|
79%
|
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2008)
|
"Meticulously paced and beautifully shot."
|
Kim Voynar
|
|
——
|
Gone with the Woman ()
|
|
Monika Bartyzel
|
|
82%
|
XXY (2007)
|
"The struggles of those around Alex are equally moving."
|
Monika Bartyzel
|
|
37%
|
Young People Fucking (Y.P.F.) (2007)
|
"The smaller scale also holds some solid indie charm. "
|
Monika Bartyzel
|
|
66%
|
The Brothers Bloom (2009)
|
"The Brothers Bloom may look slight, but as the intricate tricks and twists of it unfold, all of the cunning and cons in it reveal a sincere, beating heart behind the flash and fun."
|
James Rocchi
|
|
81%
|
Trumbo (2007)
|
"An amazing primer on how to stand by your principles even as the unprincipled knock you around."
|
James Rocchi
|
|
94%
|
My Winnipeg (2007)
|
"A film that makes what would seem like a mundane documentary into a funny, charming, relatable and interesting exploration of Maddin's home."
|
Monika Bartyzel
|
|
92%
|
Ballast (2008)
|
"Both the script and the performances keep audiences at a distance; Hammer deliberately avoids scenes or moments that would make sympathy or identification easy."
|
James Rocchi
|
|
92%
|
Obscene (2008)
|
|
Christopher Campbell
|
|
90%
|
Hunger (2009)
|
"It's a brilliant portrayal of a tragic moment in human history."
|
Kim Voynar
|
|
52%
|
Easy Virtue (2009)
|
"A droll and witty delight."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
100%
|
Ghosts (2007)
|
"Extremely compelling."
|
Kevin Kelly
|
|
89%
|
Leonera (Lion's Den) (2008)
|
"Gusman's performance is so strong and impressive."
|
James Rocchi
|
|
79%
|
Genova ()
|
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
66%
|
The Escapist (2008)
|
"The Escapist wrings jagged tension out of a fractured timeline."
|
James Rocchi
|
|
85%
|
Wendy and Lucy (2008)
|
"After seeing these two films from Reichardt, I can't wait to see what she does next."
|
Kim Voynar
|
|
61%
|
Adoration (2008)
|
"Some find [Egoyan] obtuse and overly intellectual; I like the chances he takes with his films, and his unique way of examining the mundane and tying it to larger issues, and he does that very well in Adoration."
|
Kim Voynar
|
|
91%
|
Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains (2008)
|
"Part of the achievement of Stranded comes in how it isn't merely interested in how these young men survived the crash of Flight 571; it's just as interested in how they survived what came after."
|
James Rocchi
|
|
55%
|
Romulus, My Father (2008)
|
|
Monika Bartyzel
|
|
94%
|
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)
|
"One of the best documentaries I have ever watched in my entire life."
|
Erik Davis
|
|
91%
|
Momma's Man (2008)
|
"The film drags at times, and watching Boren take Mikey further and further into a state of absolute immobility is difficult to watch, but his performance is so spot-on that you can't help but be drawn into figuring out what's going on with him."
|
Kim Voynar
|
|
50%
|
Smart People (2008)
|
"It's so well-made, so well-acted and so impressively (for lack of a better word) smart that anyone who seeks it out will find something to admire and enjoy in its craft and heart."
|
James Rocchi
|
|
91%
|
Gomorrah (Gomorra) (2008)
|
|
James Rocchi
|
|
56%
|
Weirdsville (2007)
|
|
Monika Bartyzel
|
|
66%
|
Che: Part One (The Argentine) (2009)
|
"Bad biographical dramas try to tell you everything about a person's life; good biographical dramas leave you inspired to find out the things not on-screen. Che is, by that yardstick, a very good biographical drama."
|
James Rocchi
|
|
43%
|
Blindness (2008)
|
"Blindness shows us a world of wide-eyed sightlessness, and it does so through a fierce vision that only occasionally loses focus."
|
James Rocchi
|
|
58%
|
Trucker (2009)
|
"It's still a performance you don't want a miss. Michelle Monaghan is memorable."
|
Erik Davis
|
|
——
|
Goliath (2010)
|
|
James Rocchi
|
|
67%
|
Honeydripper (2007)
|
|
Monika Bartyzel
|
|
——
|
Mushishi (Bugmaster) (2007)
|
|
Kevin Kelly
|
|
82%
|
In Bruges (2008)
|
"In Bruges is funny and flashy, but as it ends you know you've been laughing because it truly hurts, and every flare and flash of the talking and the killing have left something much more subtle burned into your brain."
|
James Rocchi
|
|
59%
|
W. (2008)
|
"Is W. a serious drama, or a nightmare comedy of power, privilege and parental friction played out on the global stage?"
|
James Rocchi
|
|
24%
|
Filth and Wisdom (2008)
|
"[The film's] finest attribute is its scraggly, empathetic portrait of close-knit Londoners trying to make a go of things in haphazard, messy, always true-to-themselves ways."
|
Nick Schager
|
|
62%
|
Changeling (2008)
|
"The story of what happened to Christine Collins is fascinating, and there are so many ways a director could have gone with it instead of just giving us a Lifetime movie draped in expensive period production values."
|
James Rocchi
|
|
——
|
South of Heaven ()
|
"It's the Coens meets Sam Fuller while watching Looney Tunes and making an '80s mix tape full of The Smiths and Depeche Mode. I (freak)ing loved it."
|
Scott Weinberg
|
|
61%
|
The Express (2008)
|
"Exciting football games to watch, a lead character we can root for ... I wish it were about 20 minutes shorter, though."
|
Jette Kernion
|
|
53%
|
City of Ember (2008)
|
"A simple and lovely tale, perfect for a family outing."
|
Jette Kernion
|
|
41%
|
Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008)
|
"Once it gets the dumb 'Talk to the paw!' jokes out of its system, it's actually a reasonably charming, mostly benign kids' movie that adults can watch without their heads exploding."
|
Eric D. Snider
|
|
66%
|
Ping Pong Playa (2007)
|
"If you go into Ping Pong Playa' expecting a light, predictable comedy, it would be hard to come out unsatisfied."
|
Monika Bartyzel
|
|
91%
|
Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick (Everlasting Moments) (Maria Larsson's Everlasting Moment) (2009)
|
"... Troell's expert storytelling and some outstanding performances combine to keep the film from feeling overly bleak."
|
Kim Voynar
|
|
34%
|
Miracle at St. Anna (2008)
|
"When Miracle at St. Anna falters, it's in the moments that seem like they could have been crafted by any other film maker; when Miracle at St. Anna succeeds, it's in the moments that could only have been crafted by Lee."
|
James Rocchi
|
|
94%
|
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
|
"There's sadness and tragedy within Slumdog Millionaire -- starvation, genocide, child prostitution and overwhelming oppression -- but there's humor, humanity and dignity as well."
|
Kim Voynar
|
|
93%
|
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
|
"Hawkins is delightful, connecting with the audience when a lesser actress would have been merely cloying in the role."
|
Kim Voynar
|
|
34%
|
Adam Resurrected (2008)
|
"Goldblum's performance as Adam is complex and engrossing to watch ..."
|
Kim Voynar
|
|
78%
|
Burn After Reading (2008)
|
"... a fun ride down the roller coaster of the dark side of human nature as only the Coens can explore it."
|
Kim Voynar
|
|
34%
|
The Burning Plain (2009)
|
"The pacing of the first half is tediously slow, and while this was probably a deliberate decision on Arriaga's part, it does have the effect of dragging the film ..."
|
Kim Voynar
|
|
58%
|
The Secret Life of Bees (2008)
|
"It's like some mythical civil-rights Southern paradise where racism only rarely rears its ugly head, and thus feels contrived."
|
Kim Voynar
|
|
85%
|
Ghost Town (2008)
|
"If the film is little more than Gervais' attempt to break out of the "cult following" category and find some mainstream American success, more power to him. He deserves it, and Ghost Town is an auspicious start."
|
Eric D. Snider
|
|
77%
|
Üç Maymun (Three Monkeys) (2008)
|
"It's certainly worth catching."
|
Kim Voynar
|
|
79%
|
Flow: For Love of Water (2008)
|
"Offers up a call-to-arms against bottled water conglomerates that, in its structural sloppiness, feels like a high school student's tossed-off research paper."
|
Nick Schager
|
76%
48%
100%
85%
45%
40%
