Laura Clifford Movie Reviews & Previews

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Laura Clifford

Agrees with the Tomatometer 80% of the time.

Biography:: Reeling: The Movie Review Show has been produced by Robin and Laura Clifford at the Malden, Massachusetts cable access television station, MATV, since March 16,1991. Reeling is also cablecast on these cable access stations in Massachusetts: Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, Wakefield, Belmont, Waltham, Salem and Lowell with more on the way. Robin and Laura have attended film courses at Emerson College and workshops in 16 mm film production at the Boston Film and Video Foundation.
Favorites:: Red Sid and Nancy Aguirre, the Wrath of God The Decalogue The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Being There The Wizard of Oz
Publications:: rec.arts.movies.reviews , Reeling Reviews
Critics' Group:: Broadcast Film Critics Association, Online Film Critics Society

Total Reviews:: 2711
Total QuickRatings:: 69

Location:: Boston, MA

Listing Of All Reviews & Articles

Showing 1 - 50 of 2711

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
B+	91%	Frances Ha (2013)	" ...like an early Andrew Bujalski movie with more articulate characters or Lena Dunham's 'Girls' without the ick factor. " — Reeling Reviews Posted May 18, 2013
B+	86%	Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)	" Paramount to the success of this series is the perfection of its regular cast, who have made these iconic roles their own." — Reeling Reviews Posted May 16, 2013
B	90%	Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay (2013)	" *...a must for anyone who's ever had the urge to pull a coin from someone's ear or even just wondered 'How did he do* that?'*" — Reeling Reviews* Posted May 15, 2013
B+	——	Il Poliziotto è marcio (Shoot First, Die Later) (1976)	" Di Leo is a master of the action scene, two car chases extravagantly choreographed, but there is humor evident as well in a cross cut elevator 'chase.' At its core, though, "Shoot First, Die Later" is a densely plotted film with a bleak outlook..." — Reeling Reviews Posted May 15, 2013
B+	80%	The Boxer (1997)	" Brian Cox is strong as the tough old IRA chief who realizes that change is essential. The choices his character makes are surprising. Cox resembles a more muted Albert Finney in this role." — Reeling Reviews Posted May 14, 2013
B+	72%	Leviathan (2013)	" The prow of the boat, slicing through the waves, suggests the Leviathan as a metaphor for earth, a neverending journey of labor and death and those that scavenge at its edges." — Reeling Reviews Posted May 13, 2013
B-	67%	The Iceman (2013)	" Shannon, who bears no likeness to the real Kuklinski, convinces as a serial killer who can don the face of a family man one minute and butcher bodies the next." — Reeling Reviews Posted May 11, 2013
A-	96%	Stories We Tell (2013)	" I want to start a campaign right now to get Sarah Polley the first screenwriting nomination for a documentary." — Reeling Reviews Posted May 9, 2013
B+	82%	Sightseers (2013)	" Director Ben Wheatley...has trumped Bobcat Goldthwaite's "God Bless America" with this British caravan serial killer comedy..an atypical relationship movie stuffed with nuggets of humor mined from both the characters and the landscape they travel through." — Reeling Reviews Posted May 9, 2013
C	37%	Peeples (2013)	" a pale remake of "Meet the Parents" with an African American cast, and it's the cast that makes it tolerable." — Reeling Reviews Posted May 9, 2013
C	49%	The Great Gatsby (2013)	" ...director Baz Luhrmann wants to dazzle you with razzle, make you swoon over the gauzy glory of paperbook romance and hit you over the head with Fitzgerald's symbols if not his themes...It's a shame, really, as Leonardo DiCaprio is a great Gatsby." — Reeling Reviews Posted May 9, 2013
B+	84%	Something in the Air (2013)	" Assayas has gathered a large, mostly inexperienced cast to create a mural of mood, a time when idealism was paramount, at least until the members of a political group begin to drift into their own destinies." — Reeling Reviews Posted May 5, 2013
B	73%	Love Is All You Need (2013)	" Everything is telegraphed, but that doesn't mean receiving the message is a let down, largely due to Bier's expert hand and her wonderful cast....Dyrholm's luminous performance buoys the film." — Reeling Reviews Posted May 2, 2013
B-	55%	The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2013)	" Nair adds a thriller element by shifting back and forth between Changez's story and the escalating hysteria in the present time, all the while making us question Changez's part in it. The frustrating thing is, that ends up getting lost in the shuffle." — Reeling Reviews Posted May 2, 2013
B+	78%	Iron Man 3 (2013)	" ...the best of the Marvel films with its complex story, exciting action, great cast and special effects." — Reeling Reviews Posted May 2, 2013
C	52%	At Any Price (2013)	" ...despite its worthy themes, Bahrani has over stacked his deck with Henry's character while leaving too many questions with Dean's just as Quaid emotes to the rafters while Efron underplays." — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 29, 2013
B	90%	My Brother The Devil (2013)	" When a both a dog and friend of Rashid's are killed in a violent gang encounter, El Hosaini frames both of their lifeless bodies on the street in a powerful image that tells of two innocents both bred to fight." — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 25, 2013
C+	46%	Pain & Gain (2013)	" ...only sustains itself long enough for the lads to accomplish the first step of their plot before devolving into a morass of overload, dry stretches, Bay's predilection for cheap titillation and behavior too ugly for fun." — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 25, 2013
B+	98%	Mud (2013)	" a deceptively slow-building film. Like its author's views on women and men, it is full of both hard life lessons and the magical from the very beginning. " — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 25, 2013
C-	24%	Arthur Newman (2013)	" When Firth first falls into his tattered seductress's game, he changes so violently into the arduous lover, it feels false, an acting exercise, which is all this movie really adds up to." — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 25, 2013
B	50%	Bert Stern: Original Madman (2013)	" Here's a documentary that comes from an unusual angle, the subject's lover looking at both the artist and the man dispensing with rose colored glasses." — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 22, 2013
B-	77%	Renoir (2013)	" Bourdos hired art forger Guy Ribes to be the 'hands' of the painter, and so "Renoir" is a real look at art being created, showing us how nudes can be conjured out of a few rounded lines, how a stroke of brown paint defines a woman's curves." — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 22, 2013
A-	88%	In the House (2013)	" ...joins a handful of clever films where fiction and reality merge, like "Adaptation" or Zoe Kazan's more recent "Ruby Sparks." It's thrilling, funny, smart and hugely entertaining, more satisfying than the director's breakout film." — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 21, 2013
B	84%	Graceland (2013)	" Watching writer/director Ron Morales' harrowing account of poor people's struggles in a violent and corrupt country is a sharp reminder of just how unrealistic entertainments like "Taken" really are." — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 19, 2013
C	56%	Oblivion (2013)	" ...Kosinksi's story is such a mishmash of those that have come before, everything from "WALLE" to "Star Wars" to "Total Recall" to "An Affair to Remember," that instead of becoming immersed in it, it becomes a game of spot the reference." — Reeling Reviews* Posted Apr 18, 2013
C+	42%	To The Wonder (2013)	" although Malick's signature filmmaking style is as lovely as ever, "To the Wonder" isn't very involving. Affleck's never looked more uncomfortable on screen..." — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 11, 2013
B+	88%	The Angels' Share (2013)	" Loach films have been funny while making their point before (see "Riff Raff"), but this one is imbued with a little bit of magic...Those offended by four letter words should be warned that even the voice of God slings a heavy dose of them here." — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 11, 2013
C-	67%	Disconnect (2013)	" As is often the case with multiple, crossing story lines, results are uneven, the film's theme organic to one, cliched in another, forced in a third. Call this one 'Cyber-Crash.'" — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 11, 2013
B	77%	42 (2013)	" ... the film has warmth, a genuine love of its subject shining through." — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 11, 2013
B	65%	Antiviral (2013)	" Cronenberg fils, though, while sharing dad's bodily fixations, exhibits other influences from his Kubriakian art direction (white minimalism) to Lynchian imagery (red drapes and blurred head shots)...star Landry Jones compels in a breakout role." — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 10, 2013
C+	55%	The Company You Keep (2013)	" Director/star Robert Redford has gathered an enviable cast for a radical "Big Chill" which makes this middling, timeline-trouncing effort worthwhile." — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 9, 2013
A-	96%	Blancanieves (2013)	" Much of the film's emotion is conveyed by Alfonso de Vilallonga's music, which celebrates Spain with uptempo guitar and flamenco when it isn't tipping its hat to Bernard Herrmann during a scene inspired by Hitchcock." — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 6, 2013
C+	68%	Trance (2013)	" McAvoy has our sympathies at the start, but he hasn't invested his character with any tells that might explain things we learn as things shift. When they do, it's like a switch has been flipped and all that's left is the dupe." — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 6, 2013
B+	62%	Evil Dead (2013)	" I always say you have to watch 100 horror films to find a good one. This is the good one. " — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 4, 2013
B	88%	Upstream Color (2013)	" Carruth's film plays like a glass harp which has been smashed and reassembled with missing pieces but unbroken sound." — Reeling Reviews Posted Apr 2, 2013
B	94%	Room 237 (2013)	" This documentary will entertain everyone from film junkies to conspiracy theorists and those who like to debunk them as Ascher spreads his net to include everything from the most provocative ideas to blatant bunkum." — Reeling Reviews Posted Mar 30, 2013
B-	82%	The Place Beyond The Pines (2013)	" a three-part epic of fathers and sons, criminality and the law that is beautifully crafted. Unfortunately what could have been a great film becomes contrived when the filmmaker turns his focus to his first generation's progeny..." — Reeling Reviews Posted Mar 28, 2013
D-	9%	The Host (2013)	" The sight of Ronan speaking to herself as the alien as voice overs account for Melanie is titter inducing even before the standard Meyer supernatural love triangle is introduced." — Reeling Reviews Posted Mar 28, 2013
C+	28%	G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)	" Director Jon M. Chu keeps the action moving and his stars charismatic but "Zombieland" writers Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick have cobbled their plot together from everything from "Star Wars"...to "RED"...to the "Lethal Weapon" series...and more." — Reeling Reviews Posted Mar 27, 2013
C+	65%	Starbuck (2013)	" ...has an amusing premise and likable cast, but while it's pleasant enough to watch it never really achieves lift off." — Reeling Reviews Posted Mar 24, 2013
B+	91%	Gimme The Loot (2013)	" The winner of the Indie Spirit 'One to Watch' award could never work again and will always have a memorable New York City film to his credit." — Reeling Reviews Posted Mar 24, 2013
C+	93%	The Sapphires (2013)	" You've seen this type of tale many times before...but the inspired-by-a-true-story Aboriginal slant adds interest, the actresses create unique characters and Chris O'Dowd really shines." — Reeling Reviews Posted Mar 23, 2013
B-	79%	Ginger & Rosa (2013)	" The film may be called "Ginger & Rosa," but the movie's all Elle Fanning's..." — Reeling Reviews Posted Mar 22, 2013
C+	43%	Admission (2013)	" ...there's more warmth than sizzle between Fey and Rudd and the film is neither fish nor fowl - it should have been much funnier or much edgier. Like Fey, Weitz seems content not rocking the boat..." — Reeling Reviews Posted Mar 21, 2013
C+	47%	Olympus Has Fallen (2013)	" ...when an obvious Secret Service baddie shows up to nervously have a smoke with Banning (as Hans Gruber did with John McLean), it's hard not to burst out laughing at the sheer chutzpah of the lift." — rec.arts.movies.reviews Posted Mar 21, 2013
B-	66%	Spring Breakers (2013)	" ...the film's greatest acting asset is James Franco, going for broke in his own "Killer Joe" role." — Reeling Reviews Posted Mar 21, 2013
A-	90%	Beyond The Hills (2013)	" ...Cristian Mungiu has taken a real life event...to consider deeply human philosophies such as freedom vs. discipline, love vs. security, the choices facing those without financial recourse and the hypocrisies of organized religions." — Reeling Reviews Posted Mar 18, 2013
C-	29%	Upside Down (2013)	" ...may be a treat for the eyes, but you'll probably be rolling them throughout most of its running time." — Reeling Reviews Posted Mar 15, 2013
C	37%	The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013)	" ...a series of cliches strung together with a completely implausible comeback story and its funniest joke are the visuals that accompany the closing credits. The film is pleasant enough and a bit sweet, but it feels slapped together." — Reeling Reviews Posted Mar 15, 2013

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