|
3/4
|
81%
|
Renoir (2013) |
"
It's that eye-popping surface that is the real star of "Renoir," although the film is an agreeable if shallow look at the great artist in the twilight of his years."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted May 3, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
88%
|
The Angels' Share (2013) |
"
Whether Robbie pulls off his caper should be left for the audience to discover. But Loach's great cinematic switcheroo goes off almost without a hitch."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted May 2, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
24%
|
Arthur Newman (2013) |
"
Obviously the theme of "Arthur Newman" is the American dream of starting over, but Johnston's screenplay hits it so obviously that it loses its resonance. "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 29, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
54%
|
The Company You Keep (2013) |
"
It's like the "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" of political thrillers."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 25, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
94%
|
Room 237 (2013) |
"
You know when "Room 237″ starts getting really scary? When the people in the film start making sense."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 25, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
45%
|
On the Road (2012) |
"
The movie version of "On the Road" won't have the impact on a person that the book ever did. But it does go some way to explaining why the book did."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
——
|
Nameless Gangster (2012) |
"
Yoon Jong-bin's film has the epic sweep and detail of a gangster movie like "Scarface," but none of the mythologizing."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
——
|
This Is Martin Bonner (2013) |
"
In most movies, Martin Bonner would be a memorable minor character, the sort where you'd idly wonder "What's that guy's story?" Chad Hartigan's second feature gives Martin that movie, and the results are quietly astonishing."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
96%
|
Blancanieves (2013) |
"
No, "Blancanieves" isn't subtle, but it's an unforgettable time at the movies."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
——
|
The Final Member () |
"
Like any good Christopher Guest mockumentary, it's full of oddball characters who take something way more seriously than they should, and it pulls up just shy of openly making fun of them."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
100%
|
A Hijacking (2013) |
"
"A Hijacking" tells its tale as plainly as its title, without Hollywood action, without true heroes or villains, without the expected emotional button-pushing. "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
——
|
Cheap Thrills () |
"
"Cheap Thrills" is a raucous pressure cooker that dishes out laughs and shrieks in equal measure."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
——
|
Shepard & Dark () |
"
Treva Wurmfeld has made a lovely and insightful film, not just about this friendship, but all friendships, and how having people in your life who know you so well can be a comfort and a curse."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
81%
|
From Up On Poppy Hill (2013) |
"
"Poppy Hill" proves to be more than just a visual feast. Its seemingly slight storyline has a warm emotional resonance, tapping into both the uncertainty of a Japan caught between past and future."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
——
|
Key of Life (Kagi-dorobô no mesoddo) () |
"
"Key of Life" could have been a little snappier in the pacing department, but the energy level and inventiveness never flags, and when the comics twists and turns come along, they're beautifully executed."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
4/4
|
94%
|
Stories We Tell (2013) |
"
Would "Stories We Tell" have been as compelling if Polley didn't add all the post-modern devices to it? Probably. But the way she tells the story forces us to examine the too-tidy narratives of the stories we tell ourselves."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
4/4
|
87%
|
Upstream Color (2013) |
"
I found it one of the most invigorating and intoxicating movie experiences of the year."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
4/4
|
89%
|
Consuming Spirits (2012) |
"
Frame by frame, sketch by sketch, Sullivan has created a rich and layered world in "Consuming Spirits," one that won't easily let you go. "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
——
|
Dear Mr. Watterson () |
"
The film will send a viewer scrambling for their lovingly battered old copies of "Yukon Ho!" or "Something Under the Bed is Drooling." "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
——
|
Simdiki Zaman (Present Tense) () |
"
"Present Tense" is a movie about a woman who learns to give up all hope for the future. And she learns it very, very slowly. "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
80%
|
Augustine (2013) |
"
Writer-director Alice Winocour takes the relationship into some uncomfortable places, and Soko and Lindon both give nuanced performances, with much roiling beneath the surface. "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
——
|
Á annan veg (Either Way) (2013) |
"
"Either Way" is a slight, ultra-dry comedy with a lot of empty spaces and plenty of silences. But the two main characters are just so endearing that their chemistry fills the gaps nicely. "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
4/4
|
88%
|
Much Ado About Nothing (2013) |
"
While you can sense the easy camaraderie and chemistry among the cast, the film doesn't coast on its homey goodwill. It's actually a very smart and disciplined adaptation of Shakespeare's play. "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 22, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
79%
|
Ginger & Rosa (2013) |
"
Fanning brings such a groundedness and authenticity to the film's central role that you stick with her every step of the way."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 5, 2013
|
|
4/4
|
92%
|
No (2013) |
"
Silliness is on the side of the angels in a brilliant and highly entertaining film that's part political thriller, part media satire."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 4, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
82%
|
Like Someone in Love (2013) |
"
The problem with "Like Someone in Love" is that, while we can see the world through their eyes, we rarely access how they think or feel about it."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 1, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
92%
|
The Gatekeepers (2013) |
"
Much like Errol Morris' "The Fog of War," Dror Moreh's film is a sobering inside look inside history, at mistakes made and opportunities missed. "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 1, 2013
|
|
1.5/4
|
9%
|
The Host (2013) |
"
The nagging disembodied voice of Melanie comes across like the Great Gazoo to Wanda's Fred Flintstone ("Don't steal my boyfriend, dum-dum!")"
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Apr 1, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
65%
|
The Jeffrey Dahmer Files (2013) |
"
Thompson's film is something really different, a film as polite and as unnerving as its subject, one that burrows down deep into your imagination and stays there."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Mar 21, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
77%
|
Any Day Now (2012) |
"
"Any Day Now" has so many ways to break your heart that it seems less a question whether Travis Fine's indie drama will do it, but how. "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Mar 21, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
38%
|
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013) |
"
Some of the jokes are very funny on their own merits, but if this was a real Vegas magic show, much of the audience might have left midway through to see Celine Dion instead."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Mar 15, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
93%
|
Barbara (2012) |
"
That sense of nervous dislocation that the viewer feels in the first few scenes - Where am I? Who is this person? Is she friend or foe? - efficently evokes the muted terror that its characters feel."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Mar 14, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
88%
|
Girl Rising (2013) |
"
While some of the films are more successful than others, they all show the power of engagement and education, of looking at the world and its problems, as one story put it, in a way "that makes the achievable seem doable.""
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Mar 11, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
——
|
The Frankenstein Theory (2013) |
"
It's the first found-footage film I can remember to marry the 21st-century horror genre to classic horror from a century ago, and that makes it at least worth a look. "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Mar 8, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
31%
|
Emperor (2013) |
"
It has an understated but still-relevant message that America may reveal its best self not in its moment of military victory, but in the moments that happen afterward."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Mar 8, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
87%
|
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2013) |
"
In a very real sense, we are watching Herzog watch this film, his rapturous reaction illuminating as much about himself as his subjects."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Mar 7, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
52%
|
Jack the Giant Slayer (2013) |
"
Honestly, the giants are a little boring. It's hard to tell them apart, aside from one that looks like Harvey Keitel for some reason, and another that looks like either Kid or Play from "House Party" (I can never remember which is which.) "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Mar 1, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
89%
|
A Place at the Table (2013) |
"
Filmmakers Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush tackle a complex and seemingly intractable problem with every weapon at a skilled documentarian's disposal."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Feb 28, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
79%
|
The Other Son (2012) |
"
The film goes to great lengths to make us believe its premise, and then use it to make a humane and surprisingly hopeful film about Israeli-Palestinian relations."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Feb 15, 2013
|
|
2/4
|
38%
|
Hyde Park on Hudson (2012) |
"
When the central drama concerns whether the Royal Couple will eat hot dogs or not, you can tell it's too slender a premise to hang on a film on. "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Feb 8, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
88%
|
Starlet (2012) |
"
Their friendship goes nowhere you might expect - Sadie doesn't teach Jane any hard-won life lessons, and Jane doesn't try to rekindle Sadie's lost youth. There are no montages here. "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Feb 7, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
93%
|
Amour (2012) |
"
Riva's performance is undeniably magnificent, as she must chart every step of Anne's physical and mental deteriorating with exacting precision."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Feb 1, 2013
|
|
2.5/4
|
37%
|
Stand Up Guys (2013) |
"
If actor-turned-director Fisher Stevens pushes the geriatric comedy too hard at times, at others he's wise to lay back and let the actors just work."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Feb 1, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
80%
|
Warm Bodies (2013) |
"
"Twilight" fans looking for the next supernatural teen romance might be bummed out that the film's romantic hero, although a cutie, has a little brain matter caught between his teeth."
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Feb 1, 2013
|
|
4/4
|
93%
|
Zero Dark Thirty (2013) |
"
Like "Argo," "Zero Dark Thirty" is a film where you know exactly how it's going to end, and it doesn't make a lick of difference. I was completely riveted every step of the way. "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Jan 11, 2013
|
|
3.5/4
|
92%
|
Silver Linings Playbook (2012) |
"
With "The Silver Linings Playbook," Russell picks up the traditional quirky rom-com genre and shakes it around, just to see what happens. Where it's going is fairly predictable; how it gets there isn't. "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Dec 26, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
70%
|
Les Misérables (2012) |
"
Good thing that "Les Miserables" wasn't filmed in 3D. Audience members in the first few rows might have requested a sneeze guard. "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Dec 26, 2012
|
|
1.5/4
|
18%
|
Parental Guidance (2012) |
"
It's not much fun to watch the perennial Oscar host take a baseball bat to the groin or vomit on a child, let alone in the same scene. "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Dec 26, 2012
|
|
3.5/4
|
69%
|
Liberal Arts (2012) |
"
"Liberal Arts" develops into a special film, less of a love story and more about the pleasures and dangers of being on both sides of a nurturing student-mentor relationship. "
—
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Posted Dec 14, 2012
|
47%
33%
94%
99%
65%
61%
