|
4.5/5
|
——
|
Penguin Pool Murder (1932) |
"
The mystery that follows is good enough without being particularly dazzling, but that's less the selling point than the clever characters, the unusual leads, and the bright dialogue."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Oct 2, 2013
|
|
4.5/5
|
——
|
Private Detective 62 (1933) |
"
It's not the kind of film that's ever going to make anyone's Ten Best list, but it's so enjoyable that it ought to be better known."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Oct 2, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
95%
|
Enough Said (2013) |
"
Consistently entertaining and funny (without ever being hysterically so) -- and, yes, I'd recommend it as a very nice way to spend 90 minutes at the movies."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Oct 2, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
89%
|
Hamlet (1948) |
"
So stylistically influenced by Welles that it might have been called Citizen Dane. "
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Oct 2, 2013
|
|
4.5/5
|
99%
|
Short Term 12 (2013) |
"
There is no way I ought to have liked this movie -- yet I kind of loved it."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Oct 2, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
83%
|
Don Jon (2013) |
"
I find it a film that's much easier to admire than actually like."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Oct 2, 2013
|
|
3.5/5
|
88%
|
Rush (2013) |
"
Works reasonably well in its Hollywoodized way. "
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Oct 2, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
80%
|
Prisoners (2013) |
"
While all this industrial strength acting is going on, there's also a pretty engrossing mystery afoot that keeps your attention."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Oct 2, 2013
|
|
4.5/5
|
46%
|
Parkland (2013) |
"
The sheer sense of urgency, tragedy and confusion surrounding that world-changing assassination has never been so compellingly presented."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Oct 2, 2013
|
|
3.5/5
|
43%
|
The Human Stain (2003) |
"
So finely tooled that it feels like it ought to be bound in Morocco leather and placed on a display case in a department store for a last minute Christmas gift."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Sep 18, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
50%
|
Thanks For Sharing (2013) |
"
If it's not quite as worthwhile as it wants to be, it's still OK."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Sep 18, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
31%
|
Austenland (2013) |
"
A reasonably successful, entertaining and genial spoof."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Sep 18, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
35%
|
Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) |
"
Chapter 2 might be the better film, though, frankly, it's hard to separate the two pictures. I honestly have never seen a sequel that's as completely organic as this one."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Sep 18, 2013
|
|
3.5/5
|
93%
|
Still Mine (2013) |
"
In essence, it's a TV movie with all the simplifications that suggests. But it's a TV movie raised to something more by Cromwell and Bujold."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Sep 12, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
81%
|
Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013) |
"
Not perfect and its dense quality isn't for everyone, but for the things it does right, and the performances it elicits, it's still special."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Sep 12, 2013
|
|
4.5/5
|
91%
|
In a World... (2013) |
"
It heralds the arrival of a fresh new voice on the filmmaking scene. That by itself makes it something you should see."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Sep 12, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
81%
|
Crystal Fairy (2013) |
"
Somehow or other, I ended up finding the movie strangely compelling. There's something appealing here. "
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 27, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
91%
|
The Spectacular Now (2013) |
"
Maybe I'm missing something, but I found The Spectacular Now a good bit shy of spectacular."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 27, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
73%
|
Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013) |
"
Daniels certainly flirts with greatness, and even if he doesn't quite get there -- except on occasion -- he's made a very worthy film."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 27, 2013
|
|
4.5/5
|
89%
|
The World's End (2013) |
"
Doesn't quite live up to its immediate predecessor, Hot Fuzz, but handily bests the first film, Shaun of the Dead."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 27, 2013
|
|
2.5/5
|
75%
|
You're Next (2013) |
"
An unevenly acted, moderately efficient home-invasion picture with an old-as-the-hills plot Scotch-taped to it."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 27, 2013
|
|
4.5/5
|
46%
|
Closed Circuit (2013) |
"
Intelligent, compelling drama of a kind we don't get very often."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 27, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
——
|
Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935) |
"
If Gold Diggers of 1935 wasn't quite up to its predecessor, it's probably the fault of the newly enforced Production Code."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 14, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
79%
|
The Innkeepers (2012) |
"
What finally sells The Innkeepers is the fact that the payoff really pays off."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 14, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
85%
|
The Way Way Back (2013) |
"
Provides a much-needed respite from overbearingly big summer movies. Think of it as a soothing breeze in the midst of a lot of blustering gales."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 14, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
——
|
Murder, He Says () |
"
One of those movies that never becomes one of the 'great' comedies, but it's sufficiently entertaining and funny that it ought to be better known."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 14, 2013
|
|
4.5/5
|
83%
|
Murder At The Vanities (1934) |
"
One of the unsung gems of pre-Code film."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 14, 2013
|
|
3.5/5
|
54%
|
Lovelace (2013) |
"
Lovelace isn't a bad movie. In fact, it's a pretty good one, but it definitely feels constrained and compromised."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 14, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
64%
|
Unfinished Song (2013) |
"
The simple fact is that Unfinished Song works on nearly every level -- thanks in large part to the presence of Terence Stamp and the always remarkable Vanessa Redgrave."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 14, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
76%
|
The Kings of Summer (2013) |
"
The first two-thirds of the movie felt rather special, while the last third less so. Still, it has its charms, the kids are appealing and it's worth catching."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 14, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
69%
|
The Wolverine (2013) |
"
The Wolverine can proudly take its place with most of the rest of its comic book brethren this summer - high atop the mountain of the Massively OK."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 14, 2013
|
|
3.5/5
|
86%
|
The Conjuring (2013) |
"
As a solid spook show, The Conjuring works, though the ending doesn't strike me as big enough for the story leading up to it."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 14, 2013
|
|
.5/5
|
14%
|
The Smurfs 2 (2013) |
"
I took my inner-5-year-old to see The Smurfs 2 and what happened? The little weasel sneaked out of the theater and went to watch something else. "
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 14, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
68%
|
Elysium (2013) |
"
While I find more problems with Neill Blomkamp's Elysium as time passes, I still come down pretty strongly for the film."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 14, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
47%
|
We're The Millers (2013) |
"
Pretends to be edgy and hip, but in reality is so conventional it makes an old Osmond Family Christmas special look subversive."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Aug 14, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
80%
|
Call Me Madam (2004) |
"
Isn't a whole lot more than a solid film version of Irving Berlin's Ethel Merman stage show. But it doesn't really need to be."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Jul 16, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
84%
|
Fill the Void (2013) |
"
It's the movie's attention to detail that sells it, especially because the humanity of all the characters shines through."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Jul 16, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
20%
|
Girl Most Likely (2013) |
"
As a pleasant couple of hours at the movies, it'll more than do."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Jul 16, 2013
|
|
4.5/5
|
40%
|
Only God Forgives (2013) |
"
I won't say that I liked it -- that's not a word I'd care to use here -- but I was mesmerized by it. And I remain haunted by its otherworldliness."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Jul 16, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
72%
|
Pacific Rim (2013) |
"
What makes Pacific Rim work -- and work far better than it probably has any right to -- is the way del Toro embraces the movie's deliberately corny tone."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Jul 16, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
99%
|
20 Feet From Stardom (2013) |
"
Not the deepest documentary you're likely to come across this year -- in fact, it's not deep at all -- but it may well be the most enjoyable one."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Jul 9, 2013
|
|
2.5/5
|
75%
|
Despicable Me 2 (2013) |
"
It's not that the movie is unlikable. It's that it feels like a trip through a random checklist of things that played well in the first film."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Jul 9, 2013
|
|
5/5
|
31%
|
The Lone Ranger (2013) |
"
A film that is at once divinely silly, surprisingly deep and deceptively complex."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Jul 9, 2013
|
|
4.5/5
|
17%
|
At Long Last Love (1975) |
"
Looked at today, without the baggage of 1975, At Long Last Love is much more artistically successful than is generally allowed."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Jul 2, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
95%
|
We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks (2013) |
"
This look at WikiLeaks -- and founder Julian Assange -- makes its case long before the film stops talking."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Jul 2, 2013
|
|
1.5/4
|
65%
|
The Heat (2013) |
"
I chuckled once."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Jul 2, 2013
|
|
4.5/5
|
84%
|
Much Ado About Nothing (2013) |
"
A simple charmer and refreshing change of pace during blockbuster season."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Jun 19, 2013
|
|
3.5/5
|
59%
|
The Bling Ring (2013) |
"
It's not that it's a bad movie. Mostly, it's just on the inconsequential side."
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Jun 19, 2013
|
|
3.5/5
|
56%
|
Man of Steel (2013) |
"
I'm convinced there's probably a pretty darn good 105-minute movie wrapped inside this unwieldy 143-minute one -- not that we'll ever see it"
—
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Posted Jun 19, 2013
|
