|
2/4
|
——
|
A Rubberband Is An Unlikely Instrument (2013) |
"
It's as though the director, like his subjects, was too comfortable in the safe familiarity of the surface to find the place where it betrays us."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Feb 6, 2013
|
|
|
——
|
A Rubberband Is An Unlikely Instrument (2013) |
"
Without any engaging small-scale human drama or larger social or culture-clash import, the film comes across as trivial, and too often also indulgent and pretentious."
—
Village Voice
Posted Feb 5, 2013
|
|
1/5
|
23%
|
The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (2013) |
"
Ultimately nothing more than a decrepit vehicle for the moldiest of scary-movie clichés: screechy specters, inane character behavior and jump scares that a toddler could anticipate minutes ahead of time."
—
Time Out New York
Posted Feb 5, 2013
|
|
|
89%
|
Koch (2013) |
"
If unlikely to change anyone's mind about its subject, it's an effective primer on a voluble and charismatic mayor who embodied the spirit of the city he loved."
—
Village Voice
Posted Jan 29, 2013
|
|
1.5/4
|
40%
|
As Luck Would Have It (2013) |
"
Álex de la Iglesia's film hammers home the opinion that family is more important than celebrity or wealth."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jan 29, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
86%
|
Supporting Characters (2013) |
"
[A] modest but surprisingly deft indie ..."
—
Time Out New York
Posted Jan 23, 2013
|
|
|
100%
|
Resolution (2013) |
"
Ambiguity enlivens the smart, knotty Resolution, which routinely nods to its own artificiality while positing storytelling as a constantly evolving beast apt to save your life one moment and consume you the next."
—
Village Voice
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
1/5
|
75%
|
The Tall Man () |
—
Boxoffice Magazine
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
|
56%
|
Fairhaven (2013) |
"
Indies don't come blander than writer/director Tom O'Brien's Fairhaven ..."
—
Village Voice
Posted Jan 9, 2013
|
|
|
19%
|
The Baytown Outlaws (2013) |
"
Diligently profane and inane ..."
—
Village Voice
Posted Jan 9, 2013
|
|
|
41%
|
Storage 24 (2013) |
"
A monster from a familiar mother."
—
Village Voice
Posted Jan 9, 2013
|
|
.5/4
|
19%
|
Texas Chainsaw (2013) |
"
There's no deliberate Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2-style comedy to the film, just dim-witted gruesomeness retrofitted with gimmicky contemporary trappings."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jan 4, 2013
|
|
2/5
|
43%
|
Waiting For Lightning (2012) |
"
Rosenberg's approach is heavy with archival footage and interviews, yet oddly features almost nothing from Way himself; his puzzling absence for most of the film turns the project into less of a biography than a one-note hagiography."
—
Time Out New York
Posted Dec 4, 2012
|
|
1.5/4
|
——
|
The Art of Flight 3D (2012) |
"
An aesthetic showcase whose repetitive nature winds up diminishing the excitement of its breathtaking feats of mountainous flight."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Dec 2, 2012
|
|
|
67%
|
California Solo (2012) |
"
Any transformation feels like a device, and any modest hopefulness comes across as simply the unearned wishful thinking of the filmmaker."
—
Village Voice
Posted Nov 27, 2012
|
|
|
88%
|
Life of Pi (2012) |
"
Life of Pi manages occasional spiritual wonder through its 3-D visuals but otherwise sinks like a stone."
—
Village Voice
Posted Nov 20, 2012
|
|
.5/4
|
——
|
First Winter (2012) |
"
The film's interests are mainly relegated to wallowing in the frigid-starvation-suffering of its protagonists."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Nov 8, 2012
|
|
|
89%
|
A Royal Affair (2012) |
"
Director Arcel handles the material with a stately grace that compensates for the story's predictable trajectory, though humdrum period detail and monotonous pacing too often leave the proceedings feeling only partially aroused."
—
Village Voice
Posted Nov 7, 2012
|
|
|
86%
|
Wreck-it Ralph (2012) |
"
Wreck-It Ralph feels like so many modern AAA gaming titles-a promising starting point for an inevitable, improved sequel."
—
Village Voice
Posted Nov 1, 2012
|
|
|
9%
|
Jack and Diane (2012) |
"
There's no heft to these supernatural suggestions, just a sense of stale horror tropes being trotted out to embellish otherwise routine indie material."
—
Village Voice
Posted Nov 1, 2012
|
|
|
77%
|
Bones Brigade: An Autobiography (2012) |
"
The film risks self-importance, but when Peralta admits through tears just how much he loves his skater charges, it imparts what every parent knows ..."
—
Village Voice
Posted Nov 1, 2012
|
|
|
9%
|
Festival of Lights (2012) |
"
Little girls never stop loving their daddies in Festival of Lights, a drama that never stops loving soap-opera-style melodramatics."
—
Village Voice
Posted Nov 1, 2012
|
|
|
6%
|
Silent Hill: Revelation (2012) |
"
With horror altogether absent and a plot drowning in insipid convolutions, it's a film whose early warning to Heather should be heeded: "Don't go to Silent Hill.""
—
Village Voice
Posted Oct 26, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
53%
|
Citadel (2012) |
"
Citadel is stripped down and no-nonsense, fixating on Tommy's emotional and psychological struggles with an intensity that's harrowing."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Oct 24, 2012
|
|
|
93%
|
Sleep Tight (2012) |
"
Nothing if not a well-executed bit of escalating craziness."
—
Village Voice
Posted Oct 23, 2012
|
|
|
25%
|
The Black Tulip (2012) |
"
There are good intentions here, but too little nuance ..."
—
Village Voice
Posted Oct 23, 2012
|
|
|
51%
|
Pusher (2012) |
"
Pusher faithfully mimics Nicolas Winding Refn's 1996 Danish crime saga while missing its nasty, grungy spirit."
—
Village Voice
Posted Oct 23, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
67%
|
Long Shot The Kevin Laue Story (2012) |
"
Long Shot confirms that achieving one's goals is rarely possible without the staunch support of others."
—
Time Out New York
Posted Oct 23, 2012
|
|
1.5/4
|
47%
|
The First Time (2012) |
"
Sex and love are both novel experiences for two high schoolers in this talky affair that suggests a hybrid of Before Sunset and Some Kind of Wonderful."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Oct 14, 2012
|
|
|
41%
|
3, 2, 1... Frankie Go Boom (2012) |
"
Less inept than its worst-of-the-year title suggests, 3, 2, 1 . . . Frankie Go Boom nonetheless proves too ramshackle and aimless to ever achieve true absurdity."
—
Village Voice
Posted Oct 9, 2012
|
|
|
94%
|
Photographic Memory (2012) |
"
Proves a bracing and sometimes uncomfortable peek into private fears and regrets about mortality and missed opportunities."
—
Village Voice
Posted Oct 9, 2012
|
|
|
34%
|
Butter (2012) |
"
Plays like one long, slow descent into cloying moralizing and uplift that's well past its expiration date."
—
Village Voice
Posted Oct 5, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
82%
|
Something in the Air (2013) |
"
Olivier Assayas's film is content to comfortably coast along the directionless courses charted by its characters. "
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Oct 4, 2012
|
|
.5/4
|
9%
|
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You (2012) |
"
Roberto Faenza shoots his Manhattan-set action with a glossiness that's as bland as the soundtrack ballads. "
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Oct 3, 2012
|
|
|
95%
|
Sister (2012) |
"
Writer/director Ursula Meier uses a stripped-down, naturalistic aesthetic full of well-organized compositions that pay close attention to shifts in character mood, comportment, and behavior."
—
Village Voice
Posted Oct 2, 2012
|
|
|
81%
|
Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare (2012) |
"
Escape Fire winds up feeling like only one half of a larger argument."
—
Village Voice
Posted Oct 2, 2012
|
|
A-
|
93%
|
Looper (2012) |
"
A scintillating neo-noir gem of existential quandaries and inescapable fatalism."
—
Lessons of Darkness
Posted Sep 30, 2012
|
|
1.5/4
|
87%
|
Frankenweenie (2012) |
"
Tim Burton's sense of playfulness feels forced throughout, and as the film progresses, any humor or inventiveness takes a backseat to tumultuous set pieces that reference Frankenstein."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Sep 29, 2012
|
|
|
90%
|
Six Million and One (2012) |
"
Fisher's use of POV shots overlaid with narrated readings from his father's diary poignantly captures his desire to consciously inhabit scarred spaces ..."
—
Village Voice
Posted Sep 27, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
90%
|
Beyond The Hills (2013) |
"
It's Cristian Mungiu's staging and compositional skill that lends the material its true sense of dawning dread."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Sep 25, 2012
|
|
1/4
|
17%
|
Bringing Up Bobby (2012) |
"
Just an extended dramatization of the 1980s anti-drug PSA that memorably cautioned "I learned it by watching you!""
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Sep 23, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
78%
|
Dredd (2012) |
"
The story places a premium on delivering its disreputable sex-and-violence goods with a minimum of fuss or pretention."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Sep 19, 2012
|
|
|
60%
|
Electoral Dysfunction (2012) |
"
Just a voting-for-dummies primer."
—
Village Voice
Posted Sep 18, 2012
|
|
|
37%
|
The Brooklyn Brothers Beat The Best (2012) |
"
An indie about-tell me if this sounds familiar-a brokenhearted sad sack who travels cross-country with a weirdo and a too-hot-for-these-dorks woman on a road trip of healing and self-actualization."
—
Village Voice
Posted Sep 18, 2012
|
|
|
20%
|
My Uncle Rafael (2012) |
"
An insufferable import indebted to Mrs. Doubtfire in which a man in prosthetics helps a family cope with, and overcome, divorce."
—
Village Voice
Posted Sep 18, 2012
|
|
6.5/10
|
87%
|
Arbitrage (2012) |
"
Straddling the line between celebration and vilification of its nasty protagonist, Arbitrage plunges into the world of corporate fraud with chilly detachment."
—
Paste Magazine
Posted Sep 14, 2012
|
|
A-
|
85%
|
The Master (2012) |
"
At once explosive and ramshackle, unpredictable and expertly modulated, it's a magnetic performance [by Phoenix]."
—
Lessons of Darkness
Posted Sep 13, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
59%
|
10 Years (2012) |
"
A strong cast convincingly captures the many ways in which adulthood proves far more complicated than what's imagined at 18."
—
Time Out New York
Posted Sep 11, 2012
|
|
|
——
|
The Stand Up (2012) |
"
The Stand Up doesn't make up for [an] absence of humor with any legitimate drama."
—
Village Voice
Posted Sep 11, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
54%
|
Bachelorette (2012) |
"
Asks too much from a tale that argues gagging one's self is both a shameful sin and a useful skill"
—
Boxoffice Magazine
Posted Sep 6, 2012
|
|
1/4
|
23%
|
The Words (2012) |
"
The film folds narratives on top of narratives in a vain attempt to mask the fact that there's nothing to read between its graceless lines."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Sep 5, 2012
|
|
|
90%
|
Keep the Lights On (2012) |
"
Sachs creates an intensely intimate stew of fear, anger, longing, and regret."
—
Village Voice
Posted Sep 5, 2012
|
|
|
33%
|
Mulberry Child (2012) |
"
[Its] poignancy is lessened by its awkward formal devices."
—
Village Voice
Posted Sep 4, 2012
|
|
|
58%
|
The Eye of the Storm (2012) |
"
Its portrait of the grotesque über-privileged has considerable bite, bracingly reveling in the greed, selfishness, bitterness, jealousy, neurosis, detachment, and hunger for power and sex ..."
—
Village Voice
Posted Sep 4, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
73%
|
Toys In The Attic (Na Pude) (2012) |
"
Jirí Barta's film is a disturbing through-the-looking-glass reflection of traditional fairy tales."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Sep 4, 2012
|
|
1/5
|
50%
|
The Tall Man (2012) |
"
Child abductions plague a rural Washington State town, but the more pressing affliction in Pascal Laugier's film is the absence of chills, logic and coherence"
—
Boxoffice Magazine
Posted Aug 30, 2012
|
|
|
39%
|
The Possession (2012) |
"
Delivers second-rate horror clichés unbefitting the imprimatur of producer Sam Raimi."
—
Village Voice
Posted Aug 29, 2012
|
|
.5/4
|
29%
|
The Oogieloves in The Big Balloon Adventure (2012) |
"
Enduring this brainless kid's film is akin to witnessing the end of the world."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Aug 29, 2012
|
|
|
64%
|
The Good Doctor (2012) |
"
The film is anchored and greatly bolstered by Bloom, who delivers a performance of quietly escalating madness."
—
Village Voice
Posted Aug 28, 2012
|
|
.5/4
|
0%
|
General Education (2012) |
"
Too derivative to be amusing and too earnest to be parodic, it assumes the form of countless other teen comedies minus any wit or drama. "
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Aug 19, 2012
|
|
1.5/4
|
33%
|
Death by China (2012) |
"
Further confirmation that agitprop documentaries have become wedded to a template that undermines their very arguments."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Aug 19, 2012
|
|
6.1/10
|
29%
|
Red Lights (2012) |
"
The fact that Red Lights' action doesn't operate in a recognizable universe, however, is a constant problem."
—
Paste Magazine
Posted Aug 16, 2012
|
|
4.4/10
|
63%
|
Union Square (2012) |
"
Lucy's general unpleasantness is a hurdle the film can't clear."
—
Paste Magazine
Posted Aug 16, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
38%
|
[REC] 3 Genesis (2012) |
"
An avalanche of unadventurous nastiness and moldy meta gags."
—
Boxoffice Magazine
Posted Aug 14, 2012
|
|
|
87%
|
Robot & Frank (2012) |
"
It's Langella ... who ultimately props up this borderline schmaltzy character study."
—
Village Voice
Posted Aug 14, 2012
|
|
1/4
|
53%
|
Little Birds (2012) |
"
Juno Temple's Lily is a damaged creature trying to fly in Little Birds, a film of precious, romanticized misery and squalor."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Aug 12, 2012
|
|
|
74%
|
Hope Springs (2012) |
"
A schizophrenic hybrid of tee-hee sex comedy and serious relationship drama, Hope Springs finds itself hopelessly adrift in a non-committal middle ground. "
—
Paste Magazine
Posted Aug 8, 2012
|
|
|
58%
|
Red Hook Summer (2012) |
"
Potently expresses, both aesthetically and narratively, a sense of inclusiveness and diversity."
—
Village Voice
Posted Aug 7, 2012
|
|
|
86%
|
We Women Warriors (2012) |
"
The director's DV cinematography can be rough and ungainly, but it provides sterling glimpses of both family intimacy and its larger social context ..."
—
Village Voice
Posted Aug 7, 2012
|
|
|
20%
|
Goats (2012) |
"
Christopher Neil directs with a mechanical blandness made more tedious still by a score of gentle guitar strumming so aggravatingly benign it might inspire you to partake in one of Wendy's climactic, cathartic primal screams."
—
Village Voice
Posted Aug 7, 2012
|
|
|
18%
|
$upercapitalist (2012) |
"
Even caped do-gooders couldn't save Supercapitalist..."
—
Village Voice
Posted Aug 7, 2012
|
|
|
100%
|
Toy Story 2 (1999) |
"
Pixar's 1995 Toy Story and its superlative 1999 sequel ushered in the supremacy of computer-generated animation."
—
Time Out New York
Posted Aug 6, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
6%
|
Nitro Circus: The Movie 3D (2012) |
"
While the Nitro Circus's many achievements are impressive, they pale in comparison to those of Knoxville and company's."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Aug 5, 2012
|
|
|
0%
|
Assassin's Bullet (2012) |
"
Fans of incessant flashbacks and endless whooshing zooms into close-ups will find much to love about Assassin's Bullet; less satisfied, alas, will be those with a fondness for lucid plotting, compelling intrigue, and credible performances."
—
Village Voice
Posted Jul 31, 2012
|
|
|
92%
|
Mosquita Y Mari (2012) |
"
Despite occasional lapses into showy expressionistic slo-mo, Guerrero's direction demonstrates a patience and attention to emotional detail that allows the two young leads' performances to develop naturally."
—
Village Voice
Posted Jul 31, 2012
|
|
|
71%
|
Sacrifice (2012) |
"
Chen's 126-minute film is stuffed with twisty-turny machinations that are difficult to untangle and not especially important to the story at hand..."
—
Village Voice
Posted Jul 24, 2012
|
|
|
79%
|
Klown (2012) |
"
Raunchy dude comedy is hardly the sole province of American cinema, as Klown all too dispiritingly reconfirms."
—
Village Voice
Posted Jul 24, 2012
|
|
|
94%
|
Wagner's Dream (2012) |
"
A rousing portrait of creative renewal."
—
Village Voice
Posted Jul 19, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
87%
|
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) |
"
Christopher Nolan's capper of his Batman trilogy is a summer blockbuster of grand inclinations in both form and content."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jul 18, 2012
|
|
|
52%
|
Grassroots (2012) |
"
Grassroots disingenuously has it both ways, reducing politics first to a David-versus-Goliath adventure, and then to an everyone-is-cool bowl of mush."
—
Village Voice
Posted Jul 10, 2012
|
|
|
25%
|
Drunkboat (2012) |
"
[An] incoherent drama."
—
Village Voice
Posted Jul 10, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
95%
|
The Imposter (2012) |
"
The film shrewdly opts not to proffer its own hypothesis about the true reasons behind the Gibson family buying Frédéric Bourdin's story."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jul 8, 2012
|
|
5/10
|
51%
|
Savages (2012) |
"
Compared to the successful over-the-top performances of the veterans, the three younger leads seem flat and lifeless."
—
Paste Magazine
Posted Jul 6, 2012
|
|
|
67%
|
The Pact (2012) |
"
There's no pact in The Pact, which is indicative of this faux spooky tale's guiding illogicality."
—
Village Voice
Posted Jul 3, 2012
|
|
|
29%
|
The Magic of Belle Isle (2012) |
"
It's predictably ironic that The Magic of Belle Isle champions the unparalleled power of imagination while displaying absolutely none of its own."
—
Village Voice
Posted Jul 3, 2012
|
|
|
93%
|
Last Ride (2012) |
"
Ivin conveys both facts and emotions with efficient brushstrokes (a spied glance, an offhand comment) that are matched by an understated, evocative lyricism."
—
Village Voice
Posted Jul 3, 2012
|
|
2/4
|
73%
|
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) |
"
No mutation is necessary to clearly see that Marvel's "reboot" of their signature franchise is an unimaginative remake of Sam Raimi's 2002 Spider-Man. "
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jun 29, 2012
|
|
1/4
|
69%
|
Ted (2012) |
"
Seth MacFarlane's comedic modus operandi is to shock with outrageousness and pander with TV and movie citations via one non sequitur after another, a strategy that leads to a few laughs but nothing approaching lasting humor."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jun 26, 2012
|
|
|
50%
|
A Burning Hot Summer (2012) |
"
Although Angèle's religious faith and Frédéric's belief in luck seem like strained attempts at adding heft to the material, the film nevertheless works up a potent dramatic restlessness..."
—
Village Voice
Posted Jun 26, 2012
|
|
2.5/4
|
35%
|
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) |
"
Timor Bekmambetov doesn't need to make his material overtly wink at the audience because his conceit is itself enough of an obvious dim-bulb joke."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jun 21, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
100%
|
The Invisible War (2012) |
"
Kirby Dick's spartan use of graphics and statistics conveys arguments with little grandstanding."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jun 17, 2012
|
|
1.5/4
|
21%
|
That's My Boy (2012) |
"
That's My Boy lazily exists in a fantasyland of Adam Sandler's perpetual adolescence, even as it generates some moderate comic friction from Sandler and Andy Samberg's testy back-and-forth."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jun 15, 2012
|
|
.5/4
|
41%
|
Rock of Ages (2012) |
"
If the Adam Shankman film's debasement of its subject into campy kitsch is the unavoidable fate of all culturally dangerous art, that doesn't make it any less palatable."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jun 13, 2012
|
|
|
80%
|
Ikland (2012) |
"
Soling and co-director David Hilbert divide their screen into multiple visual quadrants, an aesthetic strategy that soon becomes a wearisome affectation ..."
—
Village Voice
Posted Jun 12, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
77%
|
Take This Waltz (2012) |
"
Polley's mature interest in emotional relationships should bolster the film's arthouse prospects, though an A-list cast isn't likely to help this understated indie make much mainstream summer box office noise."
—
Boxoffice Magazine
Posted Jun 7, 2012
|
|
2/4
|
29%
|
Bel Ami (2012) |
"
A coherent characterization of Robert Pattinson's striving schemer is nowhere to be found in this pedestrian period piece."
—
Slant Magazine
Posted Jun 3, 2012
|
|
—
|
——
|
A View Of Love (Un Balcon Sur La Mer) () |
—
Village Voice
Posted May 30, 2012
|
|
1.5/4
|
54%
|
Wallander: The Revenge (2012) |
"
The film treats its headline-ready topics as merely window dressing for a whodunit that's without intrigue or surprise. "
—
Slant Magazine
Posted May 29, 2012
|
|
|
58%
|
U.N. Me (2012) |
"
Unfortunately, mocking jibes and cutaways to Team America and Wonder Woman (among other movies and TV shows) establish a jokey attitude that weakens the overall case."
—
Village Voice
Posted May 29, 2012
|
73%
79%
63%
52%
26%
4%
