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| 1. |
|
01/19/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "Biggie seems trapped not so much in a fated existence as in a poorly organized biopic. Maybe a life this tumultuous can't be jammed into a two-hour movie." |
| 2. |
|
01/19/09 |
Moderate |
 "The movie's conceits are just barely endurable, but the sharpness of Dörrie's eye sustains emotion even when story logic fails." |
| 3. |
|
01/26/09 |
Excellent |
 "...for a young man, Nemescu was uncannily versed in the emotions of middle age.... the whole film, you might say -- raunchy and delicate, endlessly alive to the dashing of hope -- is a study in arrivals and departures." |
| 4. |
|
01/26/09 |
Weak |
 "Do stars degrade themselves when they take a role in trash, or does their very presence redeem the folly, turning up something that glitters amid the dross?" |
| 5. |
|
02/16/09 |
Outstanding |
 "...a beautiful movie.... what is most impressive about Garrone is his refusal to let his style be bulldozed by the runaway violence of his subject." |
| 6. |
|
02/16/09 |
Good |
 "...takes its humble place in a line of movies, headed by 'Rear Window' and 'In a Lonely Place,' which bloom in awkward spaces and tight corners." |
| 7. |
|
02/23/09 |
Outstanding |
 "...re-creates one of the everyday terrors of living under totalitarianism: no one in power ever tells you the truth, and you live on rumor and hope.... stunning, epic..." |
| 8. |
|
02/23/09 |
Very Good |
 "...a beautifully designed, rather scary answered-prayer story... Animation is the art in which all wishes, sweet and sour, eventually come true." |
| 9. |
|
02/23/09 |
Moderate |
 "...there's a big hole in the middle of the movie: the director, Tom Tykwer, and the screenwriter, Eric Warren Singer, forgot to make their two crusaders human beings." |
| 10. |
|
03/02/09 |
Poor |
 "Incoherent, overblown, and grimy with misogyny... marks the final demolition of the comic strip, and it leaves you wondering: where did the comedy go?" |
| 11. |
|
03/16/09 |
Very Good |
 "For all its oddities, this movie does carry weight, and, with more than eight per cent of Americans out of work, the timing of its release here could not be more acute." |
| 12. |
|
03/16/09 |
Moderate |
 "...goes soft on us. We get a single sight gag, about Buck's pump-action handshake, rehashed ad infinitum; we get a misguided score, by Blake Neely..." |
| 13. |
|
03/23/09 |
Outstanding |
 "...an enormously enjoyable hybrid, a romantic comedy set at the center of a caper movie." |
| 14. |
|
03/23/09 |
Good |
 "I was awed but not moved... McQueen's aestheticization of his suffering and death becomes borderline creepy." |
| 15. |
|
03/30/09 |
Moderate |
 "You are wowed, and wows last no longer than the striking of a match. If this movie matters, therefore, it is not for its own sake but because it prepares the way." |
| 16. |
|
03/30/09 |
Moderate |
 "...a bind worthy of the lovers themselves: should we organize a Socratic symposium on the issues raised by the film, or hurl our popcorn violently at the screen?" |
| 17. |
|
04/06/09 |
Outstanding |
 "Mottola has a tender regard for balled-up smart people who angrily reject conventional success yet remain desperate for acceptance.... tinged with the pathos..." |
| 18. |
|
04/06/09 |
Outstanding |
 "...fascinating... Bahrani is moving in an ambitious new direction... The power of the fable derives from his unwillingness to solve these mysteries beyond a few hints..." |
| 19. |
|
04/13/09 |
Outstanding |
 "The most stirring release of the year thus far... the emotion that swept the cinema, at the climax, seemed unanimous, binding, and true..." |
| 20. |
|
04/20/09 |
Fair |
 "...both overstuffed and inconclusive.... The filmmakers send dozens of clues into the air at once, but they feel no obligation to resolve what they tell us." |
