|
3/4
|
82%
|
Like Someone in Love (2013) |
"
A decent little movie, but hardly a major one, from Iran's master filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, who, self-exiled, here shoots in Tokyo with an all-Japanese cast."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Mar 13, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
92%
|
The Gatekeepers (2013) |
"
A remarkable behind-the-scenes peek at how Israel's in-house CIA/FBI has operated, both honorably and questionably, from the Six-Day War until now."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Feb 28, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
92%
|
Little Fugitive (The Coney Island Kid ) (1953) |
"
Rarely has a film offered such an authentic child's-eye view of the world ..."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Feb 28, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
85%
|
How To Re-establish A Vodka Empire () |
"
[It's] a bit much for one film, and it's no help that the filmmaker-narrator is a lightweight and befuddled chap. Still, there are amusing moments ..."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Feb 21, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
87%
|
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2013) |
"
They are fun to watch as they shape skis out of tree trunks, and hang out with their dogs."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Feb 12, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
98%
|
56 Up (2013) |
"
56 Up is still moving and philosophic, though not as exciting as earlier episodes, which had more drama."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Feb 5, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
84%
|
Bestiaire (2012) |
"
Although there is no narration or manipulative music track, Denis Côté's long-take documentary look at Parc Safari in Hemmingford, Quebec, screams out (quietly) on the side of animal rights."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Jan 1, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
80%
|
Hitler's Children (2012) |
"
[A] chilling, unsettling documentary."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Dec 26, 2012
|
|
4/4
|
93%
|
Barbara (2012) |
"
Somehow, in this stirring narrative, Barbara manages to keep hold of her principles, and her humanity and courage, and battles to save a dissident teenage girl whose life the Communists are trying to destroy."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Dec 19, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
94%
|
The Central Park Five (2012) |
"
What keeps the film from being an impossible downer is the guts and spirit and smart words of the Central Park Five, four of whom, now freed, are interviewed at length."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Dec 13, 2012
|
|
1.5/4
|
46%
|
The Comedy (2012) |
"
[A] relentlessly aimless, abrasive stab at black humor."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Dec 6, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
64%
|
My Worst Nightmare (2012) |
"
The terrific leads dig into their clichéd roles and come up with characters to savor, and a relationship to root for."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Dec 4, 2012
|
|
|
100%
|
Tristana (1970) |
"
[A] Surrealist classic ..."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Nov 22, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
95%
|
Chasing Ice (2012) |
"
Horrific and even tearful: mighty glaciers eroding, collapsing before our eyes, sending melting ice and waters southward."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Nov 13, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
98%
|
Brooklyn Castle (2012) |
"
The I.S. 318 team? A delightfully motley, vulnerable, multicultural bunch, whose addiction to chess has allowed them higher aspirations for top high schools and, eventually, college and careers. You will root for them like crazy."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Nov 12, 2012
|
|
1.5/4
|
68%
|
This Must Be The Place (2012) |
"
[A] soggy, monumentally morose excuse for a movie ..."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Nov 8, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
79%
|
The Other Son (2012) |
"
Levy mostly makes it work, thanks to an appealing ensemble of actors, and to her sincere conviction, played out scene after scene, that Arabs and Jews can find common ground if they actually get to know each other."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Oct 25, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
88%
|
The Other Dream Team (2012) |
"
Quite often the film veers away from their stories to become a flag-waving work of Lithuanian nationalism."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Oct 11, 2012
|
|
2/4
|
60%
|
Stars In Shorts (2012) |
"
The celebs are having a holiday good time, even when the stories aren't particularly distinguished."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Sep 26, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
68%
|
Step Up To The Plate (2012) |
"
Sprinkle lime peelings onto milk-white ingredients: a verdant feast for the eye."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Sep 19, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
84%
|
Detropia (2012) |
"
Makes a telling case that Detroit has gone beyond recession to a full-blown Depression, just like the 1930s."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Sep 11, 2012
|
|
2/4
|
54%
|
The Inbetweeners (2012) |
"
The cast is fairly congenial, and this picture is kind of fun, if you don't mind the exported recycling of American Pie and Judd Apatow."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Sep 4, 2012
|
|
1.5/4
|
77%
|
Samsara (2012) |
"
[A] ponderous and pointless collage."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Sep 4, 2012
|
|
4/4
|
89%
|
Compliance (2012) |
"
A thoroughly disturbing, sometimes mean-spirited indie narrative film."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Aug 23, 2012
|
|
|
95%
|
The Imposter (2012) |
"
A terrific tale of deception and self-deception, propelled by the presence of the smirking, cocky Barclay claimant, Frédéric Bourdin."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Aug 16, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
81%
|
A Cat in Paris (2012) |
"
A Cat in Paris falters in the middle with too much farcical plot involving a clumsy, murderous gang, but it finds itself with a neat climax amidst the gargoyles atop the Notre Dame cathedral."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Jun 28, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
89%
|
Whores' Glory (2012) |
"
Glawogger works hard at being objective and dispassionate and unsentimental, but he's clearly on the side of the working girls, and horrified by their salivating johns."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Jun 14, 2012
|
|
2/4
|
82%
|
Nobody Else But You (2012) |
"
The actors are not especially charismatic, and the narrative, though well-plotted, lacks any sustained excitement."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Jun 7, 2012
|
|
—
|
——
|
Elena Undone (2010) |
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Jun 1, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
93%
|
Elena (2012) |
"
A grim, effective allegory of the daily whirl in Putinland."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted May 31, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
94%
|
I Wish (2012) |
"
At its worst, I Wish is static. At its best, it has the warmth and subtlety of classic Asian works by Edward Yang and Yasujiro Ozu."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted May 24, 2012
|
|
1.5/4
|
75%
|
Surviving Progress (2012) |
"
One of those annoying runaway films in which every on-camera point is an excuse to cut to gratuitous, expensive images."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted May 17, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
92%
|
Headhunters (2012) |
"
Headhunters is a slick entertainment with well-orchestrated chases and bloody shootouts, though its characterizations are shallow and sketchy."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted May 10, 2012
|
|
2/4
|
22%
|
Elles (2012) |
"
How did the Polish filmmaker Malgoska Szumowska dupe the classy Juliette Binoche to participate in such a dubious, exploitative film?"
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted May 10, 2012
|
|
—
|
100%
|
This Is Not a Film (2003) |
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted May 5, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
99%
|
This Is Not a Film (2012) |
"
[A] courageous act of artistic provocation..."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted May 3, 2012
|
|
1.5/4
|
93%
|
Turn Me On, Dammit! (2012) |
"
What's on screen is stilted and dull, not helped by willowy blonde Helene Bergsholm in the lead, more suited to modeling than acting."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Apr 25, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
97%
|
Monsieur Lazhar (2012) |
"
A subtle, wise, beautifully rendered tale, with exemplary scenes in the classroom between an amateur cast of savvy children and, as Monsieur Lazhar, a great actor, Mohamed Fellag."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Apr 19, 2012
|
|
1.5/4
|
84%
|
Hipsters (2011) |
"
Hipsters gets rubles for trying, but what's on screen is thin and obvious, the characters one-dimensional, the musical numbers and satire vapid."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Apr 10, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
58%
|
The Dish & The Spoon (2012) |
"
Director Alison Bagnall crafts a model independent film, a miniature story told with feeling and humor..."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Apr 10, 2012
|
|
|
96%
|
The Kid with a Bike (2012) |
"
One of the classic international works about juvenile delinquency."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Mar 29, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
82%
|
The Salt of Life (2012) |
"
The Salt of Life deftly sprinkles wacky humor in with the melancholy, and Di Gregorio is a winning talent, both as the amusing star actor and as the film's co-writer and director."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Mar 14, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
86%
|
The Forgiveness of Blood (2012) |
"
Credit director Marston for a persuasive look at Albanian culture, and for keeping his tense story from trailing off into bloody melodrama."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Mar 8, 2012
|
|
1.5/4
|
75%
|
Addiction Incorporated (2011) |
"
Much of the first half of Charles Evans Jr.'s muckraking documentary is annoyingly gimmicky..."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Feb 22, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
90%
|
Oscar Nominated Animation Shorts (2012) |
"
One film stands out among the Animated Shorts, Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby's Wild Life."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Feb 8, 2012
|
|
2/4
|
83%
|
Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts (2012) |
"
The Oscar nominees for Live Action Shorts come down to five conventional narratives."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Feb 7, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
98%
|
Silent Souls (2011) |
"
Fedorchenko's wistful film has echoes of Parajanov magic realism combined with a Chekhovian melancholy. It's poetic in the most muted way, a chamber road movie."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Jan 17, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
100%
|
Hell and Back Again (2011) |
"
Hell and Back Again offers a potent documentary correlative to the narrative of The Hurt Locker."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Jan 3, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
77%
|
War Horse (2011) |
"
War Horse is corny, sentimental, overlong, but also spectacular at times, even stirring."
—
Boston Phoenix
Posted Dec 20, 2011
|
43%
46%
96%
99%
65%
61%
