|
|
98%
|
Gravity (2013) |
"
Doctoral theses will be penned on the breath-catchingly realistic, gorgeously choreographed, entirely mesmerizing opening ..."
—
NPR
Posted Oct 4, 2013
|
|
|
83%
|
Don Jon (2013) |
"
Gordon-Levitt keeps things riotous for the film's first hour, and if he eases into an ending that's a little Hollywood-standard, after having so much fun tweaking form and content, I'm guessing audiences will cut him some slack."
—
NPR
Posted Sep 26, 2013
|
|
|
99%
|
Short Term 12 (2013) |
"
The film is a quiet sensation."
—
NPR
Posted Aug 22, 2013
|
|
|
97%
|
The Act Of Killing (2013) |
"
It's a virtually unprecedented social document."
—
NPR
Posted Jul 18, 2013
|
|
|
95%
|
The Hunt (2013) |
"
This story is about a witch hunt, an accusation of impropriety that takes on a life of its own, shattering bonds of trust in a close-knit community."
—
NPR
Posted Jul 11, 2013
|
|
|
94%
|
Fruitvale Station (2013) |
"
Together, star and director get you to look at, and think about, a flawed young man you might not give a second thought if you saw him on the street."
—
NPR
Posted Jul 11, 2013
|
|
—
|
31%
|
The Lone Ranger (2013) |
—
NPR.org
Posted Jul 4, 2013
|
|
|
31%
|
The Lone Ranger (2013) |
"
There's a couple of hundred million dollars' worth of technical wizardry up there on screen, and nothing is at stake."
—
NPR
Posted Jul 2, 2013
|
|
|
67%
|
World War Z (2013) |
"
Whatever problems World War Z encountered in its making, the movie has made it to theaters not dead on arrival, but walking dead, running dead, and - when it's really working - swarming dead."
—
NPR
Posted Jun 21, 2013
|
|
|
78%
|
Monsters University (2013) |
"
What hasn't advanced is the plotting, which was nothing special last time and is so formulaic now that it's basically surprise-free."
—
NPR
Posted Jun 21, 2013
|
|
|
84%
|
This Is the End (2013) |
"
As long as Rogen and his buddies are just as self-involved, crude, obnoxious and hopefully exaggerated versions of themselves, things stay pretty funny."
—
NPR
Posted Jun 12, 2013
|
|
|
87%
|
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) |
"
Happily, there's a good deal of fun if you like things crashing violently into each other and out of warp-drive at regular intervals."
—
NPR
Posted May 18, 2013
|
|
10
|
95%
|
Stories We Tell (2013) |
"
An exercise in family navel-gazing becomes something more meta - less about the stories themselves than about the often uproarious ways in which people tell stories."
—
NPR
Posted May 10, 2013
|
|
|
79%
|
Iron Man 3 (2013) |
"
Snappy dialogue, momentarily startling plot twists and lots of stuff blowing up."
—
NPR
Posted May 2, 2013
|
|
|
89%
|
Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay (2013) |
"
It's magic, pure and simple."
—
NPR
Posted Apr 17, 2013
|
|
|
79%
|
42 (2013) |
"
Shameless, sure. But effective."
—
NPR
Posted Apr 11, 2013
|
|
|
69%
|
The Croods (2013) |
"
As family viewing, it's pleasant enough: primitive, yes, but in a digitally sophisticated way that's boisterous, funny and will no doubt sell a lot of toys."
—
NPR
Posted Mar 22, 2013
|
|
|
79%
|
Ginger & Rosa (2013) |
"
An intriguingly complex portrait of both of its characters and of the time of flux they live in."
—
NPR
Posted Mar 14, 2013
|
|
|
59%
|
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) |
"
Oz the Great and Powerful tells the story of how the Wizard came to Oz, answering a question I suspect no one was asking, but with considerable digital wizardry."
—
NPR
Posted Mar 7, 2013
|
|
|
93%
|
No (2013) |
"
An expansive political thriller."
—
NPR
Posted Feb 14, 2013
|
|
|
20%
|
Identity Thief (2013) |
"
Electronic identity theft offers a host of new possibilities, and to have almost none of them explored by writer Craig Mazin and director Seth Gordon in this uninspired trudge of a road movie is the biggest waste of all."
—
NPR
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
|
91%
|
Caesar Must Die (2013) |
"
The Taviani brothers, Paolo and Vittorio, have been blurring the line between reality and fiction in their films for six decades."
—
NPR
Posted Jan 31, 2013
|
|
|
81%
|
Warm Bodies (2013) |
"
[Levine] finds strategies in Warm Bodies to make what has long been considered a deathless tale undead in a new way."
—
NPR
Posted Jan 31, 2013
|
|
—
|
32%
|
Fanboys (2008) |
—
NPR.org
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
—
|
92%
|
Silver Linings Playbook (2012) |
—
NPR.org
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
|
93%
|
Zero Dark Thirty (2013) |
"
This is not a triumphant story in [the] telling, but it is one uncommonly freighted with the weight of history."
—
NPR
Posted Dec 18, 2012
|
|
|
65%
|
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) |
"
Between its lighter tone and a decade's worth of improvements in digital film techniques, there should be enough of a novelty factor to delight most fans."
—
NPR
Posted Dec 13, 2012
|
|
|
87%
|
Life of Pi (2012) |
"
An adventure yarn that is gloriously old-fashioned - and often just glorious."
—
NPR
Posted Nov 20, 2012
|
|
|
92%
|
Skyfall (2012) |
"
There's a gritty, real-world feel to Skyfall that makes good use of Craig's down-to-earthiness."
—
NPR
Posted Nov 8, 2012
|
|
|
66%
|
Cloud Atlas (2012) |
"
Cloud Atlas is now a film, for better or worse. Mostly worse I'd say, but give these folks credit ..."
—
NPR
Posted Oct 25, 2012
|
|
9/10
|
96%
|
Argo (2012) |
"
The script is snappy, but the real accomplishment here is how Affleck, who both stars in and directs Argo, manages to segue from Ocean's 11-style repartee to pulse-pounding tension and back again."
—
NPR
Posted Oct 11, 2012
|
|
8/10
|
85%
|
End of Watch (2012) |
"
End of Watch is one thriller where the adrenaline rush, considerable as it is, is almost always put in the service of character. Happily, the character on display turns out to be considerable, too."
—
NPR
Posted Sep 20, 2012
|
|
|
90%
|
Keep the Lights On (2012) |
"
A nuanced portrait of emotional turmoil, persuasively acted, richly sensual one moment, wrenching the next ..."
—
NPR
Posted Sep 6, 2012
|
|
|
76%
|
Premium Rush (2012) |
"
Premium Rush is just a fun ride."
—
NPR
Posted Aug 23, 2012
|
|
|
88%
|
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) |
"
The biggest surprise may just be how satisfying Nolan has made his farewell to a Dark Knight trilogy that many fans will wish he'd extend to a 10-part series, at least."
—
NPR
Posted Jul 19, 2012
|
|
|
73%
|
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) |
"
Here comes another Spider-dude: This Andrew Garfield guy. So he'd better be really something, right? Well, as it happens, he is."
—
NPR
Posted Jul 3, 2012
|
|
|
68%
|
Ted (2012) |
"
I tried to resist but couldn't."
—
NPR
Posted Jun 29, 2012
|
|
|
43%
|
To Rome with Love (2012) |
"
To Rome with Love is just froth - a romantic sampler with some decent jokes and gorgeous Roman backdrops."
—
NPR
Posted Jun 21, 2012
|
|
|
83%
|
Your Sister's Sister (2012) |
"
Duplass is doing his conflicted mumblecore thing quite elegantly these days, and he's joined here by Blunt's fragile Iris and DeWitt's alternately guarded and abrasive Hannah."
—
NPR
Posted Jun 14, 2012
|
|
|
34%
|
Battleship (2012) |
"
Well, it has aliens, for one thing."
—
NPR
Posted May 17, 2012
|
|
|
38%
|
Dark Shadows (2012) |
"
Handsome, vaguely true to the old soap opera, and inert."
—
NPR
Posted May 10, 2012
|
|
|
92%
|
Marvel's The Avengers (2012) |
"
The banter has zip, the effects are fun, the climactic battle is decently spectacular, and if the 3-D is mostly expendable, there are a few scenes where it adds a nice kick."
—
NPR
Posted May 3, 2012
|
|
|
92%
|
Headhunters (2012) |
"
The film has some fairly grisly violence, but also considerable humor and the sort of intricate, thought-through storytelling you'd expect from Hitchcock or the Coen brothers."
—
NPR
Posted Apr 26, 2012
|
|
|
53%
|
Think Like a Man (2012) |
"
Pleasantly sitcom-ish - kind of a knowing, urbane variation on the sort thing that would get more earnest treatment from Tyler Perry."
—
NPR
Posted Apr 20, 2012
|
|
|
97%
|
Monsieur Lazhar (2012) |
"
Fellag, a comedian and himself an exile from Algeria, makes Lazhar both a sensitive and an amusing figure. And the kids are just terrific, especially Emilien Neron as a boy who carries the guilt of the whole school on his shoulders."
—
NPR
Posted Apr 13, 2012
|
|
|
62%
|
We Have a Pope (2012) |
"
Despite moments that strain awfully hard to remind us that the church and its new leader are in crisis, it's basically habemus comoedia. We have a comedy."
—
NPR
Posted Apr 6, 2012
|
|
|
86%
|
Bully (2012) |
"
Bully is a wrenching, potentially transformative look at an epidemic of adolescent cruelty and adult paralysis in the nation's public schools."
—
NPR
Posted Mar 29, 2012
|
|
|
84%
|
The Hunger Games (2012) |
"
The Hunger Games' pacing is brisk, its stakes as high as stakes get, and its leading lady engaging enough that the odds - at the box office at least - will be ever in its favor."
—
NPR
Posted Mar 22, 2012
|
|
|
51%
|
Being Flynn (2012) |
"
It's easy to imagine Being Flynn's story turning precious in the wrong hands, but Weitz and his cast spin it just right - as a narrative that is both emotionally real, and just writerly enough to suit its leading men."
—
NPR
Posted Mar 2, 2012
|