|
47%
|
Anonymous (2011)
|
"In trying to make a bio-pic of Shakespearean proportions, Anonymous can't help but look like a fraud."
|
Geoff Berkshire
|
|
68%
|
Rubber (2011)
|
"A ludicrous joyride for about 10 minutes before quickly becoming a road to nowhere."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
92%
|
Circo (2011)
|
"Ironic images of mugging clowns and caged animals carry dramatic heft as we uncover the strife that blankets the troupe and the familial restraints that shackle its young performers."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
86%
|
Meek's Cutoff (2011)
|
"Reichardt has a great gift for crafting meditative aeries filled with disarming emotional power, and she harnesses that to weave a potent parable about solemnity, solitude and survival."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
72%
|
Rio (2011)
|
"Just like a pretty pet bird: perky and chirpy, before swiftly fading into the background."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
71%
|
African Cats (2011)
|
"With vistas this majestic, and camerawork this stunning, African Cats comes out roaring."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
73%
|
POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011)
|
"The biggest product Spurlock ends up hawking is Morgan Spurlock: a crafty documentarian who, by selling out, ironically buys himself more cred."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
96%
|
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011)
|
"In true Herzogian fashion, the quirky filmmaker has painted his own distinctive creature: a documentary art film."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
96%
|
13 Assassins (2011)
|
"Miike devotes the film's final 40 minutes to all manner of slice/dice/stab/jab melees that soon border on ridiculous parody and undermine the impact."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
15%
|
Something Borrowed (2011)
|
"A sugary, fluffy meringue of a movie that's digestible in two bites, with a delicious-looking cast to make you forget there's not much to bite into."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
54%
|
Hesher (2011)
|
"It's like a Gregg Araki-circa-1995 movie, hijacked by Sofia Coppola in full-on fractured-family mode: sorta violent, but not quite right; sorta tender, but slightly off."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
59%
|
Yves Saint Laurent - L'amour fou (2011)
|
"More of a somber requiem than a celebratory tribute, owing mainly to languid pacing and spartan visuals that feel sharply incongruous with the dynamic vigor of the designer's clothing."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
75%
|
Everything Must Go (2011)
|
"Ferrell has an empathic dramatic presence that belies a whole other side as an actor. "
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
93%
|
Midnight in Paris (2011)
|
"Contains enough verbal and visual whimsy to provide a welcome glimmer of the Allen of Yore."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
87%
|
Submarine (2011)
|
"It's caught up in preciously self-aware tics meant to read as glibly endearing, but which instead turn into smug tirades that quickly become white noise."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
84%
|
Beginners (2011)
|
"A stirring, finely tuned ode to family, fulfillment and new beginnings."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
89%
|
The Trip (2011)
|
"A wickedly satisfying, irreverent laugh-in stuffed with improv, snappy repartee and some of the most hilarious impersonations this side of SNL."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
18%
|
The Art of Getting By (2011)
|
"Sweet, well-meaning and blandly unremarkable paean to high-school hipsterdom that's as disposable as last year's textbooks."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
79%
|
Page One: Inside the New York Times (2011)
|
"This is Disneyland for media junkies, offering a rarefied entrée into the Times' hallowed halls and allowing for fascinating if calculated glimpses into top-level meetings."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
84%
|
A Better Life (2011)
|
"Resonates with strong emotional conviction, and brings tremendous truth to a seemingly simple story that masks a heartfelt core."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
38%
|
Monte Carlo (2011)
|
"The froth is there, but it arrives more like a smartly portioned serving of Diet Coke rather than a bloated root beer float that threatens to whip you into a synthetic sugar high."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
36%
|
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
|
"The most visually dazzling installment yet is an exhilarating, exhausting ride."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
91%
|
Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest (2011)
|
"Beats sketches an honest, empathic portrait that shines with clear reverence for the group's achievements, and the personal struggles they've never managed to overcome."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
21%
|
Snow Flower And The Secret Fan (2011)
|
"Wang needlessly pads the movie with heart-tugging gimmicks and canned melodrama that undercut its raw impact."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
64%
|
Another Earth (2011)
|
"The execution doesn't live up to the ambition. Get past the sci-fi novelty and it's yet another morose indie where characters wallow in and play up their own moroseness."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
52%
|
The Devil's Double (2011)
|
"Cooper is revelatory in his twin performances, sounding off peals of rage, nuance and charisma barely hinted at in his previous roles."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
23%
|
The Smurfs (2011)
|
"Size isn't the only thing that comes up short in this bland, uninspired redo that's short on laughs and long on outsize kiddie-movie clichés more pandering than entertaining. "
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
73%
|
The Whistleblower (2011)
|
"Weisz's steadfast conviction saves the film from going completely overboard."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
25%
|
The Change-Up (2011)
|
"Bateman and Reynolds are a riot, relentlessly piling on the laughs as they alternate between buttoned-up tool and louche douchebag with zippy ease."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
92%
|
Senna (2011)
|
"As both quiet tribute and verite entertainment, Senna makes for a worthy pit stop."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
36%
|
One Day (2011)
|
"Hathaway and Sturgess inconceivably cancel out each others' magnetism in unconvincing scenes of love and longing that feel more tacked-on than lived-in."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
81%
|
Higher Ground (2011)
|
"Farmiga fashions a brazenly confident directorial debut that reveals a mature and seasoned touch."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
66%
|
Love Crime (2011)
|
"It disintegrates into a trashy mess of conflicting tones and silly setups that quickly sink its stock value."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
83%
|
Warrior (2011)
|
"The actors wind up their dramatic punches, even if the movie itself doesn't quite know how to set up the fighting ring."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
17%
|
I Don't Know How She Does It (2011)
|
"Like a messy post-toddler kitchen floor covered in spilled pancake syrup, Does It is drenched in a sticky-sweet residue that trips up the very deep and real dilemmas that the story seeks to spotlight."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
73%
|
Like Crazy (2011)
|
"Steers clear of the broad banality typical of Hollywood romantic comedies"
|
Geoff Berkshire
|
|
84%
|
Puss in Boots (2011)
|
"Has enough charm and visual delights to compensate for its own storytelling shortcomings."
|
Geoff Berkshire
|
|
41%
|
Straw Dogs (2011)
|
"In Lurie's crafty hands, Straw Dogs becomes subtly shaded, steering clear of black-or-white judgments that indict big-city tastes or condescend to conservative small-town values."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
95%
|
Weekend (2011)
|
"Cullen and New have an easy, sparkling chemistry that imbues depth and truthfulness to an otherwise standard conceit and allows them to transcend the material's worn-down devices. "
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
29%
|
Machine Gun Preacher (2011)
|
"Bringing [Childers'] story to the screen provokes uncomfortable feelings, especially with rat-a-tat scenes of violence piling on the Rambo-isms to turn him into a quasi-action hero. "
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
23%
|
What's Your Number? (2011)
|
"When it comes to numbers, this is the movie's mathematical formula: 20 hookups multiplied by a hoary script equals countless loathsome scenes that even Faris can't save. "
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
33%
|
Texas Killing Fields (2011)
|
"Novice director Ami Canaan Mann dutifully sticks to the serial-killer guidebook like a student too studious to draw outside the lines."
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
77%
|
Melancholia (2011)
|
"Like its firebrand director, Melancholia is all pomp and operatics, but it's ultimately a hollow, indulgent exercise in wringing perceived meaning and substance out of its wild end-of-the-world premise. "
|
Alexis Loinaz
|
|
99%
|
Le Havre (2011)
|
"So breezy that once the film ends, it simply drifts away"
|
Geoff Berkshire
|
|
68%
|
Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
|
"Remains a gimmicky novelty as a horror series, but one that's more creatively durable than anyone could have reasonably expected."
|
Geoff Berkshire
|
|
94%
|
Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey (2011)
|
"You'd have to be pretty grouchy to resist the warm and fuzzy heart of this family-friendly doc."
|
Geoff Berkshire
|
|
88%
|
Margin Call (2011)
|
"Paints a portrait of a world where money equals status and ambition is a currency of its own."
|
Geoff Berkshire
|
|
75%
|
Damsels in Distress (2012)
|
"Light and whimsical with enough bite to keep it interesting."
|
Geoff Berkshire
|
|
90%
|
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
|
"An unusually unsettling experience, designed to leave you as haunted as its heroine."
|
Geoff Berkshire
|
|
36%
|
The Thing (2011)
|
"It may not be a remake, but The Thing is certainly a rip-off."
|
Geoff Berkshire
|
72%
77%
61%
52%
26%
4%
