|
6/10
|
85%
|
Chronicle (2012) |
"
Quibbles aside, Chronicle sets a new bar in the 'found footage' genre ... and for that alone, we have to give it a cam-thumbs' up."
—
Doddle
Posted Feb 3, 2012
|
|
4/10
|
65%
|
The Woman in Black (2012) |
"
And why would Daniel Radcliffe a.k.a. Harry Potter agree to star in such a dreary slog? The answer's obvious: Voldemort made him do it."
—
Doddle
Posted Feb 3, 2012
|
|
2/10
|
——
|
About the Pink Sky () |
"
With its slight story, amateur actors and lethargic direction, sitting through this slog is as riveting as sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic during Sundance's opening weekend."
—
Doddle
Posted Feb 1, 2012
|
|
7.5/10
|
——
|
Safety Not Guaranteed () |
"
... addresses the current generation of maturing adults who seem homeless in their own lives. Despite the story zipping forward with its sillier intentions, the underlying angst effectively resonates."
—
Doddle
Posted Feb 1, 2012
|
|
9/10
|
100%
|
Your Sister's Sister (2012) |
"
Director Shelton just keeps getting better. An interpersonal drama, the story's offset with elements of a modern sex farce, blending and sculpting the whole into a fraught, funny weekend."
—
Doddle
Posted Feb 1, 2012
|
|
4/10
|
0%
|
Goats () |
"
Random and disappointing. Even Capricorns will give it a hooves' down. Rent "Running with Scissors" instead."
—
Doddle
Posted Jan 31, 2012
|
|
4/10
|
——
|
Price Check () |
"
Betting dollars to donuts, the most humdrum trip to the market provides a more riveting entertainment. Parker Posey notwithstanding ... Price Check is as limp as last week's lettuce."
—
Doddle
Posted Jan 31, 2012
|
|
10/10
|
100%
|
The Surrogate () |
"
We love this hero for his indomitable spirit to take it all on, even given the ever-present shadow of death that mindfully holds him in a tight embrace ... much tighter than any lover could."
—
Doddle
Posted Jan 29, 2012
|
|
3/10
|
32%
|
Man on a Ledge (2012) |
"
Ah, logic ... with this film, don't even try to exercise it. You might end up jumping off your own ledge."
—
Doddle
Posted Jan 27, 2012
|
|
8/10
|
100%
|
Arbitrage () |
"
Jarecki invests his film with a great sense of pacing and tension. It's a well-crafted plot, effortlessly juggling financial and family drama, with a Colombo-esque complication nipping at its heels."
—
Doddle
Posted Jan 27, 2012
|
|
1.5/10
|
64%
|
Red Hook Summer () |
"
Career missteps will happen; it comes with the territory. But this particular Red Hook territory is such a wasteland that we have to check twice to confirm that this drivel actually belongs to Lee."
—
Doddle
Posted Jan 26, 2012
|
|
6/10
|
100%
|
Smashed () |
"
Wonderful performances from Winstead, as the self-professed "adorable drunk," and Aaron Paul, marinating his character in a touchingly sad combination of punch drunk love and denial."
—
Doddle
Posted Jan 25, 2012
|
|
2/10
|
43%
|
Lay the Favorite () |
"
Like Rebecca Hall's inane giggle, Lay the Favorite comes across as high-pitched and annoyingly animated without any reason. Not my favorite ... by a long shot."
—
Doddle
Posted Jan 24, 2012
|
|
7.5/10
|
100%
|
Robot and Frank () |
"
Just when we think Langella's slowing down, that Frost/Nixon might have been his last leading role ... along comes this lovely, gentle film, reminding us once again of his extraordinary talent."
—
Doddle
Posted Jan 24, 2012
|
|
8/10
|
71%
|
This Must Be The Place (2012) |
"
Sorrentino delivers a gloriously magical film, a road movie crossed with a fiftysomething coming-of-age piece, with side trips to the land of the eccentric."
—
Doddle
Posted Jan 23, 2012
|
|
5/10
|
57%
|
Simon Killer () |
"
Due to the overdone visual trickery from writer/director Antonio Campos, the movie ends up killing itself. And might as well be retitled Simon Suicide."
—
Doddle
Posted Jan 23, 2012
|
|
5/10
|
33%
|
Hello I Must Be Going () |
"
At the end of this hello/goodbye, we'd have to say that though it's a sweet visit ... it's not as memorable as we'd hoped."
—
Doddle
Posted Jan 23, 2012
|
|
10/10
|
80%
|
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2012) |
"
A film so impeccably created it will will take your breath away. Not that you have much breath to spare, considering the state of sustained suspense that physically spell-binds you to your seat."
—
Doddle
Posted Jan 19, 2012
|
|
7/10
|
80%
|
Haywire (2012) |
"
It's sheer escapism as we watch a gang of pros playing one tough guy after another. Tough guys who will all drop like dominoes when the toughest one in the bunch ... is the one wearing the skirt."
—
Doddle
Posted Jan 19, 2012
|
|
7/10
|
48%
|
Contraband (2012) |
"
Not brilliant, but certainly entertaining. Wahlberg plays his go-to blue-collar good guy with a continued ease, even while being upstaged by Ribisi's and Foster's off-kilter wackadoos."
—
Doddle
Posted Jan 13, 2012
|
|
5/10
|
54%
|
The Iron Lady (2012) |
"
The movie is remarkably free of complexity and depth, sidestepping any attempt to delve. The magnificent Streep deserves better. Then again, we all do."
—
Doddle
Posted Jan 13, 2012
|
|
8/10
|
99%
|
A Separation (2011) |
"
An incisive look at entangled family ties in modern Iran ... where self-deceit is as pervasive in this society as anywhere else."
—
Doddle
Posted Jan 6, 2012
|
|
8/10
|
95%
|
Pariah (2011) |
"
Dee Rees gives us a sad chameleon, cleverly visually drenching her in the colors of her surroundings. Try though she might, the character can only reflect, rather than inhabit, the world around her."
—
Doddle
Posted Dec 30, 2011
|
|
4/10
|
76%
|
War Horse (2011) |
"
The equine SCHINDLER'S LIST. Bloated and mawkish, overdone with underwritten characters. This critic gives it a thundering hooves' down."
—
Doddle
Posted Dec 25, 2011
|
|
8/10
|
75%
|
The Adventures of Tintin (2011) |
"
Tintin is sheer fun-fun. And unlike Spielberg's other holiday film (War Horse), this won't cause any family members to run up the aisles in attendant paroxysms of grief."
—
Doddle
Posted Dec 21, 2011
|
|
7.5/10
|
87%
|
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) |
"
She's fascinating and tough ... wish the film was a bit more like her. It's a warm dragon, rather than a fiery one."
—
Doddle
Posted Dec 20, 2011
|
|
8.5/10
|
93%
|
Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (2011) |
"
#4 may very well be thought of as #1. Incorporating easy humor, compelling characters and jaw-dropping action, this is some Xmas eye candy."
—
Doddle
Posted Dec 16, 2011
|
|
4/10
|
72%
|
Carnage (2011) |
"
For a great 4-character stage-to-screen adaptation see Jack Goes Boating. Or revisit Virginia Woolf. As for Carnage? Bloodless."
—
Doddle
Posted Dec 16, 2011
|
|
7.5/10
|
84%
|
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) |
"
Carried by the excellent Gary Oldman, rendered in a steel gray and blue palette and impeccably shot, this throwback to British Cold War films is a rewarding, slow-to-boil intrigue. "
—
Doddle
Posted Dec 9, 2011
|
|
4/10
|
82%
|
Young Adult (2011) |
"
Young Adult is a great title, promising a film about arrested development. But this story about a highly-unappealing material girl never quite materializes."
—
Doddle
Posted Dec 9, 2011
|
|
4.5/10
|
77%
|
A Dangerous Method (2011) |
"
Originally called "The Talking Cure," that title was a misnomer ... and better suited to the sequel that might hopefully remedy this verbose exercise."
—
Doddle
Posted Dec 2, 2011
|
|
9.75/10
|
97%
|
The Artist (2011) |
"
The Artist is wordless. In a parallel mode, so are we, dumbstruck, at a loss for the superlatives that might match this cinematic wonder ... which very well may be the best film of the year."
—
Doddle
Posted Nov 25, 2011
|
|
9/10
|
94%
|
Hugo (2011) |
"
Scorsese and his team have now set the 3D bar so high that filmmakers will have to create a whole other dimension ... just to keep up."
—
Doddle
Posted Nov 23, 2011
|
|
8/10
|
84%
|
My Week with Marilyn (2011) |
"
Williams comes so close to resuscitating the visage of a 30-year-old Monroe that we have to keep reminding ourselves that we're witnessing cubic zirconia rather than diamonds."
—
Doddle
Posted Nov 23, 2011
|
|
7.5/10
|
90%
|
The Descendants (2011) |
"
Descendants is a good film, with strong performances and some wonderfully human, funny moments. But with a sharper screenplay, it could have come all the more closer to paradise."
—
Doddle
Posted Nov 18, 2011
|
|
2/10
|
25%
|
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (2011) |
"
The tagline states, 'Forever is only the beginning ...' After viewing this lifeless pap for mere minutes, we realize that it's not a slogan at all. It's a warning."
—
Doddle
Posted Nov 18, 2011
|
|
8/10
|
78%
|
Melancholia (2011) |
"
Though not perfect, this end-of-days is unlike anything we've seen before. The images are disturbingly, gorgeously mind-boggling, a cinematic wonder that you might want to view twice. That is, if there's still time"
—
Doddle
Posted Nov 11, 2011
|
|
4.5/10
|
44%
|
J. Edgar (2011) |
"
DiCaprio's braying, scowling performance is reminiscent of an impersonator rather than a human being. His constriction works hand-in-jowl with this straight-jacketed film that, other than make-up, displays few layers."
—
Doddle
Posted Nov 11, 2011
|
|
6.5/10
|
68%
|
Tower Heist (2011) |
"
If not for the unfortunate heist of the third act, this Ben Stiller/Eddie Murphy action comedy would have found itself laughing all the way to the bank."
—
Doddle
Posted Nov 4, 2011
|
|
6/10
|
69%
|
A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011) |
"
4 out of 5 reindeers prefer this sequel to #2. As rude and wild as expected, frankly it's surprising that the filmmakers didn't go in for 3D chests and nuts roasting on an open fire."
—
Willamette Week
Posted Nov 4, 2011
|
|
4/10
|
47%
|
Anonymous (2011) |
"
Disaster filmmeister Roland Emmerich meets Shakespeare: behold, Bard-Zilla is nigh!"
—
Doddle
Posted Oct 28, 2011
|
|
5/10
|
50%
|
The Rum Diary (2011) |
"
More a vague ramble of places, people and loose events than a film. Now we know why Mr. Thompson consigned the manuscript to a dusty box in his basement for decades."
—
Doddle
Posted Oct 28, 2011
|
|
6/10
|
88%
|
Margin Call (2011) |
"
The project feels constricted, more suited to cable TV than the big screen. Summing it up: these days, we need more than small change."
—
Doddle
Posted Oct 21, 2011
|
|
4.5/10
|
90%
|
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) |
"
The film's concept is riveting, and Hawkes delivers a pitch-perfect performance - making it all the more unfortunate to see the movie ultimately trip up in its execution."
—
Doddle
Posted Oct 21, 2011
|
|
1/10
|
39%
|
The Big Year (2011) |
"
A game of Angry Birds is far more enjoyable than this flocked-up mess. A script written in wingdings would have been preferable."
—
Doddle
Posted Oct 14, 2011
|
|
6/10
|
70%
|
Footloose (2011) |
"
While the story is more oddly archaic than ever, we might find ourselves exiting the movie with the overwhelming desire to kick off our own Sunday shoes."
—
Doddle
Posted Oct 14, 2011
|
|
4/10
|
59%
|
Real Steel (2011) |
"
The fighting 'bots deliver an exuberance of spirit that beats down the leaden human drama. And given all the borrowed storylines, shouldn't it be called Real, um, Steal?"
—
Doddle
Posted Oct 7, 2011
|
|
8.5/10
|
85%
|
The Ides of March (2011) |
"
As slick and as smart as the well-oiled wheels of a polished campaign. Gosling soars, leading a brilliant ensemble, from Clooney's perfectly empty suit to Hoffman's rumpled one."
—
Doddle
Posted Oct 7, 2011
|
|
1/10
|
24%
|
What's Your Number? (2011) |
"
To answer the question, 'What's Your Number?,' I'm thinking 'zero.' As in the amount of time and money that filmgoers should spend on this cellu-void."
—
Doddle
Posted Sep 30, 2011
|
