|
5/5
|
100%
|
The Scarlet Empress (Catherine the Great) (1934) |
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Jun 21, 2005
|
|
5/5
|
43%
|
Who's the Man? (1993) |
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Jun 22, 2004
|
|
5/5
|
100%
|
Ivanovo detstvo (Ivan's Childhood)(My Name Is Ivan)(The Youngest Spy) (1962) |
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Apr 14, 2004
|
|
5/5
|
96%
|
Johnny Guitar (1954) |
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Apr 14, 2004
|
|
5/5
|
97%
|
Repo Man (1984) |
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Apr 14, 2004
|
|
5/5
|
88%
|
Fantastic Planet (1973) |
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Apr 14, 2004
|
|
5/5
|
100%
|
The Grapes of Wrath (1940) |
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Apr 14, 2004
|
|
5/5
|
100%
|
Ordet (The Word) (1954) |
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Apr 14, 2004
|
|
5/5
|
88%
|
Arsenal (1928) |
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Apr 14, 2004
|
|
4/5
|
94%
|
Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring) (1960) |
"
Brutal and miraculous."
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Jun 9, 2004
|
|
4/5
|
91%
|
Edward Scissorhands (1990) |
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Apr 14, 2004
|
|
4/5
|
88%
|
Polyester (1981) |
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Apr 14, 2004
|
|
4/5
|
59%
|
Sudden Impact (1983) |
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Apr 14, 2004
|
|
4/5
|
29%
|
Pootie Tang (2001) |
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Apr 14, 2004
|
|
4/5
|
94%
|
On the Town (1949) |
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Apr 14, 2004
|
|
4/5
|
——
|
Dr. Lamb (2002) |
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Apr 14, 2004
|
|
4/5
|
——
|
Rikyu (1991) |
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Apr 14, 2004
|
|
|
100%
|
Rancho Notorious (1952) |
"
There is a distinct hokeyness about Lang's vision of the West--pancake-flat sets in a generic studio-backlot Western town; giant, abstract crab-colored boulders made out of papier-mache, brazenly unnaturalistic stage-lighting--but it's the ardent phoneyne"
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
79%
|
Chasing a Dream (Miles from Nowhere) (2009) |
"
A grand gesture, an exercise in epic biography that explodes the intimate details of Isaiah's life and its effects on his family onto the screen."
—
Reverse Shot
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
80%
|
Akasen chitai (Street of Shame) (1956) |
"
The film's cinematography utilizes an unusual technique for a Mizoguchi film, the close-up, whereby the camera gets steadily closer to each protagonist as the various causes of their downfall to prostitution are revealed."
—
Reverse Shot
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
73%
|
Tokyo! (2008) |
"
Sandwiched between Gondry and Bong's variously euphoric entries, Carax's contribution seems either a work of deep cynicism from an inveterate party-pooper or a welcome satirical sour note from one of the great talents of 80s and 90s French cinema."
—
Reverse Shot
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
70%
|
Stuff and Dough (Marfa si banii) (2008) |
"
Ultimately, like Lazarescu, Ovidiu becomes a mere cog in a social and economic system that would chew him up without a moment's consideration, and it's Puiu's goal to elevate this and other such stories above their banality and into the realm of myth."
—
Reverse Shot
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
93%
|
Bigger Than Life (1956) (1956) |
"
Always a shrewd melodramatist, with a particular eye for the domestic space, Ray builds this sense of conflict into the Avery home itself, with its frequently competing horizontal and vertical patterns."
—
Reverse Shot
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
——
|
Dongdong de jiaqi (A Summer at Grandpa's) (1984) |
"
Hou's film places demands on our powers of observation, insisting that we, like Tung-tung, attend to the minutiae, ironies, and deeper meanings it offers us."
—
Reverse Shot
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
97%
|
Hairspray (1988) |
"
The shock Waters's cinema offers, then, is not transcendent, but almost reflexive, implicating the viewer in the awkward complexities of his own humanity and forcing him to either celebrate it or run screaming away."
—
Reverse Shot
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
78%
|
Lou Reed's Berlin (2008) |
"
Schnabel's set design, onstage projections, and postproduction add a good deal of visual noise to Reed & company's aural variety, which reproduces the album with a mixture of professional exactitude and unpredictable cacophony."
—
Reverse Shot
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
93%
|
This Is England (2007) |
"
It is the war within him--and by extension, within the minds of many embittered, working class young men left behind in Thatcher's England--that Meadows's film most strikingly portrays."
—
Reverse Shot
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
96%
|
Somers Town (2009) |
"
As in all of Meadows's films, Somers Town emphasizes the importance of character and particularly of camaraderie amongst male characters--here, teenagers who nick clothes from the local laundry, get drunk in the park, and furtively investigate masculinity"
—
Reverse Shot
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
——
|
Shuga (Chouga) (2007) |
"
Ramps down Tolstoy's soap-opera grandiosity, while still managing to elevate the banalities of a high-society dalliance to the level of a cosmic psychodrama"
—
Reverse Shot
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
20%
|
Obsessed (2009) |
"
"I knew it would come to this," hisses Sharon when finding Lisa lurking around her beautiful Brentwood home--at which point I exclaimed, "Me too!"--and then the fun (and, for many, the entire purpose of the film) starts."
—
Reverse Shot
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
96%
|
Tulpan (2009) |
"
With this harsh and beautiful backdrop so attentively rendered, at once otherworldly and palpable, the desires of Tulpan's characters become almost metaphysical imperatives."
—
Reverse Shot
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
75%
|
The Killing of Sister George (1968) |
"
Melodrama, slapstick, romance, exploitation, and psychological horror all vie for dominance throughout the film, giving it an air of fickle, feminine hysteria, which the graphic sex scene at the end of the film makes still more difficult to pin down."
—
Reverse Shot
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
83%
|
Mang Shan (Blind Mountain) (2007) |
"
With its complex (and, at times, deeply problematic) intersection of an educated outsider with the stubborn realities of rural life, Blind Mountain explicitly harkens back to those classic works from the Fifth Generation of Chinese filmmakers, like Yellow"
—
Reverse Shot
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
80%
|
Gran Torino (2009) |
"
Though Eastwood is not above self-deprecation and, here, downright silliness, Gran Torino is no orangutan movie."
—
Reverse Shot
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
91%
|
Shotgun Stories (2007) |
"
There is much to "Shotgun Stories" that elevates it above the fray of Green derivatives and unflattering categorizations, bolstered by a roster of naturalistic, fully assimilated performances, led by "Bug"'s now ubiquitous Michael Shannon."
—
indieWIRE
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
68%
|
Fugitive Pieces (2008) |
"
Nostalgic, deeply felt, and refreshingly astute, "Fugitive Pieces" is something of a rare bird these days%u2014a big-budget, transnational historical drama that actually justifies its scope and subject matter with more than visual opulence."
—
indieWIRE
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
67%
|
Battle for Haditha (2007) |
"
A bold effort to grapple with what truth lies behind these images, rather than to simply throw one's hands up in the face of them"
—
indieWIRE
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
96%
|
Dreams With Sharp Teeth (2008) |
"
If there is a criticism to be lobbed at Nelson's judicious but otherwise highly entertaining tribute, it's that it too often plays the role of the fawning, autograph-hungry fanboy, willing to accept all of the abuse Ellison wishes to hurl at it."
—
indieWIRE
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
57%
|
Expired (2008) |
"
Death and regret hang over the film palpably, and Miniucchi's willingness to put her characters through disaster and humiliation while still plainly empathizing with them is what keeps the film surprising and its characters winning, in spite of themselves"
—
indieWIRE
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
93%
|
Ne le Dis ā Personne (Tell No One) (2006) |
"
Canet has covered his bases with enough swooping camerawork, narrative smoke-and-mirrors, and quick-sketched supporting characters for a dozen thrillers"
—
indieWIRE
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
66%
|
Ping Pong Playa (2007) |
"
Mostly a little shrewder about stereotypes than your typical slacker comedy, deriving its edge from Yu and Tsai's mining of the cultural specificity of Asian-America for laughs"
—
indieWIRE
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
79%
|
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2008) |
"
Wang's new film suggests not only a return to form but also the revival of an old theme from his early Asian-American dramedies: the different ways that certain generations translate and adapt their cultural heritage"
—
indieWIRE
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
97%
|
Entre les Murs (The Class) (2008) |
"
Cantet's film lulls the spectator into the rhythms of the everyday reality of school, belying a very carefully coordinated narrative structure that only becomes apparent in its final act."
—
indieWIRE
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
84%
|
Nights and Weekends (2008) |
"
Its surprisingly structured depiction of this relationship and its many private rituals and performances, which the film's unforgiving style continually strips bare"
—
indieWIRE
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
86%
|
Frontrunners (2008) |
"
Even an offhand debate between a few students late in the film about whether or not Bush is a "retard," while not exactly insightful, nonetheless portrays a student body for whom politics%u2014or at least arguing about it%u2014is essential."
—
indieWIRE
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
93%
|
Aanrijding in Moscou (Moscow, Belgium) (2008) |
"
There aren't many surprises%u2014the characters end up more or less where we expect them to%u2014but it's useless and not at all fun to deny the simple pleasures of this film."
—
indieWIRE
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
90%
|
Séraphine (2009) |
"
Relies heavily on Moreau's gripping, continually surprising performance to effectively convey the oracular urgency and fractured, Dionysian mentality of Seraphine de Senlis and her work."
—
indieWIRE
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
67%
|
Cztery Noce z Anna (Four Nights with Anna) (2008) |
"
Grey and waterlogged, Jerzy Skolimowski's Four Nights with Anna is something like the Eastern European answer to Rear Window and Chungking Express, a deeply gothic, but no less romantic tale of voyeurism, breaking and entering, and secret love."
—
Reverse Shot
Posted Aug 8, 2009
|
|
|
27%
|
Invasion U.S.A. (1985) |
"
Only Chuck - a libertarian redneck who simply wants to be left the fnck alone - has the red, white, and blue balls big enough to put an end to these problems."
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted Jul 7, 2009
|
|
|
43%
|
The Limits of Control (2009) |
"
A bad-ass film, probably the most overtly and self-consciously bad-ass film Jim Jarmusch has made."
—
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Posted May 3, 2009
|
66%
——
96%
