|
A
|
89%
|
The Savages (2007) |
"
Jenkins couldn't have found actors more suited to straddle the delicate, subtle line between detestable and sympathetic."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Dec 21, 2007
|
|
A
|
95%
|
No Country for Old Men (2007) |
"
There isn't a performance in this film that isn't exquisitely in key or a frame in this film that doesn't feel right. At times, the movie deliberately leaves us grasping to understand what we've seen."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Nov 9, 2007
|
|
A
|
94%
|
In the Shadow of the Moon (2007) |
"
If An Inconvenient Truth was the hard lesson about what we've fouled up on Earth, In the Shadow of the Moon is the gentle reminder of what we're capable of achieving and what truly matters."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Sep 21, 2007
|
|
4/4
|
90%
|
Rescue Dawn (2007) |
"
A story of true humanity and inspiration."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Jul 13, 2007
|
|
4/4
|
96%
|
Ratatouille (2007) |
"
Ranks up there with the best of Pixar's best, joining Nemo, Monsters, Inc. and Toy Story (1 and 2) in the ranks of instant classics. It's a reminder of how good 'kids' entertainment can be."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Jun 29, 2007
|
|
4/4
|
74%
|
La Vie en Rose (La Mome) (2007) |
"
What's truly uncanny is the way Cotillard makes you feel as though you are seeing a life not just recreated, but lived. She portrays Piaf as a willful, pathetic, substance-abusing diva, who is also charming, touching and tragically vulnerable."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Jun 8, 2007
|
|
4/4
|
90%
|
Knocked Up (2007) |
"
Following up his smash hit The 40-Year-Old Virgin with the similarly crude-yet-cuddly Knocked Up, Judd Apatow confirms that he is the master of a new cinematic subgenre, the Filthy Feel Good comedy."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Jun 1, 2007
|
|
4/4
|
97%
|
Killer of Sheep: The Charles Burnett Collection (2007) |
"
Using the word art may seem like a lazy label, but it is shorthand for a beauty and a peculiar magic that has to be experienced first-hand to be understood."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted May 18, 2007
|
|
4/4
|
88%
|
Red Road (2007) |
"
It is a film that stealthily pries open the most hardened hearts, defying expectations and offering us a heroine we realize we cherish about 30 seconds after we finally decide we like her."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted May 4, 2007
|
|
4/4
|
89%
|
Zodiac (2007) |
"
The movie feels like a giant canvas that has been painstakingly crafted. It's murky in atmosphere -- shooting entirely on digital video nicely realizes Fincher's predilection for dark and gloomy -- yet rich with detail."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Mar 2, 2007
|
|
4/4
|
93%
|
Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) (2006) |
"
This is an elegant film that deserves to be a classic -- and an Oscar winner."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Feb 16, 2007
|
|
4/4
|
75%
|
The Dead Girl (2006) |
"
From Collette to Byrne, these women start out strong and get continually better, reaching a crescendo with Murphy."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Feb 9, 2007
|
|
A
|
93%
|
Children of Men (2006) |
"
The film is a triumph of direction, a collection of long takes so carefully planned out that it seems as if Cuaron had very little work to do in the editing room."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Dec 26, 2006
|
|
A
|
69%
|
Babel (2006) |
"
[Inarritu's] eloquence of delivery is remarkable."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Nov 3, 2006
|
|
A
|
80%
|
Little Children (2006) |
"
The real force of the movie is its compassion, which is so all encompassing as to be almost religious in nature. Field doesn't turn away from anyone's flaws, and he's always multidimensional in his viewpoint."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Oct 19, 2006
|
|
4/4
|
70%
|
Heading South (2006) |
"
A movie that manages to lay bare a litany of human delusions."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Aug 31, 2006
|
|
4/4
|
46%
|
The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005) |
"
Miller takes on a topic few filmmakers would dare to touch -- the corruption of love -- with astonishing compassion, fierce intelligence and a delicate but always sure touch."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Apr 1, 2005
|
|
A
|
96%
|
Sideways (2004) |
"
Sideways is sublime."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Oct 29, 2004
|
|
A
|
84%
|
The Motorcycle Diaries (Diarios de Motocicleta) (2004) |
"
It's the coming-of-age story of friends on a road trip, a lushly photographed travelogue through South America, and, finally, a mesmerizingly subtle and lyrical exploration of political awakening."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Oct 1, 2004
|
|
A
|
95%
|
Before Sunset (2004) |
"
[Linklater's] best, most mature work to date and perhaps the most daringly subtle film of the year."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Jul 2, 2004
|
|
A
|
94%
|
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) |
"
Peter Jackson had truly taken me to the place J.R.R. Tolkien created."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Dec 16, 2003
|
|
4/4
|
97%
|
Capturing the Friedmans (2003) |
"
An extraordinary rendering of an extraordinary story."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Jun 12, 2003
|
|
4/4
|
98%
|
Finding Nemo (2003) |
"
There wasn't one element I didn't love about this captivating movie."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted May 29, 2003
|
|
4/4
|
98%
|
Spellbound (2002) |
"
Watching it, you find yourself falling hard for eight very distinct and somewhat peculiar children, as well as experiencing an undeniably moving affirmation of the dual concepts of the melting pot and the American dream."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted May 22, 2003
|
|
A
|
81%
|
Blue Car (2003) |
"
Easily my favorite American independent movie since You Can Count on Me."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted May 16, 2003
|
|
4/4
|
96%
|
Raising Victor Vargas (2003) |
"
Saturated with trust, love and real life."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Apr 24, 2003
|
|
A
|
88%
|
Russian Ark (2002) |
"
It's a film, certainly, but also an experiment in human precision, a vast theatrical production, a history lesson, an art appreciation class ..."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Feb 14, 2003
|
|
4/4
|
96%
|
The Pianist (2002) |
"
A triumphant return for a director who has not lived up to his potential in the past two decades."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Jan 3, 2003
|
|
4/4
|
96%
|
Catch Me If You Can (2002) |
"
Full of fun and verve, with ample battery power supplied by its handy helmsman."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Dec 25, 2002
|
|
4/4
|
85%
|
About Schmidt (2002) |
"
As witty as Election was, this is a deeper, more eloquent movie, and Nicholson is extraordinary."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Dec 19, 2002
|
|
4/4
|
91%
|
Adaptation (2002) |
"
It is a happy, heady jumble of thought and storytelling, an insane comic undertaking that ultimately coheres into a sane and breathtakingly creative film."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Dec 19, 2002
|
|
4/4
|
89%
|
Far From Heaven (2003) |
"
Haynes stays rapturously within the visual, stylistic and conversational confines of these old movies, but continually blows their plots open."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Nov 14, 2002
|
|
4/4
|
92%
|
Bloody Sunday (2002) |
"
There is no solace here, no entertainment value, merely a fierce lesson in where filmmaking can take us."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Oct 10, 2002
|
|
4/4
|
97%
|
Spirited Away (2001) |
"
A work of beauty with a surprising capacity to be cute and cunning."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Sep 19, 2002
|
|
4/4
|
83%
|
Road to Perdition (2002) |
"
There are many lovely scenes of the father-son variety between Hanks and Hoechlin, but the most captivating (and the most anguishing) are those between Newman and Hanks."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Jul 11, 2002
|
|
4/4
|
95%
|
Lagaan - Once Upon a Time in India (2001) |
"
It's not so much a movie as an experience, an exhilarating dip into different cultural waters to a place where lovers actually call each other 'beloved' and no one laughs."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted May 30, 2002
|
|
4/4
|
73%
|
The Piano Teacher (La Pianiste) (2001) |
"
Haneke challenges us to confront the reality of sexual aberration."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted May 2, 2002
|
|
4/4
|
79%
|
Iris (2001) |
"
It creates a common mourning ground for all of us to reflect on this disease."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Feb 14, 2002
|
|
4.5/5
|
81%
|
Oceans (Disneynature's Oceans) (2010) |
"
It fulfills Jacques Cousteau's statement that 'the best way to observe a fish is to become a fish.'"
—
MSN Movies
Posted Apr 23, 2010
|
|
A-
|
95%
|
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) |
"
Although the film takes place over two days, writer/director Cristian Mungiu keeps us so close to every mundane moment that he conveys the sense that he's shot in real time."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Feb 1, 2008
|
|
A-
|
85%
|
El Orfanato (The Orphanage) (2007) |
"
I'd argue it's emotionally richer and more surprising [than Pan's Labyrinth]."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Jan 11, 2008
|
|
A-
|
91%
|
There Will Be Blood (2007) |
"
There will be no other film like it this year or next, nothing that sounds like it or looks like it or feels like it."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Jan 4, 2008
|
|
A-
|
94%
|
Juno (2007) |
"
An exceedingly clever, offbeat comedy about a pregnant teenager."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Dec 14, 2007
|
|
A-
|
83%
|
Atonement (2007) |
"
Against those odds, screenwriter Christopher Hampton and director Joe Wright have turned McEwan's best novel into a fluid, sumptuous and thoroughly engaging drama."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Dec 7, 2007
|
|
A-
|
88%
|
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) |
"
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, the expertly acted story of two brothers and a con gone very wrong, is full of clever little tricks."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Nov 2, 2007
|
|
A-
|
89%
|
Eastern Promises (2007) |
"
Eastern Promises isn't particularly long, but it feels full -- full of tension and excitement and beautifully staged scenes."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Sep 14, 2007
|
|
A-
|
88%
|
Superbad (2007) |
"
All this foul talk is packaging for a central, completely sweet Apatowian premise: Friendship is precious. So, too, is any piece of entertainment that reminds us that this thought is more than just some Hallmark slogan."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Aug 16, 2007
|
|
A-
|
94%
|
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) |
"
This is what action movies are supposed to be."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Aug 3, 2007
|
|
A-
|
92%
|
Volver (2006) |
"
Compared to something as extraordinary as his Talk to Her, Volver may seem like a light little soap opera, but its strength, grace and resiliency should not be underestimated."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Nov 22, 2006
|
|
A-
|
100%
|
Deliver Us From Evil (2006) |
"
What makes this film so worthy is the understanding it gives us both of the wolf in sheep's clothing and of the betrayal of trust."
—
Contra Costa Times
Posted Oct 26, 2006
|
67%
——
98%
