Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 89%
| Up in the Air (2009) | "
It's hard to think of an actor who's better at projecting the professional smoothness that's essential to make this character palatable, but Clooney turns out to be willing to take that persona further." — Los Angeles Times Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 91%
| Ponyo (2009) | "
Five minutes into this magical film you'll be making lists of the individuals of every age you can expose to the very special mixture of fantasy and folklore, adventure and affection, that make up the enchanted vision of Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki." — Los Angeles Times Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 98%
| Up (2009) | "
Rarely has any film, let alone an animated one powered by the logic of dream and fantasy, been able to move so successfully -- and so effortlessly -- through so many different kinds of cinematic territory." — Los Angeles Times Posted May 28, 2009 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 93%
| Sugar (2009) | "
"We put a lot of love into this," Boden said when Sugar debuted at Sundance, and this thoughtful, poignant film reflects that love and more." — Los Angeles Times Posted Apr 2, 2009 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 89%
| Coraline (2009) | "
Coraline is a remarkable feat of imagination, a magical tale with a genuinely sinister edge." — Los Angeles Times Posted Feb 6, 2009 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 79%
| A Woman in Berlin (2008) | "
[A] brutal, unforgettable film." — Los Angeles Times Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 86%
| A Christmas Tale (2008) | "
These infuriating, involving individuals are so resolutely themselves, so sure they are right by their own lights, they exist in a world beyond anyone's judgment." — Los Angeles Times Posted Nov 14, 2008 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 100%
| Man On Wire (2008) | "
They say that seeing is believing, but Man on Wire will make you doubt what your eyes are telling you -- it really will -- as you shake your head in amazement and awe." — Los Angeles Times Posted Aug 8, 2008 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 94%
| The Dark Knight (2008) | "
To see it is to understand that Nolan and his co-writer brother Jonathan saw a chance to go deeper into familiar characters and mythology, a chance to meditate on darker-than-usual themes that have implications for the way we live now." — Los Angeles Times Posted Jul 16, 2008 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 65%
| Summer Palace (2008) | "
Search out this vivid film in a theater. Don't let the sacrifices he [Director Lou Ye] made be in vain." — Los Angeles Times Posted Feb 29, 2008 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 100%
| Taxi to the Dark Side (2008) | "
A meticulous examination...Taxi is impressive." — Los Angeles Times Posted Jan 17, 2008 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 96%
| 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2008) | "
It conveys unblinking and despairing emotional truth with enough intensity to leave you gasping for air." — Los Angeles Times Posted Dec 21, 2007 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 88%
| The Unforeseen (2007) | "
No one who sees this intriguing documentary will want to argue with reporter Greider when he forcefully insists, "We need a more mature regard for the future." We do indeed." — Los Angeles Times Posted Mar 14, 2008 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 98%
| The Band's Visit (2007) | "
The Israeli film that's become celebrated for what it lacks -- enough Hebrew to contend for the best foreign language Oscar -- can now be seen and appreciated for what it has in abundance: visual wit, verbal charm and a completely droll sense of humor." — Los Angeles Times Posted Dec 7, 2007 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 86%
| Starting Out in the Evening (2007) | "
Intelligent, involving and conspicuously adult, "Starting Out in the Evening" is almost shocking in its distinctiveness, its ability to create high drama from an unlikely source." — Los Angeles Times Posted Nov 24, 2007 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 64%
| Dan in Real Life (2007) | "
If what you want is a star-driven sophisticated romantic comedy that is successfully aimed at actual adults, the wait can seem like forever. Until now." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 26, 2007 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 85%
| Terror's Advocate (2007) | "
Jacques Vergès is such a compelling, complex and contradictory character that if he didn't exist someone would be obliged to invent him. It is the gift of Terror's Advocate to simply present Vergès as is." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 12, 2007 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 97%
| Once (2007) | "
Are you looking for a little film you can make your own, an enchanting, unpretentious blend of music and romance you can watch forever? If you do, Once is about to come into your life and make it whole." — Los Angeles Times Posted Jun 7, 2007 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 69%
| The Valet (2007) | "
A complete master of cinematic farce, [director] Veber's latest venture, The Valet, makes creating deliciously funny comedy look a lot easier than it has any right to." — Los Angeles Times Posted Apr 19, 2007 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 89%
| Into Great Silence (2007) | "
Though it likely will not persuade people to join the ranks, experiencing life behind the walls has an undeniable effect. We've been allowed a glimpse of eternity. And who would not be changed by that?" — Los Angeles Times Posted Mar 8, 2007 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 74%
| Lady Chatterley (2006) | "
It's a special pleasure to report that the French Lady Chatterley is the most frankly sensual movie in memory." — Los Angeles Times Posted Jul 12, 2007 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 91%
| Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) | "
The laconic, pitiless way Eastwood shot the violence of battle underscores what a waste it all is, underlines the futility that so many have to die because of the misguided ideology of a few in leadership positions." — Los Angeles Times Posted Dec 19, 2006 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 73%
| Flags of Our Fathers (2006) | "
his sad true story wrings you out emotionally because it's concerned with both the deaths of young men in battle and what happens when the needs of those who survive clash with what society expects and politics demands." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 19, 2006 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 79%
| Le Petit Lieutenant (2006) | "
A quiet powerhouse of a film, an implacable, uncompromising French police drama, both old-fashioned and modern, that underlines the reasons impeccably made crime stories do so well on screen." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 12, 2006 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 90%
| Half Nelson (2006) | "
Made with assurance, restraint and psychological acuity by director Ryan Fleck and anchored by Ryan Gosling's commanding performance, this paradigmatic American independent feature approaches recurring themes in a compelling new way." — Los Angeles Times Posted Aug 26, 2006 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 86%
| L'Enfant (2006) | "
The exceptional thing about L'Enfant is how intensely dramatic the film makes the consequences of Bruno's choice." — Los Angeles Times Posted Mar 23, 2006 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 92%
| Darwin's Nightmare (2006) | "
It immerses you in its reality one toe at a time, until suddenly you are in over your head, gasping for air as the horror of the situation reveals itself in all its savage devastation." — Los Angeles Times Posted Feb 9, 2006 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 77%
| Munich (2005) | "
In this age of feckless and unapologetic zealotry, with leaders whose passion for extremism has led to the lamentable results we see all around us, Munich's even-handed cry for peace is not an act of equivocation but one of bravery." — Los Angeles Times Posted Dec 22, 2005 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 91%
| Ballets Russes (2005) | "
The stories and people presented here are involving enough to enthrall anyone." — Los Angeles Times Posted Nov 10, 2005 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 93%
| The Squid and the Whale (2005) | "
Acutely observed, faultlessly acted, graced with piercing emotion and unsparing honesty, it will make you laugh because you can't bear to cry." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 13, 2005 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 94%
| Good Night. And, Good Luck (2005) | "
Good Night, and Good Luck couldn't be more unlikely, more unfashionable -- or more compelling." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 6, 2005 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 93%
| Saraband (2005) | "
Bergman has never been an ordinary filmmaker, and what he's given us is no genial last hurrah but rather an intensely dramatic, at times lacerating examination of life's conundrums that is exhilarating in its fearlessness and its command." — Los Angeles Times Posted Jul 7, 2005 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 73%
| War of the Worlds (2005) | "
With War of the Worlds [Spielberg] has made what is arguably one of the best 1950s science fiction films ever." — Los Angeles Times Posted Jun 28, 2005 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 85%
| Howl's Moving Castle (2005) | "
Miyazaki's gift for wonder, an ease with fantasy that makes enchantment second nature, is so great it obliterates differences in language." — Los Angeles Times Posted Jun 9, 2005 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 89%
| Brothers (2005) | "
Has an exact sense of emotional truth and a respect for the intricacy of character." — Los Angeles Times Posted May 12, 2005 |
Fresh 5/5
| Rotten 46%
| The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005) | "
Combining an actor you can't take your eyes off with unapologetically emotional material makes The Ballad of Jack & Rose a model of artistic, provocative American filmmaking." — Los Angeles Times Posted Mar 24, 2005 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 95%
| The Best of Youth (2005) | "
Those who see it will, quite frankly, not believe their luck. It is that satisfying, that engrossing, that good." — Los Angeles Times Posted Mar 18, 2005 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 90%
| Head-On (2005) | "
Impeccably made, uncompromising in its implacable vision of the deranging power of love, sex and controlled substances, this savage and staggering film knows how to take our breath away." — Los Angeles Times Posted Jan 27, 2005 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 94%
| Los Angeles Plays Itself (2004) | "
Brilliantly discursive, filled with intriguing detours that follow connections only the director's mind could make, Los Angeles Plays Itself, will please natives of this city more than any other." — Los Angeles Times Posted May 5, 2005 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 96%
| Born Into Brothels (2004) | "
A documentary that changed the lives both of subjects and filmmakers, it will reorder the worldview of whoever sees it." — Los Angeles Times Posted Jan 27, 2005 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 91%
| Million Dollar Baby (2004) | "
Perhaps the director's most touching, most elegiac work yet, Million Dollar Baby is a film that does both the expected and the unexpected, that has the nerve and the will to be as pitiless as it is sentimental." — Journal News (Westchester, NY) Posted Dec 14, 2004 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 97%
| The Incredibles (2004) | "
[An] unprecedented film that is not just a grand feature-length cartoon but a grand feature." — Los Angeles Times Posted Nov 4, 2004 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 97%
| Sideways (2004) | "
A film like Sideways is the fulfillment of many hopes and desires, an audience's not least of all." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 21, 2004 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 89%
| Distant (2004) | "
A beautifully made, unapologetically artistic piece of work." — Los Angeles Times Posted Sep 24, 2004 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 83%
| Red Lights (2004) | "
Taut, atmospheric, impeccably made psychological thriller." — Los Angeles Times Posted Sep 9, 2004 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 95%
| Hero (2004) | "
Led by director Zhang Yimou and dazzling cinematographer Christopher Doyle, the unseen Hero production team has made what just might be the most artistically sophisticated, most formally beautiful martial arts film the genre has seen." — Los Angeles Times Posted Aug 26, 2004 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 82%
| The Manchurian Candidate (2004) | "
A political and psychological thriller that is richer in texture and nuance than its predecessor without sacrificing impact." — Los Angeles Times Posted Jul 29, 2004 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 89%
| The Five Obstructions (2004) | "
In only 90 minutes it encourages you to reexamine the nature of cinema, the sources of creativity, the unexpected joys of the unanticipated moment. And it couldn't be more fun to watch." — Los Angeles Times Posted Jun 3, 2004 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 96%
| The Return (2004) | "
While most films are fortunate if they succeed on any level, The Return works easily on several, making as powerful a mark emotionally as it does visually and even allegorically." — Los Angeles Times Posted Feb 12, 2004 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 75%
| House of Sand and Fog (2003) | "
It's a story that haunts long after it's seen, not just because we're overpowered by what happens to its characters but because, if we're honest, we see how all of it, even the worst of it, could happen to us." — Los Angeles Times Posted Dec 18, 2003 |
RSS Feeds