|
3/5
|
64%
|
The Woman in Black (2012) |
"
[A] busy, bustling ghost story that at times appears less indebted to the Susan Hill bestseller than the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Feb 9, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
100%
|
Patience (After Sebald) (2012) |
"
In keeping with the spirit of Sebald's writing, Gee's film is teasing, elegant and perhaps inevitably unresolved: an invitation as opposed to a destination."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Jan 27, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
69%
|
X: Night of Vengeance (2011) |
"
Hewitt's pungent early scenes of Oz's underbelly have a certain crystal-meth intensity, but the buzz can't last, and the film starts to wilt."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Jan 19, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
87%
|
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) |
"
In less experienced hands, this would surely have wound up as lurid, trashy pulp. Yet Fincher plays it straight and keeps it serious."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Dec 15, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
60%
|
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) |
"
A Game of Shadows assures us that escapism is good, that mischief must be celebrated. Holmes and Watson are happy and their escapades play out with such grace and brio that the fun is infectious."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Dec 13, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
43%
|
That Girl in Yellow Boots (2011) |
"
The yarn flounders under a crush of declamatory dialogue, sheds its plumage in an overheated final act and no amount of delirious closeups of Koechlin's lovely face (shot by her director husband, Anurag Kashyap) can restore its sheen."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Dec 1, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
100%
|
An African Election (2011) |
"
Paints a portrait of an engaged, energised electorate, thronging the rallies and queuing for 12 hours straight at the polling stations. It's a good foundation; something to build on."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Nov 25, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
54%
|
The Iron Lady (2012) |
"
A breezy, whistle-stop tour through the unstable nitroglycerin of Thatcher's life and times."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Nov 15, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
92%
|
The British Guide To Showing Off () |
"
Benstock's film is affectionate, indulgent and clearly in love with its subject..."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Nov 10, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
76%
|
The Help (2011) |
"
In dramatic terms it works a treat."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Oct 27, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
75%
|
The Adventures of Tintin (2011) |
"
While the big set pieces are often exuberantly handled, the human details are sorely wanting. Hergé achieved more expression with his use of ink-spot eyes and humble line drawings than a bank of computers and an army of animators were able to achieve"
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Oct 16, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
78%
|
Red White & Blue (2010) |
"
Dim the lights and raise the heat for this sputtering Texas noir, liberally spiced with strip-malls and pool-halls."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Sep 29, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
60%
|
Guilty Of Romance (Koi No Tsumi) (2011) |
"
One gets the sense the director has become so enamoured the details that he's lost sight of the destination.."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Sep 29, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
82%
|
Mademoiselle Chambon (2010) |
"
Slow your pace and pause for breath and there's a world of pleasure to be had from this unhurried small-town tragedy."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Sep 22, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
46%
|
Soul Surfer (2011) |
"
The film that follows is thin and frothy, though watch out for that final sentimental upsurge. It could drag and lift you against your will."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Sep 22, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
56%
|
Atrocious (2011) |
"
The kids are screaming and the camera joggles us to the point of nausea but, at the end, the film's big reveal is just a cheap, dull shimmer."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Sep 15, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
17%
|
I Don't Know How She Does It (2011) |
"
For a film ostensibly concerned with the mess and tumult of modern life, I Don't Know How She Does It presents some pretty pat solutions."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Sep 15, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
81%
|
Wuthering Heights () |
"
Arnold's approach does Brontë no disservice..."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Sep 6, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
71%
|
Dark Horse () |
"
There is little in the film's pitch-black interior that wasn't tackled better - with more bite, wit and abandon - in Happiness, Welcome to the Dollhouse, or Storytelling."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Sep 5, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
80%
|
Shame (2011) |
"
This is fluid, rigorous, serious cinema; the best kind of adult movie."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Sep 5, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
——
|
Alps () |
"
Follow the film-maker. Let him lead you by the nose. Lanthimos knows exactly where he's going."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Sep 5, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
——
|
Chicken with Plums () |
"
Sit in the front - and don't peer too hard - and Chicken With Plums casts an undeniable spell."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Sep 5, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
84%
|
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) |
"
A marvellously chill and acrid cold war thriller from Swedish director Tomas Alfredson."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Sep 5, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
78%
|
A Dangerous Method (2011) |
"
A Dangerous Mind feels heavy and lugubrious. It is a tale that comes marinated in port and choked on pipe-smoke."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Sep 2, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
71%
|
Carnage (2011) |
"
The acting comes at full throttle while the pacing cranks up the tension in agonising, incremental degrees."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Sep 1, 2011
|
|
1/5
|
13%
|
W.E. (2012) |
"
What an extraordinarily silly, preening, fatally mishandled film this is."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Sep 1, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
——
|
Desir (2011) |
"
Crazy Horse is languid, impressionistic and perhaps a shade overlong at 134-minutes."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Aug 31, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
85%
|
The Ides of March (2011) |
"
What remains is your classic compromise candidate: a film that set out with a crusading zeal but had its rough edges planed down en route to the nomination."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Aug 31, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
23%
|
Conan the Barbarian (2011) |
"
Here is a tale in which battle sequence spawns battle sequence and where the dialogue is rendered all-but unintelligible under the din of clashing steel and the screams of the mutilated."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Aug 24, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
95%
|
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2011) |
"
Padhila's cop thriller goes in with all guns blazing. This, the film suggests, is the only language these scum-bums understand."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Aug 11, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
38%
|
Beautiful Lies (Full Treatment)(De vrais mensonges) (2011) |
"
Only Sami Bouajila, playing the bemused, overeducated handyman-in-the-middle, emerges with his dignity relatively intact."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Aug 11, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
14%
|
Huge () |
"
Goes behind the scenes of the open-mic circuit where it proceeds to trip over the cables and get tangled in the curtains."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Jul 7, 2011
|
|
1/5
|
0%
|
Swinging With The Finkels (2011) |
"
Short of having a urethral swab or inserting a cucumber up yourself, it's hard to imagine a more queasy form of torture than this dismal British sex comedy - about a man who has a urethral swab and a woman who inserts a cucumber up herself."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Jun 16, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
93%
|
Drive (2011) |
"
Buckle up; it's quite a ride."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted May 20, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
85%
|
Tracker (2011) |
"
The scenery is glorious, but the movie's a hard slog all the same."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Apr 28, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
80%
|
Adèle Blanc-Sec () |
"
Coasts in on a waft of burlesque acting and droll good humour, with each episode metaphorically framed by quotation marks."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Apr 21, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
77%
|
Thor (2011) |
"
Branagh has knocked his film together with a terrific, freewheeling gusto. It has its tongue in its cheek and the fun is infectious. For all of its faults, Thor's never a bore."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Apr 19, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
26%
|
Arthur (2011) |
"
A thin, insipid and oddly flavourless brew. Drink it responsibly. Better yet, don't drink it at all."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Apr 15, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
50%
|
Little White Lies (Les Petits Mouchoirs) () |
"
Unspools as glossy, high-grade tosh, a sun-dappled Big Chill, without the rigour or insight required to make you care about these people and wonder which bed they will eventually wind up in."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Apr 14, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
92%
|
Benda Bilili! (2011) |
"
If the journey feels a little stage-managed at times, the film's exuberant side-notes more than make amends, as the music itself plays out as an exuberant blend of blues and African rumba."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Mar 17, 2011
|
|
1/5
|
40%
|
Life Goes On (2010) |
"
It wobbles from familial tensions to tearful reconciliations, soft-focus to slow-motion, monologues to musical numbers."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Mar 10, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
20%
|
The Rite (2011) |
"
Hopkins' wild ham acting helps raise the deadening atmosphere and prick the mood of pomposity. What he can't do, sadly, is save his co-star."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Feb 24, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
——
|
Nothing To Declare (Rien à déclarer) () |
"
Nothing must enter and nothing must exit, and this winsome, complacent affair wears its isolationist badge with pride."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Feb 10, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
88%
|
My Kidnapper () |
"
My Kidnapper - charged, complex and always compelling - revisits the ruins and speaks to the ghosts."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Feb 10, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
53%
|
The Mechanic (2011) |
"
Over the past decade or so, Jason Statham has morphed from French Connection clothes-horse to Brit-pic also-ran to international action hero - and after sitting through The Mechanic I can semi-see why."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Jan 27, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
86%
|
Get Low (2010) |
"
Aaron Schneider's southern folk tale comes slathered in corn syrup, oozing its way towards a climax that's not so much big reveal as dying whimper."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Jan 20, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
76%
|
Amer (2010) |
"
For all its gloss and panache and giddying crash zooms to the keyhole, Amer is finally little more than a prolonged tease of a movie; provocation without a purpose."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Jan 6, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
96%
|
True Grit (2010) |
"
The old-school American western was not dead, it seems. It was just playing possum, waiting for the Coens to come along and rouse it."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Jan 5, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
100%
|
Enemies of the People (2010) |
"
Extraordinary..."
—
Guardian [UK]
Posted Dec 9, 2010
|
