|
B
|
87%
|
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) |
"
J.J. Abrams' second Star Trek movie is chock-full of goodies, but by the last quarter the action is so inflated and relentless that it's like an anvil chorus played on your head."
—
Orange County Register
Posted May 15, 2013
|
|
C
|
49%
|
The Great Gatsby (2013) |
"
Baz Luhrmann's razzmatazz and bombast -- in 3D! -- overwhelm the subtle poetry of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel."
—
Orange County Register
Posted May 9, 2013
|
|
|
97%
|
Groundhog Day (1993) |
"
Even if you applaud Bill Murray's evolution from inspired comedian to minimalist seriocomic actor, it's a relief to revisit his most varied and charming role as Phil Connors."
—
New Yorker
Posted May 6, 2013
|
|
|
98%
|
One False Move (1992) |
"
Skillfully performed and welcomely unpredictable, this low-budget crime film, made by actor turned director Carl Franklin, starts out as a herky-jerky exploitation piece, then turns into something better."
—
New Yorker
Posted May 6, 2013
|
|
C+
|
78%
|
Iron Man 3 (2013) |
"
It would be just a special-effects-and-hardware extravaganza, with a dead-end script full of wrong turns, were it not for Robert Downey Jr. and a game and witty cast."
—
Orange County Register
Posted May 2, 2013
|
|
C
|
47%
|
Pain & Gain (2013) |
"
A movie that tries to turn a torture chamber into a comedy club."
—
Orange County Register
Posted Apr 25, 2013
|
|
|
100%
|
The Buddy Holly Story (1978) |
"
The facts in this pop biography are often hopelessly askew, but the story is carried by the unadulterated power of Gary Busey's original and insightful performance."
—
New Yorker
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
|
77%
|
The Mask (1994) |
"
The gangland plot is flimsy (bad guy Peter Greene wears too much eyeliner), and the jokes are erratic, but it's a far better showcase for Carrey's comic-from-Uranus talent than Ace Ventura."
—
New Yorker
Posted Apr 12, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
92%
|
Ghost World (2001) |
"
The modest yet redeeming triumph of Ghost World is the offhand way it brings to the screen a streak of American dark humor that is dour, resilient and unexpectedly infectious."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Apr 12, 2013
|
|
|
78%
|
Addams Family Values (1993) |
"
You've got to respect a comedy that makes light of arson, torture, and murder in these squeamish times."
—
New Yorker
Posted Apr 11, 2013
|
|
|
83%
|
Kaze no tani no Naushika (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind) (Warriors of the Wind) (1984) |
"
When mammoth dandelions puff out spores, the sight is as seductive as it is lethal."
—
New Yorker
Posted Apr 1, 2013
|
|
A-
|
93%
|
The Sapphires (2013) |
"
Delirious surprises crowd out the clichés in this thoroughly disarming movie."
—
Orange County Register
Posted Mar 28, 2013
|
|
C+
|
65%
|
Starbuck (2013) |
"
[Starbuck] would be more likable if it were less ingratiating. It didn't have to be so quick to excuse the hero's general, genial incompetence just because he's so doggone lovable and has such studly sperm."
—
Orange County Register
Posted Mar 28, 2013
|
|
B-
|
77%
|
Renoir (2013) |
"
A voluptuous, under-dramatized account of Pierre-Auguste Renoir's heroic final phase."
—
Orange County Register
Posted Mar 28, 2013
|
|
A-
|
81%
|
From Up On Poppy Hill (2013) |
"
From Up On Poppy Hill is at once old-fashioned and innovative, an exquisite evocation of Yokohama in 1963 that dares to treat teenagers with both gravity and grace."
—
Orange County Register
Posted Mar 28, 2013
|
|
C-
|
28%
|
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013) |
"
Movies like GI Joe: Retaliation want to give you the video-game equivalent of an itchy trigger-finger. It's an emotion-free zone."
—
Orange County Register
Posted Mar 28, 2013
|
|
|
97%
|
The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (2000) |
"
Aviva Kempner's documentary celebration of the Detroit Tigers first baseman defines one of those instances-- rarer than sportswriters admit -- in which a champion athlete becomes a genuine, all-around hero."
—
New Yorker
Posted Mar 19, 2013
|
|
|
77%
|
A League of Their Own (1992) |
"
This movie aims for the tear ducts and the funny bone as ruthlessly as the big action-fantasy hits go after the viscera."
—
New Yorker
Posted Mar 19, 2013
|
|
|
67%
|
Cobb (1994) |
"
Cobb cuts right through the winner-take-all ethos of American athletics. It's a raw, inspired, audaciously funny, and unexpectedly moving collaboration between the writer-director Ron Shelton and Tommy Lee Jones."
—
New Yorker
Posted Mar 19, 2013
|
|
|
92%
|
Charulata (1964) |
"
Ray recognizes the paradox that reformers are insulated from the people for whom they toil, but the movie is too stately and attenuated."
—
New Yorker
Posted Mar 18, 2013
|
|
|
50%
|
Rhapsody in August (1991) |
"
These days, people are more interested in Kurosawa than he is in being Kurosawa."
—
New Yorker
Posted Mar 4, 2013
|
|
|
97%
|
Unforgiven (1992) |
"
This is the finest set of performances ever to grace a Clint Eastwood movie, and this time Eastwood even does a good job directing Eastwood. Every bullet in this movie matters."
—
New Yorker
Posted Feb 20, 2013
|
|
|
——
|
The Brothers Rico (2010) |
"
A primitive, absorbing, meat-and-potatoes-make that spaghetti-and-meatballs-gangster movie from 1957."
—
New Yorker
Posted Jan 7, 2013
|
|
|
——
|
The Mollycoddle (1920) |
"
Fleming's direction has a ticklish, offhand inventiveness, with surprising deadpan editing ..."
—
New Yorker
Posted Dec 31, 2012
|
|
4/4
|
95%
|
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) |
"
Monty Python and the Holy Grail may be 26 years old, but even in the fast-moving world of pop culture, it's no relic. It's still the Holy Grail of crazy comedy."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Nov 26, 2012
|
|
|
100%
|
Secret Agent (1936) |
"
One of the weirdest movies Alfred Hitchcock ever made."
—
New Yorker
Posted Sep 17, 2012
|
|
|
78%
|
Mr. Majestyk (1974) |
"
Majestyk is a multidimensional hero. He's socially conscious yet individualistic, half-smart and semi-tough, human enough to make mistakes and man enough to correct them."
—
New Yorker
Posted Sep 3, 2012
|
|
|
94%
|
It Always Rains on Sunday (1947) |
"
Hamer's artful and iconoclastic film mixes a day in the life of a working-class family with a startling prison-break melodrama."
—
New Yorker
Posted Mar 26, 2012
|
|
|
100%
|
Rear Window (1954) |
"
It's one of Alfred Hitchcock's inspired audience-participation films: watching it, you feel titillated, horrified, and, ultimately, purged."
—
New Yorker
Posted Mar 5, 2012
|
|
|
89%
|
The Pruitt-igoe Myth: An Urban History (2012) |
"
An engulfing real-life horror story as well as a testimony to the dominance of the image in American public discourse."
—
New Yorker
Posted Jan 16, 2012
|
|
|
68%
|
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) |
"
This uninhibited and uproarious monster bash, directed by Joe Dante, is more quick-witted and ironic than the original; it sets forth a savvy, slaphappy agenda before the opening credits and follows it straight through to the end, and even beyond."
—
New Yorker
Posted Nov 7, 2011
|
|
|
——
|
Goldstein (2006) |
"
This is the rare experimental film that's visually alive, spiritually welcoming, and funny even when it's brooding."
—
New Yorker
Posted Oct 17, 2011
|
|
|
34%
|
The Weight of Water (2001) |
"
The boating scenes have a languid yet charged sexuality, and the performances remain vibrant and rock-solid to the end."
—
New Yorker
Posted May 30, 2011
|
|
|
93%
|
Creature Comforts (1989) |
"
Primordially funny: this is one of the few cartoons that get adults to laugh as helplessly as kids."
—
New Yorker
Posted Dec 27, 2010
|
|
|
45%
|
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1993) |
"
[Carrey's] comic language is made up of accent marks, not characters; instead of inhabiting a scene, he swallows it up and spits it out in manic doodles."
—
New Yorker
Posted Nov 8, 2010
|
|
|
99%
|
The Wizard of Oz (1939) |
"
One reason I've loved The Wizard of Oz from boyhood is the way it invites everyone to participate in its make-believe. You surrender your disbelief gleefully because the film is so witty and enjoyable."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jul 7, 2010
|
|
3.5/4
|
82%
|
Mademoiselle Chambon (2010) |
"
In Mademoiselle Chambon, only the scale is modest. The emotional stakes are sky-high."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jul 6, 2010
|
|
|
52%
|
Knight & Day (2010) |
"
I must ask: are we supposed to get off on the utter absurdity of today's big action set pieces? When was the last time an action comedy made you commit to the characters?"
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Jun 22, 2010
|
|
—
|
94%
|
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) |
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Feb 12, 2010
|
|
3/4
|
66%
|
The Blind Side (2009) |
"
It speaks of faith, hope and charity with the down-to-earth tones and rhythms of a high school percussion band in a Thanksgiving Day parade."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Nov 20, 2009
|
|
4/4
|
91%
|
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009) |
"
The movie soars on the cast's brilliance at transforming the characters from monsters and victims into repositories of pride and battlers for turf."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Nov 20, 2009
|
|
3.5/4
|
69%
|
American Casino (2009) |
"
It's a nightmare that starts like a normal daytime drive and ends in a vortex-like sinkhole."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Nov 13, 2009
|
|
3/4
|
52%
|
The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) |
"
A refreshingly unpredictable and fizzy comic fantasy."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Nov 6, 2009
|
|
2/4
|
89%
|
A Serious Man (2009) |
"
All the Coens come up with is a movie about bad things happening to limited people."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Oct 23, 2009
|
|
2.5/4
|
73%
|
Where the Wild Things Are (2009) |
"
You never completely lose their feeling for the little guy, but by the end you feel a bit like Max's mom. Once you know he's safe, you're more than ready to drift into deep sleep."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Oct 15, 2009
|
|
3/4
|
69%
|
Paris (2008) |
"
Klapisch's movie boasts passages of genuine magic."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Oct 9, 2009
|
|
1/4
|
11%
|
Couples Retreat (2009) |
"
Every time the performers insinuate some fresh response, the concepts close in on them. I began to dread even the funny bits, because I knew director Peter Billingsley would milk them to death."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Oct 8, 2009
|
|
2.5/4
|
84%
|
Earth Days (2009) |
"
A surprisingly calm documentary about the history of American ecological activism. But it's good calm, not dead calm."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Oct 2, 2009
|
|
3/4
|
87%
|
Big Fan (2009) |
"
Siegel takes us to the brink of operatic melodrama, then lands us in a tragicomic spot: a psychological landscape of alternate life and make-believe death."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Oct 2, 2009
|
|
2.5/4
|
84%
|
Whip It (2009) |
"
If you're looking for good company, you'll get it."
—
Baltimore Sun
Posted Oct 2, 2009
|
87%
24%
91%
85%
45%
40%
