|
49%
|
The Great Gatsby (2013)
|
"... the characters play second fiddle to their surroundings, plotted out in carefully architected 3D depth, lightly glazed with an (East) egg wash."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
92%
|
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
|
"Cooper and Lawrence--Cooper especially-a-re naturally inviting actors, so we're willing to put up with their BS, and the screenplay's... "
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
100%
|
Burn (2012)
|
"... an American treasure, expertly told and exceptionally executed "
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
62%
|
We Have a Pope (2012)
|
"Piccoli is so overwhelmingly effective as the pope that his touching performance commands the film, and overrides Moretti's odd storytelling shortcomings. "
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
65%
|
Starbuck (2013)
|
"By the film's satisfying final scenes, Scott and company are tugging at heartstrings earnestly and damn effectively."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
60%
|
John Dies at the End (2013)
|
"... where George Romero, the Evil Dead series and Richard Kelly's brain are having cheap sex, and everyone is on laughing gas."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
98%
|
56 Up (2013)
|
"Apted's subjects have the physical changes, of course... and there's a greater tendency toward the self-awareness and resignation that comes with age. But fans of the series may be otherwise surprised by the update's distinct lack of stopping power. "
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
79%
|
Quartet (2013)
|
"Hoffman knows and respects his audience, but his film refuses to challenge them... Quartet is just, well, appropriately pleasant."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
84%
|
Detropia (2012)
|
"... photography and spare music that sustains a hauntingly dim tone, while suffering the occasional monotony of a documentary without a story arc."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
69%
|
Les Misérables (2012)
|
"A rewarding musical movie. Its sweeping orchestrations and memorable acting make those longer sequences feel shorter, make the overly saccharine stuff not too sticky."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
52%
|
This is 40 (2012)
|
"... a narrative mess, a stack of repetitive story blocks hastily piled into a 2-hour-plus comedy. But it's also really funny. "
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
99%
|
This Is Not a Film (2012)
|
"... we start to believe this just might be one of the great bold, clandestine film projects ever made."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
91%
|
Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)
|
"Once the actors get into a comfortable groove, Safety reveals some touching moments... "
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
79%
|
A Late Quartet (2012)
|
"When Hoffman and Keener are onscreen... Yaron Zilberman's debut feature plays its most beautiful and intelligent music."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
67%
|
Cloud Atlas (2012)
|
"Tom Tykwer and The Wachowskis have created a film that transcends its heft, adapting David Mitchell's mega-novel into a brisk, cinematic showcase of excitement and surprises. "
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
51%
|
Pusher (2012)
|
"... the story hasn't aged particularly well, and the director's attempts to recreate that 1990s style are uneven, unintended, or just plain unnecessary. "
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
28%
|
Backwards (2012)
|
"In this romantic drama, sweet and innocent equals plain and predictable. And unless you're a hopeful teenage moviegoer, that's a subpar equation for a feature film. "
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
71%
|
Margaret (2011)
|
"Three hours is awfully ambitious for a talky drama, but necessary for achieving the character depth Lonergan shoots for. If that level of character insight feels strange, it should: It barely exists in American film."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
86%
|
Welcome To Pine Hill (2013)
|
"... feels so richly authentic, you could easily mistake it for a documentary."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
89%
|
Compliance (2012)
|
"The setup is cinematically basic - and, as a director, Zobel has fine skills in ensuring a movie about a phone call doesn't feel static - but there are plenty of cultural and sociological layers within."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
73%
|
Dark Horse (2012)
|
"Dark Horse does offer a melancholic connection to the audience, one with eerie, unexpected impact."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
79%
|
Ruby Sparks (2012)
|
"Ruby Sparks clicks, making the most of rich performances by stars Dano and Zoe Kazan, with a script by Kazan that embraces as much convention as it intends to buck."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
87%
|
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
|
"... a huge, mixed bag of Nolan-sized ambition, working both for and against the film. "
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
95%
|
5 Broken Cameras (2012)
|
"... a story that posits man's tender connections against its violent tendencies."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
35%
|
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)
|
"... unsure and inconsistent, waffling between horror humor and historical fiction, never feeling firm enough to establish either..."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
53%
|
Patang (2012)
|
"Bhargava is so caught up in his subtle, non-participant viewpoint - which works very well, by the way - that he doesn't emphasize dialogue or actors enough to craft an emotional bond."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
77%
|
The Color Wheel (2012)
|
"Perry takes two characters, a road trip plot, and grainy 16-millimeter Kodak film (yes, film) and smugly rips up a generation of indie film trends."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
79%
|
The Grey (2012)
|
"Joe Carnahan's Alaska-set survivalist fable feels familiar, but it's also sharp and focused, Carnahan's best film in a decade."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
86%
|
About Sunny ()
|
"...it illuminates the miserable upbringing suffered by a horrible number of American children, amplified by the possibility of escape."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
85%
|
The Hunger Games (2012)
|
"... older folks (like, ages 25-45) who've witnessed frightening tales of oppression or violence in fiction before, will generally be unaffected by the hand-to-hand combat, sword-throwing, poisoning and other such untimely demises. "
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
95%
|
Moneyball (2011)
|
"Pitt's performance is deceptively great, and the award season accolades he received are well deserved. "
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
76%
|
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2012)
|
"... impressively designed, narratively complex and simply scary. And it's the best film to be released in 2011."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
74%
|
Rampart (2012)
|
"When Moverman stays out the way, the action is plain, almost matter of fact. When he gets his camera moving in artificial ways, the action is practically neutered."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
98%
|
The Artist (2011)
|
"... warm cinema surprises and a seemingly endless creative energy that's easy to fall for."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
84%
|
A Better Life (2011)
|
"Weitz creates an effective, surprisingly artistic heart-tugger ..."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
77%
|
Melancholia (2011)
|
"Classic von Trier: handheld camerawork, hand-wringing emotion, and the heavy feeling that everything within the very proper setting is a big, disastrous mess."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
73%
|
Bellflower (2011)
|
"It's impossible not to get caught up in a movie made with such brash boldness and brass balls."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
75%
|
Everything Must Go (2011)
|
"Ferrell's unexpected ability to collect these psychological components - none particularly subtle, but all effective - and build a sad Everyman, shows the guy can actually carry a dramatic film. And probably will again."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
87%
|
Submarine (2011)
|
"... leaps right out of the gate like the little brother to Wes Anderson's Rushmore. "
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
94%
|
Win Win (2011)
|
"... insightful look at the idea of friendship, delivered by an enviable collection of poignant performances."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
87%
|
Bobby Fischer Against The World (2011)
|
"When Garbus begins to document the post-disappearance Fischer years, it becomes clear that her film will stand as one of the quintessential Bobby Fischer records."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
88%
|
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (2011)
|
"... Curry still extracts a dose of mystery and wonders what kind of empathy we can have for the film's subjects."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
91%
|
Source Code (2011)
|
"... what keeps Source Code working even when the story doesn't hold up: Jones's feel for action. With few exceptions, when predictability or subpar dialogue hit the screen, that instinct keeps the audience hanging on."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
25%
|
Autoerotic (2011)
|
"... the presentation isn't necessarily funny or mature enough to inspire the laughs that Autoerotic appears to be shooting for (pardon me.)"
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
65%
|
The Wave (2011)
|
"... an intriguing slant on the story, an occasionally damning portrayal of pointless power."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
92%
|
The Four Times (Le Quattro Volte) (2011)
|
"Frammartino's quiet project is superbly composed and confidently ambitious, suggesting a continuity of life, regardless of corporeal being. But his grand philosophical thesis requires an excess of patience for most theatergoers."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
35%
|
Battle: Los Angeles (2011)
|
"It's quickly apparent the director understands how to choreograph action - especially battle-focused - a skill too often overlooked by crash-happy action filmmakers."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
73%
|
The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
|
"... light suspense, basic action and a pedestrian treatment of a higher power. "
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
48%
|
Bottle Shock (2008)
|
"... (Chris Pine) exudes the type of charm and confidence that helps carry J.J. Abrams' Star Trek; here, it adds a lot of youth and life to a pleasant American underdog tale."
|
Norm Schrager
|
|
43%
|
Dinner for Schmucks (2010)
|
"... too much time spent on the borderline of smart and silly; the longer we're there, the more trying the attempt can feel."
|
Norm Schrager
|
78%
——
——
85%
45%
40%
