Dear Reader: Update, Movie Review Intelligence will
continue publishing this website through June (more...)
Search a Movie:
THE LIMITS OF CONTROLMovie Reviews
Drama about a mysterious loner whose activities remain meticulously outside the law. Cast:Isaach de Bankolé, Hiam Abbass, Gael García Bernal, Paz de la Huerta, Alex Descas, Bill MurrayDirector:Jim JarmuschRelease Date:May 1, 2009DVD Release:November 17, 2009From:Focus FeaturesRating:RLength:1 hr 56 min
The Limits of Control played in key cities to mixed reviews. • Bill Goodykoontz wrote in the Arizona Republic, "Good, bad or indifferent, this much is certain... one of the strangest movies ever." • And Anthony Lane wrote in the New Yorker, "...the smartest option would be to match the director cool for cool and walk out of his lovely, exasperating story with twenty minutes to go..." More Reviews Below...
The Limits of Control Positive Reviews (35 Reviews, reviews below)
Leah Rozen, People: WEAK(cg) "...cool look, blah content.... a mysterious loner (Isaach De Bankolé) flits through scenic European towns, rendezvousing with gabby strangers..."(See all of Leah Rozen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 31 words, 04/30/09
Mary Pols, Time: EXCELLENT "It's profound really... Oh wait, here she comes again. Still naked. And Lone Man is still not going for it, because he doesn't do sex while he's working."(See all of Mary Pols's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 790 words, 05/01/09
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: FAIR(cg) "...toys with conventions of suspense from Hitchcock to 'Point Blank,' yet without ever turning those conventions into anything more than an academic facsimile of a movie."(See all of Owen Gleiberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 262 words, 05/01/09
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: WEAK(cg) "...insufferably pretentious.... all these mind-numbing proceedings are at least shot beautifully by Christopher Doyle, Wong Kar-wai's frequent cinematographer..."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 530 words, 04/30/09
Claudia Puig, USA Today: WEAK(cg) "...likely to confound and annoy.... plods at a glacial pace. Characters make pronouncements, rather than conversing or interacting with one another."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 423 words, 05/01/09
we have an app for when you're out and about
get our iPhone app... or get our mobile web app...
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: POOR(cg) "Jarmusch is making some kind of a point. I think the point is that if you strip a story down to its bare essentials, you will have very little left."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 639 words, 05/07/09
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times/Chicago Tribune: OUTSTANDING "...will leave some convinced the director is merely self-indulgent, and others deeply satisfied. I fall into the deeply satisfied camp..."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 649 words, 05/01/09
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: WEAK(cg) "...one of those movies that's too cool to have a plot.... The film is essentially shapeless (if impeccably photographed by the great Christopher Doyle) until the final 20 minutes."(See all of Lou Lumenick's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 426 words, 05/01/09
David Edelstein, New York Magazine: POOR "It's unfair to call Jim Jarmusch's 'The Limits of Control' the emptiest movie ever made but I wrote that in my notebook as I struggled to stay awake."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 97 words, 05/04/09
Liam Lacey, Toronto Globe & Mail: MODERATE(cg) "...pretty to look at, but what the hell are they talking about?... What a drag it is to descend from coolly blank to boringly meaningful."(See all of Liam Lacey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 675 words, 05/22/09
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "I didn't mind sitting through the thing, even as I felt myself tiring of it in the final reel. A filmmaker as idiosyncratic and expressive as Jarmusch deserves a little indulgence..."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 277 words, 05/21/09
KEY CITIES (12 Reviews)
Dan Zak, Washington Post: POOR(cg) "...reveals the limits of director Jim Jarmusch... has no emotion, no compelling characters, no unity of effect and, consequently, no good reason to be seen."(See all of Dan Zak's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 628 words, 05/08/09
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: POOR(cg) "...contains all the wonderful things that only Jim Jarmusch can do but lacks some of the necessary things that Jarmusch either can't or won't do."(See all of Mick LaSalle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 614 words, 05/08/09
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: VERY GOOD(cg) "...an odyssey where small moments loom large, and where the simplest of pleasures take on, if not a deeper significance, a more mindful one."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 709 words, 05/15/09
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: WEAK(cg) "...a dud.... each frame is a pristine work of art that could fit neatly into a coffee-table book. You'd probably flip the pages a little faster, though."(See all of Ty Burr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 559 words, 05/08/09
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: POOR(cg) "...interminable trifle from indie icon Jim Jarmusch aims to be the last word in ironic cool, but it comes across as the work of a fatigued dilettante.... a pretentious bore..."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 425 words, 05/15/09
John Petkovic, Cleveland Plain-Dealer: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...reminds us why movies used to be called 'motion pictures.' The pictures in Jarmusch's inaction movie tell 1,000 words. Even if the characters utter a precious few."(See all of John Petkovic's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 427 words, 05/27/09
Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian: FAIR(cg) "...smug... borderline pointless. You could call it a deliberate effort to invert the conventions of the thriller; you could also call it, more rightly, a self-deluded disaster."(See all of Shawn Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 184 words, 05/15/09
Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "The cast can't be faulted. Swinton is particularly effective, lending a certain fascination to what might have been a mere caricature. And Bill Murray is terrific..."(See all of Calvin Wilson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 319 words, 05/22/09
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: WEAK(cg) "A repetitive koan about 'He who thinks he's bigger than the rest must go to the cemetery,' this is indulgent filmmaking at its most pretentious."(See all of Roger Moore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 405 words, 06/05/09
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Visually mesmerizing, sonically splendid... as much about an artist and his muses as it is about the crime story that oh-so-meticulously unfolds."(See all of Lisa Kennedy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 542 words, 05/15/09
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: VERY GOOD(cg) "...reminiscent by turns of Wim Wenders's 'The American Friend,' the Wachowski Brothers' 'The Matrix,' David Lynch's 'Mulholland Drive'..."(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 600 words, 05/07/09
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "I didn't mind sitting through the thing, even as I felt myself tiring of it in the final reel. A filmmaker as idiosyncratic and expressive as Jarmusch deserves a little indulgence..."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 277 words, 05/21/09
Anthony Lane, New Yorker: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...the smartest option would be to match the director cool for cool and walk out of his lovely, exasperating story with twenty minutes to go..."(See all of Anthony Lane's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 464 words, 04/27/09
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "...will leave some convinced the director is merely self-indulgent, and others deeply satisfied. I fall into the deeply satisfied camp..."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 649 words, 05/01/09
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "...will leave some convinced the director is merely self-indulgent, and others deeply satisfied. I fall into the deeply satisfied camp..."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 649 words, 05/01/09
30.6 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
The Limits of Control's reviews are separated by an average 30.6 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
The Limits of Control (35 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:The Limits of Control's reviews cover 71.3% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 16,818 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 480 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
The Limits of Control Coverage, Volume & Length (35 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 44.3 Hours After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
The Limits of Control's reviews on average broke 44.3 hours after opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is The Limits of Control's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
The Limits of Control (35 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
Mobile Web App version 1.2 shows a list of all current movies and review information. You can click through to the cast, director, synopsis, release date and rating on page two, plus individual reviews on page three. The information is updated on a live/real-time basis. You can also search our database of films. Designed for when you're on the move and want the latest info, this app will work on any mobile web browser. From your mobile device -- only from a mobile device -- open our Mobile Web App here...
