|
| 1. |
|
09/09/09 |
Outstanding |
 "What I loved about '9' is how much evident care its makers have put into it." |
| 2. |
|
06/15/11 |
Very Good |
 " 'This film,' Leeson tells us in voice-over, 'is the remains of an insistent history that refuses to wait any longer to be told'.... overall I liked its spirit." |
| 3. |
|
06/26/09 |
Very Good |
 "...entertains and enlightens without being preachy - in fact, most of its beliefs are strenuously ambiguous; that's a key part of the joke." |
| 4. |
|
07/17/09 |
Very Good |
 "...an 'Annie Hall' for the iPod generation: über-designed, pleasing to the touch, making up in generic sweetness what it lacks in bite." |
| 5. |
|
11/13/09 |
Very Good |
 "The New York art world does such a wonderful job of satirizing itself that further assistance hardly seems necessary.... the film works as a serious comedy..." |
| 6. |
|
09/21/12 |
Moderate |
 "...an inconsequential high-school-reunion comedy that gets better when it stops trying to make you laugh... it suffers from a painful lack of specificity..." |
| 7. |
|
03/13/09 |
Moderate |
 "The film's a haul but it's imaginative and rarely dull, especially once you realize how far it has strayed in principle from its source." |
| 8. |
|
03/28/09 |
Weak |
 "Whether it's shellshock, righteous fury, or a token domestic scene, Cena plays it all the same way: flat as his abs." |
| 9. |
|
11/12/10 |
Outstanding |
 "...both grueling and transcendent... What begins as a story of survival becomes something infinitely more moving: a man's journey back toward the human race." |
| 10. |
|
05/06/11 |
Outstanding |
 "Epic in scope, ambition, and execution... a classic swords-and-samurai film with postmodern blood and guts, and it's completely satisfying." |
| 11. |
|
04/17/09 |
Moderate |
 "...loaded with high fructose corn syrup so the girls will like it (and they will) and as meaningful as an afternoon at the mall." |
| 12. |
|
10/07/11 |
Weak |
 "...an epically didactic epic... Speeches alternate with battles, slogans with explosions. There's enough explanatory caption material to fill a not-so-small pamphlet." |
| 13. |
|
08/17/12 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...an engagingly loopy comedy about the ways our families drive us nuts.... Chatty, neurotic, maddeningly messy, often very funny... spins in a lunatic orbit of its own." |
| 14. |
|
02/06/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "The five films in both categories, live action and animation, use blips of style to yank at the heart - if the ubiquity of sad piano doesn't get you, the parade of long faces will." |
| 15. |
|
02/19/10 |
Very Good |
 "The live-action category is highlighted by 'Miracle Fish'.... in the animated category, by far the most ingenious short is 'Logorama'..." |
| 16. |
|
02/11/11 |
Very Good |
 "Of the five nominees for this year's statuette, four are about the sorrows of guys, comically or tragically presented, and two tell of schoolboys going off the deep end..." |
| 17. |
|
11/13/09 |
Moderate |
 "It may look like a giant Jacuzzi to you, but you're not a scientist in a Hollywood movie.... It's one huge, overlong, cornball 'Armageddon' - a work of shlock and awe." |
| 18. |
|
02/10/12 |
Very Good |
 "...accomplished works... Precious few, though, rearrange your head and demonstrate the sort of lightning-bolt inspiration of which the format is capable at its best." |
| 19. |
|
02/01/13 |
Very Good |
 "...in a world in which great short films spill out from every corner of the Internet, these programs provide a window into what Academy members think are the best." |
| 20. |
|
08/25/12 |
Poor |
 "Well, fair's fair. George W. Bush got Michael Moore and 'Fahrenheit 9/11'.... The film becomes increasingly overt... insinuation gives way to accusation and assertion." |
