds to the overall chill, even as it recalls 'To Live and Die in L.A.' " (Read the full review...) 490 words, 09/15/11 Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: OUTSTANDING (cg) "The movie has you from its nearly wordless opening sequence, which, just through crisp staging and superb editing, tells us everything we need to know..." (Read the full review...) 1,158 words, 09/16/11 Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: VERY GOOD (cg) "...a crackling action picture that's one part hard-boiled noir, one part existential drama.... for stone-cold, retro action fans who are tired of all these over-edited, underachieving thrillers..." (Read the full review...) 464 words, 09/16/11 Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: VERY GOOD (cg) "Mainstream audiences will probably be confounded by 'Drive,' while lovers of gritty filmmaking will defend every exaggerated shotgun wound as art. Know which camp you're in before you enter the theater." (Read the full review...) 522 words, 09/16/11 Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: VERY GOOD (cg) "...a fine and stylish, if ultraviolent, ride, filled with unexpectedly askew camera angles, nighttime lighting worthy of Raymond Chandler, and nuanced performances." (Read the full review...) 459 words, 09/16/11 Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian: EXCELLENT (cg) "...feels like an exercise in bleeding the world of modern touches, exposing a skeletal Los Angeles that has been feeding the stream of filmed crime drama for nearly a century." (Read the full review...) 655 words, 09/16/11 Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: VERY GOOD (cg) "The abrupt shifts between neo-noir fatalism and white-knight romanticism could give an unsuspecting viewer whiplash, but Refn has a trusty map and keeps his hands on the wheel.... 'Drive' delivers." (Read the full review...) 334 words, 09/16/11 Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times: VERY GOOD (cg) "...barrels into a space that modern action movies have long abandoned.... a flawed movie that frays nerves, a movie with true grit matching its gore." (Read the full review...) 534 words, 09/15/11 Tom Long, Detroit News: EXCELLENT (cg) "It's intense, it's stylish, it's really well-acted and it's incredibly violent." (Read the full review...) 524 words, 09/16/11 Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: OUTSTANDING (cg) "The role [of the Driver] is an archetype - Sergio Leone's Man With No Name transplanted to a contemporary big-city setting - but Gosling gives him shadings and depth.... He's an unlikely, tragic hero - the heart of an icy-cool movie that burns like fire." (Read the full review...) 592 words, 09/16/11
J. Hoberman, Village Voice/LA Weekly: VERY GOOD "...a sleek, tense piece of work... has a kind of daredevil control, swerving dangerously close to and abruptly away from self-parody.... a lovingly assembled, streamlined pastiche of '80s movies and TV.... It's a machine, but it works." (Read the full review...) 784 words, 09/14/11 Eric Eisenberg, Cinema Blend: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...see 'Drive' on big screens as many times as you can and only in the best theaters you can find. While every element of the movie stands up, it's a film that demands to be on a big screen with the greatest speakers imaginable." (Read the full review...) 832 words, 06/18/11 Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...offers more quiet moments than you'd expect... And some that aren't so quiet. Director Nicolas Winding Refn has respect for stasis, for discoveries beyond the frame, for close-ups revealing inchoate emotions." (Read the full review...) 171 words, 09/15/11 Scott Tobias, AV Club: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...little more than an exercise in style, but it's dazzling and mythic, a testament to the fundamental appeal of fast cars, dangerous men, and tension that squeezes like a hand to the throat." (Read the full review...) 409 words, 09/15/11 Stephanie Zacharek, Movieline: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...not only met my hopes; it charged way over the speed limit.... doesn't skimp on human interest at the expense of its considerable (and considerably violent) thrills." (Read the full review...) 941 words, 05/20/11 Jaime N. Christley, Slant: VERY GOOD (cg) "What you want to know about 'Drive' is that its three big, action set pieces are impressive and exciting." (Read the full review...) 933 words, 09/11/11 Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT (cg) "...it's Albert Brooks who walks off with the picture as a gimlet-eyed heavy with a fondness for edged weapons." (Read the full review...) 146 words, 09/15/11 MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher: OUTSTANDING (cg) "It is 'Drive's' nihilism that puts it in a class all its own... the film is thrilling, in its own unique way, by reminding us how tiresome genre rules can be unless they are bent to the point of breaking." (Read the full review...) 702 words, 09/19/11
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: OUTSTANDING "...highly stylized, often beautiful and graphically violent... a film that grabs your gaze and won't let go except for moments when you can't help but look away.... powerful..." (Read the full review...) 728 words, 09/16/11 A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...the coolest movie around and therefore the latest proof that cool is never cool enough.... a colorful supporting cast is what saves 'Drive' from arch tedium... above all Albert Brooks's diabolically nebbishy incarnation of corruption and venality." (Read the full review...) 974 words, 09/16/11 Anthony Lane, New Yorker: MODERATE "...having delighted in the doominess of 'Drive,' as its journey began, I ended much less joyful than repelled... In grabbing our attention, Refn diverts it from what matters. The horror lingers and seeps; the feelings are sponged away." (Read the full review...) 1,585 words, 09/19/11 David Edelstein, NPR: VERY GOOD "Gosling lets emotion gradually bleed through Driver's impassive mask, and he becomes intensely likable.... it is ridiculously contrived. But it works -- and works you over." (Read the full review...) 635 words, 09/15/11 Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...a neon-lit crime story made with lots of visual style. It's a film in love with both traditional noir mythology and ultra-modern violence, a combination that is not ideal." (Read the full review...) 729 words, 09/16/11 Dana Stevens, Slate: OUTSTANDING "...enters the viewer like a sharp unseen blade. The rate at which this compact, masterful thriller ramps up in intensity is quick but stealthy. You're just starting to groove on its understated postmodern style when it shivs you between the ribs." (Read the full review...) 788 words, 09/15/11 Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: VERY GOOD "Ultra-violent and ultra-stylish... [with a] calculated, hard-edged brilliance. It's frankly commercial and sneakily artistic..." (Read the full review...) 1,161 words, 09/15/11
Peter Debruge, Daily Variety: VERY GOOD "...a sleek, retro-styled B-movie that benefits immensely from the aloof, virtually nihilistic edge Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn ('Bronson') brings to the party.... takes the tired heist-gone-bad genre out for a spin, delivering fresh guilty-pleasure thrills in the process." (Read the full review...) 995 words, 05/19/11 Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: VERY GOOD "Tasty, if sketchy... spasmodically violent, creatively cast and off-center fast-cars-and-crime drama... Gosling here makes a bid to enter the iconic ranks of tough, self-possessed American screen actors -- Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, Lee Marvin..." (Read the full review...) 988 words, 05/20/11 Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...a neon-lit crime story made with lots of visual style. It's a film in love with both traditional noir mythology and ultra-modern violence, a combination that is not ideal." (Read the full review...) 729 words, 09/16/11 Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: OUTSTANDING (cg) "The appeal (and charm) of 'Drive' resides not on the story, which is rather familiar and often clichéd, but in the storytelling, the elaborately detailed mise-en-scene, precision of style, and high-level technical execution of some thrilling chases and action set-pieces." (Read the full review...) 937 words, 05/21/11 A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...the coolest movie around and therefore the latest proof that cool is never cool enough.... a colorful supporting cast is what saves 'Drive' from arch tedium... above all Albert Brooks's diabolically nebbishy incarnation of corruption and venality." (Read the full review...) 974 words, 09/16/11 Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: OUTSTANDING "...highly stylized, often beautiful and graphically violent... a film that grabs your gaze and won't let go except for moments when you can't help but look away.... powerful..." (Read the full review...) 728 words, 09/16/11
Thank you for following MovieReviewIntelligence.com |
Opening Soon (Early Figures)
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
