|
|
86%
|
Meek's Cutoff (2011) |
"
It challenges patriarchy and racism, but it never risks questioning received political ideas."
—
New York Press
Posted Apr 6, 2011
|
|
|
71%
|
Hanna (2011) |
"
Imminently watchable, Hanna suggests a thinking-person's Kick-Ass."
—
New York Press
Posted Apr 6, 2011
|
|
|
62%
|
To Die Like A Man (2011) |
"
Indulging Rodriguez's ugliness limits the image of gay life and gay culture to negativity and grotesquerie."
—
New York Press
Posted Apr 6, 2011
|
|
|
26%
|
Arthur (2011) |
"
Worse than film school formula, Arthur's transparently the product of some powerful Hollywood agents responsible for foisting Brand on American culture."
—
New York Press
Posted Apr 6, 2011
|
|
|
26%
|
Your Highness (2011) |
"
By trashing fairytale propriety, Green and McBride personalize the genre enthusiasm of the Star Wars generation."
—
New York Press
Posted Apr 6, 2011
|
|
|
66%
|
Insidious (2011) |
"
Its plot, ripped off from The Amityville Horror, shows so little psychological or occult logic that it exposes its own sheer dumbness as just a series of spookings."
—
New York Press
Posted Mar 30, 2011
|
|
|
23%
|
Sucker Punch (2011) |
"
It's bloody but without menstrual awareness; just as its musical pretext neglects to express genuine feminine trauma or yearning."
—
New York Press
Posted Mar 25, 2011
|
|
|
83%
|
Potiche (2011) |
"
It's another signpost on Ozon's apprenticeship toward cinema mastery."
—
New York Press
Posted Mar 23, 2011
|
|
|
72%
|
Paul (2011) |
"
Paul brings back all that is consequential through an ingenious spoof of taken-for-granted sci-fi lore."
—
New York Press
Posted Mar 23, 2011
|
|
|
83%
|
The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) |
"
Typically, The Lincoln Lawyer uses black pop culture to bring urban consciousness and street cunning to a Hollywood film's slick surface."
—
New York Press
Posted Mar 23, 2011
|
|
|
76%
|
3 Backyards (2011) |
"
Unlike those indie directors whose feel-good, P.C. claptrap predictably gets praised by the very people it flatters, Mendelsohn makes suburban poetry that opposes the way middle-class film culture likes to fantasize itself."
—
New York Press
Posted Mar 23, 2011
|
|
|
99%
|
Bill Cunningham New York (2011) |
"
A less good doc than last year's more honest and insightful Smash His Camera, about paparazzo Ron Galella."
—
New York Press
Posted Mar 16, 2011
|
|
|
35%
|
Battle: Los Angeles (2011) |
"
Beneath the silly premise is a consistent depiction of military performance, duty and sacrifice that is so unexpected that the film's genre transforms from fantasy to war movie."
—
New York Press
Posted Mar 16, 2011
|
|
|
11%
|
Red Riding Hood (2011) |
"
Too bad Hardwicke didn't adapt The Scarlet Letter -- better yet, she could have transformed the asinine Easy A."
—
New York Press
Posted Mar 16, 2011
|
|
|
73%
|
The Adjustment Bureau (2011) |
"
Once again, after the obnoxious The Informant and insufferable Hereafter, Matt Damon uses movies to explain the world to audiences who just want to be entertained."
—
New York Press
Posted Mar 9, 2011
|
|
|
95%
|
Making the Boys (2010) |
"
A remarkably evenhanded history."
—
New York Press
Posted Mar 9, 2011
|
|
|
88%
|
Certified Copy (Copie Conforme) (2011) |
"
Kiarostami has become the new Kieslowski, an emigrant to Western Europe whose pretentiousness embarrasses the whole concept of art cinema-as proven by Certified Copy."
—
New York Press
Posted Mar 9, 2011
|
|
|
90%
|
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2011) |
"
Weerasethakul is, in fact, the blandest of visionaries. His picturesque images lack the intensity found in the great folkloric artist-filmmaker Julián Hernández."
—
New York Press
Posted Mar 2, 2011
|
|
|
90%
|
Public Speaking (2011) |
"
Because Scorsese is not a Continental sophisticate like Malle, but an American boomer pop artist, Lebowitz's forays into ideas and history are not his forte."
—
New York Press
Posted Feb 23, 2011
|
|
|
94%
|
Journal d'un curé de campagne (Diary of a Country Priest) (1951) |
"
Bresson exemplified 20th-century ecumenical intelligence that is much out of fashion today, yet remains singular and powerful."
—
New York Press
Posted Feb 23, 2011
|
|
|
93%
|
Of Gods and Men (2011) |
"
Beauvois deliberately avoids Nationalist reproach, seeking commiseration that goes deeper than the acquiescence for which French liberals are typically known."
—
New York Press
Posted Feb 23, 2011
|
|
|
56%
|
Unknown (2011) |
"
Unknown touches on the crisis, but director Jaume- Collet Serra and his screenwriters aren't serious enough or the action adept enough to fully articulate it."
—
New York Press
Posted Feb 16, 2011
|
|
|
29%
|
The Chaperone (2011) |
"
It's a blatant exploitation film (what Variety calls "an actioner"), yet its obviousness, keyed to Levesque's squared-circle appeal, is humorous."
—
New York Press
Posted Feb 16, 2011
|
|
|
75%
|
Putty Hill (2011) |
"
Gnomic imagery like this is an arty-artifice, based in sociological condescension."
—
New York Press
Posted Feb 16, 2011
|
|
|
19%
|
Just Go with It (2011) |
"
The humorous tangents of Just Go With It are testaments to the fine art of improvisation and of comedy that doesn't take itself overly seriously."
—
New York Press
Posted Feb 16, 2011
|
|
|
100%
|
Poetry (2011) |
"
Poetry isn't quite in the class of Kurosawa's Stray Dog, but Lee's domestic-social drama certainly evinces some of Kurosawa's... well, poetry."
—
New York Press
Posted Feb 9, 2011
|
|
|
39%
|
The Other Woman (2011) |
"
Right now, Portman commands the cineplexes as surrogate for misguided, self-pitying filmmakers."
—
New York Press
Posted Feb 9, 2011
|
|
|
38%
|
The Eagle (2011) |
"
Evoking the forgotten meanings of action-adventure films (pre-Tarantino) is enough to make The Eagle a distinctive, if minor, film."
—
New York Press
Posted Feb 2, 2011
|
|
|
14%
|
Frankie and Alice (2011) |
"
Frankie and Alice is the kind of grandstanding that exposes an actress' pathetic dependence on approval by others."
—
New York Press
Posted Feb 2, 2011
|
|
|
58%
|
Kaboom (2011) |
"
Araki discovers modern morality within the blueeyed ruins of a Hollister model the same way archeologists uncover ancient totems."
—
New York Press
Posted Jan 26, 2011
|
|
|
94%
|
The Woodmans (2011) |
"
Willis' careful balancing act between portraying a unique family unit and the peculiarities of genius winds up making The Woodmans disturbing in an unexpected way."
—
New York Press
Posted Jan 26, 2011
|
|
|
80%
|
Barney's Version (2011) |
"
It lugs around old moral baggage but misses a profound confrontation with the specter of Jewish guilt."
—
New York Press
Posted Jan 19, 2011
|
|
|
44%
|
The Green Hornet (2011) |
"
Rogen's image and his attitude as co-screenwriter of The Green Hornet updates the bland superhero template using comic irreverence."
—
New York Press
Posted Jan 12, 2011
|
|
|
36%
|
Repo Chick (2011) |
"
Admittedly, Cox's humor is eccentric, but I like it."
—
New York Press
Posted Jan 12, 2011
|
|
|
22%
|
Country Strong (2011) |
"
Gwyneth Paltrow must be a great actress because, as country singer Kelly Canter in Country Strong, she seems totally unaware of her insurmountable blandness."
—
New York Press
Posted Jan 12, 2011
|
|
|
88%
|
Blue Valentine (2010) |
"
Despite Blue Valentine's blatant sensememories of nakedness and affection, irritation and itch, what Gosling and Williams reveal about their own concepts of heterosexual experience is ultimately inane."
—
New York Press
Posted Jan 5, 2011
|
|
|
93%
|
Another Year (2010) |
"
Its ... characters ... have a familiarity with each other that turns everyday relations -- whether on the job, when traveling or at meals -- into startling, vivid and intimate exchanges."
—
New York Press
Posted Dec 28, 2010
|
|
|
64%
|
Biutiful (2010) |
"
A friend misread the ad for Biutiful as "Pitiful." He wasn't wrong."
—
New York Press
Posted Dec 28, 2010
|
|
|
90%
|
The Illusionist (L'illusionniste) (2010) |
"
A return to the possibilities of animation as Fantasia, with its multiple tones, varied episodes and restless invention, timelessly realized."
—
New York Press
Posted Dec 24, 2010
|
|
|
69%
|
Hadewijch (2010) |
"
Hadewijch goes from austere images of a wintry world to remarkably beautiful images of post-rainfall lushness. From desolation to revelation, humanism becomes visible in every living thing."
—
New York Press
Posted Dec 22, 2010
|
|
|
96%
|
True Grit (2010) |
"
True Grit speaks to our current moment of vengeful, moral uncertainty. It continues the same revamped Americana that distinguished the Coens' sophisticated remake of The Ladykillers -- a truly original religiouspolitical hybrid."
—
New York Press
Posted Dec 22, 2010
|
|
|
10%
|
Little Fockers (2010) |
"
A pretext to continue one of the lamest franchises in contemporary Hollywood history."
—
New York Press
Posted Dec 22, 2010
|
|
|
71%
|
Somewhere (2010) |
"
No better than a mirthless Hollywood hack, Coppola sentimentalizes her family dilemma in order to pose as an artiste. Her navel-gazings are a boutique indie franchise."
—
New York Press
Posted Dec 22, 2010
|
|
|
38%
|
Casino Jack (2010) |
"
Spacey seems to think he's making a comedy -- a good actorly instinct -- but director George Hickenlooper makes the offensive decision to treat Abramoff's transgressions as more grist for the Bush-grinding mill."
—
New York Press
Posted Dec 15, 2010
|
|
|
32%
|
How Do You Know (2010) |
"
How Do You Know forges a difficult exploration of its characters' weaknesses and uncertainties. But its deepening drama becomes wishy-washy."
—
New York Press
Posted Dec 15, 2010
|
|
|
86%
|
Rabbit Hole (2010) |
"
Rabbit Hole is a laudable art project, not great but good enough to rate comparison with stronger movies that contextualize the grief of loss and disorientation."
—
New York Press
Posted Dec 15, 2010
|
|
|
29%
|
The Tempest (2010) |
"
Everything that makes Shakespeare's final play a great expression of the dangers and risks of ambition in Western civilization is lost in this sex change."
—
New York Press
Posted Dec 9, 2010
|
|
|
90%
|
The Fighter (2010) |
"
Americans used to seeing trickedup versions of themselves in the movies (or degraded-by-narcissism versions on reality TV) will be startled at the honesty of David O. Russell's The Fighter."
—
New York Press
Posted Dec 8, 2010
|
|
|
67%
|
The Company Men (2011) |
"
Critics who praise this politically false economic fairytale can only be part of the system -- and part of the problem."
—
New York Press
Posted Dec 8, 2010
|
|
|
87%
|
Black Swan (2010) |
"
Aronofsky's ethnic denial and escape into Nina's psychological trauma actually trivializes her artistic pursuit. Turning art into genre movie silliness is a careerist's dance."
—
New York Press
Posted Dec 1, 2010
|
|
|
72%
|
I Love You Phillip Morris (2010) |
"
I Love You Phillip Morris is blunt about illicit personal traits gays share with straights and that define our era. Importantly, the filmmakers don't equate gay with subversive."
—
New York Press
Posted Dec 1, 2010
|
|
|
90%
|
Tangled (2010) |
"
By mixing up and confusing the purpose of cinematic amusement and fairy tales, Tangled is aptly named for the mass misperception of popular entertainment as a mechanism of gimmicks rather than an expression of feelings."
—
New York Press
Posted Nov 23, 2010
|
|
|
48%
|
Love and Other Drugs (2010) |
"
Zwick's bizarre concoction fakes insight about sex, biology and social criticism about medicine and business, yet it's really aggressively sentimental on every level."
—
New York Press
Posted Nov 23, 2010
|
|
|
36%
|
Burlesque (2010) |
"
Showcasing Aguilera's attempt to sound like a 50-year-old black woman in the guise of white appropriation, Burlesque sells a myth about show business that is both unwelcome and shopworn."
—
New York Press
Posted Nov 23, 2010
|
|
|
94%
|
The King's Speech (2010) |
"
Each scene in The King's Speech is so poorly staged that its ineptitude sometimes borders on the avant-garde."
—
New York Press
Posted Nov 23, 2010
|
|
|
88%
|
White Material (2010) |
"
Denis' elliptical narrative avoids politics. This siege tale ignores the details of colonial life to gloss its chaotic collapse. Her equanimity is tiresome."
—
New York Press
Posted Nov 17, 2010
|
|
|
80%
|
Made in Dagenham (2010) |
"
Cole's appreciation for how women cope and achieve goes in the right direction, more so than the pathetic sob stories by which Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey and Lee Daniels have stereotyped African- American female experience."
—
New York Press
Posted Nov 17, 2010
|
|
|
86%
|
Unstoppable (2010) |
"
Denzel and Tony have made their least offensive, easiest-on-the-mind, most enjoyable movie."
—
New York Press
Posted Nov 17, 2010
|
|
|
55%
|
Morning Glory (2010) |
"
Morning Glory is just routine Hollywood dishonesty (with the most annoying song-score since Juno) and wastes its stars."
—
New York Press
Posted Nov 12, 2010
|
|
|
77%
|
Tiny Furniture (2010) |
"
It is Dunham's disregard of privilege, her indifference to social climbing, that provides Tiny Furniture's disarmingly modest personal vision."
—
New York Press
Posted Nov 12, 2010
|
|
|
——
|
Every Man for Himself (1980) |
"
Even in the same year as Raging Bull, Melvin and Howard, Dressed to Kill and The Long Riders it was still the freshest, most thrilling movie to behold."
—
New York Press
Posted Nov 10, 2010
|
|
|
32%
|
For Colored Girls (2010) |
"
Perry's weakness for the lowest common denominator transforms both anger and affirmation into sludge, not great poetic cinema like Spielberg's The Color Purple, Jonathan Demme's Beloved or Rodrigo Garcia's Mother and Child."
—
New York Press
Posted Nov 9, 2010
|
|
|
39%
|
Due Date (2010) |
"
It takes a sitcom approach to male class differences and flatters the juvenile behavior that's become the favorite, indulged subject of comedians and TV writers."
—
New York Press
Posted Nov 3, 2010
|
|
|
79%
|
Fair Game (2010) |
"
This insufferable mixture of partisan principle and exploitation-movie gimcrack is part of the contemporary political and cultural carelessness now rampant in movies, TV, the press and the Internet."
—
New York Press
Posted Nov 3, 2010
|
|
|
93%
|
127 Hours (2010) |
"
Aestheticizing Ralston's calamity animates Boyle's facile themes of modernity vs. nature, body vs. mind."
—
New York Press
Posted Nov 3, 2010
|
|
|
50%
|
Jolene (2010) |
"
Downplaying Doctorow's condescending literary and class ironies, Ireland creates something more like a queer-inflected Candide."
—
New York Press
Posted Oct 27, 2010
|
|
|
76%
|
Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt And The Magnetic Fields (2010) |
"
Strange Powers should be a cautionary cultural prognosis. Instead, it's a promotional film."
—
New York Press
Posted Oct 27, 2010
|
|
|
88%
|
Inspector Bellamy (2010) |
"
Chabrol re-imagines the detective genre in the course of practicing it."
—
New York Press
Posted Oct 27, 2010
|
|
|
64%
|
Jackass 3-D (2010) |
"
Steve O's Super Cocktail Bungee routine in a feces-filled port-a-john utilizes distance and trajectory in a way that recalls the great waterslide joke in Norbit (and should help rehabilitate that wonderful film's unfair reputation)."
—
New York Press
Posted Oct 20, 2010
|
|
|
47%
|
Hereafter (2010) |
"
Hereafter is really full of half-thoughts. As with Woody Allen's You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger, it's difficult to tell if this film confronts belief or if disbelief simply is being given the upper hand."
—
New York Press
Posted Oct 20, 2010
|
|
|
94%
|
Carlos (2010) |
"
Carlos gives hipsters Munich minus the moral conviction and dramatic cogency that hipsters fashionably distrust. It's being presented in two versions: 330 minutes and 165 minutes, one as emotionally flat as the other."
—
New York Press
Posted Oct 13, 2010
|
|
|
98%
|
Inside Job (2010) |
"
With entertaining clarity, writer-director Charles Ferguson explains what caused the recession that began September 15, 2008."
—
New York Press
Posted Oct 13, 2010
|
|
|
83%
|
Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (2010) |
"
Unafraid of her subject's complexity, von Trotta shows Bingen's weaknesses as part of her humanity, as in her attachment to novice Richardis von Stade, who rouses the other, narcissistic side of Bingen's will."
—
New York Press
Posted Oct 13, 2010
|
|
|
28%
|
Life as We Know It (2010) |
"
Berlanti's irreality -- following the cutesy script by Ian Deitchman and Kristin Rusk Robinson -- results in a synthetic vision of life that is, essentially, an appeasement of the pre-fab, bourgeois status quo."
—
New York Press
Posted Oct 6, 2010
|
|
|
79%
|
Nowhere Boy (2010) |
"
Nowhere Boy makes Lennon's rocky personal journey parallel the cultural upheaval of rock 'n' roll -- a revolution that changed social custom, family life and private instinct."
—
New York Press
Posted Oct 6, 2010
|
|
|
66%
|
Tamara Drewe (2010) |
"
Tamara Drewe is one of Stephen Frears' deadlies -- like his awful 2002 Liam -- where his proven skill with actors doesn't overcome a dumb concept."
—
New York Press
Posted Oct 6, 2010
|
|
|
89%
|
Let Me In (2010) |
"
Children should not be exposed to this lurid display of helplessness and pessimism -- and adult viewers should be wary of the nihilistic indulgence."
—
New York Press
Posted Sep 29, 2010
|
|
|
96%
|
The Social Network (2010) |
"
Like one of those fake-smart, middlebrow TV shows, the speciousness of The Social Network is disguised by topicality. It's really a movie excusing Hollywood ruthlessness."
—
New York Press
Posted Sep 29, 2010
|
|
|
——
|
I'm Here (2010) |
"
Jonze's breakthrough should prove as timeless as O. Henry's classic tale."
—
New York Press
Posted Sep 22, 2010
|
|
|
50%
|
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010) |
"
Snyder's wildlife adventure returns him to genius: extreme, dream-like action cinema that expresses his pop-art faith."
—
New York Press
Posted Sep 22, 2010
|
|
|
45%
|
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) |
"
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger continues the selfishness and lack of faith that in Manhattan once seemed to observe moral decay, and Hannah and Her Sisters became a symptom of. There's been no real progress since..."
—
New York Press
Posted Sep 22, 2010
|
|
|
62%
|
Howl (2010) |
"
James Franco's now tiresome androgyny (so soon?) asks for wink-nod approval of Ginsberg's hero status without adequately delineating Ginsberg's personality or the emotional tensions of the late-'50s era."
—
New York Press
Posted Sep 22, 2010
|
|
|
55%
|
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) |
"
Money Never Sleeps isn't an epic masterpiece like Stone's World Trade Center, but it's often amazingly vivid."
—
New York Press
Posted Sep 22, 2010
|
|
|
85%
|
Easy A (2010) |
"
Easy A is now frontrunner for worst film of 2010."
—
New York Press
Posted Sep 15, 2010
|
|
|
71%
|
Never Let Me Go (2010) |
"
Romanek has a genuine, acquired understanding of pop's prevarications. He means to avoid triviality and bring emotional and visual gravity to the experience of youth, yet doesn't seem to grasp that Ishiguro's concept is daft."
—
New York Press
Posted Sep 15, 2010
|
|
|
94%
|
The Town (2010) |
"
The Town is nearly as ludicrous as [Affleck's] debut Gone Baby Gone -- another poison pen letter to Beantown."
—
New York Press
Posted Sep 15, 2010
|
|
|
23%
|
Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) |
"
If critics and fanboys weren't suckers for simplistic nihilism and high-pressure marketing, Afterlife would be universally acclaimed as a visionary feat, superior to Inception and Avatar on every level."
—
New York Press
Posted Sep 13, 2010
|
|
|
86%
|
Le refuge (Hideaway (Le refuge)) (2010) |
"
Hideaway continues Ozon's brave apostasy that procreation (parenthood) is our nature."
—
New York Press
Posted Sep 8, 2010
|
|
|
72%
|
Machete (2010) |
"
If this kind of selfconscious cinema junk is to be enjoyed, it can only be enjoyed by morons."
—
New York Press
Posted Sep 1, 2010
|
|
|
66%
|
The American (2010) |
"
Clooney's still on his anti-American kick, sentimentalizing the corruption that appeals to cynical film critics who fall for his forced, noxious "charm.""
—
New York Press
Posted Sep 1, 2010
|
|
|
32%
|
A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop (San qiang pai an jing qi) (A Simple Noodle Story) (The First Gun) (2010) |
"
From one great director to another, a Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop pays tribute to the Coens by improving their earlier immature work."
—
New York Press
Posted Sep 1, 2010
|
|
|
90%
|
My Dog Tulip (2010) |
"
My Dog Tulip restores human feeling to animation, a post-Pixar miracle."
—
New York Press
Posted Sep 1, 2010
|
|
|
28%
|
Takers (2010) |
"
Takers refines a genre that has been hollowed-out by the cold repetitions of such cliché movies as Soderbergh's Oceans franchise..."
—
New York Press
Posted Sep 1, 2010
|
|
|
81%
|
The Milk of Sorrow (La Teta Asustada) (2010) |
"
If you accurately described each scene, you'd have a book of poetry. That's how detailed and vivid are The Milk of Sorrow's rhythms."
—
New York Press
Posted Aug 25, 2010
|
|
|
59%
|
Centurion (2010) |
"
New rule: Only one decapitation per ancient action movie."
—
New York Press
Posted Aug 25, 2010
|
|
|
82%
|
Mesrine: Killer Instinct (L'instinct de mort) (2010) |
"
Mesrine's attempt to rival Hollywood crime movies' magnum force -- either through B-movie precision or A-movie elaborateness -- fails."
—
New York Press
Posted Aug 25, 2010
|
|
|
97%
|
A Film Unfinished (2010) |
"
Think what Hannah Arendt could have made of this footage? Typical of contemporary advocacy journalism, Hersonski doesn't know what to do with this outrageous material except show it."
—
New York Press
Posted Aug 18, 2010
|
|
|
35%
|
Lottery Ticket (2010) |
"
Cube may not have seen René Clair's 1931 lottery masterpiece Le Million, but, as a film impresario, he captures some of its culturally-specific charm."
—
New York Press
Posted Aug 18, 2010
|
|
|
93%
|
The Tillman Story (2010) |
"
The Tillman Story is another example of how contemporary journalism and documentary-making have lost credibility."
—
New York Press
Posted Aug 18, 2010
|
72%
78%
62%
52%
26%
4%
