|
4/4
|
95%
|
The King's Speech (2010) |
"
Against the odds, The King's Speech is a triumph, a laugh-until-you-cry, cry-until-you-laugh emotional roller coaster."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Dec 23, 2010
|
|
4/4
|
96%
|
True Grit (2010) |
"
It's great."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Dec 21, 2010
|
|
4/4
|
94%
|
Winter's Bone (2010) |
"
No movie is perfect, but this Sundance winner comes close."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Jun 17, 2010
|
|
4/4
|
75%
|
The Road (2009) |
"
It seems a strange thing to say about one of the most depressing films ever offered as popular entertainment, but The Road is a beautiful movie."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Nov 25, 2009
|
|
4/4
|
90%
|
Amarcord (2009) |
"
Amarcord will make you howl with laughter and then choke back a tear. And all the while you'll be building your own memories of this landmark movie."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Apr 23, 2009
|
|
4/4
|
96%
|
Waltz with Bashir (2008) |
"
An experience that will haunt all who see it."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Feb 27, 2009
|
|
4/4
|
91%
|
There Will Be Blood (2007) |
"
Ultimately the film belongs to Day-Lewis, whose devotion to character is itself a bit mad, and Paul Thomas Anderson, who takes us places no other filmmaker dares."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Jan 18, 2008
|
|
4/4
|
86%
|
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) |
"
A great film, a landmark in musical cinema and the best movie of 2007."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Dec 21, 2007
|
|
4/4
|
64%
|
Things We Lost in the Fire (2007) |
"
[Director] Bier steers clear of Hollywood formula. Her low-key, natural style comes by its drama honestly, with little manipulation and lots of character development."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Oct 19, 2007
|
|
4/4
|
82%
|
Into the Wild (2007) |
"
Sean Penn's achingly poetic Into the Wild seduces gently, creeping up in incremental steps. Yet in the end it leaves us drained and devastated."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Oct 5, 2007
|
|
4/4
|
97%
|
Killer of Sheep: The Charles Burnett Collection (2007) |
"
Don't go to Killer of Sheep expecting a conventional movie experience. This is an art film, a realistic-yet-poetic examination of a time and place and the people stranded there."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Aug 3, 2007
|
|
4/4
|
93%
|
Sicko (2007) |
"
Even people who hate Michael Moore might warm up to Sicko, an indictment of America's health care industry so damning that it could galvanize citizens from all over the political spectrum."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Jun 29, 2007
|
|
4/4
|
81%
|
A Prairie Home Companion (2006) |
"
While lacking a conventional plot arc, PHC nevertheless is totally engaging, crammed with laughable, lovable vignettes and characters with whom we're more than happy to spend some time."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Jun 9, 2006
|
|
4/4
|
75%
|
Nine Lives (2005) |
"
You won't find ensemble acting much better or writing more incisive than that in Nine Lives ..."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Jan 27, 2006
|
|
4/4
|
86%
|
Pride and Prejudice (2005) |
"
Moment for moment I derived more pure pleasure from this Pride & Prejudice than any other movie I've seen this year. It is nearly perfect."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Nov 11, 2005
|
|
4/4
|
53%
|
An Unfinished Life (2005) |
"
An Unfinished Life is so good that it makes you believe in Hollywood again."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Sep 9, 2005
|
|
4/4
|
92%
|
Vera Drake (2004) |
"
A brilliant character study within a detailed snapshot of a moment in English history and society, a perfectly realized environment that makes you forget this is a filmed artifice populated with actors."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Feb 4, 2005
|
|
4/4
|
96%
|
Sideways (2004) |
"
Here's the richest, funniest and perhaps most moving film of the year, featuring a performance from Paul Giamatti that should win him the Oscar."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Nov 19, 2004
|
|
4/4
|
76%
|
Team America - World Police (2004) |
"
Team America: World Police is this decade's Dr. Strangelove."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Oct 15, 2004
|
|
4/4
|
95%
|
Before Sunset (2004) |
"
You don't need to have seen Before Sunrise to appreciate Before Sunset, but as a one-two cinematic punch on the subjects of love and aging these films have few equals."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Jul 9, 2004
|
|
4/4
|
87%
|
Mystic River (2003) |
"
While seemingly a straightforward murder mystery in a matter-of-fact setting, it is never quite what it seems, and it percolates with themes and ideas of astonishing richness."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Oct 17, 2003
|
|
4/4
|
97%
|
Capturing the Friedmans (2003) |
"
It's an exquisitely timed and organized drama, one that regularly detonates with nuclear-strength revelations that force us to stop and reconsider everything that has come before."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Aug 1, 2003
|
|
4/4
|
86%
|
Nowhere in Africa (Nirgendwo in Afrika) (2001) |
"
Populated with personalities so completely rendered that they're as believable as the people next door."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Jun 6, 2003
|
|
3.5/4
|
77%
|
In A Better World (2011) |
"
Is it more manly to fight back or to turn the other cheek? This film will have you debating such issues long after the lights come up."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted May 20, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
79%
|
Earthwork (2011) |
"
Hawkes' performance reflects the gentle unaffectedness of Ordal's writing and directing. Earthwork hasn't any big bombastic moments. Instead it worms its way into your good graces slowly and thoughtfully until you're hooked."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted May 13, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
96%
|
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011) |
"
The art on display in Cave of Forgotten Dreams is so jaw-droppingly beautiful that it can move a viewer to tears."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted May 6, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
93%
|
Of Gods and Men (2011) |
"
It's an attempt to capture the essence of monasticism: self-sacrifice, introspection, obedience and achingly lovely moments of quiet brotherhood."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Apr 21, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
——
|
Ready, Set, Bag! (Paper or Plastic?) (2010) |
"
Ready, Set, Bag! delivers plenty of warm and fuzzy while giving us a mainline fix of the sort of small-town cheerfulness you might have thought died with the Andy Hardy franchise."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Mar 24, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
73%
|
Harvest (2011) |
"
A modest but terrifically acted independent feature. In just his second feature film, director Marc Meyers hits the right buttons."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Mar 24, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
67%
|
The Company Men (2011) |
"
Very rarely does a film so nail the zeitgeist as to qualify as a cultural touchstone. The Company Men comes very close."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Feb 3, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
91%
|
The Fighter (2010) |
"
Don't like boxing movies? No problem. The Fighter isn't like any other boxing movie you've seen."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Dec 16, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
97%
|
A Film Unfinished (2010) |
"
A Film Unfinished is a sort of ghost story. It's guaranteed to haunt you."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Dec 10, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
91%
|
Alamar (To the Sea) (2010) |
"
A remarkably pure cinema experience, not just because it's about selfless parental devotion but because the film itself has been stripped down to the basics."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Nov 4, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
46%
|
Hereafter (2010) |
"
Here a mature filmmaker at the top of his game muses on life after death. But this is no starry-eyed, gullible wallow in the bathos of eternal bliss."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Oct 22, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
89%
|
Waiting for Superman (2010) |
"
Waiting for 'Superman' isn't just a well-made, persuasive documentary. It's a turning point. At least you come out of the theater hoping so. "
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Oct 15, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
89%
|
Let Me In (2010) |
"
Perhaps the best recommendation one can give Let Me In is that you walk out thinking not about the horror but about the heartbreak."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Oct 1, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
96%
|
The Social Network (2010) |
"
The brilliance of Eisenberg's performance is that even when you want to slap his Zuckerberg silly you can't help but admire his creativity, his ambition and his almost religious dedication to the Internet's potential."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Oct 1, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
97%
|
Animal Kingdom (2010) |
"
A wrenching, deeply disturbing drama about a kid who finds that his relatives are conscienceless crooks."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Sep 23, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
63%
|
Great Directors (2010) |
"
This is one of the best movies ever about film directors."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Sep 23, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
82%
|
Cairo Time (2010) |
"
A sumptuous feast for heart, head, eye and ear."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Sep 2, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
85%
|
Farewell (L'affaire Farewell) (2010) |
"
A French film about a traitor you can't help but love."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Aug 26, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
93%
|
The Kids Are All Right (2010) |
"
A comedy that perfectly balances natural hilarity with genuine drama while exploring a whole slew of issues."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Jul 29, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
79%
|
Mother and Child (2010) |
"
Garcia keeps his various stories flowing and in perfect balance."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Jun 25, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
99%
|
Toy Story 3 (2010) |
"
You can try to put on your game face, to resist the emotional call of Toy Story 3. But you'll find yourself practically sobbing over the fate of inanimate objects."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Jun 17, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
91%
|
The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos) (2010) |
"
Its real power lies in the passage of time, the dull ache of loss and the grim satisfaction of revenge, and yearnings of love unrealized. There's an awful lot going on in this film, and all of it is good."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted May 28, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
96%
|
Exit Through The Gift Shop (2010) |
"
Is Exit Through the Gift Shop a real documentary or an expert hoax? Does it really matter as long as you're laughing and thinking?"
—
Kansas City Star
Posted May 28, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
77%
|
The Eclipse (2010) |
"
No, this is a wonderfully nuanced tale of love and loss set in a picturesque Irish coastal town during its annual literary festival."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted May 7, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
69%
|
Babies (2010) |
"
There's no narrator telling us what we're looking at or what to think. The adults here speak different languages, but the film is such a tour de force of visual storytelling that subtitles are unnecessary."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted May 7, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
84%
|
The Ghost Writer (2010) |
"
Smart and atmospheric, with a delicious undercurrent of brutality, this is a political thriller executed with the panache of Hitchcock in his prime."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Mar 5, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
85%
|
A Single Man (2009) |
"
Not only does it contain Colin Firth's finest screen performance to date, but it was directed by tyro filmmaker Tom Ford (the fashion designer and former Gucci executive) with the sort of assurance one associates with Citizen Kane."
—
Kansas City Star
Posted Jan 15, 2010
|
67%
——
98%
