|
A-
|
65%
|
A Fierce Green Fire (2013) |
"
Essential viewing for those with a social conscience... showcases a rare and cogent macro-portrait skill unmatched in the arena of this topic since An Inconvenient Truth."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Mar 20, 2013
|
|
A
|
98%
|
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God (2012) |
"
Tragedy that sticks to your bones -- a gut-punch look at the Catholic Church child sex abuse scandal as filtered through the experiential prism of a group of victims from a single Midwestern school for the deaf."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Mar 20, 2013
|
|
C-
|
57%
|
The Power Of Few (2013) |
"
A jumbled, offbeat mash-up of conspiracy-tinged action and armchair philosophizing that is hamstrung by a strange combination of slapdash plotting and its own self-importance."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Mar 20, 2013
|
|
1.5/5
|
47%
|
Olympus Has Fallen (2013) |
"
A slick technical packaging by director Antoine Fuqua can't offset the lumbering plotting and patchwork quality of producer-star Gerard Butler's vehicle."
—
Screen International
Posted Mar 20, 2013
|
|
C
|
10%
|
If I Were You (2012) |
"
An odd little duck of a film [that] kicks around enjoyably for a while in the same sandbox as some of Woody Allen's mid-career farces, before eventually pivoting and skipping off into less rewarding territory."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Mar 17, 2013
|
|
A-
|
80%
|
Warm Bodies (2013) |
"
A funky, fresh tale of adolescent self-doubt and blossoming love funneled through the prism of post-apocalyptic zombiedom, Warm Bodies conjures a lovely, commingled tone of wistfulness and witticism."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Mar 15, 2013
|
|
C
|
17%
|
The Kill Hole (2013) |
"
A well meaning look at post-traumatic stress disorder and ex-military account-settling, this spare yet affected would-be thriller never ripens past the point of a wobbly character study."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Mar 15, 2013
|
|
C-
|
39%
|
The ABCs of Death (2013) |
"
Weighed down by some sub-par entries and lacking some great genre minds, this compilation overall pales in comparison to other recent anthologies."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Mar 15, 2013
|
|
3.5/5
|
41%
|
The Call (2013) |
"
An enjoyably nerve-racking thriller of imperilment that takes as its heroine a distraught 911 call center operator."
—
Screen International
Posted Mar 14, 2013
|
|
3.5/5
|
43%
|
Admission (2013) |
"
A terrifically fresh narrative backdrop and the often delightful interplay of two timing-savvy comedians, Tina Fey and Paul Rudd, help give wings to director Paul Weitz's Admission."
—
Screen International
Posted Mar 7, 2013
|
|
1.5/5
|
13%
|
The Last Exorcism Part II (2013) |
"
Somewhere deep inside The Last Exorcism Part II may lurk an intriguing idea for a character-based horror movie follow-up, but it never manages to quite tease it out."
—
Screen International
Posted Mar 6, 2013
|
|
2.5/5
|
52%
|
Jack the Giant Slayer (2013) |
"
Jack The Giant Slayer can't seem to decide whether it wants to play as a lithe, sweeping fable or a more grounded action-adventure with legendary accessories."
—
Screen International
Posted Feb 27, 2013
|
|
C+
|
53%
|
The Girl (2013) |
"
Too limited in scope and too predictable to transcend its social-issue movie-of-the-week roots as a tearjerker designed to play on feelings of particularly maternal independent film fans."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Feb 23, 2013
|
|
D-
|
——
|
noobz (2013) |
"
A wearying, across-the-board comedic misfire, unredeemed by a couple charming supporting performances, that lamely tries to hitch its trailer to the $17-billion-a-year videogaming industry."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Feb 23, 2013
|
|
A-
|
28%
|
Knife Fight (2013) |
"
A fun, tack-sharp political drama with satirical underpinnings, buoyed by crisp characterizations."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Feb 23, 2013
|
|
B
|
100%
|
Resolution (2013) |
"
Honest about the impulses of addiction, but could stand to have its core interpersonal conflict sharpened up some without sacrificing any of its overall narrative ambiguity."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Feb 23, 2013
|
|
B+
|
87%
|
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2013) |
"
A stirring meditation on the human spirit in extreme conditions, Happy People also reflects Herzog's passion and fascination for the often unforgiving nature of the wild."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Feb 23, 2013
|
|
|
34%
|
Dark Skies (2013) |
"
[A] generally well orchestrated supernatural mood piece ..."
—
Screen International
Posted Feb 22, 2013
|
|
D
|
15%
|
A Good Day To Die Hard (2013) |
"
Unquestionably the worst entry of the once-great action franchise and, worse, totally drained of the vital spirit, charm and meticulous smarts that made the original movie such a breath of fresh air."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Feb 21, 2013
|
|
B+
|
87%
|
Middle of Nowhere (2012) |
"
An intimate, confidently directed and superbly acted humanistic drama utterly at home in the subtle push-and-pull of long-standing family tensions and arguments."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Feb 17, 2013
|
|
B+
|
57%
|
$ellebrity (2013) |
"
A smart, noteworthy socio-cultural snapshot, $ellebrity evinces a surprising depth."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Feb 17, 2013
|
|
B
|
57%
|
Shanghai Calling (2013) |
"
Offbeat scenarios, a fresh backdrop and warm performances enliven this vibrant, surprising, Chinese-shot treat, a fun cross-cultural romantic comedy with echoes of Jerry Maguire."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Feb 17, 2013
|
|
C
|
65%
|
The Jeffrey Dahmer Files (2013) |
"
An art collage project that unnecessarily obscures its sizzle and raison d'être when a more straightforward tack would have worked better."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Feb 16, 2013
|
|
|
26%
|
Escape From Planet Earth 3D (2013) |
"
Unremittingly bland conflict and stock characterisations mar what could have been [a] much more cleverly executed concept ..."
—
Screen International
Posted Feb 15, 2013
|
|
B+
|
100%
|
They Call It Myanmar: Lifting The Curtain (2012) |
"
An incredible, clandestinely shot portrait of underclass life and love [that] also illustrates the gap between populace and regime, which is a dignified goal and achievement."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Feb 10, 2013
|
|
C
|
52%
|
The Playroom (2013) |
"
If The Ice Storm was a band, think of this as the minor-chord, label-unsigned, opening act for its opening act. Lovingly captured but dramatically inert."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Feb 10, 2013
|
|
A-
|
71%
|
We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists (2012) |
"
A wildly engaging documentary that not only details the exploits of Anonymous, but also delves substantively inside the roots and culture of the group."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Feb 10, 2013
|
|
B-
|
60%
|
John Dies at the End (2013) |
"
Sort of like if Franz Kafka drank a bunch of absinthe and then wrote an homage to Sam Raimi, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Donnie Darko. And that's a good thing"
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Feb 10, 2013
|
|
B+
|
67%
|
Hellbound? (2012) |
"
A rich, thoughtful conversation-starter about changing notions of religious damnation, Hellbound? invades notoriously touchy territory with an open mind, steady focus and civil disposition."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
B+
|
66%
|
For Ellen (2012) |
"
Writer-director So Yong Kim's mastery of tone and elements turns For Ellen into a thing of tender, forlorn beauty."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
D-
|
14%
|
Smiley (2012) |
"
A thunderously stupid horror movie of slapdash construction and ping-pong tonalities."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
A-
|
100%
|
The Waiting Room (2012) |
"
One of 2012's better documentaries... the gut-punch effectiveness of Peter Nicks' film lies in its forthrightness, and how it avoids speechifying."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
B+
|
60%
|
Electoral Dysfunction (2012) |
"
An irreverent, civics-minded offering that's catnip for politicos and documentary film fans."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
B+
|
93%
|
Girl Model (2012) |
"
A vivid and surprisingly emotive exploration of fashion modeling and the refracted reality and cost of the economic opportunities it presents for prepubescent Eastern European girls in particular."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
B-
|
37%
|
The Brooklyn Brothers Beat The Best (2012) |
"
An offbeat, hipster-inflected road movie that steadfastly refuses to conform to expectation and sense. A to-scale victory of quirky charm and feeling over sagacity."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
B
|
93%
|
The Trouble with the Truth (2012) |
"
A spare but winning romantic drama that taps into the same talky, intellectually stimulating vein as Richard Linklater's Sunrise/Sunset collaborations with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
B-
|
39%
|
The Possession (2012) |
"
Puppet-master technique and a generally well orchestrated sense of moodiness help this chiller deliver on more than it botches, despite a fumbled third act."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
B-
|
81%
|
In Another Country (2013) |
"
An intriguing little cross-cultural curio that plays like a woozy, jazz-improv riff on romantic futility and destiny."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
B
|
64%
|
The Good Doctor (2012) |
"
A solidly constructed little character study of dark romantic bloom commingled with slipping-knot mental instability."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
B-
|
78%
|
The Ambassador (2012) |
"
A wild, darkly comic slice of nonfiction branded 'performative journalism' by its creator. Ballsy, attention-grabbing and a lot of fun for anyone with an interest in matters geopolitical."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
1.5/5
|
30%
|
Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) |
"
More high-calorie, low-sense, audiovisual CGI stimulation arrives in the form of this fifth and most roundly unsatisfying entry in the previously lithe and fun videogame franchise."
—
Screendaily
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
2.5
|
38%
|
The Guilt Trip (2012) |
"
Small stakes and consistently tame inclinations mark screenwriter Dan Fogelman's effort, which gives off an ambling vibe that would be more at home in an independent production."
—
Screendaily
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
C-
|
79%
|
Quartet (2013) |
"
Unfolds with a respectable, well-heeled polish, seeming to believe that its admittedly wonderful cast lends it an automatic sophistication which inoculates it against charges of tedium."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
C+
|
19%
|
The Baytown Outlaws (2013) |
"
While stipulating that at its core it's fairly slight, and also constructed of prefabricated parts, this is a deeply but pleasantly weird sort of Southern Gothic battle royale."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
A-
|
85%
|
Side Effects (2013) |
"
A moody, neo-noir-style psychological drama with thick, intertwined veins of tragedy, romantic obsession, legal consequence and revenge."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
|
20%
|
Identity Thief (2013) |
"
A cabal of under-sketched narrative interlopers, an uncertain mixture of tones and, most damningly, a general lack of good ideas and jokes doom this strained offering."
—
Screen International
Posted Feb 6, 2013
|
|
2.5/5
|
37%
|
Stand Up Guys (2013) |
"
Cycles through too many haphazard and improbable set-ups to amount to anything more than a collection of signed offer sheets in search of a movie."
—
Screen International
Posted Feb 1, 2013
|
|
—
|
52%
|
Where Do We Go Now? (2012) |
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
—
|
50%
|
FrackNation (2013) |
—
Shockya.com
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
—
|
0%
|
For the Love of Money (2012) |
—
Shockya.com
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
—
|
65%
|
The Campaign (2012) |
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
A
|
86%
|
The Iran Job (2012) |
"
The Iran Job locates an absorbing, cross-cultural universality with surprising ease."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
—
|
96%
|
Searching for Sugar Man (2012) |
—
Shockya.com
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
—
|
——
|
How to Cheat () |
—
Shockya.com
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
—
|
30%
|
Broken City (2013) |
—
Screen International
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
—
|
72%
|
The Future (2011) |
—
Shockya.com
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
—
|
38%
|
One Day On Earth (2012) |
—
Shockya.com
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
—
|
97%
|
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012) |
—
Shockya.com
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
—
|
65%
|
2 Days in New York (2012) |
—
Shockya.com
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
—
|
20%
|
Mighty Fine (2012) |
—
Shockya.com
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
—
|
52%
|
This is 40 (2012) |
—
Shockya.com
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
—
|
64%
|
Unraveled (2012) |
—
Shockya.com
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
—
|
40%
|
The Girl from the Naked Eye (2012) |
—
Shockya.com
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
B+
|
93%
|
Barbara (2012) |
"
A superbly crafted low-boil drama that gets its hooks into you the old-fashioned way, through character, and highlights the difficulties and cost of living by principles."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Jan 16, 2013
|
|
C-
|
50%
|
FrackNation (2013) |
"
FrackNation starts from a bogus and willfully cordoned off point-of-view, and exhibits a desire to grind axes more than uncover truth."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Jan 16, 2013
|
|
C
|
32%
|
Gangster Squad (2013) |
"
The very jokey forthrightness of its title evokes a kind of disposable pop-art mash-up of The Untouchables and L.A. Confidential, but with the seriousness of an old Saturday morning serial."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Jan 16, 2013
|
|
A
|
80%
|
Only The Young (2012) |
"
Swollen with sensitivity and sentiment -- a delicate coming-of-age snapshot which locates the unextinguished youth in all of us."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Jan 7, 2013
|
|
B+
|
100%
|
16 Acres (2012) |
"
A vital and in certain ways even cathartic documentary. It's a story about ego and hubris, yes, but also the better angels of our nature."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Jan 7, 2013
|
|
C-
|
88%
|
Tchoupitoulas (2012) |
"
Tchoupitoulas feels like a cinematic exercise grasping blindly for reason and statement -- a beautifully crafted paragraph in search of a topic sentence."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Jan 7, 2013
|
|
B+
|
77%
|
Any Day Now (2012) |
"
A warmly captured, nicely acted period piece social-issue drama that cycles through familiar territory but also deftly sidesteps conventional wisdom about where it may end up."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Dec 29, 2012
|
|
C-
|
52%
|
This is 40 (2012) |
"
A mismanaged mess that feels less a panoramic study of modern adult- and familyhood and more like a series of tasked self-reflections for which its creator doesn't have the stomach."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Dec 29, 2012
|
|
|
61%
|
Jack Reacher (2012) |
"
Jack Reacher moves with a confident gait and streamlined sense of purpose."
—
Screen International
Posted Dec 17, 2012
|
|
D+
|
33%
|
American Empire (2012) |
"
A jumbled nonfiction jeremiad of raw-nerve feeling built around ominous and vague proclamations of 'where we're going' as a country, American Empire is like a vitamin B-boosted espresso shot for left-leaning paranoiacs."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Dec 14, 2012
|
|
A
|
93%
|
The House I Live In (2012) |
"
Suffused with a righteous anger that Jarecki methodically turns up to full boil, The House I Live In is an emotionally shattering work, but also one with a hefty, legitimate intellectual punching power."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Dec 14, 2012
|
|
B-
|
——
|
Ben Lee: Catch My Disease (2012) |
"
A solid sense of scope plus the happy involvement of its quirky subject help give the film its strongest pull, but also contribute to a polite distance and play-nice feeling that make it of reward really only for those who are already fans of Lee."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Dec 14, 2012
|
|
D
|
35%
|
Cheerful Weather For The Wedding (2012) |
"
A very mannered but deadly dull period piece drama of partially upended, stuffy social customs, and a ruinous vehicle for the incandescence of Felicity Jones."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Dec 14, 2012
|
|
B
|
87%
|
Arbitrage (2012) |
"
A crisp, procedural-type throwback to 1980s-style financial world thrillers about rich men behaving badly and skirting danger."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Dec 12, 2012
|
|
C+
|
21%
|
Hollow () |
"
Solid, largely naturalistic performances and a nice technical package offset, if only for hardcore genre enthusiasts, a story whose bump-in-the-night eeriness reaches a level of diminishing return long before its end."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Dec 12, 2012
|
|
B-
|
70%
|
Sexy Baby (2012) |
"
An inquisitive and engaging documentary that attempts to sift through shifting mores and the sexual saturation of mass media, to determine the toll this seeming increase in titillation is taking on America."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Dec 12, 2012
|
|
B-
|
89%
|
A Royal Affair (2012) |
"
Gorgeously photographed if familiarly constructed, it's more or less catnip for urban foreign film aficionados and the NPR set, breathing life into period piece lust and intrigue."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Dec 12, 2012
|
|
B+
|
93%
|
Zero Dark Thirty (2013) |
"
A darkly gripping, tunnel-visioned procedural -- a dirge wrapped in grey morality, and served up with a pulse-quickening side dish of siege pay-off."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Dec 9, 2012
|
|
1.5/5
|
4%
|
Playing for Keeps (2012) |
"
What could have been a more complicated and contemporary suburban spin on Alfie feels like a lazy and anonymous daydream postcard of discord and resolution."
—
Screendaily
Posted Dec 8, 2012
|
|
B-
|
43%
|
Waiting For Lightning (2012) |
"
Another descendant of Stacy Peralta's influential Dogtown and Z-Boys, but more stylish and engaging than most of its less inquisitive, like-minded, hagiographic stunt spectaculars."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Dec 8, 2012
|
|
D
|
55%
|
Bachelorette (2012) |
"
Self-consciously raunchy, and simply more loud and annoying than funny, Bachelorette serves as ample evidence that women can do stupid and crude as well as men, if pushed to it."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Dec 8, 2012
|
|
A-
|
88%
|
Tears of Gaza (2012) |
"
A shattering anti-war movie that spotlights the too-soon death of innocence. Dispiritingly relevant and exceedingly effective in the gall and sadness it provokes."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Dec 8, 2012
|
|
B+
|
86%
|
Who Bombed Judi Bari? (2012) |
"
An engaging document of Bari's eventual exoneration (in her own bombing), but also a nonfiction tribute to the steel-spined spirit of Bari and other dedicated non-violent activists."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Dec 8, 2012
|
|
B
|
100%
|
Lost Angels: Skid Row Is My Home (2012) |
"
A deeply humanistic movie which throws a non-exploitative spotlight on people who have found a way to make a life for themselves while homeless, and also make themselves of greater service."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Dec 7, 2012
|
|
C
|
33%
|
Buffalo Girls (2012) |
"
A surprising and sad glimpse into an unusual and heretofore largely unknown subculture, but one that feels frustratingly aimless."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Dec 6, 2012
|
|
C+
|
50%
|
What A Man (2012) |
"
An unlikely and generally winning if utterly formulaic blend of male fretfulness and romantic bloom rooted in friendship... but in German!"
—
Shockya.com
Posted Dec 6, 2012
|
|
D+
|
——
|
Man At War (2012) |
"
A hopelessly myopic documentary look at videogamers obsessed with a very specific computer flight simulator that lacks any sort of compelling entrance point into its insular world."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Nov 13, 2012
|
|
3.5/5
|
55%
|
Starry Starry Night (2012) |
"
Swollen with genuine feeling -- an imaginative, emotionally resonant coming-of-age story about two young kindred spirits who seek solace in one another."
—
Screen International
Posted Nov 13, 2012
|
|
C-
|
84%
|
The Flat (2012) |
"
An earnest and deeply personal exhumation of proverbial skeletons in the family closet, The Flat is damned by its own incuriosity."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Nov 13, 2012
|
|
C
|
14%
|
Grave Encounters 2 (2012) |
"
Gathers up a head of loose-limbed steam and bundles it up in a nice technical package, but then fumbles it away on a story that buckles under the weight of layered self-consciousness."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Nov 13, 2012
|
|
|
48%
|
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012) |
"
After a rather sluggish opening half, director Bill Condon delivers a rousing finale that will work fans into a tizzy."
—
Screen International
Posted Nov 13, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
86%
|
Wreck-it Ralph (2012) |
"
Powered by a standout concept delivered upon in winning fashion, this fun film serves as the most natural and effortlessly readymade animated feature for future franchise exploration since Shrek."
—
Screen International
Posted Nov 1, 2012
|
|
D
|
22%
|
Serving Up Richard (2012) |
"
A tepid domestic hostage drama with the additional elemental garnish of cannibalism, Serving Up Richard is a silly, yawning bore."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Nov 1, 2012
|
|
B-
|
65%
|
Solomon Kane (2012) |
"
Formulaic, but it settles down into a fine if square-jawed groove, delivering rousing adventure of a sort which should generally please fans of throwback, morally black-and-white entertainment."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Nov 1, 2012
|
|
B+
|
73%
|
Hello I Must Be Going (2012) |
"
A fine and funny film balanced perfectly between heartbreak and uplift, anchored by a rich, superlative turn from Melanie Lynskey."
—
Shared Darkness
Posted Nov 1, 2012
|
|
C-
|
0%
|
You May Not Kiss the Bride (2012) |
"
A movie that never figures out a way to stitch together all of its incongruous elements."
—
Shockya.com
Posted Nov 1, 2012
|
76%
22%
67%
85%
46%
40%
