Mary F. Pols Movie Reviews & Previews

Critics » Mary F. Pols

Mary F. Pols

Agrees with the Tomatometer 73% of the time.

Biography:: Film Critic, Contra Costa Times
Publications:: Contra Costa Times , MSN Movies , TIME Magazine
Critics' Group:: San Francisco Film Critics Circle

Total Reviews:: 833

Listing Of All Reviews & Articles

Showing 1 - 50 of 833

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
	42%	Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)	" Blithely idiotic..." — TIME Magazine Posted Feb 9, 2012
	76%	The Innkeepers (2012)	" The Innkeepers makes such youthful passivity seem nearly as treacherous as opening the cellar door." — TIME Magazine Posted Feb 3, 2012
	73%	Big Miracle (2012)	" There may not be a second of say, Whale Rider's lyricism (that's still the best whale movie out there), but this energetic family movie is less insipid than it looks." — TIME Magazine Posted Feb 2, 2012
	53%	Albert Nobbs (2012)	" With its unpredictable sexual politics and quirky little hero/heroine Albert Nobbs has the edge of quinine, a peculiar taste that won't entice everyone but worked for me." — TIME Magazine Posted Jan 26, 2012
	32%	Man on a Ledge (2012)	" The movie stays aloft on the sparks provided by Banks, Ed Burns (playing a skeptical cop), Anthony Mackie (as a cop to be skeptical about) and particularly, Bell and Rodriguez." — TIME Magazine Posted Jan 26, 2012
	36%	Red Tails (2012)	" A feature film that falls much closer to the goofy Hogan's Heroes in the spectrum of World War II-focused productions than Saving Private Ryan." — TIME Magazine Posted Jan 19, 2012
	48%	Albatross (2012)	" The performances are compelling (although Jones is underused) but the thin narrative is less instructive of the strange way female friendships operate than of the way stories get recycled." — TIME Magazine Posted Jan 12, 2012
	48%	Contraband (2012)	" Contraband's sense of humor is charmingly macho, real meat and potatoes stuff. Literally." — TIME Magazine Posted Jan 12, 2012
	96%	Pariah (2011)	" Pariah should be a special, important film for gay teens and their parents." — TIME Magazine Posted Dec 28, 2011
	54%	In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011)	" The most compelling, heartfelt movie Jolie has made in years. She isn't in it, but she's all over it." — TIME Magazine Posted Dec 22, 2011
	45%	Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2012)	" Horn breaks through the movie's manipulative scrim simply through the sheer force of his emotions." — TIME Magazine Posted Dec 21, 2011
	22%	The Sitter (2011)	" The Sitter is predicated on a belief that chunky Jonah Hill, or at least the persona he presents, is secretly supercool. While it turns out to be a wisp of a movie, on that front at least, it is persuasive." — TIME Magazine Posted Dec 8, 2011
	80%	We Need to Talk About Kevin (2012)	" We Need To Talk About Kevin doesn't just bring you to the outskirts of a parent's worst nightmare; this fever dream of guilt and loss takes you straight inside." — TIME Magazine Posted Dec 8, 2011
	8%	New Year's Eve (2011)	" Neither nicely written, nor nicely acted nor nicely made." — TIME Magazine Posted Dec 8, 2011
	96%	The Muppets (2011)	" During the movie's best moments, I recalled exactly what my long-gone father's roars of laughter sounded like." — TIME Magazine Posted Nov 23, 2011
	92%	Arthur Christmas (2011)	" Both Nighy and Broadbent do wonderful, richly funny voice work." — TIME Magazine Posted Nov 22, 2011
	84%	My Week with Marilyn (2011)	" Williams locates a central truth, the contradictory allure of this utterly impossible woman - mercurial, vain, foolish, but also intelligent in some very primal way and achingly vulnerable." — TIME Magazine Posted Nov 22, 2011
	25%	Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (2011)	" This is Meyer's worst offense -- her disturbingly Victorian attitudes about sex and love, which this particular movie falls modestly in lockstep with, even though it concludes years of cinematic foreplay." — TIME Magazine Posted Nov 17, 2011
—	18%	The Son of No One (2011)	— TIME Magazine Posted Nov 15, 2011
	3%	Jack and Jill (2011)	" More than 24 hours has passed since I watched the new Adam Sandler movie Jack and Jill and I am still dead inside." — TIME Magazine Posted Nov 10, 2011
	68%	Tower Heist (2011)	" It's hard to go completely wrong when you've got Broderick shuffling around in a bathrobe and Murphy scampering in black leather." — TIME Magazine Posted Nov 3, 2011
4/5	74%	Like Crazy (2011)	" There's not an extraneous scene, and even the smallest moments - such as when Jacob goes to a London pub with Anna and stands around awkwardly - are ripe with meaning." — TIME Magazine Posted Oct 27, 2011
	47%	Anonymous (2011)	" Oliver Stone's JFK looks reasonable compared to this." — TIME Magazine Posted Oct 26, 2011
	88%	Margin Call (2011)	" Margin Call might have lost me completely if it weren't for Spacey, who delivers his meatiest, most nuanced work in years." — TIME Magazine Posted Oct 20, 2011
	39%	The Big Year (2011)	" It's like an Easter egg hunt for adults, joyous and sweet. The Big Year competition may be fierce, but the movie is as soft as a bunny." — TIME Magazine Posted Oct 13, 2011
	59%	Real Steel (2011)	" The story remains sadly mired in botdom, which leads to some boredom." — TIME Magazine Posted Oct 7, 2011
	68%	Margaret (2011)	" Lonergan didn't bite off more than he could chew with Margaret - this is his personal moral gymnasium - but he did bite off more than others might want to chew." — TIME Magazine Posted Sep 29, 2011
	24%	What's Your Number? (2011)	" What's Your Number? is not much dumber than the average romantic comedy, but there is something sad and infuriating about it - like running into a high school friend who seemed destined for greatness and walking away realizing she just picked your pocket." — TIME Magazine Posted Sep 29, 2011
	83%	Dolphin Tale (2011)	" Kids are going to eat this up. Given what a dismal year it's been for the family film, it's likely their parents will, too." — TIME Magazine Posted Sep 22, 2011
	94%	Weekend (2011)	" I love what Haigh manages to achieve in his Weekend. The movie is political and challenging, but in an organic way." — TIME Magazine Posted Sep 21, 2011
	17%	I Don't Know How She Does It (2011)	" It's not that I Don't Know How She Does It tells actual lies about working motherhood - many of its observations and jokes are on point - it's just that it omits the edge, the desperation of a woman on the verge." — TIME Magazine Posted Sep 15, 2011
	83%	Warrior (2011)	" Warrior's three principle characterizations are compelling - Nolte in particular gives a tempered performance as the shambling, sad-eyed wreck of a dad - but not enough to mask the film's lesser elements." — TIME Magazine Posted Sep 10, 2011
	68%	Our Idiot Brother (2011)	" The movie crafted around Ned is a bit of a shaggy-dog story, struggling with the climax and coda, but the company is so pleasant and the cast so endearing that other flaws are easy to forgive." — TIME Magazine Posted Aug 25, 2011
	36%	One Day (2011)	" The characters that Nicholls brought so cunningly to life in the book feel rushed through a timeline, tied to an agenda." — TIME Magazine Posted Aug 18, 2011
	76%	The Help (2011)	" For every obvious turn The Help takes, there is Davis, the ideal counterweight." — TIME Magazine Posted Aug 10, 2011
	25%	The Change-Up (2011)	" Raucous and entertaining but unexciting." — TIME Magazine Posted Aug 4, 2011
	73%	The Whistleblower (2011)	" Weisz is a dazzling woman, but her beauty is barely noticeable in this role; her character's integrity and her mounting anger grab all the attention." — TIME Magazine Posted Aug 4, 2011
	78%	Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)	" The movie's biggest surprise is the revelation of Gosling as cunning comedian." — TIME Magazine Posted Jul 22, 2011
	71%	Friends With Benefits (2011)	" It is elevated by energetic dialogue, the sexual chemistry between the leads and the fact that the miscommunication that keeps bliss at bay - there's always one in a rom-com, and usually it is annoyingly unbelievable - is plausible." — TIME Magazine Posted Jul 22, 2011
	64%	Another Earth (2011)	" A metaphysical treat, with influences that range from Krzysztof Kieslowski's The Double Life of Veronique and Blue to Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris." — TIME Magazine Posted Jul 22, 2011
	91%	Winnie the Pooh (2011)	" It's classically Disney, as if Walt himself (actually, John Cleese) were reading us a story." — TIME Magazine Posted Jul 14, 2011
	34%	Larry Crowne (2011)	" When it comes to unemployment-themed cinema, I'll take the greater realism of last year's The Company Men or this year's Everything Must Go over Hanks's too rosy vision of life after the pink slip." — TIME Magazine Posted Jul 5, 2011
	39%	Cars 2 (2011)	" This is Mater's movie. It's a Materthon. I would call it Materific if he didn't leave me longing for WALLE's robot to crush him into a silent cube." — TIME Magazine Posted Jun 23, 2011
	87%	Buck (2011)	" Buck has the air of a beautiful little mystery; even knowing the uplifting outcome, you wonder at the strength that brought him to this place." — TIME Magazine Posted Jun 21, 2011
	35%	The Hangover Part II (2011)	" Most of the laughs go down easily. Most." — TIME Magazine Posted May 25, 2011
	75%	Everything Must Go (2011)	" Ferrell fits uncannily well into Carver country, and in this small but sturdy film, he challenges any assumption that he might be limited to comedy. Certainly this is the first time he's moved me to tears that weren't produced by hard laughter." — TIME Magazine Posted May 12, 2011
	90%	Bridesmaids (2011)	" This might be a turning point in feminism and comedy, provided that both sexes can embrace it." — TIME Magazine Posted May 12, 2011
	61%	The Beaver (2011)	" The Beaver is serious about portraying mental illness. And whatever your opinion about Gibson the man, so is Gibson the actor." — TIME Magazine Posted May 5, 2011
	85%	Meek's Cutoff (2011)	" It's a deceptively small piece of onscreen art that resonates afterward with such insistence that I felt positively nagged by it." — TIME Magazine Posted Apr 7, 2011

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