|
8.5/10
|
85%
|
We Are What We Are (2013) |
"
At 72, Parks turns in one of the most tender performances of his career - before reminding us, in the end, that he's still a guy who can sit across a table and make you tremble in fear with a stony gaze."
—
NPR
Posted Sep 26, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
80%
|
Prisoners (2013) |
"
A work of impressive craftsmanship that winds up making us think too much about how it was fashioned rather than what it has to say."
—
NPR
Posted Sep 19, 2013
|
|
8/10
|
86%
|
Blue Caprice (2013) |
"
May be a frustrating film for viewers looking for a straight piece of historical fiction...This is no photograph, but an impressionistic sketch of the communicability of evil - and in that respect it's a powerful piece of filmmaking."
—
NPR
Posted Sep 13, 2013
|
|
5/10
|
35%
|
Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) |
"
Though there's some admirably clever plotting to interweave the film's second half with events in the original, it's simply not as scary."
—
The Atlantic
Posted Sep 13, 2013
|
|
2/10
|
3%
|
Getaway (2013) |
"
The nonsense piles up nearly as fast as the smashed, flipped, T-boned and otherwise trashed cop cars chasing after Ethan Hawke's laughably named Brent Magna and his sidekick, "The Kid.""
—
NPR
Posted Aug 29, 2013
|
|
9/10
|
89%
|
The World's End (2013) |
"
Wright & Pegg continue making the sort of films that the 12-year-old versions of themselves probably always dreamed of being a part of; that sense of joy and practically disbelief that they actually get to do this for a living is right up there on-screen."
—
NPR
Posted Aug 26, 2013
|
|
2/10
|
22%
|
The Canyons (2013) |
"
Schrader just seems angry, as if he's using this film as a tinny megaphone for an announcement of his displeasure with a Hollywood that's left him behind. "
—
NPR
Posted Aug 2, 2013
|
|
2/10
|
6%
|
Evidence (2013) |
"
Moyer plays scenes as if he'd rolled out of bed at noon after a long night of shooting in Bon Temps and had his script pages shoved into his hands five minutes before the director called "Action.""
—
NPR
Posted Jul 26, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
72%
|
Grabbers (2013) |
"
Wright checks off the expected genre boxes with the gleeful mischief of a gremlin trashing a plane engine."
—
NPR
Posted Jul 26, 2013
|
|
8/10
|
87%
|
The Conjuring (2013) |
"
...there were moments where it seemed the entire theater was holding its breath. We were united in one feeling: terror."
—
The Atlantic
Posted Jul 26, 2013
|
|
5/10
|
69%
|
The Wolverine (2013) |
"
A handful of bold ideas brought down by the need to regress to a blander, more box-office-friendly middle ground."
—
NPR
Posted Jul 25, 2013
|
|
7.5/10
|
72%
|
Pacific Rim (2013) |
"
Monsters, robots, grand heroism and a few clever jokes: Sounds like a perfect Saturday afternoon to me."
—
NPR
Posted Jul 11, 2013
|
|
5.5/10
|
61%
|
Byzantium (2013) |
"
Unfortunately, the story never grabs hold as insistently as Jordan's tone and visual artistry."
—
NPR
Posted Jun 27, 2013
|
|
5/10
|
47%
|
Maniac (2013) |
"
A remake that, rather than trying to fix the deep flaws of its source, just covers them in a shinier coat of paint."
—
NPR
Posted Jun 20, 2013
|
|
9/10
|
83%
|
Berberian Sound Studio (2013) |
"
It accomplishes the tricky task of paying homage to one type of scary movie while indulging in an entirely different style itself."
—
NPR
Posted Jun 14, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
38%
|
The Purge (2013) |
"
The Purge is mostly a genre picture trying to layer on some prestige by way of social commentary. The latter falls flat; the film is actually stronger when it just goes for our baser instincts."
—
NPR
Posted Jun 6, 2013
|
|
8/10
|
81%
|
Shadow Dancer (2013) |
"
Shadow Dancer feels like a thriller, but Marsh is wisely more interested in the tension than in the release. What thrills exist here are carefully tempered by the considered pacing."
—
NPR
Posted May 30, 2013
|
|
6.8/10
|
69%
|
Fast & Furious 6 (2013) |
"
Furious Six continues on in the same vein as its predecessor, and may just be my favorite of the lot."
—
The Atlantic
Posted May 24, 2013
|
|
7/10
|
95%
|
Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton As Himself (2013) |
"
The film portrays Plimpton as someone devoted to illuminating how talent and creativity work - both for himself, and for the rest of us."
—
NPR
Posted May 23, 2013
|
|
6.5/10
|
88%
|
What Maisie Knew (2013) |
"
The film raises more uncomfortable questions about Maisie's uncertain future than it ever answers, but that's in keeping with the emotional honesty the filmmakers are striving for."
—
NPR
Posted May 3, 2013
|
|
7.5/10
|
84%
|
Kon Tiki (2013) |
"
A rousing and thoroughly enjoyable Old Hollywood-style adventure."
—
NPR
Posted Apr 25, 2013
|
|
8/10
|
74%
|
The Source Family (2013) |
"
One of the most detailed looks at the inner workings of an American cult ever assembled."
—
The Washingtonian
Posted Apr 19, 2013
|
|
4.5/10
|
47%
|
The Lords of Salem (2013) |
"
It's a credit to Zombie's interest in growing as an artist that he's drawing from more mature inspirations here, but it's also part of why the movie doesn't work. "
—
The Atlantic
Posted Apr 19, 2013
|
|
7.5/10
|
57%
|
Unmade In China (2013) |
"
Unmade in China is nominally about filmmaking, but what Kofman and Barklow do well is to use their unusual position within the Chinese state machine to make a thinly veiled movie about politics."
—
NPR
Posted Apr 18, 2013
|
|
9/10
|
85%
|
Upstream Color (2013) |
"
Carruth may be something that the movies haven't yet seen, perhaps the first great realization of the democratization of filmmaking that digital technology and the Internet promised."
—
The Atlantic
Posted Apr 12, 2013
|
|
7/10
|
62%
|
Evil Dead (2013) |
"
This Evil Dead is polished and meticulously planned, and it benefits from the attention to detail as well as from Alvarez's obvious love for the spirit of the source material."
—
NPR
Posted Apr 4, 2013
|
|
5/10
|
65%
|
Starbuck (2013) |
"
Scott's take on the importance of family is an admirable one, to a point, until it moves past that to espouse an uncomfortably regressive morality."
—
Washington City Paper
Posted Mar 29, 2013
|
|
3/10
|
47%
|
Olympus Has Fallen (2013) |
"
It has to be a joke, right?"
—
NPR
Posted Mar 21, 2013
|
|
4/10
|
44%
|
The Call (2013) |
"
The shoddy attention to character, plausibility, and detail is particularly surprising coming from Anderson, a director of smart indie thrillers like The Machinist, Session 9 and Transsiberian."
—
NPR
Posted Mar 14, 2013
|
|
3.5/10
|
38%
|
The ABCs of Death (2013) |
"
There are just too many stories to fit into two hours - and even with fewer weak links, The ABCs of Death might have fallen short all the same."
—
NPR
Posted Mar 7, 2013
|
|
7.9/10
|
84%
|
Side Effects (2013) |
"
Soderbergh is less interested in making statements than he is in skillfully fulfilling genre expectations."
—
The Atlantic
Posted Mar 1, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
52%
|
Jack the Giant Slayer (2013) |
"
At its heart, the film is just a simple fairy tale, an epic reduced to an engaging adventure of a bedtime story."
—
NPR
Posted Feb 28, 2013
|
|
5.5/10
|
60%
|
Rubberneck (2013) |
"
Both the mystery and the character piece wind up feeling incomplete."
—
NPR
Posted Feb 21, 2013
|
|
7.5/10
|
78%
|
Red Flag (2013) |
"
Karpovsky's anxiety-ridden shtick here combines the crippling doubt and self-loathing of many Woody Allen protagonists with the obnoxious solipsism of Larry David."
—
NPR
Posted Feb 21, 2013
|
|
0/10
|
14%
|
A Good Day To Die Hard (2013) |
"
This is the Magpie School of action filmmaking: Anytime things start to make so little sense that you might lose the audience, just throw something shiny up on screen to distract."
—
NPR
Posted Feb 14, 2013
|
|
9.5/10
|
93%
|
The Gatekeepers (2013) |
"
The subjects' openness is refreshing - and sometimes frightening. "
—
The Atlantic
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
7/10
|
100%
|
Sound City (2013) |
"
A celebration of just how unbelievably awesome it is to make rock music for a living - not to mention being so successful at it that you can get your childhood heroes to come over and jam."
—
NPR
Posted Jan 31, 2013
|
|
9/10
|
100%
|
Resolution (2013) |
"
A smart and chilling indie horror from co-directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead ..."
—
NPR
Posted Jan 24, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
66%
|
Mama (2013) |
"
Surprisingly, this patchwork pastiche often works."
—
NPR
Posted Jan 17, 2013
|
|
8.5/10
|
88%
|
Django Unchained (2012) |
"
The sometimes cartoonish and silly violence serves a purpose: It contrasts the moments of truly disturbing violence that Tarantino puts on display, always within the context of the brutality doled out to slaves at the hands of white masters."
—
The Washingtonian
Posted Dec 28, 2012
|
|
9.5/10
|
86%
|
Tabu (2012) |
"
Few films are this smart about subtly couching their allegorical aspirations within more straightforward narratives; fewer still are able to do so with such energetically inventive virtuoso style."
—
NPR
Posted Dec 27, 2012
|
|
7/10
|
70%
|
Les Misérables (2012) |
"
The music and the magnetic performances make many of the directorial missteps fade into the background."
—
NPR
Posted Dec 25, 2012
|
|
5.5/10
|
65%
|
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) |
"
Jackson seems to be going through the motions of epic fantasy filmmaking."
—
The Washingtonian
Posted Dec 17, 2012
|
|
9/10
|
89%
|
Consuming Spirits (2012) |
"
The effect is that of disjointed, haunted reverie, of alternate realities colliding, soundtracked by mumbled asides and an uneasy murmur of background noise."
—
NPR
Posted Dec 11, 2012
|
|
5.5/10
|
33%
|
Cheerful Weather For The Wedding (2012) |
"
The dominance of the madcap side of the film's split personality lays an airy veneer over Dolly and Joseph's woes, making them seem inconsequential - as unsubstantial as an observation about wedding-day weather."
—
NPR
Posted Dec 6, 2012
|
|
6.5/10
|
50%
|
Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012) |
"
Day of Reckoning is somehow not just the best film in the series, but a damn fine piece of action filmmaking by any measure."
—
The Atlantic
Posted Nov 30, 2012
|
|
6.8/10
|
75%
|
Killing Them Softly (2012) |
"
A political harangue with the blunt force of a shotgun stock to the temple, couched inelegantly into a generic tale of gangland justice and revenge; yet recognizing and even growing annoyed with its deficiences, I still sort of loved it."
—
The Washingtonian
Posted Nov 30, 2012
|
|
6/10
|
35%
|
The Collection (2012) |
"
Genre aficionados are likely to revel in every crunched bone, gratuitous decapitation and slow-motion iron-maiden impaling."
—
NPR
Posted Nov 29, 2012
|
|
5.8/10
|
94%
|
The Sessions (2012) |
"
Achieves its sunny disposition by pulling punches."
—
The Atlantic
Posted Nov 23, 2012
|
