|
3.5/5
|
68%
|
Bad Milo! (2013) |
"
Call it odious, call it repugnant, call it downright nasty - just don't call it dumb."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Oct 4, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
98%
|
Gravity (2013) |
"
This is a film spectacular enough to demand the full IMAX 3-D treatment."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Oct 3, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
95%
|
Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction (2013) |
"
Alternating between color footage and the genius interplay of startlingly lovely sequences of Stanton singing and playing harmonica in granular black-and-white, Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction perfectly captures the essence of the man."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Sep 27, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
80%
|
Prisoners (2013) |
"
It's a veritable shoo-in for an Oscar nod this year, and one of the more disturbing films to come out of a major studio in ages."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Sep 27, 2013
|
|
0.5/5
|
35%
|
Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) |
"
Whannell's script is so rife with portentous backstory, third-act goofiness, and a denouement that practically screams Insidious 3: Same Old S---, that the film as a whole is jarring, and not in a good way."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Sep 13, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
60%
|
Riddick (2013) |
"
Director Twohy gets plenty of ferocious mileage out of stranding a weaponless Riddick on an inhospitable planet and then letting the character do what he does best: seek and destroy. And destroy. And destroy."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Sep 6, 2013
|
|
2/5
|
46%
|
Closed Circuit (2013) |
"
I'd gladly pay to see Jim Broadbent do pretty much anything, but even he can't save this taut, stylish, but finally meh foray into the shadowy landscape of high-echelon statecraft gone haywire."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Aug 29, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
81%
|
Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013) |
"
It's a hardscrabble, heartbreaking, love-and-death affair, and the fact that you just know it's going to end badly for all involved from the get-go does nothing to dispel the pleasure of watching Affleck and Mara swoon toward each other."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Aug 23, 2013
|
|
3.5/5
|
75%
|
You're Next (2013) |
"
It's fair to note a certain similarity to certain home-invasion films of recent make. In the end, however, Wingard's film is its own subset of fractious family crazy."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Aug 23, 2013
|
|
2/5
|
26%
|
Jobs (2013) |
"
Jobs' remarkable life and persistently prickly personality are simply too complicated and his roller-coaster ride to the top of the personal-computing business is simply too crammed with improbable side trips and switchbacks to distill into 128 minutes."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Aug 23, 2013
|
|
2.5/5
|
30%
|
Kick-Ass 2 (2013) |
"
It's a bumpy ride to the final heroes vs. villains melee, and the film is frequently stopped dead by meaty chunks of exposition and Kick-Ass' disquisitions about what it means to be a hero."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Aug 16, 2013
|
|
2/5
|
68%
|
Elysium (2013) |
"
While Blomkamp has proven himself to be a master of sci-fi social commentary in the past, this dull wheel in the sky just lands with a resounding thud."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Aug 8, 2013
|
|
1.5/5
|
38%
|
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013) |
"
This ham-fisted, teen-centric blend of Harry Potter and the infinitely more spellbinding Jason and the Argonauts comes within a cyclops' eyelash of being so bad it's almost (but not quite) good."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Aug 8, 2013
|
|
4.5/5
|
69%
|
Cockneys vs Zombies (2013) |
"
Cockneys vs. Zombies quickly overcomes its dull-as-death titling and turns out to be the best zombie yuk-fest since Edgar Wright broke new, unhallowed ground with Shaun of the Dead nearly a decade ago."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Aug 2, 2013
|
|
3.5/5
|
98%
|
Blackfish (2013) |
"
Depressingly unsurprising."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Aug 2, 2013
|
|
0/5
|
3%
|
Bless the Child (2000) |
"
A pox on the house of all involved."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Jun 3, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
47%
|
The Lords of Salem (2013) |
"
It's a head trip, to be sure, but it's Zombie's electric, haunted head, so my advice is just sit back and goggle."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Apr 18, 2013
|
|
2/5
|
88%
|
Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing (2006) |
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
2.5/5
|
49%
|
The Man With the Iron Fists (2012) |
"
Let the brilliant, epic silliness of The Man With the Iron Fists engulf you in a tsunami of crimson cheese and you, like I, will have a super-happy-fun-big-smile-crazy-face-monkey-time."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Nov 9, 2012
|
|
0/5
|
6%
|
Silent Hill: Revelation (2012) |
"
I realize it's called Silent Hill for a reason, but enduring this botched (video game-based) nightmare is like sleepwalking into the world's dullest Halloween party."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Nov 2, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
86%
|
Wreck-it Ralph (2012) |
"
Sweet enough but in the end a bit of a corny-syrupy wipeout, this is middling family-night fare, but it never even comes close to the emotional or technical wizardry of Pixar's finest moments."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Nov 1, 2012
|
|
|
80%
|
Vampira And Me (2013) |
"
Vampira and Me works on multiple levels: as a Hollywood history lesson, as a portrait of mid-fifties Americana, and as a long-overdue tribute to the endlessly fascinating Nurmi, whom Greene befriended during the autumn of her years."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Oct 26, 2012
|
|
3.5/5
|
94%
|
The House I Live In (2012) |
"
The House I Live In is depressing stuff, but it sparks the fires of anger, and from that anger, possible action."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Oct 26, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
66%
|
Cloud Atlas (2012) |
"
This remarkable adaptation of the supposedly "unfilmable" novel by David Mitchell achieves near-perfection on virtually all levels."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Oct 25, 2012
|
|
2.5/5
|
30%
|
Chasing Mavericks (2012) |
"
A more fitting tribute to Moriarty's legacy? Go buy a board and hit the deep blue yourself."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Oct 25, 2012
|
|
1/5
|
38%
|
Here Comes the Boom (2012) |
"
It's not offensive so much as it is dumb, although the emphasis on bone-cracking violence to solve your social-welfare problems sends, at best, a mixed message."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Oct 19, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
36%
|
Least Among Saints (2012) |
"
It all ends on a grace note that feels false but caps an otherwise solid if predictable drama."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Oct 19, 2012
|
|
1.5/5
|
12%
|
Alex Cross (2012) |
"
Like Perry, Fox overplays his character to the point of parody, but at least he looks as though he's having some fun carving up people. Perry just looks apoplectic."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Oct 18, 2012
|
|
0.5/5
|
24%
|
Paranormal Activity 4 (2012) |
"
If we've learned nothing else from horror films, it's that little kids are weird and probably possessed, so, you know, when you see one coming toward you, it's best to run the other way."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Oct 18, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
100%
|
Wake in Fright (2012) |
"
Kotcheff, working from a novel adapted by Modesty Blaise screenwriter Evan Jones, ratchets up the sick humor and ghastly ribaldry to nail-biting heights."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Oct 12, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
87%
|
Frankenweenie (2012) |
"
Finally, a stop-motion, animated Halloween film that rivals Tim Burton and Henry Selick's 1993 dark classic, The Nightmare Before Christmas. And of the two, Frankenweenie is the better film, though it might be heretical to say."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Oct 5, 2012
|
|
2.5/5
|
21%
|
Taken 2 (2012) |
"
It's fun enough on its own relatively low-budget merits, but it's really nothing to die -- or kill -- for."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Oct 4, 2012
|
|
3.5/5
|
78%
|
Dredd (2012) |
"
I may have never seen a nonhorror film as relentlessly, brutally, and crowd-pleasingly violent as this skintight adaptation of the long-running British comic-book character."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Sep 28, 2012
|
|
0.5/5
|
11%
|
House at the End of the Street (2012) |
"
Lawrence is fine as the solo-parented teen and Thieriot does a mean Tony Perkins (circa Pretty Poison, but on downers), but the sheer tedium of the storyline means you never really care about any of them."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Sep 28, 2012
|
|
0.5/5
|
45%
|
Hotel Transylvania (2012) |
"
No need to put a stake in it, it's deadly dull already."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Sep 27, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
30%
|
Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) |
"
Nobody goes to a Resident Evil movie expecting a classic but this fifth entry in the series is just plain cruddy."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Sep 21, 2012
|
|
0.5/5
|
0%
|
Last Ounce of Courage (2012) |
"
It takes the joy of Christmas and makes it bellicose. I'd rather have a black licorice candy cane, thanks."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Sep 21, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
85%
|
End of Watch (2012) |
"
Gyllenhaal and Peña go beyond the cardboard cutouts that so many cop films these days seem made of, and cinematographer Roman Vasyanov makes the harsh California daylight seem like a bad vibe unto itself."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Sep 20, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
70%
|
The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (2012) |
"
Flying Swords has style to burn but a story that's both too chaotic for its own good and at times overly familiar."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Sep 14, 2012
|
|
0/5
|
5%
|
The Cold Light of Day (2012) |
"
Fans of inane and/or unnecessary expositional dialogue will have a field day. Everyone else can Netflix Hudson Hawk and forget to watch it, thus having more fun than anyone who shells out $10.50 for this tedious stinker."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Sep 14, 2012
|
|
3.5/5
|
89%
|
Compliance (2012) |
"
Compliance is a difficult film to watch -- walkouts have been reported at more than one screening -- but it's also a calculating and intimate deconstruction of the greater social ills that our fast-food nation faces as a whole."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Sep 7, 2012
|
|
|
39%
|
The Possession (2012) |
"
This effective little creeper is the only Judaic pastiche of The Exorcist you're likely to see this year. That alone gives it a jump on the umpteen other evil/possessed-child films that have become a seemingly monthly genre staple of late."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Sep 7, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
22%
|
The Words (2012) |
"
The Words feels like a weaker Oprah Book Club selection that's been gussied up -- and edited to the bone -- for big-screen consumption."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Sep 6, 2012
|
|
0/5
|
4%
|
The Apparition (2012) |
"
When you look into this abyss, it yawns back at you."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Aug 31, 2012
|
|
2.5/5
|
79%
|
Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2012) |
"
Hara-Kiri may be a lesser Miike work, but it's still a (literally) gutsy exercise in prolonged narrative recursiveness."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Aug 31, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
78%
|
The Ambassador (2012) |
"
Danish documentarian and full-time provocateur Mads Brügger is either fearless or insane, possibly a combination of both."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Aug 31, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
64%
|
Cosmopolis (2012) |
"
I must admit Robert Pattinson does dead extremely well."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Aug 24, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
65%
|
The Expendables 2 (2012) |
"
Why make a new mediocrity when the old ones are still so much more fun to watch?"
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Aug 24, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
56%
|
The Revenant (2012) |
"
The film is a solid 15 minutes longer than it really needs to be and more annoying, The Revenant feels as though it longs to be an American riff on Shaun of the Dead."
—
Austin Chronicle
Posted Aug 24, 2012
|
