|
3.5/4
|
53%
|
Safe House (2012) |
"
While other stars of his generation stoop to self-parody, Washington stands tall. We cannot tell a lie: Yes, he makes us nervous, but in a good way."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Feb 10, 2012
|
|
1.5/4
|
42%
|
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) |
"
Anyone old enough to have read Jules Verne or seen the way his work was successfully adapted in the past will suffer worse than the kids in the audience who just came to laugh."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Feb 9, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
54%
|
In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011) |
"
With its broad strokes, this invitation to an important discussion is hard to ignore, but the blood and honey on the table is an unpalatable mix."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Feb 3, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
64%
|
The Woman in Black (2012) |
"
There's little that's new, revealing or stylish about this basic-black horror story, but if you've got a Goth sensibility, it might suit you."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Feb 3, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
73%
|
Big Miracle (2012) |
"
With such a large and likable cast, the whales are a relatively small part of the movie. But the wonder of "Big Miracle" is that their fate can make a cold-hearted audience blubber."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Feb 2, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
96%
|
Tomboy (2011) |
"
Writer and director Celine Sciamma adorns the thorny dilemma with resonant allusions to gender roles..."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Jan 27, 2012
|
|
2/4
|
32%
|
Man on a Ledge (2012) |
"
When an action movie is as clumsy as "Man on a Ledge," it's begging to fall."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Jan 27, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
53%
|
Albert Nobbs (2012) |
"
"Albert Nobbs" is never less than a tidy feat - but never more than a shuttered window."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Jan 26, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
78%
|
A Dangerous Method (2011) |
"
Like psychoanalysis, "A Dangerous Method" takes its time as it circles an opening to unexplored depths."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Jan 20, 2012
|
|
2/4
|
45%
|
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2012) |
"
"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" is supposed to promote healing, but as they say in New York: close, but no cigar."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Jan 19, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
71%
|
Carnage (2011) |
"
If we grant that "Carnage" is a low-impact exercise in stripping away the social veneer, it's nonetheless brisk and enjoyable."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Jan 13, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
97%
|
The Artist (2011) |
"
"The Artist" may be too cute to qualify as high art, but it's highly entertaining."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Dec 23, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
93%
|
Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (2011) |
"
[Bird] applies the pacing and spatial freedom of a 'toon to a live-action thriller."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Dec 16, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
82%
|
Young Adult (2011) |
"
Clear-eyed, fearless and ferociously funny, "Young Adult" is mature filmmaking."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Dec 16, 2011
|
|
1.5/4
|
60%
|
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) |
"
Is "Game of Shadows" the most pandering picture of the year? Fo' shizzle, Sherlock."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Dec 15, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
71%
|
Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life (2011) |
"
It's a comic-strip version of one man's life and times, but it's tres cool."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Dec 9, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
89%
|
Passione (2011) |
"
Turturro creates the sense that music spews spontaneously from the average Neapolitan and limits the film's educational quotient. But as anyone who has been to Naples knows, you don't go there to learn but to live, out loud."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Dec 9, 2011
|
|
1/4
|
8%
|
New Year's Eve (2011) |
"
The sanitized setting and sappy script are so littered with cardboard characters and crass product placements that you'll mourn for the muggers and porno theaters that De Niro cursed in "Taxi Driver.""
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Dec 8, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
84%
|
My Week with Marilyn (2011) |
"
Williams is a more three-dimensional Monroe than the love goddess herself. The performance is both an eerie imitation and a touching revelation."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Nov 25, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
79%
|
The Skin I Live In (2011) |
"
Few filmmakers are more assured or alluring, even when we fear we're following a monster."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Nov 23, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
90%
|
The Descendants (2011) |
"
In playing an everyman stranded between anger and duty, Clooney earns an emotional payoff that a lesser actor would simply demand."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Nov 22, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
94%
|
Hugo (2011) |
"
Scorsese's "Hugo" is a hugely ambitious and wholly satisfying feat. It's a living lesson in movie magic wrapped in a classic kiddie flick."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Nov 22, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
96%
|
The Muppets (2011) |
"
"The Muppets," the troupe's first film in more than a decade, is a more aggressively absurd antidote to what it calls "a hard, cynical world." Happily, it works."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Nov 22, 2011
|
|
2.5/4
|
78%
|
Melancholia (2011) |
"
It's a credit to the director's persistence of vision that he finds such eerie images to adorn this wispy tree of death. Like a newborn planet, "Melancholia" is magnetically beautiful, but it's also an unformed mass of hot air."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Nov 21, 2011
|
|
1.5/4
|
44%
|
Happy Feet Two (2011) |
"
Even though it mimics the original, "Happy Feet Two" is incoherent, and if there's an actual story here, it's drowned out by the vapid pop songs, yapping wisecracks and flapping wings of too many characters."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Nov 17, 2011
|
|
2/4
|
44%
|
J. Edgar (2011) |
"
It's gratifying to see an old bully outed as a hypocrite, but by distracting us from bigger crimes, "J. Edgar" is a public enemy."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Nov 10, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
67%
|
The Women on the 6th Floor (2011) |
"
"The Women on the 6th Floor" shouldn't work, but this efficient flick whisks away our cynicism."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Nov 4, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
90%
|
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) |
"
"Martha Marcy May Marlene" will stick with you."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Nov 4, 2011
|
|
2/4
|
68%
|
Tower Heist (2011) |
"
A generic caper comedy with pretensions of timeliness."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Nov 3, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
92%
|
Take Shelter (2011) |
"
In an era of empty entertainments, "Take Shelter" is built to last."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 28, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
100%
|
Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness (2011) |
"
Throughout the film, Dorman uses ethnographic and silent-cinema footage, along with ubiquitous klezmer music, to paint a picture of the era."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 28, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
91%
|
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011) |
"
It's thrilling to hear from unrepentant revolutionaries such as Angela Davis and amusing to hear from their bell-bottomed white lawyers."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 28, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
83%
|
Puss in Boots (2011) |
"
Even if they don't provide much lift, these boots were made for amusement."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 27, 2011
|
|
1.5/4
|
38%
|
Johnny English Reborn (2011) |
"
At gunpoint I might confess to smiling when English pummeled the Queen of England with a tea tray, but the babysitters for the target audience will know that his best bits are burgled from Austin Powers."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 21, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
69%
|
Blackthorn (2011) |
"
In place of a rousing adventure, "Blackthorn" is a haunting ode."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 21, 2011
|
|
2.5/4
|
37%
|
Restless (2011) |
"
If you haven't seen a wasting disease in real life, you might think "Restless" is romantic. If you have, you might diagnose it as terminally cute."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 21, 2011
|
|
2.5/4
|
60%
|
Toast (2011) |
"
Like its namesake, "Toast" is crusty comfort food with little nutritional substance."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 21, 2011
|
|
2.5/4
|
48%
|
The Mighty Macs (2011) |
"
Without resorting to any trick plays, "The Mighty Macs" is the equivalent of high-top Converse All-Stars: timeless and effective, but perhaps not flashy enough for the kids at the mall."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 21, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
88%
|
Margin Call (2011) |
"
Within the artful fluctuations of heroism and villainy, Spacey stands out with a performance that evokes memories of "Glengarry Glen Ross.""
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 20, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
78%
|
The Mill and the Cross (2011) |
"
"The Mill and the Cross" is an art-history lesson and a spiritual exercise disguised as a movie."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 14, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
84%
|
My Afternoons with Marguerite (2011) |
"
[Depardieu] is as emblematic of his country as Tom Hanks is of ours, and "My Afternoons With Margueritte" is his "Forrest Gump." Only better."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 14, 2011
|
|
2/4
|
39%
|
The Big Year (2011) |
"
It's nice to watch a comedy that doesn't screech or foul the nest, but "The Big Year" is no big deal."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 14, 2011
|
|
2.5/4
|
36%
|
The Thing (2011) |
"
The geographical isolation still produces shivers, but the repeated motif no longer resonates."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 14, 2011
|
|
2/4
|
70%
|
Footloose (2011) |
"
"Footloose" poses as a bold update, but it's shockingly out of step with the times."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 13, 2011
|
|
2.5/4
|
80%
|
Happy, Happy (2011) |
"
"Happy, Happy" has the makings of a Norwegian "Ice Storm," but it goes out with a whimper."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 7, 2011
|
|
2.5/4
|
29%
|
Machine Gun Preacher (2011) |
"
In telling a true story, ambiguity can be an asset; but instead of mapping a middle course, director Marc Foster veers between two kinds of falsehoods."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 7, 2011
|
|
2/4
|
59%
|
Real Steel (2011) |
"
What it lacks is the human element. Charlie is more of a rat than a rascal, and instead of working hard to build and operate his robots, he's literally going through the motions."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 7, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
85%
|
The Ides of March (2011) |
"
The institutional infrastructure of "The Ides of March" is solid, with some of the best actors in the business bringing politics to life. Gosling is a particular standout."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Oct 6, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
93%
|
50/50 (2011) |
"
It wrings comedy from cancer and surrounds its saintly protagonist with sickly stereotypes. But the closer it gets to the mortal abyss, the more it feels real and revealing."
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted Sep 30, 2011
|
