|
2/4
|
29%
|
Broken City (2013) |
"
It is not that Broken City -- boasting a cast worth big expectations -- is bad, exactly. But it is deeply mediocre. When they say television dramas are getting the better of the movies, this is the sort of middling outing that proves it."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jan 18, 2013
|
|
4/4
|
88%
|
Django Unchained (2012) |
"
Django Unchained is Tarantino's most complete movie yet. It is also his most vital. His storytelling talents match the heft of the tale."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jan 4, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
94%
|
Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters (2012) |
"
Shapiro's film is fascinating even if it can't possibly answer all the mysteries propelling the work of a photographer whose interest in secrets was rooted in wondering what tales were being uncovered in his psychologist father's basement office."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jan 4, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
51%
|
Promised Land (2013) |
"
[It's mostly] a well-wrought drama that feels genuine as it goes about spinning a tale worthy of our challenging times."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jan 4, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
81%
|
The Impossible (2012) |
"
Naomi Watts gives one of her finest, most physically commanding turns."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jan 4, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
70%
|
Les Misérables (2012) |
"
Jackman is in his element here, mastering the space where acting and singing meet head on."
—
Denver Post
Posted Dec 21, 2012
|
|
|
93%
|
The Central Park Five (2012) |
"
The doc is rife with smart or wrenching or shameful moments. The fresh interviews with the accused, now men, are invaluable."
—
Denver Post
Posted Dec 21, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
82%
|
De rouille et d'os (Rust and Bone) (2012) |
"
For all its willful melodrama, Rust and Bone takes its characters -- and us -- someplace touching and hard fought."
—
Denver Post
Posted Dec 21, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
65%
|
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) |
"
To its own narrative detriment, "The Hobbit" works hard to lay the framework for what will follow. Certainly that's one way to set out on a trilogy, but it's surely not the best."
—
Denver Post
Posted Dec 14, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
89%
|
A Royal Affair (2012) |
"
What a piece of work is this historical drama."
—
Denver Post
Posted Dec 7, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
63%
|
Hitchcock (2012) |
"
It's tough work giving good face to an iconic role, yet Johansson manages to show Leigh as a thoughtful professional aware of the interpersonal booby-traps set by her director for his leading ladies."
—
Denver Post
Posted Nov 30, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
88%
|
Middle of Nowhere (2012) |
"
[A] hushed, tenderly observant drama about a young woman trying to do right by herself and her marriage while her husband is in prison."
—
Denver Post
Posted Nov 30, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
75%
|
Killing Them Softly (2012) |
"
Ultimately, as crafted as Killing Them Softly is, it's less satisfying than either The Sopranos or Goodfellas. Still, Dominik and his cast cruise some very mean streets indeed."
—
Denver Post
Posted Nov 30, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
64%
|
Anna Karenina (2012) |
"
Thank goodness for Domhnall Gleeson's gentle turn as Oblonsky's friend Levin. The ginger-haired landowner is the movie's warmest figure."
—
Denver Post
Posted Nov 21, 2012
|
|
4/4
|
87%
|
Life of Pi (2012) |
"
Shelve your dislike of 3D glasses. Quiet your nattering criticism of CGI. Because Lee and his able crew wield those tools like wands."
—
Denver Post
Posted Nov 21, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
89%
|
Lincoln (2012) |
"
Lincoln offers proof of what magic can happen when an actor falls in love with his character. Because as great as Day-Lewis has been in his many parts, he has never seemed quite so smitten."
—
Denver Post
Posted Nov 16, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
92%
|
Skyfall (2012) |
"
Craig has settled into a well-suited, grim-reaper role. Even when James flirts and trysts, his creased face suggests an unmovable weight."
—
Denver Post
Posted Nov 8, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
78%
|
Flight (2012) |
"
An old-fashioned drama and all the better for it."
—
Denver Post
Posted Nov 2, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
66%
|
Cloud Atlas (2012) |
"
It will aid your experience of the swirling, sweeping dramatic adventure Cloud Atlas, if you embrace the idea of being a little bit lost."
—
Denver Post
Posted Oct 25, 2012
|
|
1.5/4
|
12%
|
Alex Cross (2012) |
"
For a franchise with an off-the-charts nuanced thinker as its protagonist, Alex Cross isn't very smart."
—
Denver Post
Posted Oct 19, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
43%
|
The Paperboy (2012) |
"
Yes, it's a dizzying stew set to boil."
—
Denver Post
Posted Oct 19, 2012
|
|
4/4
|
96%
|
Argo (2012) |
"
Argo has that solid, kick-the-tires feel of those studio films from the 70s that were about something but also entertained. Only it's as laugh outright amusing as it is sobering."
—
Denver Post
Posted Oct 12, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
83%
|
Seven Psychopaths (2012) |
"
Yes, it's a lot to keep track of, but writer-director Martin McDonagh does so with deft humor as the film hurls toward a desert climax, foreshadowed in one of Billy and Marty's exchanges."
—
Denver Post
Posted Oct 12, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
70%
|
Liberal Arts (2012) |
"
Liberal Arts maneuvers its story in a philosophical way that is anything but detached. There's a warmth here that reminds audiences why college -- and, dare we say, their core curriculums? -- matter."
—
Denver Post
Posted Oct 5, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
93%
|
Looper (2012) |
"
Looper has more heart than Brick and the 2008 con-man flick The Brothers Bloom. Both fine achievements, they could also be described as viscerally cerebral."
—
Denver Post
Posted Sep 28, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
51%
|
Trouble with the Curve (2012) |
"
If you give it a chance to work its quiet magic, it might make your day."
—
Denver Post
Posted Sep 21, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
85%
|
The Master (2012) |
"
The Master is as confounding as it is magnificent."
—
Denver Post
Posted Sep 21, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
87%
|
Arbitrage (2012) |
"
Gere's very good at making Robert's compromises seem more human than horrid. He portrays the philanthropic, philandering patriarch with his customary twinkle."
—
Denver Post
Posted Sep 14, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
74%
|
Hope Springs (2012) |
"
It's all a little depressing."
—
Denver Post
Posted Aug 10, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
56%
|
The Bourne Legacy (2012) |
"
Renner and Weisz work well together as two hunted souls who initially need each other for utilitarian reasons."
—
Denver Post
Posted Aug 10, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
66%
|
Trishna (2012) |
"
Trishna engages the potent collisions of the rural and the urban, the poor and the rich, and considers how these interactions unfold in a romance and how they might also destroy it."
—
Denver Post
Posted Aug 3, 2012
|
|
2/4
|
30%
|
Total Recall (2012) |
"
Whatever tug Total Recall has on the imagination comes from the vague sense we've seen it all before. And seen it better: from Christopher Nolan's Inception to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner."
—
Denver Post
Posted Aug 3, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
88%
|
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) |
"
The director and cowriter/brother Jonathan Nolan pay heed to Wayne's wounded emotional arc. And the film is a feat of painstakingly crafted closure."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jul 19, 2012
|
|
4/4
|
86%
|
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) |
"
Beasts is film as natural mystery museum."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jul 13, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
51%
|
Savages (2012) |
"
Savages points to a problem with gifted directors, which Stone is, like him or not: They can make a movie that aggravates, infuriates, falters even, but they can really make a movie."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jul 6, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
68%
|
Ted (2012) |
"
It's a goofy premise pursued with crass -- as well as sentimental -- relish."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jun 29, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
55%
|
People Like Us (2012) |
"
It's encouraging to see a wielder of studio heft test his mettle with the all-too-human. In a season of superheroes and their nemeses, Kurtzman takes on characters hurting, hoping, trying to rise to the occasion of family."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jun 29, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
42%
|
Hide Away (A Year in Mooring) (2012) |
"
A tactile, emotion-laden world of beauty, loss, recovery."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jun 22, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
56%
|
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012) |
"
This is an exceedingly promising directorial debut for Scafaria, who adapted the winning romance Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jun 22, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
78%
|
Brave (2012) |
"
Saying that Brave is entertaining but not astonishing is pretty much admitting your straight-A student got a B."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jun 22, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
41%
|
Rock of Ages (2012) |
"
Pour some sugar on it, indeed."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jun 15, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
74%
|
Prometheus (2012) |
"
Much like Rutger Hauer's turn as a replicant in Scott's Blade Runner, Fassbender's performance may launch Prometheus into the cult stratosphere."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jun 8, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
79%
|
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012) |
"
From time to time the improbable occurs: A sequel outdoes its original."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jun 8, 2012
|
|
2/4
|
47%
|
Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) |
"
Only Bob Hoskins as the blind seer Muir comes close to making us care. We can almost glean Snow White's heroic possibilities through his clouded eyes. As much as we'd like to, we certainly can't from Stewart's efforts."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jun 1, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
70%
|
Men in Black III (2012) |
"
The Smith-Jones duo's return as the titularly clad operatives, while not exactly essential, comes with the charms of reprised, well-liked characters and a "didn't-see-that-coming" conclusion that makes up for the first hour's sequelitis."
—
Denver Post
Posted May 25, 2012
|
|
|
90%
|
Bernie (2012) |
"
Bernie has chuckles, but it's hardly riotous. And this is a good thing."
—
Denver Post
Posted May 18, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
38%
|
Dark Shadows (2012) |
"
Mostly Dark Shadows is silly when we're trained to expect slightly richer fun from Burton and Depp."
—
Denver Post
Posted May 11, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
75%
|
Sound of My Voice (2012) |
"
Behold the trials and tribulations of going undercover. It doesn't matter if it's cop or journalist, a muddying of purpose takes hold once a mole plunges deeper into the darkness."
—
Denver Post
Posted May 11, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
64%
|
Hit So Hard (2012) |
"
Patty Schemel "lived through this." Once you witness what that "this" was, feel free to follow that up with a "wow.""
—
Denver Post
Posted May 4, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
92%
|
Marvel's The Avengers (2012) |
"
It's two-plus hours of visual brawn, unexpected heartbeats and welcome humor."
—
Denver Post
Posted May 3, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
67%
|
To the Arctic (2012) |
"
Yes, it's a classy affair, but the 40-minute doc's at-times-nerve-wracking power comes from the subjects who put a furry face on the ongoing and daunting issue of climate change."
—
Denver Post
Posted Apr 20, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
74%
|
Chimpanzee (2012) |
"
Those hungering for rare footage of our cousins playing and foraging, fighting or fleeing are in for a number of treats."
—
Denver Post
Posted Apr 20, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
86%
|
Bully (2012) |
"
Bully" is smart and compassionate about the pain of its wounded subjects and the frustration felt by their parents, seemingly abandoned by the system. What the powerful film lacks is insight into bullying."
—
Denver Post
Posted Apr 13, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
92%
|
The Cabin in the Woods (2012) |
"
And you thought you were just headed for a weekend getaway."
—
Denver Post
Posted Apr 13, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
89%
|
Footnote (2012) |
"
Israeli writer-director Joseph Cedar's tale of two Talmudic scholars set in present-day Jerusalem, while not exactly side-splitting, is quietly riotous. And, yes, the guffaws are bittersweet."
—
Denver Post
Posted Apr 6, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
86%
|
The Forgiveness of Blood (2012) |
"
The leads -- both non-actors -- hit sharp, natural notes."
—
Denver Post
Posted Mar 23, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
84%
|
The Hunger Games (2012) |
"
Ross moves between action and human drama with nimble awareness of the weight of the issues coursing through the story of fascism, propaganda, and, yes, adolescence under the weight of the world."
—
Denver Post
Posted Mar 22, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
96%
|
Undefeated (2012) |
"
[A] winning documentary."
—
Denver Post
Posted Mar 16, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
41%
|
Silent House (2012) |
"
It's Olsen's performance that makes Sarah's plight matter. And the actress proves that her mesmerizing turn in last fall's Martha Marcy May Marlene -- about a woman on the lam from a cult -- wasn't a fluke."
—
Denver Post
Posted Mar 9, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
67%
|
Friends With Kids (2012) |
"
Sitcom-amusing, in that middle-of-the-road way."
—
Denver Post
Posted Mar 9, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
13%
|
W.E. (2012) |
"
The film is stylishly shot. And, in weaving the stories of Wally and Wallis, Madonna trusts viewers to move from mood to mood, era to era without overexplanation, the way music-video editing long ago trained us to."
—
Denver Post
Posted Mar 2, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
88%
|
In Darkness (2012) |
"
The chiseled Furmann gives Mundek a savvy, even moral, brawn. As Paulina, Maria Schrader makes an argument for gentle yet pragmatic maternalism."
—
Denver Post
Posted Mar 2, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
99%
|
A Separation (2011) |
"
Very few movies capture as convincingly as A Separation does the ways in which seemingly honorable decisions can lead to interpersonal conflict -- even disaster."
—
Denver Post
Posted Feb 10, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
95%
|
Pina (2011) |
"
Pina is a tribute of an artist by an artist, a friend to a friend. But its great genius comes from the mournful, as well as celebratory, reckoning of the performers Bausch pushed, collaborated with and inspired."
—
Denver Post
Posted Feb 3, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
47%
|
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2012) |
"
If imagining a city where people open their doors (or don't) to a boy with a key and a ton of questions is sentimental ... then it is vitally, beautifully so."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jan 20, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
51%
|
The Iron Lady (2012) |
"
Often "The Iron Lady" relies on montages to get to - and plow through - historic high points."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jan 13, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
33%
|
Joyful Noise (2012) |
"
Much worse things could happen to a movie than to have these two full-figured gals hold forth. Parton's willing and able to despense the Southernisms. Latifah's fierce when she needs to be."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jan 13, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
78%
|
A Dangerous Method (2011) |
"
A Dangerous Method is well cast with Michael Fassbender as a pent-up Jung and Viggo Mortensen as Freud. Keira Knightley inhabits the fits and fury of Spielrein."
—
Denver Post
Posted Jan 6, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
98%
|
The Artist (2011) |
"
A silent movie shot in sumptuous black-and-white, no less. A silent flick made with not a jot of distancing winking, but instead born of a heady affection for a bygone, very bygone, era of filmmaking."
—
Denver Post
Posted Dec 23, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
77%
|
War Horse (2011) |
"
Robustly entertaining."
—
Denver Post
Posted Dec 23, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
66%
|
We Bought a Zoo (2011) |
"
Consider it a fine sign of emotional discipline that the movie doesn't overplay Kelly and Ben's romantic possibilites."
—
Denver Post
Posted Dec 23, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
86%
|
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) |
"
Mara's Lisbeth can be brashly young and impossibly smart. It's a performance that should well serve the upcoming sequels."
—
Denver Post
Posted Dec 20, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
80%
|
Young Adult (2011) |
"
There's little about Mavis that makes for feel-good revelry. That's an understatement, perhaps. Yet, Theron's work feels true to Mavis' malaise -- and often, just as sad."
—
Denver Post
Posted Dec 16, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
60%
|
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) |
"
Downey and Law remain this presumptive franchise's draw."
—
Denver Post
Posted Dec 16, 2011
|
|
2/4
|
7%
|
New Year's Eve (2011) |
"
The only thing that can inspire more cynicism than a holiday's coerced emotions may be a film that both exploits and celebrates said emotions."
—
Denver Post
Posted Dec 9, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
22%
|
The Sitter (2011) |
"
A weirdly charming comedy that puts an irresponsible guy in charge of three unhappy kids. Who'll crumble first?"
—
Denver Post
Posted Dec 9, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
77%
|
The Swell Season (2011) |
"
For Once lovers who needed a "what happened next?" epilogue, this one moves even as it chastises."
—
Denver Post
Posted Dec 2, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
99%
|
Le Havre (2011) |
"
'Tis the season, so the saying goes. And when it comes to Aki Kaurismäki, it holds true. The Finnish writer-director arrives bearing a gift wrapped in a contemporary immigration fable."
—
Denver Post
Posted Dec 2, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
84%
|
My Week with Marilyn (2011) |
"
After My Week, Monroe remains an enigma. And that isn't a failing of Williams' performance but an expression of its nuance."
—
Denver Post
Posted Nov 23, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
94%
|
Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey (2011) |
"
The film also provides an inspiring reminder for the young and the rest of us that there is a vital relationship between the best kind of work and passionate play."
—
Denver Post
Posted Nov 18, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
46%
|
Happy Feet Two (2011) |
"
Much like its Oscar-winning predecessor, the story focuses on lads and dads, though there are strong mama figures and daughters, too."
—
Denver Post
Posted Nov 18, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
89%
|
The Descendants (2011) |
"
[Clooney] is a movie star who can't shake (and doesn't want to, one suspects) the baggage of that good fortune, yet consistently works to blend into the ensemble for the sake of story. The Descendants gives us his most emotional work to date."
—
Denver Post
Posted Nov 18, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
91%
|
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011) |
"
Broken into nine chapters -- one for each year -- the documentary isn't a rigorous work but a felt piece of vital, if flawed, art."
—
Denver Post
Posted Nov 4, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
81%
|
The Skin I Live In (2011) |
"
These are questions one is left with -- and that's not an entirely satisfying feeling. Yet it's hard not to be drawn into the story, and even more, into the gorgeous storytelling."
—
Denver Post
Posted Nov 4, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
90%
|
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) |
"
Durkin depicts a horror that some among us actually live, where the search for family leads to something familiar and dangerous."
—
Denver Post
Posted Nov 4, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
47%
|
Anonymous (2011) |
"
Audiences may chuckle. Stratfordians, prepare for conniptions."
—
Denver Post
Posted Oct 28, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
84%
|
Puss in Boots (2011) |
"
It would overstate matters to say Puss in Boots leaves its cat holding the bag (we had to get that in). But it also leaves its hero awaiting a richer fable, one befitting his charms and his portrayer's talents."
—
Denver Post
Posted Oct 28, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
62%
|
Gun Hill Road (2011) |
"
Gun Hill Road is shot through with performances at once intense and relaxed."
—
Denver Post
Posted Oct 21, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
92%
|
Take Shelter (2011) |
"
A work of hushed and persuasive emotional veracity."
—
Denver Post
Posted Oct 21, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
88%
|
Margin Call (2011) |
"
Writer-director J.C. Chandor then plunges us into a dark night of quietly nasty reckoning as it becomes clear to the firm's honchos that the calamitous risk assessments one of their own was working on might well be true."
—
Denver Post
Posted Oct 21, 2011
|
|
2.5/4
|
40%
|
The Big Year (2011) |
"
The Big Year has charms: Not a jawdropping flock of them, but a number of sweet insights and warm laughs just the same."
—
Denver Post
Posted Oct 14, 2011
|
|
2.5/4
|
60%
|
Real Steel (2011) |
"
Aas the plot proceeds from boy-meets-dad verbal sparring to an uneasy peace to the underdog-vs.- champion title bout, it becomes increasingly easy to forgive its many nicks."
—
Denver Post
Posted Oct 7, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
85%
|
The Ides of March (2011) |
"
As for Clooney, when he steps from behind the camera, his candidate exudes an easy, judicious authority."
—
Denver Post
Posted Oct 7, 2011
|
|
2.5/4
|
93%
|
50/50 (2011) |
"
Still, it's Gordon-Levitt's choices that continue to impress. Sure, he owned one of the most jaw-dropping sequences in last summer's blockbuster Inception. But the actor remains drawn to profoundly human-scale hurts and quiet triumphs."
—
Denver Post
Posted Sep 30, 2011
|
|
3/4
|
86%
|
Circumstance (2011) |
"
[The] film is too much a wounded love story to slide into polemic."
—
Denver Post
Posted Sep 30, 2011
|
|
|
23%
|
What's Your Number? (2011) |
"
This desperately seeking-laughs comedy stars Anna Faris, a comedian with a lot of quirk appeal, though little of it is on display."
—
Denver Post
Posted Sep 30, 2011
|
|
2.5/4
|
82%
|
Dolphin Tale (2011) |
"
Plenty of ambition. But the dialogue can be tin-eared, and the comedy has a cater- to-kids quality that sells youngsters short."
—
Denver Post
Posted Sep 23, 2011
|
|
3.5/4
|
94%
|
Moneyball (2011) |
"
Pitt, who has a producing credit, is not the sole reason this tremendous -- yet intimate -- sports tale soars over the fences. The bench is deep. And the script has a powerful but finessed swing."
—
Denver Post
Posted Sep 23, 2011
|
|
2/4
|
17%
|
I Don't Know How She Does It (2011) |
"
How nice it would have been had McKenna penned a couple of those audience-addressing interludes for Richard or Jack. What would these modern, succesful men tell us of themselves?"
—
Denver Post
Posted Sep 16, 2011
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