Fresh
| Fresh 92%
| Séraphine (2008) | "
The film is a commendably worthy endeavor, and I am almost ashamed that my ingrained hedonistic attitude toward movies prevents me from recommending Séraphine more enthusiastically." — New York Observer Posted Jun 10, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 60%
| Tetro (2009) | "
Despite all its longueurs and extreme aggravations, Tetro deserves to be seen as the late work of one of the cinema’s most accomplished masters of mise-en-scène." — New York Observer Posted Jun 10, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 95%
| Herb & Dorothy (2009) | "
Herb & Dorothy describes and amply illustrates the extraordinary saga of the Vogels, who double-handedly built one of the most important collections of Minimalist and Conceptual Art in history with their modest salaries." — New York Observer Posted Jun 3, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 73%
| Departures (2009) | "
The ultimate beauty of the film rests in its symbolic details that bridge the abyss between the living and the dead. As the French might say, it is to make one cry." — New York Observer Posted Jun 3, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 79%
| Milton Glaser: To Inform & Delight (2009) | "
What elevates the film to something more than a talking-heads documentary is the rapport established between Mr. Glaser and Ms. Keys on a project they both saw as a visual and verbal love letter to New York City." — New York Observer Posted May 20, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 32%
| Terminator Salvation (2009) | "
I cannot completely condemn a movie that has been very competently written, directed and acted, any more than I can blame Mr. Schwarzenegger for all the woes he has encountered while trying to govern California." — New York Observer Posted May 20, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 47%
| Management (2009) | "
In this Springtime of our Discontent, Management offers a bit of sunny but not entirely silly escapism." — New York Observer Posted May 13, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 75%
| Adoration (2009) | "
As for Mr. Egoyan, he remains an auteur at the highest level of cinematic creation, and even one of his lesser films, like Adoration, deserves to be seen." — New York Observer Posted May 6, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 82%
| The Window (2008) | "
The Window is not without a certain visual spell that makes it a first-rate artistic achievement." — New York Observer Posted May 6, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 25%
| Jazz in the Diamond District (2009) | "
The music, with its infectious energy, together with Ms. Cameron’s onstage charisma makes Jazz in the Diamond District well worth seeing." — New York Observer Posted Apr 29, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 40%
| A Wink and a Smile (2009) | "
A Wink and a Smile struck me as 90 minutes of narcissism with a hyper-feminist slant, and no erotic charge whatsoever." — New York Observer Posted Apr 29, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 92%
| Revanche (2009) | "
One of the most compelling assemblages of character studies I have seen so far in this too-often-dismal year of moviegoing." — New York Observer Posted Apr 22, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 55%
| The Soloist (2009) | "
Mr Downey and Mr. Foxx both turn in Oscar-worthy performances in their very strenuous and detail-drenched roles." — New York Observer Posted Apr 22, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 92%
| The Lemon Tree (2008) | "
Lemon Tree is well worth seeing as a first-class artistic achievement bridging two civilizations." — New York Observer Posted Apr 15, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 85%
| State of Play (2009) | "
It is Mr. Crowe who lends State of Play a sense of perpetual urgency as he traverses the corridors of power in search of massive wrongdoing at the risk of his own life." — New York Observer Posted Apr 15, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 94%
| Goodbye Solo (2009) | "
A darkly poetic parable of the solitude of human existence, somewhat ameliorated by the occasional generosity of the human spirit." — New York Observer Posted Apr 8, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 55%
| Lymelife (2009) | "
The sterling ensemble portrayals of Mr. Baldwin, Mr. Hutton and the Culkin brothers on the male side and Ms. Hennessy, Ms. Nixon and Ms. Roberts on the distaff side make Lymelife worth seeing, especially in these dire times." — New York Observer Posted Apr 8, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 38%
| Gigantic (2008) | "
The various twilight performances of the veteran players deserve a look, as do the always interesting appearances of Mr. Dano and Ms. Deschanel. Only the sparks are missing this time." — New York Observer Posted Apr 1, 2009 |
— | Fresh 85%
| Ashes of Time (1994) |
Click here to read article — New York Observer Posted Apr 1, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 50%
| The Education of Charlie Banks (2009) | "
I fully recommend The Education of Charlie Banks to anyone looking for something truly and subtly different." — New York Observer Posted Mar 25, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 76%
| Shall We Kiss? (2008) | "
The French cinema continues to be the source of our most timelessly enchanting romantic entertainment." — New York Observer Posted Mar 25, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 90%
| Hunger (2008) | "
A harrowing yet lyrical account of the fatal hunger strike of Irish Republican Army prisoner Bobby Sands in the Maze Prison, Northern Ireland, in 1981." — New York Observer Posted Mar 18, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 66%
| Duplicity (2009) | "
Mr. Gilroy has outsmarted himself by pulling too many switches in his narrative. He then fails to recover by coming up with a smash ending that pulls all the scattered pieces together." — New York Observer Posted Mar 18, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 92%
| Tokyo Sonata (2009) | "
Tokyo Sonata speaks to us, with feeling and passion, as one of the most eloquent statements on the world today that we are likely to see in this moviegoing year." — New York Observer Posted Mar 11, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 88%
| Carmen and Geoffrey (2009) | "
Linda Atkinson and Nick Doob’s Carmen & Geoffrey is one of the most revelatory dance films I have ever seen." — New York Observer Posted Mar 11, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 73%
| Sunshine Cleaning (2009) | "
Sunshine Cleaning is made of sterner stuff than the usual chick flick, and is well worth the time of all serious moviegoers." — New York Observer Posted Mar 11, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 33%
| Sherman's Way (2009) | "
Sherman’s Way manages to be a road movie that never gets very far because it keeps going around in circles." — New York Observer Posted Mar 4, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 7%
| Reunion (2009) | "
Since no one in the cast is a household name, the series of confessions and critiques resemble nothing so much as actors’ auditions." — New York Observer Posted Mar 4, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 95%
| Fados (2009) | "
Casts a wondrous spell as the third installment of the Spanish director’s musical trilogy, which also includes Flamenco (1995) and Tango (1998)." — New York Observer Posted Mar 4, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 74%
| Tokyo! (2009) | "
The cumulative strangeness of Tokyo! is consistent with the previous eccentricities of the three directors, and is well worth the time of any moviegoer looking for something different in their movie diet." — New York Observer Posted Mar 4, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 78%
| 12 (2007) | "
It is well worth seeing if only for the insights into contemporary Russian society. The acting of all 12 jurors is exemplary, in both versions." — New York Observer Posted Feb 25, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 90%
| Katyn (2007) | "
As a portrait of hell on earth, Katyń deserves to be seen by anyone with a feeling for history, however horrifying it may be. Actually, it puts just about every other horror movie to shame." — New York Observer Posted Feb 18, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 93%
| Must Read After My Death (2009) | "
I can recommend this film with the proviso that you don’t have to accept it at face value. For myself, I found its frankness entrancing." — New York Observer Posted Feb 18, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 23%
| Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) | "
I can’t really recommend this movie in these perilous times, except for viewers in search of a nostalgic chuckle or two." — New York Observer Posted Feb 11, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 84%
| Two Lovers (2009) | "
The acting is all first-rate, and Mr. Gray and his cinematographer, Joaquín Baca-Asay, have captured their locale in its most somber stages, as if to emphasize the essential sadness of the two love stories, and the chill they induce in the viewer." — New York Observer Posted Feb 11, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 91%
| Gomorrah (2009) | "
A very localized canvas of the 'criminal empire' with five interwoven strands of the narrative, each one leading to the same fatalistic ending, attesting to the ultimate invincibility and inevitability of this 'empire.'" — New York Observer Posted Feb 4, 2009 |
— | Fresh 100%
| Gomorra (2008) |
Click here to read article — New York Observer Posted Feb 4, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 57%
| Shadows (2008) | "
[The] two very attractive leads, Mr. Nacev and Ms. Stanojevska, were picked out of a pool of aspirants in Macedonia and its neighboring countries. Actually, they are so arresting together that it is truly unearthly." — New York Observer Posted Jan 28, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 88%
| Medicine for Melancholy (2009) | "
Mr. Jenkins and his co-leads, Mr. Cenac and Ms. Heggins, achieve stretches of buoyancy and brio in their search for a romantic epiphany that never comes." — New York Observer Posted Jan 28, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 86%
| California Dreamin' (2009) | "
At its present length it sprawls shamelessly in terms of the ultimate futility of its narrative." — New York Observer Posted Jan 21, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 84%
| Cherry Blossoms (2009) | "
It is a seldom-told story in an essentially youth-oriented, escapist movie industry, but when it is told sublimely well, as it is by Ms. Dörrie now, and by McCarey in 1937, and by Ozu in 1953, it becomes a film for the ages." — New York Observer Posted Jan 21, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 78%
| Doubt (2008) | "
John Patrick Shanley's Doubt left me less moved than querulously dissatisfied despite the impressive performances of Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis in all the key roles." — New York Observer Posted Dec 31, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 70%
| Last Chance Harvey (2008) | "
Mr. Hoffman, now past 70, and Ms. Thompson, inching toward 50, still retain enough buoyancy to keep the picture afloat. And the rest of the cast kicks in with flawless ensemble support." — New York Observer Posted Dec 31, 2008 |
Rotten
| Fresh 69%
| Revolutionary Road (2008) | "
It simply doesn’t play as well as it reads." — New York Observer Posted Dec 17, 2008 |
Fresh
| Rotten 34%
| Adam Resurrected (2008) | "
I can tentatively recommend it if only because there has never been anything like it in the history of cinema as far as I can remember." — New York Observer Posted Dec 10, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 79%
| Gran Torino (2008) | "
Caps [Eastwood's] career as both a director and an actor with his portrayal of a heroically redeemed bigot of such humanity and luminosity as to exhaust my supply of superlatives." — New York Observer Posted Dec 10, 2008 |
Fresh
| Rotten 38%
| While She Was Out (2008) | "
The spectacular ending will make every harried housewife in the world ecstatic." — New York Observer Posted Dec 10, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 92%
| Frost/Nixon (2008) | "
With the awards season swirling around us, Mr. Langella and Mr. Sheen will be hard to overlook when all the prizes are dispensed." — New York Observer Posted Dec 3, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 84%
| Wendy and Lucy (2008) | "
To her credit, Ms. Reichardt never allows her camera to become a voyeuristic witness to a young woman in distress. Instead, it remains focused on a largely indifferent American landscape of strangers in perpetual motion to nowhere." — New York Observer Posted Dec 3, 2008 |
Rotten
| Fresh 62%
| The Reader (2008) | "
Despite the efforts of [all involved], the Holocaust remains the elephant in the room that deadens the elements of surprise and suspense we have been conditioned to expect in screen narratives." — New York Observer Posted Dec 3, 2008 |
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