|
C+
|
98%
|
Gravity (2013) |
"
... a Worst-Space Scenario, in which everything that can go wrong does. It's basically 'Sandra Bullock and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Space Walk.'"
—
Looking Closer
Posted Oct 4, 2013
|
|
A
|
92%
|
This Is Martin Bonner (2013) |
"
... exquisite character development, observant filmmaking, and storytelling that just might change the way people live."
—
Christianity Today
Posted Oct 2, 2013
|
|
A
|
92%
|
Museum Hours (2013) |
"
As we learn how to look at the Kunsthistorisches' masterpieces, we're also learning how to watch this movie. ... And better: we're learning how to look at our lives."
—
Christianity Today
Posted Oct 2, 2013
|
|
A-
|
89%
|
The World's End (2013) |
"
The most grown-up film of the trilogy. ... Instead of giving us characters who find happiness by rediscovering their youth, they show us the folly of resisting adulthood."
—
Response
Posted Aug 30, 2013
|
|
B
|
91%
|
The Spectacular Now (2013) |
"
Above all, I recommend it for Shailene Woodley, who fulfills here the promise she showed in The Descendants. ... But alas, the film fumbles its turning-point crisis."
—
Looking Closer
Posted Aug 16, 2013
|
|
B
|
91%
|
Blue Jasmine (2013) |
"
Blanchett is a scene-chewing velociraptor. ... By contrast, Sally Hawkins steals the movie with her endearingly casual turn as Ginger. "
—
Looking Closer
Posted Aug 9, 2013
|
|
B
|
85%
|
The Way Way Back (2013) |
"
One of those summer juice pops designed to make Vitamin C appealing. ... [But] worth seeing because its first-rate cast makes a decent script way, way better."
—
Looking Closer
Posted Jul 12, 2013
|
|
B+
|
98%
|
Mud (2013) |
"
Mud has a rare big-screen beauty, and its old-fashioned storytelling recalls A River Runs Through It, Night of the Hunter, and Stand By Me."
—
Response
Posted Jun 28, 2013
|
|
B+
|
84%
|
Much Ado About Nothing (2013) |
"
The film's biggest problem is that its Beatrice, played with spunk and spark by Amy Acker, is far more engaging and enchanting than its Benedick."
—
Response
Posted Jun 28, 2013
|
|
A-
|
95%
|
Stories We Tell (2013) |
"
Polley approaches every character with compassion, intent upon blessing them, and serving the audience with useful questions about how we seek the truth."
—
Response
Posted Jun 28, 2013
|
|
B
|
78%
|
Monsters University (2013) |
"
Very, very late in these 106 minutes, we get a startling blast of meaningful Pixar storytelling that reminds us of what this team can do when they bring their A game."
—
Looking Closer
Posted Jun 22, 2013
|
|
A
|
98%
|
Before Midnight (2013) |
"
Whatever wins Best Picture for 2013 ... long after that film's glory fades, actors, writers, cinephiles, and lovers will still lavish Before Midnight with praise."
—
Looking Closer
Posted Jun 15, 2013
|
|
B-
|
79%
|
Iron Man 3 (2013) |
"
As much fun as I had while I watched it, it's falling apart like Tony Stark's armor now that I'm putting it to the test of ... you know ... making sense. Or meaning anything."
—
Looking Closer
Posted May 3, 2013
|
|
B
|
44%
|
To The Wonder (2013) |
"
You can climb [Mont St. Michel] through tradition and religion ... and almost touch the heavens. Or walk the other way, into the the gray, where everything loses definition..."
—
Looking Closer
Posted Apr 13, 2013
|
|
A
|
100%
|
Before Sunrise (1995) |
"
Linklater captures romance at the sunset of gadget-free existence ... holy moments when no gadget or lens comes between us and our immediate company and surroundings."
—
Looking Closer
Posted Apr 8, 2013
|
|
A
|
81%
|
Like Someone in Love (2013) |
"
This is a movie about love - how much we need it, how we go wrong in the way we pursue it, and how one world's ideas about it are passing while another's are taking over."
—
Looking Closer
Posted Mar 15, 2013
|
|
A-
|
93%
|
Amour (2012) |
"
Amour will now rate highly on a list of my favorite horror movies. It's certainly upsetting. But that is its strength. "
—
Looking Closer
Posted Feb 23, 2013
|
|
C+
|
84%
|
Side Effects (2013) |
"
The surprises aren't much to get excited about. They come from the Magic 8 Ball of Hollywood Plot Twists, as arbitrary as they are implausible."
—
Looking Closer
Posted Feb 8, 2013
|
|
B
|
88%
|
Django Unchained (2012) |
"
When a culture tells stories that excuse its own evils long enough, the pendulum is sure to swing the other direction to reveal, even exaggerate, what has been left out."
—
Looking Closer
Posted Dec 26, 2012
|
|
C+
|
70%
|
Les Misérables (2012) |
"
A perfect film for a Pez dispenser set: A gallery of big famous faces that deliver fleeting bursts of energy ... but these moments dissolve, giving us nothing much to chew on."
—
Looking Closer
Posted Dec 22, 2012
|
|
B-
|
65%
|
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) |
"
As fun as it is to watch, this isn't Tolkien's Hobbit. The story of a peaceable traveler who knew the virtue of restraint is lost to the vision of filmmakers who have none."
—
Image
Posted Dec 13, 2012
|
|
A-
|
91%
|
Holy Motors (2012) |
"
Despite the millions of dollars fueling 2012's special-effects extravaganzas, I doubt I'll experience anything as exhilarating or memorable this year."
—
Image
Posted Nov 23, 2012
|
|
A-
|
72%
|
Margaret (2011) |
"
This is an America in which nobody listens, the end always justifies the means, and it's always the other guy's fault. Blame is tricky when everyone is failing everyone."
—
Response
Posted Nov 14, 2012
|
|
A-
|
89%
|
Lincoln (2012) |
"
I never anticipated that I'd come out of this film, which I expected would be heavy-handed and ponderous, saying, 'Wow, that may be the funniest movie of Spielberg's career.'"
—
Looking Closer
Posted Nov 10, 2012
|
|
B+
|
92%
|
Skyfall (2012) |
"
... the best-looking Bond movie ever made. Roger Deakins' cinematography is full of striking silhouettes, some stark and simple as woodcuts, others multi-layered and illusory."
—
Looking Closer
Posted Nov 10, 2012
|
|
A
|
70%
|
The Loneliest Planet (2012) |
"
I wouldn't say that I find the movie satisfying, but I do find it powerfully haunting. That's a compliment. To be haunted by art is a better thing than to be satisfied by it."
—
Looking Closer
Posted Nov 2, 2012
|
|
C
|
78%
|
Flight (2012) |
"
Adrenalin-rush thrills, sex appeal, a drug-rush zoom on retina dilation, courtroom sermonizing ... Oscar buzz, children, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away."
—
Looking Closer
Posted Nov 2, 2012
|
|
B
|
96%
|
Argo (2012) |
"
The closer the film gets to its big finale, the more we can hear the hum of typical suspense-thriller machinery."
—
Looking Closer
Posted Oct 12, 2012
|
|
B+
|
63%
|
Sinister (2012) |
"
Sinister is not only director Scott Derrickson's most fully realized vision but also his most personal film. And as haunted houses go, this one is beautifully noisy."
—
Looking Closer
Posted Oct 12, 2012
|
|
B+
|
85%
|
The Master (2012) |
"
Anderson does not judge his monstrous characters. He finds sympathy for them even at the heights of their delusion. "
—
Looking Closer
Posted Sep 21, 2012
|
|
C
|
56%
|
The Bourne Legacy (2012) |
"
The Bourne Legacy arrives at one of the most jarringly abrupt and anticlimactic conclusions I've ever seen."
—
Looking Closer
Posted Aug 10, 2012
|
|
B
|
88%
|
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) |
"
It gets lost in the labyrinth of its own ethical questions. ... That's not to say there aren't plenty of staggeringly awesome moments."
—
Looking Closer
Posted Jul 20, 2012
|
|
B
|
86%
|
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) |
"
Where so many emerged feeling a kind of euphoria, I left discouraged. The music that those closing moments demand [should be] troubling and tragic, not a triumphant anthem."
—
Looking Closer
Posted Jul 15, 2012
|
|
A-
|
94%
|
Moonrise Kingdom (2012) |
"
Moonrise Kingdom left me thunderstruck. ... Anderson contrasts a world in disorder with a well-pitched campsite, where everything is in its right place. "
—
Image
Posted Jul 5, 2012
|
|
B+
|
78%
|
Brave (2012) |
"
We've been conditioned to expect a familiar message: 'Follow your heart! You can do anything you set your mind to.' Brave is a rare and wonderful exception."
—
Response
Posted Jun 22, 2012
|
|
A-
|
87%
|
Times and Winds (Bes vakit) (2007) |
"
As Arvo Pärt's orchestration runs ponderously through the film, so the consequences of cyclical violence weigh heavily on Erdem's mind. But his vision is not without hope."
—
Filmwell
Posted Jun 15, 2012
|
|
C-
|
33%
|
Terminator Salvation (2009) |
"
This franchise, like its villains, has become more machine than man. "
—
Filmwell
Posted Jun 15, 2012
|
|
B+
|
83%
|
Lake Tahoe (2008) |
"
[Eimbcke finds] warmth, humor and grace in these ragged environments. Once we learn the cause of Juan's malaise, images we've already seen take on extraordinary significance."
—
Filmwell
Posted Jun 15, 2012
|
|
A
|
89%
|
Séraphine (2009) |
"
Provost's film has few equals in depicting the dangerous territory between artistic inspiration and madness."
—
Filmwell
Posted Jun 15, 2012
|
|
B+
|
91%
|
The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos) (2010) |
"
... what might have been just a two-hour episode of Law and Order: Argentina is instead a rich, literary tapestry. ... I wish this could become a franchise."
—
Filmwell
Posted Jun 15, 2012
|
|
C
|
68%
|
Conviction (2010) |
"
It's based on a true story, which is a very inspiring story, sure ... but as a drama, it just isn't interesting. "
—
Filmwell
Posted Jun 15, 2012
|
|
C
|
87%
|
Black Swan (2010) |
"
In his eagerness, [Aronofsky] goes for violent energy over poetry, shock over suggestion, emotion over intelligence."
—
Filmwell
Posted Jun 15, 2012
|
|
A-
|
85%
|
Meek's Cutoff (2011) |
"
I rarely feel the heart-in-my-throat suspense that I felt as Reichardt's characters sent a covered wagon down a steep hill ..."
—
Filmwell
Posted Jun 15, 2012
|
|
B-
|
——
|
Holy Rollers: The True Story Of Card Counting Christians () |
"
The closer Storkel gets to the individuals who are dedicated to this 'vocation,' the more interesting the movie gets. "
—
Filmwell
Posted Jun 15, 2012
|
|
B
|
84%
|
Contagion (2011) |
"
A drama of this magnitude deserves memorable, nuanced characters. [But] as a reminder that a single gust of panic can bring down civilization like a house of cards, it works."
—
Filmwell
Posted Jun 15, 2012
|
|
B+
|
93%
|
Drive (2011) |
"
If Sofia Coppola were a dude making genre action movies to impress Quentin Tarantino ... those movies would be a lot like this."
—
Filmwell
Posted Jun 15, 2012
|
|
C
|
29%
|
Machine Gun Preacher (2011) |
"
We're given surprisingly little food for thought when it comes to the question of the complicated tensions between Christian faith and violence."
—
Filmwell
Posted Jun 15, 2012
|
|
A-
|
96%
|
The Muppets (2011) |
"
You can tell that these filmmakers grew up cherishing what was best about the Muppets. ... From the script to the colors to the body language, it all has Henson's heartbeat. "
—
Filmwell
Posted Jun 15, 2012
|
|
B+
|
93%
|
Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (2011) |
"
It leaves X-Men: First Class, Captain America, and the rest of 2011′s glorified Saturday morning cartoons in its dust. I want to take this ride again."
—
Filmwell
Posted Jun 15, 2012
|
