|
|
95%
|
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) |
"
For people who take their movies seriously, a quick course in Romanian might now be necessary -- and so is a trip to the theater to see 4 Months."
—
Nation
Posted Oct 18, 2008
|
|
|
80%
|
Le Voyage du Ballon Rouge (The Flight of the Red Balloon) (2007) |
"
As if playing a serenely refined game, Hou transforms constraint into freedom -- which feels more to the point than any plotbound interpretation."
—
Nation
Posted Oct 18, 2008
|
|
|
89%
|
Zodiac (2007) |
"
Zodiac is, as everyone says, an unusually complex and ambitious true-crime story, and (more important) a deeply engaging study of three obsessed men."
—
Nation
Posted Oct 18, 2007
|
|
|
96%
|
A fost sau n-a fost?, (12:08 East of Bucharest) (2007) |
"
You will laugh till the streetlights blink on again in the damp Romanian twilight."
—
Nation
Posted Oct 6, 2007
|
|
|
90%
|
Knocked Up (2007) |
"
I chuckled some; I smiled a lot."
—
Nation
Posted Sep 15, 2007
|
|
|
88%
|
3:10 to Yuma (2007) |
"
The studiousness, or maybe affectation, that has informed Mangold's visual style has now been applied to the reproduction of classic Western moviemaking."
—
Nation
Posted Sep 15, 2007
|
|
|
79%
|
The Monastery: Mr. Vig and the Nun (2006) |
"
A sly, quiet documentary."
—
Nation
Posted Sep 1, 2007
|
|
|
90%
|
The Simpsons Movie (2007) |
"
Is The Simpsons Movie funny? ...Yes -- but not as funny as it is wide."
—
Nation
Posted Aug 18, 2007
|
|
|
94%
|
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) |
"
The Bourne Ultimatum gives you the satisfaction of seeing conventions fulfilled, then exceeded."
—
Nation
Posted Aug 18, 2007
|
|
|
83%
|
Paprika (2006) |
"
Paprika stays in your mind as pure freedom and pure exhilaration."
—
Nation
Posted Jul 17, 2007
|
|
|
80%
|
Czech Dream (Ceský sen) (2003) |
"
Some of this is hilarious, and some appalling."
—
Nation
Posted Jun 30, 2007
|
|
|
93%
|
Sicko (2007) |
"
What will you see in Sicko? Heartbroken, worried, angry, feisty, funny and valiant people. They're irrefutable."
—
Nation
Posted Jun 30, 2007
|
|
|
79%
|
A Mighty Heart (2007) |
"
About a search and not a discovery; about the value of an individual life and the reality of multitudes."
—
Nation
Posted Jun 30, 2007
|
|
|
95%
|
Offside (2006) |
"
You will probably have a ball with Offside, as you get to know the characters, marvel at their get-ups, share in their boisterous defiance and at last watch them join the celebration."
—
Nation
Posted Mar 31, 2007
|
|
|
97%
|
Killer of Sheep: The Charles Burnett Collection (2007) |
"
Killer of Sheep is one of those rare films that's so substantial, you feel you could walk around it, test its weight, observe how firmly and forthrightly it meets the ground."
—
Nation
Posted Mar 31, 2007
|
|
|
92%
|
The Host (Gwoemul) (2007) |
"
The Host is many things, some of them icky. Above all, though, it is the story of how these slapstick figures rise painfully to the level of competence, and beyond."
—
Nation
Posted Mar 18, 2007
|
|
|
88%
|
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2007) |
"
The grain of the title puts me in mind of everything that nourishes you in the film: its frankness, probity, care and intelligence, offered not just in crumbs but as a whole loaf. I wish this could be our daily bread."
—
Nation
Posted Mar 18, 2007
|
|
|
86%
|
The Namesake (2006) |
"
There are weddings, parties and a funeral in the movie. Nair knows exactly what to do with these. As a director, she has the instincts of a great hostess -- which I mean as high praise."
—
Nation
Posted Mar 18, 2007
|
|
|
98%
|
Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams (Esma's Secret - Grbavica) (2007) |
"
Recognizing that Zbanic had flattered only her characters and not me, I decided this young filmmaker might be allowed room to grow, despite her awards."
—
Nation
Posted Feb 17, 2007
|
|
|
93%
|
Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) (2006) |
"
I like melodramas. I also like the way this one downplays the dashing, conventional hero in favor of zipped-up Wiesler, who has understood (rather late, I think) that his bosses have no principles, only power."
—
Nation
Posted Feb 17, 2007
|
|
|
91%
|
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) |
"
What emerges most powerfully, though, is an intimate sense of sorrow, and of decency. If there is any chance that popular American cinema will continue to be an art form, then I bet Eastwood's Iwo Jima films will stand as a monumental achievement."
—
Nation
Posted Jan 13, 2007
|
|
|
95%
|
Pan's Labyrinth (2006) |
"
The magic that many films promise actually works in Pan's Labyrinth."
—
Nation
Posted Jan 13, 2007
|
|
|
73%
|
Flags of Our Fathers (2006) |
"
Flags of Our Fathers happens to be very good: intelligent, compelling, lovingly made and strikingly appropriate to our present moment in history."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 25, 2006
|
|
|
50%
|
For Your Consideration (2006) |
"
The goings-on in For Your Consideration are as uproariously funny as in any of Guest's films to date; and thanks to O'Hara's genius, they're a little heartbreaking, too."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 25, 2006
|
|
|
87%
|
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2006) |
"
Jentsch keep[s] up a subtle, restrained performance while the movie Nazis around her are screaming themselves red in the face. She succeeds beyond all expectation."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 25, 2006
|
|
|
91%
|
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) |
"
Borat is the movie of the year, the picture that makes all other films irrelevant."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 25, 2006
|
|
|
90%
|
Duck Season (Temporada de patos) (2006) |
"
Lovingly cast, suavely directed and always pitched perfectly, whatever its tone, Duck Season is the kind of small, quiet, thoughtful movie that ought to be as abundant as Sunday afternoons."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
72%
|
Climates (Iklimler) (The Climate) (2006) |
"
[The Film's] most powerful forces are confused, unstoppable desires."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
36%
|
Art School Confidential (2006) |
"
Maybe this material isn't entirely fresh, but Zwigoff delivers it with the snap of a quick punch to the face -- which is, in fact, the first image in the film, and a model for innumerable excellent sight gags to follow."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
86%
|
The Road To Guantanamo (2006) |
"
Until we get an accounting, let's be grateful we've got the docudrama."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
43%
|
Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World (2006) |
"
In Albert Brooks's new film, we get another plausible explanation of why we fight -- and it may be the most unsettling of all."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
93%
|
The Departed (2006) |
"
You might be surprised that Irish Catholic South Boston should have provided the opportunity for this stunning return, but I tell you the range of emotions would be characteristically, authentically Scorsese's even if [the film] were set in Kowloon."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
97%
|
L'Armée des ombres (Army in the Shadows) (1969) |
"
There is nothing more to say, except 'Go.'"
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
93%
|
Good Night, And Good Luck (2005) |
"
It's both a crafty little picture and a forthright one -- a neat trick."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
69%
|
World Trade Center (2006) |
"
To sit before the film is to participate in a ritual of solidarity and redemption, to which the flimsiness of two-thirds of the movie is irrelevant."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
55%
|
Marie Antoinette (2006) |
"
Coppola's tone is more like that of Manoel de Oliveira's deadpan renditions of nineteenth-century novels, but lighter and sweeter, as befits a queen who was fond of meringue."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
89%
|
Sir! No Sir! (2006) |
"
David Zeiger's documentary feature Sir! No Sir! might be described as a therapeutic film, since it seeks to cure some small part of America's amnesia."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
77%
|
Match Point (2005) |
"
His most absorbing picture in years."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
75%
|
Gabrielle (2005) |
"
Chronically impassive and faultlessly incurious about others, Gabrielle has been, for ten years, the perfect ornament of a social circle where 'emotion and failure are feared more than war.'"
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
93%
|
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Moartea domnului Lazarescu) (2006) |
"
While Lazarescu is descending on his nighttime journey toward zero, the film builds up an entire social world around him--one that is harrowing, funny, infuriating, outrageous and sometimes profoundly moving."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
69%
|
A Scanner Darkly (2006) |
"
A Scanner Darkly is funny, unnerving, astonishing, urgent. It's my kind of summertime special-effects extravaganza."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
84%
|
This Film is Not Yet Rated (2006) |
"
...A very funny, frequently infuriating, and (of course) unrated exposé of the film rating board of the Motion Picture Association of America."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
85%
|
Old Joy (2006) |
"
The closely observed exchanges, which are so rambling and yet leave so much unstated, make the silences between Mark and Kurt echo with regret, longing, hope."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
97%
|
49 Up (2006) |
"
The wonder of 49 Up is its unfolding, within a little more than two hours, of so many specific lives..."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
86%
|
L'Enfant (The Child) (2006) |
"
A film about roads and cell phones, decaying buildings and people who ought to be budding, indifference masked by buffoonery, the belief that money just floats around."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
86%
|
Inside Man (2006) |
"
Yes, Lee did a contract job -- but that doesn't mean he slapped his coat of paint onto someone else's house."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
81%
|
A Prairie Home Companion (2006) |
"
A Prairie Home Companion is surely the bounciest, cheeriest musical I've ever seen on the subject of death and failure."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
90%
|
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (2005) |
"
...Preposterously funny, perpetually inventive, implausibly successful..."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
80%
|
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2006) |
"
Sometimes, when the right movie people come together, a blatantly commercial decision actually strengthens the artistic impulse, as you can see from Zhang's filial treatment of Takakura in Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
|
|
92%
|
Volver (2006) |
"
As perfect moments go, this one was odd and incomplete; and yet, when a plump droplet spilled across Cruz's eyelashes, tears came to me, too."
—
Nation
Posted Nov 11, 2006
|
67%
——
98%
