|
|
78%
|
Behind The Burly Q (2010) |
"
Too scattershot to present a truly coherent picture of the burlesque experience, docu nevertheless provides a privileged front-row seat to sample several of the form's most memorable practitioners."
—
Variety
Posted Jul 7, 2010
|
|
|
63%
|
Off Jackson Avenue (2009) |
"
Its laid-back absurdist tone and no-nonsense pacing make for an audio-visual delight."
—
Variety
Posted Jul 2, 2010
|
|
|
64%
|
Great Directors (2010) |
"
Her eclectic pantheon weighs in with entertaining anecdotes and illuminating comments, illustrated with well-chosen samplings of the artists' work."
—
Variety
Posted Jun 30, 2010
|
|
|
78%
|
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector (2010) |
"
Veering wildly between paranoia and self-aggrandizement, Spector makes a fascinating subject."
—
Variety
Posted Jun 28, 2010
|
|
|
83%
|
Stonewall Uprising (2010) |
"
Cohesive, well-structured docu from veteran filmmakers Kate Davis and David Heilbroner boasts a panoply of found footage, graphically positioning the uprising as a flashpoint following decades of repression."
—
Variety
Posted Jun 16, 2010
|
|
|
26%
|
Finding Bliss (2009) |
"
Davis sustains a steady level of soft humor throughout, thanks to her heroine's inexhaustible shockability and the palpable charm of the other thesps."
—
Variety
Posted Jun 8, 2010
|
|
|
42%
|
Burzynski (2010) |
"
Despite its infotainment look, Burzynski ultimately proves convincing."
—
Variety
Posted Jun 4, 2010
|
|
|
93%
|
Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders (2010) |
"
Hopkins rises to the occasion by refusing to make a heroic feel-good film about saving the world one life at a time."
—
Variety
Posted Jun 3, 2010
|
|
|
81%
|
Anton Chekhov's The Duel (2010) |
"
While remaining faithful to its source, places its febrile "Moscow Hamlet" in surroundings so vibrant that tragedy seems an indulgence."
—
Variety
Posted Apr 28, 2010
|
|
|
77%
|
Bear Cub (Cachorro) (2004) |
"
Thoroughly likable, it never resorts to sentimental cliches or moralistic epiphanies."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 7, 2010
|
|
|
81%
|
City Island (2010) |
"
Another expertly written joyride through the confines of narrowminded provincialism to cleansing self-awareness from indie director de Felitta."
—
Variety
Posted Apr 2, 2010
|
|
|
61%
|
Breaking Upwards (2010) |
"
The duo's longtime partnership imparts a palpable, lived-in intimacy, but lack of careful story construction sometimes hobbles the narrative's comic flow."
—
Variety
Posted Apr 1, 2010
|
|
|
100%
|
I Can See You (2008) |
"
Reznick's sound design effectively jangles nerves, and two setpieces trumpet his visual prowess: a languid lovemaking scene lit by indirect flashlight and a tour-de-force musical number."
—
Variety
Posted Feb 24, 2010
|
|
|
70%
|
Phyllis and Harold (2010) |
"
Evocatively fleshed out with surprisingly iconic homemovies, passionate love letters and well-chosen pop tunes, Kleine's homegrown Jewish Madame Bovary escapes the navel-gazing boundaries of the personal-diary docu"
—
Variety
Posted Feb 16, 2010
|
|
|
92%
|
American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein (2010) |
"
David Ridgen and Nicolas Rossier's docu on Norman Finkelstein, American Radical, promises to prove as controversial as the man himself."
—
Variety
Posted Feb 10, 2010
|
|
|
100%
|
Which Way Home (2009) |
"
Dramatically and pictorially pulls its weight."
—
Variety
Posted Feb 2, 2010
|
|
|
100%
|
Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 () |
"
Murray Lerner's mesmerizing docu closely chronicles Cohen's set, only occasionally breaking away to record audience reactions or interview fellow performers, who even today profess astonishment at how Cohen turned the night around."
—
Variety
Posted Jan 20, 2010
|
|
|
79%
|
The Girl on the Train (La Fille du RER) (2010) |
"
Techine fashions a brilliantly complex, intimate multi-strander, held together but somewhat skewed by the central perf of Emilie Dequenne."
—
Variety
Posted Jan 19, 2010
|
|
|
100%
|
Garbage Dreams (2009) |
"
The film's most amazing character is the fantastic garbage town of Mokattam itself, with its winding alleyways piled high with trash, its buildings half exposed, riddled with crevices stuffed with bags of refuse."
—
Variety
Posted Jan 7, 2010
|
|
|
79%
|
Waiting for Armageddon (2010) |
"
Explores beliefs as pervasive as they are largely unexamined."
—
Variety
Posted Jan 7, 2010
|
|
|
——
|
The Other Side of Paradise (2009) |
"
Chronicling the couple's one-on-one relationship issues and roadway encounters of the eccentric and downright traumatic kind, the pic shifts tonal gears with ease, its trio of lead thesps registering realistically if not always engagingly."
—
Variety
Posted Jan 5, 2010
|
|
|
95%
|
Goodbye Solo (2009) |
"
Utterly engrossing dual-character study, unfolding with a serene disregard for indie quirkiness, Goodbye Solo radiates authenticity."
—
Variety
Posted Dec 16, 2009
|
|
|
——
|
The War on Kids (2009) |
"
By and large, the docu's closely reasoned case synchs up nicely with Soling's freewheeling visual approach."
—
Variety
Posted Nov 25, 2009
|
|
|
73%
|
The Good Soldier (2009) |
"
Avoids preaching to the choir, though perhaps only the choir will attend."
—
Variety
Posted Nov 12, 2009
|
|
|
88%
|
Four Seasons Lodge (2008) |
"
The pic serenely unfolds at the slow and steady pace of its indomitable subjects, ultimately rewarding viewers' patience as individual personalities and stories emerge amid the threatened sale of the Catskills colony."
—
Variety
Posted Nov 10, 2009
|
|
|
67%
|
Act of God (2009) |
"
Neither filtered through nor structured around another artist's work, and suffers from the lack of a unifying vision, its parts greater than the whole."
—
Variety
Posted Nov 5, 2009
|
|
|
96%
|
Sweetgrass (2009) |
"
Sweetgrass showcases an elemental intimacy between man and animal."
—
Variety
Posted Sep 28, 2009
|
|
|
62%
|
The Blue Tooth Virgin (2009) |
"
Simultaneously insightful and idiotic, the minimalist pic features a succession of experts providing their two cents on Why We Write, the pitfalls of friendship and the need for outside validation."
—
Variety
Posted Sep 25, 2009
|
|
|
21%
|
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell (2009) |
"
Distinguishes itself from such last-fling-before-the-wedding comedies as The Hangover with the grittiness of its Texas locales and the smug intelligence of its unapologetically narcissistic protagonist."
—
Variety
Posted Sep 24, 2009
|
|
|
60%
|
Casi Divas (Road to Fame) (2008) |
"
[A] gloriously flamboyant comedic extravaganza."
—
Variety
Posted Aug 19, 2009
|
|
|
92%
|
Ponyo (2009) |
"
Ponyo possesses an almost demonic childish energy and a delight in form stronger than reason or narrative."
—
Variety
Posted Aug 13, 2009
|
|
|
75%
|
Ischeznuvshaya Imperiya (Vanished Empire) (2008) |
"
Unsentimental, almost antiheroic snapshot of a disaffected lost generation never billboards its end-of-a-civilization vibe, though that vibe does color its bittersweet nostalgia over youth wasted on the young."
—
Variety
Posted Jul 7, 2009
|
|
|
93%
|
Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg (2009) |
"
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg does an exemplary job of celebrating the seminal achievements of Gertrude Berg and reaffirming her status as a broadcasting pioneer."
—
Variety
Posted Jul 7, 2009
|
|
|
14%
|
Year One (2009) |
"
An amiable stroll through biblical times featuring Jack Black and Michael Cera as exiled Neanderthals, Year One lacks seismic guffaws but elicits many mild smiles."
—
Variety
Posted Jun 17, 2009
|
|
|
69%
|
BLAST! (2009) |
"
The pic climaxes in absurdism worthy of Herzog's doomed mad geniuses."
—
Variety
Posted Jun 8, 2009
|
|
|
80%
|
Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight (2009) |
"
Docu splendidly focuses on the artist but gives shorter shrift to the art itself."
—
Variety
Posted May 19, 2009
|
|
|
100%
|
Being Jewish in France (Comme un Juif en France) () |
"
Ambitious three-hour-plus documentary."
—
Variety
Posted May 14, 2009
|
|
|
17%
|
The Big Shot-Caller (2009) |
"
Fortunately, musicvideo vet Rhein's competent helming skills counterbalance her off-putting dialogue and flat acting style so that the pic...doesn't come off strictly amateur."
—
Variety
Posted May 14, 2009
|
|
|
76%
|
Objectified (2009) |
"
Witty, engaging and exquisitely crafted."
—
Variety
Posted May 8, 2009
|
|
|
38%
|
A Wink and a Smile (2008) |
"
Highly entertaining docu A Wink and a Smile provides an eye-opening lesson in the theory and practice of stripping."
—
Variety
Posted Apr 30, 2009
|
|
|
64%
|
The Girlfriend Experience (2009) |
"
Despite the pic's erotic subject matter and star (vet porn diva Sasha Grey), nothing could be less sensationalistic -- or moralistic -- than this fascinating study of free enterprise in free fall."
—
Variety
Posted Apr 28, 2009
|
|
|
56%
|
Enlighten Up! (2009) |
"
Well-crafted pic traverses the globe, interviewing a who's-who of gurus and investigating a wide range of regimens -- with Rosen as both questioner and body-contorting guinea pig."
—
Variety
Posted Mar 31, 2009
|
|
|
93%
|
Harmony and Me (2009) |
"
Harmony and Me eschews the fits and starts, tensions and complexities of present-tense immediacy in favor of sly, absurdist one-liners, paring everything down to comic essentials."
—
Variety
Posted Mar 31, 2009
|
|
|
89%
|
Robert Blecker Wants Me Dead (2008) |
"
The New York law professor's obsessive relationship to death-row inmate Daryl Holton, self-confessed slayer of his own four children, assumes enough bizarre twists to lay bare the myriad contradictions and prejudices."
—
Variety
Posted Feb 24, 2009
|
|
|
56%
|
Skills Like This (2007) |
"
Likable but lightweight 2007 slacker comedy Skills Like This coasts on laid-back absurdist rhythms as three twentysomething pals scramble to redefine themselves in the wake of one's self-affirming discovery of his talents as a thief."
—
Variety
Posted Feb 10, 2009
|
|
|
33%
|
Between Love & Goodbye (2008) |
"
Helmer-scripter Casper Andreas, whose previous credits (Slutty Summer, A Four Letter Word) adhered firmly and flamboyantly to the comedic, seems to have hit his stride with the operatic excesses of melodrama."
—
Variety
Posted Feb 9, 2009
|
|
|
67%
|
LIfe. Support. Music. (2009) |
"
As in Metzgar's Chances of the World Changing and his recent Reporter, the helmer's quiet narration and sharp focus grant his subjects a matter-of-fact dignity."
—
Variety
Posted Feb 4, 2009
|
|
|
26%
|
Nobel Son (2008) |
"
[An] uneven but enjoyably titillating black comedy."
—
Variety
Posted Dec 5, 2008
|
|
|
44%
|
Let Them Chirp Awhile (2008) |
"
Fresh out of NYU film school, Blitstein films what he knows: His tale of a young filmmaker's writer's block gleefully incorporates all manner of antic styles, from Mack Sennett-style double-takes to Felliniesque black-and-white pantomime."
—
Variety
Posted Dec 3, 2008
|
|
|
47%
|
The Beautiful Truth (2008) |
"
While docu's claims and criticism yield nothing especially new, the form of their exposition seems singularly ingenious, stylistically falling somewhere between a 1950s educational film and some sort of Norman Rockwellian infomercial."
—
Variety
Posted Nov 12, 2008
|
87%
24%
91%
85%
45%
40%
