|
4.5/5
|
93%
|
Looper (2012) |
"
Good news: Not only is the smart, sexy, sophisticated but still slam-bang sci-fi action-thriller not dead, it's just gotten itself a potent shot in the arm by way of writer-director Rian Johnson."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Sep 26, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
11%
|
House at the End of the Street (2012) |
"
Originality, or lack thereof, isn't really the movie's problem. Execution is. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Sep 21, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
51%
|
Trouble with the Curve (2012) |
"
The Eastwood/Adams interplay is absolutely great, laugh-out-loud funny a lot of the time and quietly moving when it needs to be."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Sep 18, 2012
|
|
4.5/5
|
85%
|
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) |
"
I found the ultimate 'statement' of Wallflower to be a humane and encouraging one that the movie manages to deliver without getting overly precious."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Sep 18, 2012
|
|
2.5/5
|
78%
|
Dredd (2012) |
"
This isn't a bad movie version of 'Judge Dredd,' but it's also too little too late. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Sep 18, 2012
|
|
1.5/5
|
13%
|
Stolen (2012) |
"
Stolen begins at overdetermined, makes a pit stop at outright sadistic and winds up in the parking garage of ridiculous even for a movie of this sort."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Sep 15, 2012
|
|
5/5
|
86%
|
The Master (2012) |
"
Quite possibly the movie of the year, or the decade. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Sep 10, 2012
|
|
4.5/5
|
73%
|
Hello I Must Be Going (2012) |
"
... not just one of the finest indie releases of the year, but one of the sharpest and most moving and engaging movies of the year, period."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Sep 6, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
22%
|
The Words (2012) |
"
The problem is with the three nested stories themselves, which...are treacly variations on what a not-too-inventive Nicholas Sparks enthusiast might imagine to be Hemingway-esque. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Sep 6, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
67%
|
Lawless (2012) |
"
This isn't to say that there's not enough here, but just don't look for it all to add up. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Aug 30, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
39%
|
The Possession (2012) |
"
Nothing earthshaking, but a pretty scary night out..."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Aug 30, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
53%
|
Little Birds (2012) |
"
Little Birds is strong evidence of a real talent..."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Aug 27, 2012
|
|
3.5/5
|
48%
|
Hit & Run (2012) |
"
Hit & Run as a whole is one of the summer's most enjoyable surprises, a consistently disarming romantic comedy..."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Aug 27, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
89%
|
Compliance (2012) |
"
Compliance ends up being about certain things that it would rather not be about. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Aug 20, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
58%
|
Sparkle (2012) |
"
...the movie is an unholy mess of awkward staging, uneven pacing, and contrived 'big scenes'..."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Aug 16, 2012
|
|
5/5
|
64%
|
Cosmopolis (2012) |
"
Cosmopolis is almost certainly some kind of masterpiece, but I have to admit it's probably not for everyone."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Aug 14, 2012
|
|
4.5/5
|
87%
|
ParaNorman (2012) |
"
... if you're any kind of animation or graphic art fiend or even mild enthusiast, the visuals are sure to stagger you. ParaNorman is an extrasensory delight for sure. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Aug 14, 2012
|
|
3.5/5
|
56%
|
The Bourne Legacy (2012) |
"
...there are excellent performances and a few really first-rate suspense-set pieces..."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Aug 9, 2012
|
|
3.5/5
|
58%
|
Red Hook Summer (2012) |
"
[The movie] isn't a smooth slow jam... but one doesn't go to Spike Lee pictures in order to solicit a complacent experience anyway. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Aug 8, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
65%
|
The Campaign (2012) |
"
Will Ferrell, all is forgiven after the botch that was Casa De Mi Padre. And in fact this may be the best movie, comedic or dramatic, that you've made yet."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Aug 8, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
50%
|
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (2012) |
"
...I think it's possible that all tween audiences, wimpy or not, deserve better than this. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Aug 2, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
21%
|
360 (2012) |
"
I hope Peter Morgan doesn't give up writing, and I do hope Meirelles gives up trying to be Alejandro González Iñárritu. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Aug 1, 2012
|
|
1/5
|
8%
|
The Babymakers (2012) |
"
...this is one of the most technically inept movies I've seen in quite some time..."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Aug 1, 2012
|
|
1.5/5
|
16%
|
The Watch (2012) |
"
In the end, the jokes aren't funny enough, and there aren't enough of them to make up for the sound and fury and incoherence and, yeah, for the preponderance of damn shooting. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jul 26, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
79%
|
Klown (2012) |
"
...a reasonably enjoyable and not entirely dumb raunch comedy of awkwardness until it disastrously overplays its hand in the final two minutes. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jul 24, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
87%
|
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) |
"
The Dark Knight Rises only rarely starts to tremor under the weight of its own portent, and is not without its own sly humor. Well done. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jul 16, 2012
|
|
2.5/5
|
37%
|
Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) |
"
It all would have been more enjoyable without all the treacle and pandering."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jul 12, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
51%
|
Savages (2012) |
"
Frustration turned to irritation by the time the thoroughly anti-climactic, can't-make-up-its-mind dénouement finally rolls around. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jul 3, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
77%
|
Katy Perry: Part of Me (2012) |
"
What is there of interest for non-Katy-Perry fans? Not a whole lot... Still, I was hardly bored."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jul 3, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
73%
|
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) |
"
... if you're not sick of superhero movies by now, this is a relatively decent one."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jul 2, 2012
|
|
3.5/5
|
69%
|
Ted (2012) |
"
...it does serve up a pretty jaw-dropping array of remarkably crude, nasty, and at times pretty gut-busting jokes."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jun 26, 2012
|
|
4.5/5
|
86%
|
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) |
"
Beasts is striking and affecting in all kinds of ways."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jun 25, 2012
|
|
1/5
|
35%
|
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) |
"
It constitutes a moral sin, if not an outright moral crime, and commits a grave insult against history."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jun 21, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
43%
|
To Rome with Love (2012) |
"
...a refreshing summer entertainment, not too sweet but not terribly bitter, and very picturesque besides. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jun 19, 2012
|
|
4.5/5
|
78%
|
Brave (2012) |
"
...what seemed a relatively conventional family film gets downright eccentric."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jun 19, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
41%
|
Rock of Ages (2012) |
"
...a cinematic endeavor that, for all intents and purposes, is asking the consumer to put down his or her money to watch movie stars do karaoke. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jun 16, 2012
|
|
4.5/5
|
74%
|
Prometheus (2012) |
"
This is a remarkably scary and eye-popping headrush of a movie, an experience that offers a maximum adrenaline boost at the same time as it engages your intelligence. Don't miss it."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jun 6, 2012
|
|
1/5
|
29%
|
Bel Ami (2012) |
"
...a relentlessly leaden rethink of the rollicking tale of opportunism and social-climbing in late 19th-century Paris "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jun 5, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
48%
|
Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) |
"
This slightly overstuffed entertainment rises, in part thanks to [Hemsworth], to one of the most pleasant surprises of the summer movie season so far. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted May 30, 2012
|
|
3.5/5
|
70%
|
Men in Black III (2012) |
"
The thing is still too loud and too big in many respects, but it offers some satisfactions that the average blockbuster rarely even bothers to imagine. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted May 22, 2012
|
|
5/5
|
94%
|
Moonrise Kingdom (2012) |
"
It's an extraordinary thing, from start to finish. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted May 22, 2012
|
|
1.5/5
|
22%
|
What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012) |
"
Everything that happens in the multiple story lines is entirely predictable; the only question is when. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted May 16, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
58%
|
Hysteria (2012) |
"
...a movie that's finally a little too comfortable with itself. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted May 16, 2012
|
|
3.5/5
|
58%
|
The Dictator (2012) |
"
Baron Cohen balances the stupid, outrageous, over-the-top stuff with almost, ahem, radically provocative observations and pronouncements..."
—
MSN Movies
Posted May 10, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
38%
|
Dark Shadows (2012) |
"
In a time when even the most accomplished genre movies have the fingerprints of focus group-happy execs all over them, the relatively unmitigated quirk of Dark Shadows is worth celebrating. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted May 9, 2012
|
|
2.5/5
|
67%
|
God Bless America (2012) |
"
...isn't as smart as it would like to think it is."
—
MSN Movies
Posted May 8, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
78%
|
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012) |
"
When not pivoting on an almost imperially predetermined plot point, it's doling out dollops of the most conventional wisdom imaginable..."
—
MSN Movies
Posted May 1, 2012
|
|
3.5/5
|
93%
|
Marvel's The Avengers (2012) |
"
... the filmmakers behind The Avengers attack their task of creating a comic book superhero epic with not just conviction, but something almost resembling panache."
—
MSN Movies
Posted May 1, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
57%
|
Safe (2012) |
"
[Statham] continues to punch, kick, shoot and crash cars in a satisfying, gritty fashion. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Apr 25, 2012
|
|
4.5/5
|
64%
|
The Five-Year Engagement (2012) |
"
This is the smartest, most likable such film I've seen in years, even if you might think it does need to have its mouth washed out with soap. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Apr 25, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
22%
|
Darling Companion (2012) |
"
While it's not entirely lacking in sharp dialogue, Kasdan's movie is weirdly unwieldy and... a bit blinkered."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Apr 19, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
74%
|
Chimpanzee (2012) |
"
It's never less than remarkable to lay eyes upon. But it feels more ... contrived."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Apr 19, 2012
|
|
2.5/5
|
53%
|
Think Like a Man (2012) |
"
As cheesy and trite as it comes off from its general outline, the particular pleasures it offers are enjoyable and reasonably consistent."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Apr 19, 2012
|
|
2.5/5
|
51%
|
The Three Stooges (2012) |
"
...while a good part of the picture reached my submerged Stooges person and made him laugh, too much of it just didn't connect at all."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Apr 12, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
38%
|
Lockout (Unrated) (2012) |
"
Lockout is a largely half-hearted effort in which some of the major set pieces are so indifferently executed that they literally look exactly like sequences out of video games."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Apr 10, 2012
|
|
3.5/5
|
92%
|
The Cabin in the Woods (2012) |
"
What the movie finally is, then, is a diversion: a reasonably smart and exceptionally well-constructed one. And nothing more."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Apr 10, 2012
|
|
1.5/5
|
62%
|
We Have a Pope (2012) |
"
The movie is a near-relentless intellectual muddle, throwing out signifiers and metaphors lazily and to no particular effect."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Apr 5, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
44%
|
American Reunion (2012) |
"
It's got some pretty good jokes, too. OK, maybe they aren't that good, but they're performed with excellent timing."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Apr 5, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
50%
|
Mirror Mirror (2012) |
"
...one needn't be asking too much of Mirror Mirror in order to be at least occasionally disarmed by its pockets of genuine eccentricity. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Mar 29, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
26%
|
Wrath of the Titans (2012) |
"
There's little about this picture to really endear the viewer after the whole thing wraps. That said, while it's happening, the sensationalism is, well, pretty sensational"
—
MSN Movies
Posted Mar 28, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
48%
|
4:44 Last Day on Earth (2012) |
"
This is pretty standard not-with-a-bang-but-with-a-whimper-punctuated-by-an-occasional-blowup stuff."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Mar 19, 2012
|
|
.5/5
|
44%
|
Casa de mi padre (2012) |
"
This is one of those pictures, alas, that is critic-proof merely by dint of the fact that applying any amount of thought to it, superficial, or serious, or what have you, is an entirely humiliating,"
—
MSN Movies
Posted Mar 15, 2012
|
|
5/5
|
96%
|
The Kid with a Bike (2012) |
"
The simple act of its being seems enough to constitute a kind of perfection. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Mar 13, 2012
|
|
3.5/5
|
85%
|
21 Jump Street (2012) |
"
Not everything... works, and if you're actually looking for a consequential night at the movies you might want to stay away, but for a goofy fun Friday night this gets the job done. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Mar 13, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
67%
|
Friends With Kids (2012) |
"
...the film takes a tonal detour, veering from indie-inflected city comedy with Woody Allen undertones to something reminiscent of the work of Nicole Holofcener."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Mar 7, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
99%
|
Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2012) |
"
If you have any kind of affinity for the food at all, you will very much want to dine at Sukiyabashi Jiro, regardless of the distance or cost, after seeing Jiro Dreams Of Sushi..."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Mar 6, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
51%
|
John Carter (2012) |
"
For me, this is the first movie of its kind in a very long time that I'd willingly sit through a second or even third time. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Mar 6, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
59%
|
Wanderlust (2012) |
"
Most of it is pretty funny stuff."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Feb 23, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
17%
|
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012) |
"
What more would one want? Well, actually, quite a bit, but this movie ain't got much more than that. Still, as noisesome entertainments go, it 'brings' that thing we sometimes call 'it.' "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Feb 17, 2012
|
|
4.5/5
|
94%
|
The Secret World of Arrietty (2012) |
"
While it doesn't offer much in the way of 'sophisticated' content for adults, it brings something much more valuable, really: genuine aesthetic bliss. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Feb 13, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
53%
|
Safe House (2012) |
"
[Reynolds] still doesn't quite match up with Washington. And while that doesn't sink Safe House, it certainly makes it a little less of a ride than it might have been. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Feb 9, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
42%
|
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) |
"
...the best that moviegoers who don't much enjoy genial sci-fi/fantasy silliness can expect is a relatively inoffensive time..."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Feb 9, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
74%
|
Rampart (2012) |
"
The movie's got some strong moments, and Harrelson's work here is so committed that many might feel his character's journey is worth sitting through for that alone. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Feb 6, 2012
|
|
3.5/5
|
74%
|
Big Miracle (2012) |
"
If you think it's absolutely not your kind of thing, you might be surprised. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Feb 2, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
85%
|
Chronicle (2012) |
"
...even as its ostensible innovations flag, Chronicle remains watchable, and it doesn't hurt that the picture is a pretty tidy 85 minutes or so."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Feb 1, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
76%
|
Kill List (2012) |
"
It's remarkably clever and resourceful filmmaking, and a little on the diabolical side as well. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jan 31, 2012
|
|
3.5/5
|
79%
|
The Grey (2012) |
"
While some of the effects work is a little obvious, the film does a largely first-rate job of simulating the punishing environment the characters have to push against. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jan 25, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
39%
|
Red Tails (2012) |
"
More often than not, Red Tails feels like it's pandering to every focus group that it never even tested... It's so cautious as to be lifeless, which is a shame on a lot of levels."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jan 19, 2012
|
|
2.5/5
|
34%
|
Joyful Noise (2012) |
"
[It] bears almost all the liabilities one gets from current studio product, including bloating."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jan 13, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
51%
|
Contraband (2012) |
"
It's a good, chugging caper movie for the most part."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jan 13, 2012
|
|
2.5/5
|
72%
|
Roadie (2012) |
"
While the excellent cast does its level, honest best with the material, the material itself feels secondhand throughout."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Jan 6, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
52%
|
The Iron Lady (2012) |
"
For as much of a mess as this movie is, there are moments in which Streep and Broadbent draw it into a sharp humanist focus. But they don't occur often enough. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Dec 26, 2011
|
|
4.5/5
|
99%
|
A Separation (2011) |
"
...interesting, and engaging, in both a storytelling and sociological/cultural study fashion."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Dec 26, 2011
|
|
3.5/5
|
67%
|
We Bought a Zoo (2011) |
"
...where We Bought A Zoo earns its stripes is in the process of getting all of its characters to relate to and accept each other. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Dec 18, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
75%
|
The Adventures of Tintin (2011) |
"
The film also earns points for being the least creepy motion-capture movie I've ever seen..."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Dec 18, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
93%
|
Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (2011) |
"
...it's pretty much state-of-the-art. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Dec 18, 2011
|
|
5/5
|
86%
|
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) |
"
[Fincher] never abandons his meticulousness -- it's what allows him to position you in the exact right spot to deliver the blow. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Dec 18, 2011
|
|
2.5/5
|
60%
|
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) |
"
As big, loud moviemaking goes it's not quite as devoid of charm as it could have been, and things being as they are these days, that's saying something. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Dec 15, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
72%
|
Carnage (2011) |
"
Carnage is satisfied to be an absolutely virtuoso piece of cinema craft, and to give its excellent cast multiple opportunities to show off their comedic chops, which are considerable. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Dec 14, 2011
|
|
5/5
|
76%
|
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2012) |
"
View more MSN videosGo to MSN Video One of the most relentlessly and purposefully harrowing movies of the year... "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Dec 7, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
80%
|
Young Adult (2011) |
"
...the film and its cast portray the [characters] with steadfastness, precision, empathy and a kind of poignant wisdom."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Dec 5, 2011
|
|
4.5/5
|
80%
|
Shame (2011) |
"
One shot of a shattered Brandon standing in the rain without a clue of where to turn gets more done than any of McQueen's flourishes, frankly. But you can't blame a onetime conceptual artist for trying..."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Nov 29, 2011
|
|
5/5
|
78%
|
A Dangerous Method (2011) |
"
The harder you look at it, the wilder, and more disturbing, and more moving, it becomes."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Nov 23, 2011
|
|
5/5
|
94%
|
Hugo (2011) |
"
Aside from being one of Scorsese's most personal films, it's also one of the least cynical films of this or any other year."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Nov 23, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
96%
|
The Muppets (2011) |
"
[Filmmakers] hew close to the essential innocence informing the Muppets' silliness."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Nov 23, 2011
|
|
3.5/5
|
24%
|
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (2011) |
"
One is also grateful for the film's finale... which is genuinely brilliant. There, I said it. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Nov 17, 2011
|
|
5/5
|
89%
|
The Descendants (2011) |
"
It works like a charm...to the extent that one's critic self wants to resist the urge to break down why it's working. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Nov 14, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
3%
|
Jack and Jill (2011) |
"
It is also typical in that it contains a lot of witless bathroom and ethnic humor..."
—
MSN Movies
Posted Nov 10, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
44%
|
J. Edgar (2011) |
"
For all its rough edges, J. Edgar is finally a thought-provoking emotion picture of deep sadness, a far-ranging elegy disguised as a historical drama. "
—
MSN Movies
Posted Nov 8, 2011
|
73%
21%
63%
85%
46%
40%
