|
|
83%
|
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
|
|
|
76%
|
Kon Tiki (2013) |
"
A rousing and thoroughly enjoyable Old Hollywood-style adventure."
—
NPR
Posted Apr 25, 2013
|
|
8/10
|
78%
|
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
|
87%
|
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
|
48%
|
Olympus Has Fallen (2013) |
"
It has to be a joke, right?"
—
NPR
Posted Mar 21, 2013
|
|
4/10
|
39%
|
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
|
39%
|
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
|
85%
|
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
|
15%
|
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
|
92%
|
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
|
65%
|
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
|
87%
|
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
|
66%
|
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
|
35%
|
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
|
76%
|
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
|
36%
|
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
|
|
8.5
|
82%
|
Rust and Bone (2012) |
"
Demonstrates that one can take a pat inspirational story and infuse it with the hardship required to make that inspiration feel earned."
—
The Atlantic
Posted Nov 23, 2012
|
|
7.5/10
|
64%
|
Anna Karenina (2012) |
"
What Wright has made here is a musical without songs. "
—
The Washingtonian
Posted Nov 16, 2012
|
|
5.9/10
|
86%
|
Funeral Kings (2012) |
"
That headlong hormonal rush toward what boys perceive as the benefits of adulthood is what the brothers McManus capture here with candor and occasional hilarity."
—
NPR
Posted Nov 15, 2012
|
|
8/10
|
92%
|
Skyfall (2012) |
"
A sly, deconstructionist approach to Bond combined with a climactic sequence that is hands-down the best, most gorgeously shot, and most breathtakingly thrilling in the franchise's history make this one of the most satisfying and well-made entries."
—
The Washingtonian
Posted Nov 9, 2012
|
|
9/10
|
90%
|
Holy Motors (2012) |
"
A film that not only demands repeat viewings but also makes that an attractive proposition."
—
The Washingtonian
Posted Nov 9, 2012
|
|
8/10
|
89%
|
Lincoln (2012) |
"
This Lincoln isn't an abstracted, infallible ideal, but rather a deeply conflicted, often lonely leader simply trying to do the right thing - even if that means a few wrong things along the way."
—
NPR
Posted Nov 8, 2012
|
|
7/10
|
100%
|
High Ground (2012) |
"
Brown takes advantage of the opportunity to present a broad array of feelings, less on the nature of these conflicts in particular and more on the mindset of the soldier in war - and the difficulties faced when no longer in the midst of the conflict."
—
NPR
Posted Nov 1, 2012
|
|
5/10
|
68%
|
Cloud Atlas (2012) |
"
A gorgeously shot package that blends the past, present, and future into diverse, lushly imagined realities that at least manage the task of feeling like they're from a single work. If only that work actually succeeded in fulfilling its lofty aspirations."
—
The Washingtonian
Posted Oct 26, 2012
|
|
6/10
|
50%
|
Sassy Pants (2012) |
"
Sweet and well-intentioned, Sassy Pants is difficult to dislike, despite its missteps."
—
NPR
Posted Oct 25, 2012
|
|
7.5/10
|
37%
|
Nobody Walks (2012) |
"
Russo-Young's characters simply feel like complex, confused people trying desperately to be happy without also destroying their lives with their poor impulse control."
—
NPR
Posted Oct 18, 2012
|
|
7.9/10
|
68%
|
Wuthering Heights (2012) |
"
Even more striking than Arnold's impressionistic style is the way in which she strips these characters down to their abusive and vindictive cores. "
—
The Washingtonian
Posted Oct 12, 2012
|
|
7/10
|
96%
|
Argo (2012) |
"
Easily Affleck's best directed film yet, Argo also ticks off a number of boxes on the Best Picture nominee checklist: grand scope, historical basis, uplifting story of human triumph. The movie's great escape sequence goes a little overboard,though."
—
The Washingtonian
Posted Oct 12, 2012
|
|
7.5/10
|
63%
|
Sinister (2012) |
"
...a bone-chilling occult thriller..."
—
The Washingtonian
Posted Oct 12, 2012
|
|
6.5
|
94%
|
Photographic Memory (2012) |
"
Some might characterize what filmmaker Ross McElwee does as navel-gazing. But in the hands of this veteran documentarian, that which might be self-indulgent egomania from a lesser artist is often the stuff of quiet revelation."
—
NPR
Posted Oct 11, 2012
|
|
6.5/10
|
54%
|
V/H/S (2012) |
"
The mostly played-out found footage aesthetic has its limitations, and V/H/S doesn't escape all of them. But the collected directors do manage to make many of those limitations into the films' strengths."
—
The Atlantic
Posted Oct 9, 2012
|
|
8.8/10
|
93%
|
Looper (2012) |
"
Part science fiction, part mob movie, and with a nice infusion of dark comedy at just the right moments, Looper is Johnson's best movie yet, and manages to be hugely entertaining, affecting, and thought-provoking. "
—
The Washingtonian
Posted Oct 9, 2012
|
|
8/10
|
85%
|
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) |
"
Perks seems like the work of a much more experienced director, maintaining fidelity to the source material without sacrificing any cinematic qualities, triggering genuine sentimentality and nostalgia through interaction between sound and image."
—
The Atlantic
Posted Oct 9, 2012
|
|
7/10
|
84%
|
Detropia (2012) |
"
Grady and Ewing, employing the observational, often visually poetic style that has become their trademark, capture this city at a crossroads."
—
The Washingtonian
Posted Oct 9, 2012
|
|
6/10
|
54%
|
The Inbetweeners (2012) |
"
Plenty of funny bits, and apart from some fairly appalling underlying sexism -- guys, screw up all you like, the movie says, because the nice, pretty girls will forgive any transgression -- it actually attempts to have heart as well. "
—
The Atlantic
Posted Oct 9, 2012
|
40%
38%
96%
99%
65%
61%
