|
5/5
|
82%
|
Serbis (Service) (2008) |
—
Time Out
Posted Nov 17, 2011
|
|
5/5
|
92%
|
Refusenik (2008) |
—
Time Out
Posted Nov 17, 2011
|
|
4/4
|
75%
|
Elegy (2008) |
"
Elegy gives Ben Kingsley one of the best roles of his career."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Aug 22, 2008
|
|
4/4
|
93%
|
Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) (2007) |
"
Profoundly moving."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 4, 2008
|
|
4/4
|
69%
|
A Scanner Darkly (2006) |
"
An ambitious animated adaptation of one of the most personal novels by sci-fi visionary Philip K. Dick."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jul 7, 2006
|
|
4/5
|
81%
|
Lars and the Real Girl (2007) |
—
Time Out
Posted Nov 18, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
63%
|
Ladron Que Roba A Ladron (2007) |
—
Time Out
Posted Nov 17, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
100%
|
The Trials of Darryl Hunt (2007) |
—
Time Out
Posted Nov 17, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
91%
|
The Father of My Children (Le pere de mes enfants) (2010) |
—
Time Out
Posted Nov 17, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
68%
|
Irina Palm (2008) |
—
Time Out
Posted Nov 17, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
69%
|
Fugitive Pieces (2008) |
—
Time Out
Posted Nov 17, 2011
|
|
|
69%
|
The Girl Who Played with Fire (Flickan som lekte med elden) (2010) |
"
It's more textured than the first."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jul 8, 2010
|
|
|
80%
|
Kings of the Evening (2010) |
"
An intrusive musical score and periodic fades to black, as for commercials, make this feel as if it were made for TV, but otherwise it's exceptional, from script and performances to production design."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jun 25, 2010
|
|
|
93%
|
Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders (2010) |
"
The good they accomplish is clearly dwarfed by the people's suffering, which keeps on going even after the war ends and the mission departs."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jun 17, 2010
|
|
|
83%
|
Ddongpari (Breathless) (2009) |
"
Amid the violent outbursts are moments of warmth and tenderness, some featuring the protagonist's young nephew, the best hope for breaking the generational cycles of domestic tragedy."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 13, 2010
|
|
|
84%
|
The Good, the Bad, and the Weird (2010) |
"
With a nod and a wink to Sergio Leone, South Korean filmmaker Kim Jee-woon delivers a slam-bang western set in Manchuria after the Japanese invasion in 1931."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 7, 2010
|
|
|
40%
|
Who Do You Love? (2010) |
"
It was muscled out of the marketplace by Cadillac Records, Sony's glossy, star-studded movie about Leonard. But it's clearly the better movie, earthier, wittier, and more intimate in its treatment of America's racial divide in the 1950s."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 30, 2010
|
|
|
——
|
Beat the Drum (2007) |
"
Cinematographer Lance Gewer's wide-screen visuals are a knockout, and the impressive cast delivers."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 7, 2010
|
|
|
63%
|
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) |
"
Director Steve Pink offsets the satire with moments of genuine warmth."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 26, 2010
|
|
|
94%
|
45365 (2009) |
"
Directors Turner Ross and Bill Ross IV, brothers and native sons of Sidney, find poetry in images of the mundane."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 25, 2010
|
|
|
97%
|
Ajami (2010) |
"
Shani and Copti (who costars as a hipster druggie) elicit moving performances from their nonprofessional actors, who ground the somewhat breathless action in a streetwise realism."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Feb 18, 2010
|
|
|
85%
|
A Single Man (2009) |
"
Ford's eye for period detail is exact; brief cutaways, incisive dialogue, and charged glances telegraph the cold-war paranoia and sexual alienation of the early 60s."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 15, 2010
|
|
|
32%
|
The Lovely Bones (2009) |
"
Peter Jackson's adaptation of Alice Sebold's best-selling novel hovers just this side of Ghost Whisperer kitsch but remains compulsively watchable."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 14, 2010
|
|
|
89%
|
Séraphine (2009) |
"
Provost and cowriter Marc Abdelnour explore the mutable boundaries between spirituality, naivete, genius, and madness, showing how the two outsiders and polar opposites cultivated a mutual understanding."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Dec 17, 2009
|
|
|
48%
|
Terra (Battle For Terra) (2009) |
"
This 3D computer animation is more otherworldly than most sci-fi films, and its environmentally conscious theme couldn't be more timely."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Dec 16, 2009
|
|
|
85%
|
Skin (2009) |
"
Provocative."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Dec 15, 2009
|
|
|
84%
|
The Princess and the Frog (2009) |
"
A welcome return to the Disney tradition of 2-D animation."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Dec 10, 2009
|
|
|
36%
|
New York, I Love You (2009) |
"
The project is lush and seductive as a whole, though some segments are especially vibrant."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Oct 30, 2009
|
|
|
38%
|
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) |
"
Mixing horror and comedy while minimizing the gore, writer-director Paul Weitz serves up a witty adventure fantasy with a tasty dollop of schadenfreude."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Oct 23, 2009
|
|
|
49%
|
Astro Boy (AstroBoy) (2009) |
"
Osamu Tezuka's groundbreaking 60s anime series gets a stylish CGI update in this sci-fi animation."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Oct 23, 2009
|
|
|
47%
|
The Providence Effect (2009) |
"
This uplifting documentary breaks no new ground stylistically, but the story it tells is urgent and compelling."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Oct 2, 2009
|
|
|
78%
|
Anonyma - Eine Frau in Berlin (A Woman in Berlin) (2009) |
"
No one is guiltless-not the Russian commander (Yevgeny Sidikhin) who takes the heroine as his lover, nor her bourgeois landlady (Fassbinder alumnus Irm Hermann), who welcomes the occupiers for their black market goods."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Oct 2, 2009
|
|
|
81%
|
Unmistaken Child (2009) |
"
Films that address faith and love as eloquently as this moving 2008 documentary are rare."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Oct 2, 2009
|
|
|
43%
|
Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock (2009) |
"
Magic vies with technology in this exuberant adventure comedy, which unfolds achronologically in a series of zany, effects-laden vignettes."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Aug 21, 2009
|
|
|
96%
|
Revanche (2009) |
"
Writer-director Gotz Spielmann (Antares) avoids the clutter and manipulation of most thrillers, escalating tension almost solely through the characters' turbulent emotions."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Aug 7, 2009
|
|
|
94%
|
The Cove (2009) |
"
Directed by Louie Psihoyos, this well-intentioned documentary exposes the harvesting of dolphins by Japanese fishermen, yet its theatrics suggest a cross between reality TV and Mission: Impossible."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Aug 7, 2009
|
|
|
43%
|
The Proposal (2009) |
"
[A] buoyant vehicle for Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, whose chemistry is a happy surprise."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jun 19, 2009
|
|
|
92%
|
Etz Limon (Lemon Tree) (2009) |
"
The two Israelis who take her side are female, which underscores the film's message: a little less machismo might save a lot more than trees."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jun 12, 2009
|
|
|
40%
|
Imagine That (2009) |
"
Director Karey Kirkpatrick mines laughter from human fallibility, aided by a strong supporting cast that includes Martin Sheen as the boss and Thomas Haden Church as an office rival."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jun 12, 2009
|
|
|
91%
|
Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick (Everlasting Moments) (Maria Larsson's Everlasting Moment) (2009) |
"
Mischa Gavrjusjov keys the camera work to the characters' moods, inky blacks portending a thunderous alcoholic outburst, golden washes signaling the heroine's late blooming."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 29, 2009
|
|
|
63%
|
Eldorado (2009) |
"
Avoids a formulaic ending, reflecting instead on the impermanence of human connections and the inescapable baggage of the self."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 29, 2009
|
|
|
81%
|
Okuribito (Departures) (2009) |
"
Director Yojiro Takita uses the changing seasons to echo the characters' moods; the score by Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle) has a suitably majestic sweep."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 29, 2009
|
|
|
98%
|
Up (2009) |
"
Writer-directors Pete Docter and Bob Peterson present hilarious insights into bird brains and canine psychology and treat thornier human emotions deftly."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 28, 2009
|
|
|
37%
|
Angels & Demons (2009) |
"
A movie that's more streamlined and action-packed than the original."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 14, 2009
|
|
|
62%
|
Lymelife (2008) |
"
Thanks to a strong ensemble cast, it's poignant and funny."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 1, 2009
|
|
|
26%
|
The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009) |
"
Jennifer Garner is sweet and radiant as McConaughey's childhood friend and former lover; Lacey Chabert steals scenes as the woman marrying McConaughey's brother; and Robert Forster and Anne Archer are good as her parents."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 1, 2009
|
|
|
93%
|
Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey (2002) |
"
Stomp veteran Keith Middleton acts as master of ceremonies, his gigantic close-ups suggesting a tap-dancing genie freed from his lamp."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 24, 2009
|
|
|
87%
|
Earth (Disneynature's Earth) (Planet Earth) (2009) |
"
[The directors] know how to craft a sequence (lions and elephants uneasily drinking at the same water hole), have an eye for the telling shot (baboons mincing across a flood plain), and mercifully avoid making the fauna look human."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 24, 2009
|
|
|
94%
|
Tokyo Sonata (Tokyo Sonata) (2009) |
"
Kiyoshi Kurosawa switches gears from supernatural horror to poignant social satire."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 17, 2009
|
|
|
55%
|
17 Again (2009) |
"
The ancient body-switching premise is animated by a breezy script that briefly addresses some of its darker implications before returning to a celebration of adolescence."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 16, 2009
|
75%
26%
73%
85%
46%
40%
