|
9/10
|
88%
|
Captain Phillips (2013) |
"
In another director's hands, this script might have come across as didactic. ... But Ray's words play effective counterpoint to Greengrass' visceral approach."
—
Seven Days
Posted Oct 2, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
83%
|
Don Jon (2013) |
"
It's difficult to rate a movie that doesn't really start until its last half hour."
—
Seven Days
Posted Oct 2, 2013
|
|
9/10
|
80%
|
Prisoners (2013) |
"
Roger Deakins uses erratic flashes and glimmers of light to suggest that deliverance is always close at hand, but not close enough. "
—
Seven Days
Posted Oct 2, 2013
|
|
8/10
|
91%
|
In a World... (2013) |
"
It's good news for those who would rather not see funny women relegated to a world of pink-tinged pratfalls."
—
Seven Days
Posted Sep 18, 2013
|
|
5/10
|
35%
|
Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) |
"
Egregious would be a better title than Insidious."
—
Seven Days
Posted Sep 18, 2013
|
|
8/10
|
89%
|
The World's End (2013) |
"
Let's hope this crew from the UK continues to stand up against the Starbucking of movies."
—
Seven Days
Posted Sep 3, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
73%
|
Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013) |
"
When the movie focuses on the free-wheeling, irreverent banter among the butlers, or takes us home with Gaines, it gets more interesting."
—
Seven Days
Posted Sep 3, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
68%
|
Elysium (2013) |
"
The blank-slate act that worked for Damon in the Bourne movies simply makes him into a placeholder here."
—
Seven Days
Posted Aug 14, 2013
|
|
4/10
|
22%
|
The Canyons (2013) |
"
It sidesteps tawdriness only to succumb to torpor."
—
Seven Days
Posted Aug 14, 2013
|
|
5/10
|
69%
|
The Wolverine (2013) |
"
The movie contemplates Logan's existential dilemma for all of two seconds before getting to the slashing and bashing."
—
Seven Days
Posted Aug 14, 2013
|
|
8/10
|
84%
|
Much Ado About Nothing (2013) |
"
The movie brings to life a high-toned summer dreamland ... that exists in a dimensional rift between the Renaissance, the era of My Man Godfrey and now."
—
Seven Days
Posted Jul 29, 2013
|
|
8/10
|
72%
|
Pacific Rim (2013) |
"
It's the movie Transformers should have been, treating the lizard-brain appeal of a fight between humongous critters with the respect it deserves. "
—
Seven Days
Posted Jul 19, 2013
|
|
8/10
|
48%
|
The Tall Man (2012) |
"
Laugier's design is clear enough that you may find yourself going back to reinterpret early scenes in the film, then arguing about its deeper implications."
—
Seven Days
Posted Jul 11, 2013
|
|
9/10
|
96%
|
A Band Called Death (2013) |
"
An amazing story -- about the history of rock, about the capriciousness of fame and, perhaps most importantly, about the power of family."
—
Seven Days
Posted Jul 11, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
59%
|
The Bling Ring (2013) |
"
Where Coppola fails is in filling the spaces between the soundbites."
—
Seven Days
Posted Jul 3, 2013
|
|
10/10
|
98%
|
Before Midnight (2013) |
"
What lifts Linklater's trilogy above your average dialogue-heavy indie is not just the intelligence of the conversation but its frankness and humor."
—
Seven Days
Posted Jul 3, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
56%
|
Man of Steel (2013) |
"
Snyder's style is all about the iconography of rippling muscles and fights to the death; it's the down-to-earth elements of the Superman mythos that get short shrift here."
—
Seven Days
Posted Jun 21, 2013
|
|
8/10
|
100%
|
Masquerade (2012) |
"
Lee is a wacky slapstick comedian one second, a terrifying ruler the next, keeping the audience entertained even when the court intrigues become a little tiresome."
—
Seven Days
Posted Jun 16, 2013
|
|
4/10
|
38%
|
The Purge (2013) |
"
DeMonaco makes his point, but it's one that only resonates in the improbable scenario he's concocted."
—
Seven Days
Posted Jun 16, 2013
|
|
3/10
|
11%
|
After Earth (2013) |
"
It's not often that a movie makes you think, Good riddance to humanity."
—
Seven Days
Posted Jun 7, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
66%
|
Cloud Atlas (2012) |
"
With Hollywood in its current conservative mode, recycling tired franchises left and right, it's tempting to applaud the sheer out-there-ness of Cloud Atlas."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 24, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
49%
|
The Great Gatsby (2013) |
"
Nick's voice in the novel is a dry, cutting counterpoint; the movie subordinates his irony to his angst and his boyish admiration for Gatsby."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
79%
|
Iron Man 3 (2013) |
"
The elements that were once daring are starting to feel statistically approved - and tired. "
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
8/10
|
98%
|
Mud (2013) |
"
It gets under our skin because Nichols gives us time to come to know Mud's island like the places we knew as children."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
4/10
|
29%
|
Emperor (2013) |
"
Emperor seems to have been tailor-made for high school history classes whose teachers like to give themselves a break by popping in a DVD."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
8/10
|
82%
|
The Place Beyond The Pines (2013) |
"
Would Pines have worked better as a 13-episode cable drama? Probably. Yet its atmosphere comes through beautifully on the big screen."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
62%
|
Evil Dead (2013) |
"
Alvarez doesn't succeed in making Evil Dead terrifying, but he does make it as prodigiously intense and gory for our time as the original was for its own."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
5/10
|
9%
|
The Host (2013) |
"
What sort of worked on the page crashes and burns on the screen, as even an actress of Ronan's caliber can't make these self-debates anything but ridiculous. "
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
45%
|
The Comedy (2012) |
"
It's a brave performance. Just don't expect to take refuge from the ugliness in lighter sitcom moments, because there aren't any."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
7/10
|
38%
|
Admission (2013) |
"
It's Tomlin who snatches laughs with her feminist doyenne, who's horrendously doctrinaire yet perversely likable. She has the passion and outrageousness the movie needs."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
84%
|
Smashed (2012) |
"
Winstead delivers a star-making performance - raw and natural, with no Oscar-bait theatrics."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
5/10
|
59%
|
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) |
"
It pushes its gospel of modern "magic" - one third science, one third show biz, one third motivational speech - with Disney Channel earnestness."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
7/10
|
77%
|
The Bay (2012) |
"
If you like found-footage films, The Bay is a find - one of the stronger examples of the genre. "
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
4/10
|
25%
|
Phantom (2013) |
"
It's fun just to hear the lingo and watch the sailors go about their tasks, but not so fun when the captain's Dark Secret starts giving him cheesy, strobing flashbacks."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
5/10
|
55%
|
Snitch (2013) |
"
Snitch should have been called Bait and Switch."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
46%
|
Beautiful Creatures (2013) |
"
This is a perfectly solid coming-of-age fantasy, closer in spirit to 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' than to the recent spate of Stephenie Meyer clones."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
7/10
|
84%
|
Side Effects (2013) |
"
It suggests Jagged Edge retold in the measured voice of the New Yorker. "
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
81%
|
Warm Bodies (2013) |
"
It starts bold and finishes timid and tepid, unable to do justice to its conceit. "
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
4/10
|
41%
|
Parker (2013) |
"
The movie seems to suffer from a misguided attempt to chase the female demo. "
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
2/10
|
43%
|
The Paperboy (2012) |
"
None of the characters make sense, and, owing to long stretches of improvised-sounding dialogue, neither do many of the scenes."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
7/10
|
66%
|
Mama (2013) |
"
Maternal-instinct-versus-the-monster is such a horror cliché that it feels almost subversive to watch a movie where the protagonist is a reluctant 'mom.'"
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
5/10
|
64%
|
Cosmopolis (2012) |
"
It's an accomplished movie, and those who like the deliberately alienating aesthetic will love it. But I prefer my Cronenberg with some human grubbiness."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
4/10
|
10%
|
A Haunted House (2013) |
"
This is the first film I've seen that depicts rape perpetrated by a bisexual, weed-smoking ghost, and probably the last. "
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
81%
|
The Impossible (2012) |
"
As in a horror film, it doesn't matter anymore who these people are - only how they react."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
6/10
|
77%
|
Killer Joe (2012) |
"
A character-acting McConaughey is a good McConaughey. The character he creates here is genuinely scary at times, and way more interesting than your average movie psycho."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
8/10
|
92%
|
Silver Linings Playbook (2012) |
"
A romantic comedy for people who don't like what Hollywood has been calling 'romantic comedies' these days. "
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
8/10
|
89%
|
Compliance (2012) |
"
The only film of 2012 that had me actively booing its villain - a mundane monster who doesn't need to touch his victims to scar them for life."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
5/10
|
55%
|
V/H/S (2012) |
"
The creepy aura of voyeurism certainly fits the found-footage theme."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
|
7/10
|
96%
|
Chasing Ice (2012) |
"
As a documentary, it offers most of its likely viewers grim confirmation of what they already know, rather than the thrill of discovery."
—
Seven Days
Posted May 22, 2013
|
