|
2/4
|
40%
|
The Great Gatsby (2013) |
"
There's always something to watch. But the actors' efforts to get something going the old-fashioned way - by interacting with each other, in the service of the characters - get shoved to the sidelines, in favor of one more blast of glitter."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted May 9, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
56%
|
At Any Price (2013) |
"
The narrative takes a surprising turn, leading to a troubling and, I think, successful third act. Most uneven pictures have a way of fading to gray in the final lap; this one actually gets better as it goes."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted May 2, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
77%
|
Iron Man 3 (2013) |
"
It's not without its payoffs; I enjoyed a lot of it. But overall last year's Avengers delivered the bombastic goods more efficiently than this year's Marvel."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted May 1, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
24%
|
Arthur Newman (2013) |
"
The script of "Arthur Newman," written two decades ago by Becky Johnston, cries out for deadpan anonymity, not the charismatic likes of these two."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Apr 25, 2013
|
|
1.5/4
|
46%
|
Pain & Gain (2013) |
"
After an hour of "Pain & Gain," it felt more like "Pain & Pain.""
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Apr 25, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
8%
|
The Big Wedding (2013) |
"
This is an American movie trying, strenuously, to "swing" a little. The slapstick is broad and generally awkward."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Apr 25, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
56%
|
Oblivion (2013) |
"
When you go to a futuristic, dystopian, post-apocalyptic barn dance starring Tom Cruise and his space guns, you expect a little zap with your thoughtful pauses."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Apr 18, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
42%
|
To The Wonder (2013) |
"
"To the Wonder" finds Malick pursuing a form of visual storytelling that is closer to chamber music, or symphonic rapture, than conventional film narrative."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Apr 18, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
76%
|
No Place On Earth (2013) |
"
The story told by Janet Tobias' documentary "No Place on Earth" is enough to transcend the film's limitations."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Apr 18, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
77%
|
42 (2013) |
"
"42" settles for too little, for being an attractive primer, an introduction to the legend of Robinson and the faith that saw him through."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Apr 11, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
68%
|
Trance (2013) |
"
For a while, "Trance" had me guessing, and more or less hooked. Then the violence, motivations, double-crosses and fantasy/reality tangles became tedious."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Apr 11, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
54%
|
The Company You Keep (2013) |
"
It's best enjoyed as an actors' showcase."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Apr 11, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
94%
|
Room 237 (2013) |
"
I found most of what's actually put forth in the film interpretively ridiculous. But I'm just one theorist among millions, and the film worked for me anyway."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Apr 4, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
62%
|
Evil Dead (2013) |
"
You can't remake a sense of humor. Alvarez may well have one, but it'll have to wait for the next project."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Apr 4, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
91%
|
Gimme The Loot (2013) |
"
There's barely enough narrative to sustain even an 81-minute picture, yet a sweet spirit buoys this quick-witted, amiably foul-mouthed indie."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Mar 28, 2013
|
|
4/4
|
81%
|
From Up On Poppy Hill (2013) |
"
Your kids may well fall in love with it, if you help them find it."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Mar 28, 2013
|
|
1/4
|
9%
|
The Host (2013) |
"
The film may as well be titled "Stephenie Meyer's Waiting Around.""
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Mar 28, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
93%
|
The Sapphires (2013) |
"
The performers improve it, or save it, depending on your viewpoint."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Mar 28, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
28%
|
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013) |
"
The directive behind this sequel, clearly, was non-stop action. Let's think about that phrase a second. Do we really want our action movies to deliver action that does not stop? Ever? I get a little tired of action sequences that won't stop."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Mar 27, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
45%
|
On the Road (2012) |
"
While Kerouac's odyssey lacks conventional narrative or novelistic beats (though it comes with plenty of the other kind), the restlessness of the prose has its own cinematic allure."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Mar 21, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
66%
|
Spring Breakers (2013) |
"
Starts out like a salacious, rump-centric and blithely bare-breasted hip-hop video and ends up in the realm of scary and inspired trash."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Mar 21, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
69%
|
The Croods (2013) |
"
"The Croods" rests on the notion of the patriarch who must learn to adapt and let go. (I resent this storyline, for the record.)"
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Mar 21, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
43%
|
Admission (2013) |
"
There's a good movie in this story. The one that got made is roughly half-good."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Mar 21, 2013
|
|
4/4
|
93%
|
Sugar (2008) |
"
A rich and moving reminder of the way professional sports aspirations can shape someone's destiny in the real world."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Mar 20, 2013
|
|
|
94%
|
The Bitter Buddha (2013) |
"
The film succeeds in reflecting the weird sweetness in Pepitone."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Mar 19, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
29%
|
Upside Down (2013) |
"
Is the film something to look at? Yes. "Upside Down" is something to look at. But that's not enough for a full-length, full-bodied, romance."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Mar 14, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
90%
|
Beyond The Hills (2013) |
"
Of all the movies culminating in a rite of exorcism, Romanian writer-director Cristian Mungiu's remarkable "Beyond the Hills" stands alone."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Mar 14, 2013
|
|
1.5/4
|
38%
|
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013) |
"
The typical gags involve burnt flesh and the sight of someone pretending to crush a puppy to death. It's not a comedy; it's a wince-edy."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Mar 14, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
65%
|
Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey (2013) |
"
The best material in the film is the loosest, capturing the perpetually insecure and overcompensating Pineda in his early concerts, leaping, bouncing, careening around as if every moment in every song were an audition for the next moment in the next song."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Mar 7, 2013
|
|
4/4
|
92%
|
No (2013) |
"
"No" stands proudly in a select sub-category of historical fiction films that work, completely and satisfyingly, as their own movies."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Mar 7, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
31%
|
Emperor (2013) |
"
Shot in New Zealand, the picture's images of a devastated postwar Tokyo are often impressive, blending old-fashioned production design and effects work with digital flourishes. But Fox's role, central though it may be, never comes to life."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Mar 7, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
60%
|
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) |
"
I suspect there's just enough heart in this sleek Tin Man of a project to connect with an audience."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Mar 7, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
67%
|
Stoker (2013) |
"
As it becomes more and more delirious in its explanations of Charlie's past, "Stoker" at least gives you a few images to remember ..."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Feb 28, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
52%
|
Jack the Giant Slayer (2013) |
"
By the time the giants have descended the beanstalk and laid siege to the king's castle, and the boiling oil comes out with the flaming arrows and the flying flaming trees, it's like: Enough already."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Feb 28, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
25%
|
Phantom (2013) |
"
How did this submarine movie turn out so unseaworthy?"
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Feb 28, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
58%
|
Snitch (2013) |
"
"Snitch" has a way of keeping you guessing about the next turn in its story, and a way of keeping Johnson's character compellingly at the mercy of others."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Feb 21, 2013
|
|
4/4
|
92%
|
The Gatekeepers (2013) |
"
A lesser filmmaker might've been tripped up by such a narrow focus. A lesser filmmaker might've misjudged the melange of archival footage, fabricated surveillance footage and talking heads, which Moreh handles with a blend of cinematic flash and tact."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Feb 21, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
70%
|
Bless Me, Ultima (2013) |
"
Franklin's eye is alert to both the landscape and his ensemble of performers. Call "Bless Me, Ultima" a mixed blessing."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Feb 21, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
13%
|
Safe Haven (2013) |
"
This is such stuff as paperback-rack and February multiplex dreams are made on."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Feb 13, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
45%
|
Beautiful Creatures (2013) |
"
Irons and Thompson, whose Oscars aren't likely to get any company for their supporting turns here, at least bring the zest generally lacking from writer-director Richard LaGravenese's dutiful adaptation."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Feb 13, 2013
|
|
1.5/4
|
15%
|
A Good Day To Die Hard (2013) |
"
A Good Day to Die Hard isn't just the weakest of the Die Hard pictures; it's a lousy action movie on its own terms."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Feb 13, 2013
|
|
1.5/4
|
60%
|
John Dies at the End (2013) |
"
"John Dies at the End" dies closer to the beginning, before writer-director Don Coscarelli's adaptation of the book of the same name has reached minute 20."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
85%
|
Side Effects (2013) |
"
Burns' plotting gets a little knotty in the third act, but he's a smart writer, who has a knack for juggling an array of characters of varying intelligence and varying corruption levels."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
1.5/4
|
20%
|
Identity Thief (2013) |
"
Gordon is lost, and his style of shooting - telescopic close-ups, which never give us enough space to appreciate the performers - feels wrong for comedy."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
47%
|
Bullet to the Head (2013) |
"
The style here - hairline-to-chin close-ups, nervous, jacked-up editing - isn't Hill at his best. But the movie has a certain grungy panache ..."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Jan 31, 2013
|
|
1/4
|
37%
|
Stand Up Guys (2013) |
"
Arkin in particular can barely hide his lack of enthusiasm for the material. Some of the looks he shoots his co-stars appear to contain a secret code of some kind, deciphered as: 'Well, at least I'm in 'Argo.'""
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Jan 31, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
80%
|
Warm Bodies (2013) |
"
The whole of "Warm Bodies," in both its comic and dramatic strains, lacks a certain ... what? Ooomph? Intensity? Invention?"
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Jan 31, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
79%
|
Quartet (2013) |
"
The material settles for amiably familiar observations about the difficulties of growing old and the glories of being surrounded by beautiful music."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Jan 24, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
95%
|
West of Memphis (2012) |
"
Dubious evidence; suspicious confessions; conveniently located "poor white trash" (Echols' words) to take the rap: The case stank from the beginning, Berg's film argues."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Jan 17, 2013
|
40%
38%
96%
99%
65%
61%
