|
4/4
|
84%
|
State of Play (2009) |
"
Nothing is as it seems in State of Play, a crackerjack political thriller in which no individual, profession or institution gets away clean."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Apr 17, 2009
|
|
4/4
|
81%
|
Vanaja (2006) |
"
A wondrous piece of filmmaking and a sensitive, engaging movie from a first-time filmmaker working on a shoestring budget with a cast of nonactors."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Oct 24, 2008
|
|
A
|
100%
|
Taxi to the Dark Side (2007) |
"
It is, at once, among the most riveting and hard-to-watch documentaries of recent years."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Feb 22, 2008
|
|
A
|
92%
|
U2 3D (2007) |
"
A concert film featuring one of the world's premier rock bands in top form, shot using cutting-edge technology that gives the audience a better-than-front-row seat. What's not to love?"
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jan 23, 2008
|
|
A
|
76%
|
Black Book (Zwartboek) (2007) |
"
[Director] Verhoeven proves a sure-handed storyteller, which might come as a surprise, as well as a terrific visual stylist, which shouldn't."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jul 10, 2007
|
|
4/4
|
84%
|
Kill Bill, Volume 2 (2004) |
"
If Kill Bill Vol. 1 was bloody exhilarating, Vol. 2 is bloody great. And, as a bonus, not nearly so bloody."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Apr 16, 2004
|
|
A-
|
96%
|
Persepolis (2007) |
"
At once a tribute to one young woman's stubborn resilience and a reminder that people are people, regardless of how their governments may want them to behave, Persepolis is a film of great wisdom and welcome perception."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Feb 1, 2008
|
|
A-
|
97%
|
Once (2007) |
"
There's not a false moment within the film's 88-minute running time, nor many that could be done any better."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jun 16, 2007
|
|
A-
|
75%
|
Over the Hedge (2006) |
"
Rarely have critters frolicked more hilariously than in Over the Hedge, a movie that should amuse all but the newborn or dead."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted May 20, 2006
|
|
3.5/4
|
97%
|
The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (2000) |
"
Greenberg led by quiet example -- and left an indelible mark on thousands of young lives, not to mention a plaque in baseball's Hall of Fame."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Mar 19, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
86%
|
Lorna's Silence (2008) |
"
Lorna's Silence speaks volumes."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Sep 25, 2009
|
|
3.5/4
|
87%
|
Earth (Disneynature's Earth) (Planet Earth) (2009) |
"
With such a photogenic and charismatic cast, how could Earth miss?"
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Apr 24, 2009
|
|
3.5/4
|
25%
|
Four Christmases (2008) |
"
Surprisingly deft and sometimes hilarious."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Nov 26, 2008
|
|
3.5/4
|
88%
|
Bolt (2008) |
"
Its script is smart, its conceit a heart-tugger in the finest of senses, and it's the first Disney effort in way too long to be more concerned with being a movie than with being a breeding ground for product tie-ins."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Nov 21, 2008
|
|
3.5/4
|
92%
|
Ballast (2008) |
"
Even as it stubbornly resists any sense of closure, it cautiously reminds its characters and its audience that hope, and the future it promises, is sometimes more a matter of conviction than revelation."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Nov 14, 2008
|
|
3.5/4
|
58%
|
The Secret Life of Bees (2008) |
"
Love and family may not be able to overcome everything, but you couldn't prove that by The Secret Life of Bees, a refreshingly clear-headed film version of Sue Monk Kidd's best-selling novel."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Oct 17, 2008
|
|
3.5/4
|
64%
|
Fever Pitch (The Perfect Catch) (2005) |
"
Fever Pitch is a delightful romantic comedy that understands as much about the obsessive baseball fan as the chronic workaholic."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Apr 9, 2005
|
|
3.5/4
|
83%
|
Earth (1999) |
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Sep 10, 1999
|
|
B+
|
65%
|
Stop-Loss (2008) |
"
Stop-Loss, a harrowing, emotional indictment of a war that has divided this country like no conflict since Vietnam, delves into what happens when the country doesn't do as well by its soldiers as they do by it."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Mar 28, 2008
|
|
B+
|
90%
|
Rescue Dawn (2007) |
"
[A] lean, mean surviving machine of a film."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jul 27, 2007
|
|
B+
|
94%
|
Away from Her (2007) |
"
Away From Her is that rare movie that breaks hearts with finesse and reserve, not through brute force."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jul 10, 2007
|
|
B+
|
78%
|
Surf's Up (2007) |
"
The designers behind Surf's Up give the film a warmth that's often missing from today's computer-dominated animation; the water sequences are especially impressive and beautiful."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jun 9, 2007
|
|
B+
|
91%
|
The Italian (2007) |
"
Like Vittorio De Sica, one of the great Italian neo-realists, Kravchuk populates his film with people, not paradigms; his characters are capable of good and evil, sometimes in equal measure."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted May 19, 2007
|
|
3/4
|
48%
|
Taking Woodstock (2009) |
"
Maybe it's all too wonderful to be true, but that's OK. If Taking Woodstock is a fantasy, then it's a most benevolent one, and more power to it."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Aug 28, 2009
|
|
3/4
|
43%
|
Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) |
"
The sense of wonder the movie engenders is palpable, and anything that makes museums look cool (which this movie does, in spades) deserves a vote of thanks from civilization as a whole."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted May 22, 2009
|
|
3/4
|
56%
|
The Soloist (2009) |
"
Foxx is magnificent, taking a role that could be exorbitantly showy (actors playing the mentally disabled tend to forget the word "restraint") and turning in a performance that's controlled and mesmerizing."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Apr 24, 2009
|
|
3/4
|
64%
|
Marley & Me (2008) |
"
I swear, my handkerchief was only out because I've been fighting a cold the past few days."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Dec 29, 2008
|
|
3/4
|
39%
|
My Name Is Bruce (2007) |
"
An exercise in self-indulgent filmmaking at its most endearing."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Nov 14, 2008
|
|
B
|
70%
|
Definitely, Maybe (2008) |
"
Definitely, Maybe adds some welcome spice to a genre that rarely ventures beyond the predictable anymore."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Feb 14, 2008
|
|
B
|
41%
|
27 Dresses (2008) |
"
Predictable but utterly engaging, 27 Dresses will likely be remembered as the film that made Katherine Heigl an A-list star."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jan 18, 2008
|
|
B
|
86%
|
El Orfanato (The Orphanage) (2007) |
"
Adult horror returns to the screen with the crisp and frightening The Orphanage, a haunted-house tale about the dueling forces of childhood friendship and maternal love."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jan 11, 2008
|
|
B
|
91%
|
Knocked Up (2007) |
"
The humor arises from the situations and the characters, not from an overeager screenwriter's determination to cram as many jokes and putdowns into the script as possible."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jul 10, 2007
|
|
B
|
87%
|
Efter brylluppet (After the Wedding) (2006) |
"
Those willing to overlook its emotional grandstanding will find much to admire and even more to think about in this Oscar-nominated Danish drama."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jul 10, 2007
|
|
B
|
57%
|
Transformers (2007) |
"
Citizen Kane, it isn't. But for 140 minutes in the dead of summer, it's a ton of dumb fun."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jul 3, 2007
|
|
B
|
81%
|
Live Free or Die Hard (2007) |
"
The film's action doesn't disappoint; if anything, it ups the adrenaline ante considerably."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jun 28, 2007
|
|
2.5/4
|
85%
|
Soul Power (2009) |
"
For a documentary about a music festival, Soul Power doesn't include nearly enough music."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Sep 4, 2009
|
|
2.5/4
|
41%
|
He's Just Not That Into You (2009) |
"
It's a film that lets you embrace the lightheartedness of it all, even while chuckling knowingly at the absurdity."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Feb 6, 2009
|
|
2.5/4
|
14%
|
The Spirit (2008) |
"
Macht's weary, fatalistic take on his heroic duties is right out of the Batman mold, while Jackson's Octopus seems little more than The Joker without all the face makeup."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Dec 29, 2008
|
|
B-
|
61%
|
Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008) |
"
Simplistic as can be with its cliched squabbling-family dynamics offering little more than a hook for the 3-D technicians to hang their hats on. But for most audiences, this one included, that was plenty."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jul 11, 2008
|
|
B-
|
11%
|
Fool's Gold (2008) |
"
Screen couplings that work are things to be treasured. In that sense, Fool's Gold is as close to the real thing as we've come in a while."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Feb 8, 2008
|
|
B-
|
66%
|
How She Move (2008) |
"
How She Move sure has got the moves. And even if we've seen so many of them before, its young cast delivers the goods with such gusto and drive that the familiarity breeds more enjoyment than contempt."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jan 25, 2008
|
|
B-
|
77%
|
Cloverfield (2008) |
"
The film's overriding sense of the unknown ratchets up the suspense, if not the terror."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jan 18, 2008
|
|
B-
|
36%
|
Sydney White (2007) |
"
A charmer that boldly marches where lesser movies -- at least since the heyday of John Hughes -- fear to tread."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Sep 21, 2007
|
|
B-
|
52%
|
Introducing the Dwights (2007) |
"
At times, it's a mawkish drama about a mother-son relationship that's uncomfortable to watch and too melodramatic to be believed. Then, it's a sprightly comedy about an innocent boy who hits the adolescent jackpot."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Aug 10, 2007
|
|
b-
|
27%
|
Evening (2007) |
"
The acting, by any measure, is superb."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jul 10, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
22%
|
Push (2009) |
"
Push has plenty of attitude to go with an overabundance of style, in service to the sort of labyrinthine plot, where nothing is as it seems. That seems impressive as long as you don't think about it too hard."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jul 31, 2009
|
|
2/4
|
44%
|
Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009) |
"
Asked to anchor a full-length movie, she simply doesn't have the chops to pull it off."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Apr 10, 2009
|
|
2/4
|
33%
|
Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009) |
"
You might chuckle occasionally as the film drones on to a close, but mostly you'll be wondering when it will all end."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jan 16, 2009
|
|
2/4
|
61%
|
The Reader (2008) |
"
Finely nuanced and calibrated performances from Winslet (with a convincing German accent) and Kross notwithstanding, this is one film audiences won't embrace nearly as emphatically as it embraces itself."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Dec 30, 2008
|
|
2/4
|
52%
|
Nothing Like the Holidays (2008) |
"
Director Alfredo De Villa clumsily weaves his way in and out of the various plot threads, pausing at each one just long enough to let the audience wonder if this movie will ever get past its cliches. It rarely does."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Dec 12, 2008
|
78%
50%
100%
85%
45%
40%
