|
B
|
77%
|
Iron Man 3 (2013) |
"
Like most franchise sequels it goes overboard with supporting characters, plot complications and let's-top-that action sequences. But there's never any real sense of drama. "
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted May 2, 2013
|
|
C
|
46%
|
Pain & Gain (2013) |
"
Bay only knows how to pitch his movies at one level: all bombast, all the time. And you can't help but feel that he kind of admires these murderous morons' sloping-brow sense of joie de vivre."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Apr 26, 2013
|
|
B-
|
54%
|
The Company You Keep (2013) |
"
Where's a Sidney when you really need one? Either Pollack or Lumet could have easily injected Robert Redford's old-fashioned thriller with some much needed snap and suspense. "
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Apr 25, 2013
|
|
B+
|
87%
|
Upstream Color (2013) |
"
Its plot isn't particularly complicated, but it is undeniably weird. if you accept the movie on its own terms, you'll feel like you've been pulled into a creepy yet compelling dream. "
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Apr 24, 2013
|
|
C-
|
68%
|
Disconnect (2013) |
"
There are no revelations or surprises, just newspaper editorial-style lamentations disguised as cautionary tales. I'd rather watch racism push Sandra Bullock down the stairs in Crash."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Apr 20, 2013
|
|
B-
|
42%
|
To The Wonder (2013) |
"
Must all our choices be connected to a larger cosmic ideal? Is every leaf on Earth so gloriously sun-dappled? There is a point where profundity can cross into parody and To the Wonder skates awfully close to that line."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Apr 17, 2013
|
|
B-
|
68%
|
Trance (2013) |
"
Danny Boyle injects every minute of Trance's plot-tangled running time with frenetic energy and style, cleverly distracting us from an implausible story that never plays fair with its twists. "
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Apr 12, 2013
|
|
B-
|
81%
|
The Place Beyond The Pines (2013) |
"
...strives to be a moving, epic family drama spanning 17 years, two families, two generations and 140 minutes. Alas, it loses both momentum and impact the further it ventures into its broken narrative."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Apr 12, 2013
|
|
B+
|
92%
|
No (2013) |
"
...a bitter and knowing meditation on media manipulation and political subversion."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Apr 12, 2013
|
|
B-
|
94%
|
Room 237 (2013) |
"
Room 237 is an extended riff of the "Paul is dead" variety. But, you know what? Sometimes a guy moving a table in the background is just a guy moving a table in the background."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Apr 12, 2013
|
|
D+
|
28%
|
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013) |
"
G.I. Joe: Retaliation is such a craven and relentless onslaught of obsessive gun fetishization that you half expect to see the NRA's logo appear alongside Paramount and Hasbro. "
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Mar 31, 2013
|
|
B+
|
92%
|
The Gatekeepers (2013) |
"
Moreh gets some startling confessions and insights from each man but also misses the opportunity to truly challenge his subjects on their regard for democracy, basic human rights and their own accountability."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Mar 24, 2013
|
|
B-
|
69%
|
The Croods (2013) |
"
There's something depressing about the fact that The Croods could probably be watched by an audience anywhere in the world without subtitles and they wouldn't miss a thing."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Mar 24, 2013
|
|
B
|
95%
|
West of Memphis (2012) |
"
More a recap and appendix to the Paradise Lost trilogy... one can't help but feel that the celebrities involved needed this document of their efforts to appease their vanity. "
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Mar 13, 2013
|
|
B
|
67%
|
Stoker (2013) |
"
Stoker may drip with juicy primal urges, suspense and demented behavior, but it offers very little logic or substance to soak up."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Mar 13, 2013
|
|
|
60%
|
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) |
"
Oz remains a calculated studio endeavor, filled with awkward shifts between simple-minded humor, gooey sentimentality, lavish effect sequences and move-it-along storytelling."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Mar 8, 2013
|
|
B+
|
92%
|
Lore (2013) |
"
Can we spare some sympathy or hope for the children of villains, even if they too show signs of their parents' evil? Lore provides no easy answers."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Mar 6, 2013
|
|
C+
|
60%
|
John Dies at the End (2013) |
"
When is a phone call from your dead friend more than just bizarre? When it's made on a hot dog. It's a hopeless mess. But, at least, for its first half, a very entertaining mess."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Mar 6, 2013
|
|
|
47%
|
The Sweeney (2013) |
"
If you watched any of the dozens of gritty BBC crime dramas that have reached our shores over the last decade, The Sweeney looks and feels like a bigger-budgeted version of those productions. "
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Mar 1, 2013
|
|
C
|
52%
|
Jack the Giant Slayer (2013) |
"
A movie made solely to land a healthy weekend box office then move on to the global market for a return on its investment. As a business strategy, it makes sense. As an instance if cinema, it's a bit depressing."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Mar 1, 2013
|
|
B+
|
93%
|
Barbara (2012) |
"
Hoss' outstanding performance is a deep well of subtle yet unmistakable motives and reactions. "
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Feb 21, 2013
|
|
C-
|
15%
|
A Good Day To Die Hard (2013) |
"
Loud, insultingly low-concept, and irony-free... today may be the perfect day to take Die Hard out back and put a bullet in its head."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Feb 15, 2013
|
|
C
|
45%
|
Beautiful Creatures (2013) |
"
Viola Davis suffers the greatest indignity, literally playing a magic Negro who holds down two jobs; one as a housekeeper and the other as a supernatural librarian. Both serve white people."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Feb 14, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
85%
|
Side Effects (2013) |
"
Not content to simply present a twisty thriller, Soderbergh pulls off a series of dramatic sleights of hand, undermining genre expectations and keeping the audience continually off-balance, wondering where his crazed yarn will go next."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
A-
|
93%
|
Amour (2012) |
"
...this deceptively simple film makes clear that death, real death, the kind we all face and most art refuses to address honestly, is relentless and unsentimental."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Jan 30, 2013
|
|
A-
|
90%
|
Holy Motors (2012) |
"
Welcome to the latest in WTF cinema, the kind of movie that critics love, general audiences loathe and cinephiles puzzle over. "
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Jan 28, 2013
|
|
C+
|
36%
|
LUV (2013) |
"
Candis demonstrates a practiced hand in his direction, keeping the pace brisk and the tension taut. But there's no getting around the meandering and highly formulaic script."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Jan 28, 2013
|
|
C
|
65%
|
Mama (2013) |
"
As each contrivance piles it becomes clear that the filmmakers are just padding an otherwise sporadic and unmotivated series of jolts."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Jan 28, 2013
|
|
B-
|
81%
|
The Impossible (2012) |
"
Bayona has the uncanny ability to put viewers in the moment, allowing them to vividly experience the family's struggles. But for all his formidable skills and artistic vision, his compassion is distressingly myopic. "
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Jan 15, 2013
|
|
C+
|
32%
|
Gangster Squad (2013) |
"
Gangster Squad, I have seen The Untouchables and you, sir, are no Untouchables. But you may be the most violent episode of Dragnet ever."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Jan 11, 2013
|
|
B-
|
69%
|
Not Fade Away (2012) |
"
Not Fade Away is intimate, episodic and achingly poignant. It's also woefully insubstantial. Chase has created less of a dramatic narrative and more of an awkwardly paced, formulaic collage. "
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Jan 9, 2013
|
|
2/5
|
69%
|
Not Fade Away (2012) |
"
God save us from boomer nostalgia and its endless idealization of the '60s."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Jan 4, 2013
|
|
C+
|
38%
|
The Guilt Trip (2012) |
"
The jokes are few and far between, and the scenes inside the car lack the imagination and spontaneity a more comically attuned director would otherwise bring."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Dec 27, 2012
|
|
C+
|
61%
|
Jack Reacher (2012) |
"
Predictable plot twists and chase scenes ensue in a stylish but otherwise old-school thriller. But the events of last week encourage deeper reflection on what we seek from the violence that is so casually depicted in today's movies."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Dec 21, 2012
|
|
B+
|
88%
|
Django Unchained (2012) |
"
Django is infectiously rousing and exuberantly subversive. Say what you will about his insensitivities, nothing in Tarantino's approach is condescending or pretentious."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Dec 19, 2012
|
|
B
|
66%
|
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) |
"
...buried beneath the bloated 2-hour and 46-minute run time of The Hobbit is as an entertaining two-hour movie..."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Dec 14, 2012
|
|
B+
|
100%
|
Burn (2012) |
"
... the dynamic on-the-fly scenes of danger and chummy stationhouse camaraderie are slowly peeled away to reveal a fascinating and multigenerational portrait of loss, resiliency, frustration and regret."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Dec 3, 2012
|
|
B+
|
93%
|
The House I Live In (2012) |
"
Jarecki makes clear that all our efforts and investments in fighting the War on Drugs haven't yielded any real success, only ruined lives, families and communities. There comes a point in any war where it becomes important to ask: Is it worth it?"
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Dec 3, 2012
|
|
B+
|
88%
|
Life of Pi (2012) |
"
You will not see a better-looking film this year. But you will undoubtedly see better films."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Nov 21, 2012
|
|
B
|
89%
|
A Royal Affair (2012) |
"
It's always a pleasure to see a movie give attention to the ideas and visions of its characters, but the drama is, at times, a little too dry and earnest to hit Dangerous Liaisons heights."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Nov 19, 2012
|
|
B
|
94%
|
Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel (2012) |
"
...more of an energetic and affectionate sketch than a revealing portrait of this oversized personality, but one has to wonder if the woman who celebrated glittering surfaces would have wanted it any other way. "
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Nov 19, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
48%
|
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012) |
"
There are better ways to spend your evening. Perhaps there's some laundry to be done?"
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Nov 18, 2012
|
|
C-
|
48%
|
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012) |
"
...Inept and self-congratulatory. It's an eyeliner-and-bad-special-effects face off, with the Cullen family and their runway model pals voguing against Aro and his heavily robed, superpowered minions."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Nov 16, 2012
|
|
|
84%
|
Smashed (2012) |
"
It has that jangly soundtracked, Sundance smell about it, never imposing enough style or taking enough risks to fully distinguish itself, but offering just enough of a unique voice to get by."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Nov 16, 2012
|
|
B+
|
89%
|
Lincoln (2012) |
"
This is a movie that embraces the fullness of English eloquence and dares the audience to keep up."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Nov 16, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
89%
|
Lincoln (2012) |
"
[A] handsome and discriminating historical drama."
—
Orlando Weekly
Posted Nov 13, 2012
|
|
A-
|
92%
|
Skyfall (2012) |
"
At 50 years old, James Bond has matured in the best sense of the word. "
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Nov 6, 2012
|
|
B-
|
87%
|
Middle of Nowhere (2012) |
"
There's also a fine line between meditative and just plain pokey ... It's only the charisma and passion of the film's performers that carries us to the end."
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Oct 26, 2012
|
|
C+
|
68%
|
Cloud Atlas (2012) |
"
Men play women. Women play men. Blacks play whites. An Asian plays a freckled Victorian. Bad accents flourish. And Hugo Weaving, whether he's a he, she, or ridiculous hoodoo leprechaun, is always the villain. "
—
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Posted Oct 26, 2012
|
42%
38%
96%
99%
65%
61%
