|
98%
|
Before Midnight (2013)
|
"Whatever wins Best Picture for 2013 ... long after that film's glory fades, actors, writers, cinephiles, and lovers will still lavish Before Midnight with praise."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
78%
|
Iron Man 3 (2013)
|
"As much fun as I had while I watched it, it's falling apart like Tony Stark's armor now that I'm putting it to the test of ... you know ... making sense. Or meaning anything."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
42%
|
To The Wonder (2013)
|
"You can climb [Mont St. Michel] through tradition and religion ... and almost touch the heavens. Or walk the other way, into the the gray, where everything loses definition..."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
100%
|
Before Sunrise (1995)
|
"Linklater captures romance at the sunset of gadget-free existence ... holy moments when no gadget or lens comes between us and our immediate company and surroundings."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
84%
|
Like Someone in Love (2013)
|
"This is a movie about love - how much we need it, how we go wrong in the way we pursue it, and how one world's ideas about it are passing while another's are taking over."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
94%
|
Amour (2012)
|
"Amour will now rate highly on a list of my favorite horror movies. It's certainly upsetting. But that is its strength. "
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
84%
|
Side Effects (2013)
|
"The surprises aren't much to get excited about. They come from the Magic 8 Ball of Hollywood Plot Twists, as arbitrary as they are implausible."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
88%
|
Django Unchained (2012)
|
"When a culture tells stories that excuse its own evils long enough, the pendulum is sure to swing the other direction to reveal, even exaggerate, what has been left out."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
69%
|
Les Misérables (2012)
|
"A perfect film for a Pez dispenser set: A gallery of big famous faces that deliver fleeting bursts of energy ... but these moments dissolve, giving us nothing much to chew on."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
89%
|
Lincoln (2012)
|
"I never anticipated that I'd come out of this film, which I expected would be heavy-handed and ponderous, saying, 'Wow, that may be the funniest movie of Spielberg's career.'"
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
92%
|
Skyfall (2012)
|
"... the best-looking Bond movie ever made. Roger Deakins' cinematography is full of striking silhouettes, some stark and simple as woodcuts, others multi-layered and illusory."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
70%
|
The Loneliest Planet (2012)
|
"I wouldn't say that I find the movie satisfying, but I do find it powerfully haunting. That's a compliment. To be haunted by art is a better thing than to be satisfied by it."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
78%
|
Flight (2012)
|
"Adrenalin-rush thrills, sex appeal, a drug-rush zoom on retina dilation, courtroom sermonizing ... Oscar buzz, children, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
96%
|
Argo (2012)
|
"The closer the film gets to its big finale, the more we can hear the hum of typical suspense-thriller machinery."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
64%
|
Sinister (2012)
|
"Sinister is not only director Scott Derrickson's most fully realized vision but also his most personal film. And as haunted houses go, this one is beautifully noisy."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
85%
|
The Master (2012)
|
"Anderson does not judge his monstrous characters. He finds sympathy for them even at the heights of their delusion. "
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
56%
|
The Bourne Legacy (2012)
|
"The Bourne Legacy arrives at one of the most jarringly abrupt and anticlimactic conclusions I've ever seen."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
87%
|
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
|
"It gets lost in the labyrinth of its own ethical questions. ... That's not to say there aren't plenty of staggeringly awesome moments."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
86%
|
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
|
"Where so many emerged feeling a kind of euphoria, I left discouraged. The music that those closing moments demand [should be] troubling and tragic, not a triumphant anthem."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
92%
|
The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
|
"Dare I suggest that [this film] is better at exploring questions about our voyeuristic culture ... than The Hunger Games? Yes, I think so."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
96%
|
The Kid with a Bike (2012)
|
"[It] gives obvious homage to a variety of films. ... But one inspiration shines throughout the movie ... The Red Balloon."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
85%
|
The Hunger Games (2012)
|
"More satisfying than Twilight and a stronger kickoff than the first Harry Potter movie. But ... [it] fails to explore the ethical dilemmas it presents. "
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
44%
|
Casa de mi padre (2012)
|
"It's not just boring ... it's frustrating, because we now how much better Ferrell can be when he's given creative material."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
51%
|
John Carter (2012)
|
"Playing the princess, whose name is Dejah Thoris, Lynn Collins is a revelation. I'm not just talking about those costumes (Dejah-view!) which she was clearly born to wear."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
95%
|
Pina (2011)
|
"Bring someone who doubts that movies can surprise us anymore. ... Bring somebody who isn't yet excited about stereoscopic cinema. They'll change their minds."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
——
|
Lucky Life (2010)
|
"It was a poem before it was a movie. Thus it makes sense that the film works more like poetry than prose. And there is fear, mystery, and majesty burning in every scene."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
77%
|
War Horse (2011)
|
"Many who dismiss this film have forgotten: [Its source is] a children's story. ... Would you tell a child that The Black Stallion is an artificial, sentimental fantasy?"
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
75%
|
The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
|
"It's interesting that the villain's name is pronounced like 'saccharine' when the whole movie feels like it's made of frosting."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
90%
|
The Muppet Movie (1979)
|
"This isn't about one sock puppet's search to be all that he can be. It's about a community combining their talents to bring joy to the world."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
96%
|
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011)
|
"These images of what the world was increase my sense of awe at what the world is. "
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
90%
|
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2011)
|
"Uncle Boonmee is about ... the moments when our worlds expand; when our outlines turn out to be more porous than we thought."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
84%
|
My Week with Marilyn (2011)
|
"Out of one side of the film's mouth, we hear, 'Isn't it a shame, what celebrity culture did to this girl?" and out of the other side, 'Good God, look at her! She's a goddess!'"
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
38%
|
Cars 2 (2011)
|
"Cars dazzled my eyes and warmed my heart. Cars 2 ... inspired resistance instead of welcome."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
88%
|
The Five Obstructions (2003)
|
"Von Trier is rejuvenating his mentor's imagination. He's also reminding him that art can 'catch the conscience' of the audience and the artist."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
88%
|
Certified Copy (Copie Conforme) (2011)
|
"I could assess the performances (Juliette Binoche is better than ever). ... But I can't treat Certified Copy with a critic's typical detachment. I'm in love with it. "
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
92%
|
The Gleaners and I (2001)
|
"Varda is, herself, a gleaner. Her eyes are her tools, and her camera is her basket. Insatiably curious, she seeks, finds, redeems. ... When we pay attention, attention pays."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
90%
|
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
|
"Every society has its traps, the film suggests. ... But they're not equally corrupt. There's a clear sign hanging over the road less traveled, and it says 'Wrong Way.'"
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
49%
|
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)
|
"The series' most entertaining movie so far ... [But] either the screenwriters don't understand Lewis's story, or they're actively subverting ideas he illustrated beautifully."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
90%
|
The Fighter (2010)
|
"While the crowd cheered, I didn't want Micky to win the fight. I wanted somebody ... to come along and rescue him from his family's ignorance."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
73%
|
The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
|
"... in the long list of films translating and transforming the stories of the ubiquitous Philip K. Dick, this falls in the 'Watchable but Disappointing' category."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
84%
|
Jane Eyre (2011)
|
"The colors and compositions recall the haunting beauty of Jane Campion's The Piano, which found a similar tension between the wilderness and a highly mannered society."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
93%
|
Another Year (2010)
|
"The Hepples are a joy to watch. ... Think about it. How often do we see a great marriage on the big screen?"
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
94%
|
Win Win (2011)
|
"How often is my 'generosity' inspired by self-serving possibilities? Win Win is going to aggravate me for the rest of this year."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
84%
|
The Tree of Life (2011)
|
"Those occasional moments in Days of Heaven that inspired a catch in the breath ... are the building blocks of this film. Grace notes are now the primary element."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
84%
|
Beginners (2011)
|
"Mills weaves emotional storylines together -- and anthropomorphizes a canine -- without stumbling into sentimentality. It feels true, lived-in, every single moment."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
94%
|
Days of Heaven (1978)
|
"It has a visual syntax so eloquent -- its fields of gold cause its quiet characters to stand out like mythic figures -- it would play powerfully as a silent film. "
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
94%
|
Journal d'un curé de campagne (Diary of a Country Priest) (1951)
|
"Its rare glimpses of the French countryside are stark and striking, suggesting that any man who would truly pursue holiness will walk hard roads through desolate lands."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
——
|
Three Colors Trilogy (2003)
|
"My favorite cinematic achievement. I return to it again and again, blessed by visual beauty, musical invention, astonishing performances and inspired spiritual exploration."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
100%
|
Playtime (Play Time) (1967)
|
"This film delivers exactly what its title promises. It's a panoramic frenzy of elaborate sights and sound design."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
|
96%
|
The Wind Will Carry Us (2000)
|
"Kiarostami could have just made a documentary, and it would have been fascinating. But his narrative is a way of humbly questioning his own ethics and methods."
|
Jeffrey Overstreet
|
70%
83%
63%
52%
26%
4%
