|
50%
|
Thanks For Sharing (2013)
|
"Wildly inconsistent in tone, it is impossible to know whether the film aspires to comedy; it's certainly not funny."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
98%
|
Gravity (2013)
|
"If I found a lamp, and a genie came out and granted me three wishes, I'd use one to raise Kubrick so I could take him to Gravity ... No element is out of place, no intention unrealized ... unity of time, place and character ... a work of the highest art."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
3%
|
Diana (2013)
|
"A drippy romance, spending the vast majority of its time in private, two-hander scenes imagining inane dialogue between a dead Princess and a famously reclusive, private surgeon; it only exists because it knows neither of them is going to complain."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
86%
|
Blue Caprice (2013)
|
"Would be a moving and sweet depiction of the growing bond between a father and his adopted son if it weren't actually about mass murder."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
93%
|
The Gatekeepers (2013)
|
"Dror Moreh's documentary is remarkable not for stylistic innovation but for the very fact it exists."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
4%
|
Paranoia (2013)
|
"Excruciating dialogue is only the tip of the iceberg of this film's dunderheadedness, but it's the sin that keeps on giving throughout the way too many 108 painful minutes it takes to get through it."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
100%
|
The Rocket (2013)
|
"A true original, depicting a culture rarely filmed, observed with a respectful but never overly reverential eye."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
69%
|
Stoker (2013)
|
"I liked the mood of Stoker: gothic, dark, strange and melancholy. It's like a really creepy Sunday afternoon."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
87%
|
100 Bloody Acres (2013)
|
"Crossing Sweeny Todd with Tucker and Dale Vs Evil, the Cairns boys deliver a lot of laughs, nice and realistic dollops of sticky gore, and quite a lot of heart to boot."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
69%
|
Greetings From Tim Buckley (2013)
|
"It's a quiet movie of small rewards, made by a whole lot of talented people taking a risk and pulling it off with humble aplomb."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
89%
|
The World's End (2013)
|
"A serious misfire, unfunny, unexciting, uninvolving and, perhaps the worst sin of all, incredibly self-indulgent to the detriment of the audience's enjoyment."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
85%
|
Upstream Color (2013)
|
"Carruth's second feature proudly follows his debut Primer (2004) in its audacity, intellect and astonishing originality. Carruth does not make films for fools, but nor does he try and fool anyone; if you're willing to look, it's all there."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
88%
|
What Maisie Knew (2013)
|
"If anything, Maisie as a character is a little too indefatigable; once in a while, you'd love her to throw a huge screaming tantrum and let her wretched parents know just what children they're being."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
26%
|
Jobs (2013)
|
"It contains some of the most inspiring, moving, goosebump-inducing moments, scenes and speeches that I've seen thus far this year, but also some truly cringeworthy ones. It's as though two different creative teams made the film, and only one was good."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
100%
|
Red Obsession (2013)
|
"As much an examination of contemporary Chinese character, ambition and taste as it is of the Chateaux and wines of Bordeaux ... globe-trotting, hugely informative and thoroughly entertaining ... crafted with as much care as the wines we see onscreen."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
68%
|
Elysium (2013)
|
"A bloody good movie, a ripping yarn, a dark dystopian future sci-fi, full of action, astonishing imagery, a superb score (Ryan Amon), great performances (with one exception) and such an assured sense of style that I was continually bowled over."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
85%
|
The Way Way Back (2013)
|
"It certainly doesn't break the mould, but coming-of-age drama The Way, Way Back, from writer / directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, is sweet, gently funny, and full of terrific attention to detail."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
95%
|
Behind the Candelabra (2013)
|
"The production design is terrific, revelling not just in period detail but in all of Liberace's excesses, and, typically, Soderbergh's camera and use of music are never anything other than top notch."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
——
|
Le prénom ()
|
"Four of the five characters are really unlikeable, and the effect is of being trapped in a small place with five hideous people yelling at you - it's crushing, oppressive and claustrophobic."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
79%
|
Reality (2013)
|
"It is a brutal, frank, painful and highly meticulous look at an ordinary man undergoing a very modern crisis amidst a very simple life."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
84%
|
This Is the End (2013)
|
"This is the End is one of the most fun movies I've seen in ages. It's a silly extravaganza, a huge bunch of nonsense, but, boy, it's entertaining ... This film is one big in-joke, but it's a very good one."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
40%
|
Only God Forgives (2013)
|
"Drive, and many of Refn's other films, were thrillingly kinetic; here, by gluing his actors to their spots, he gives us beautiful images but nothing to watch. About halfway through, there is a brief foot chase. At least it moves."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
95%
|
We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks (2013)
|
"If you're looking for a really comprehensive, clear, evenhanded and thoroughly entertaining examination of, well, the story of WikiLeaks, master documentarian Alex Gibney has gone to the trouble of providing you with one."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
56%
|
The Look of Love (2013)
|
"Winterbottom and Coogan redefined the modern biopic with 24 Hour Party People. Here, they try and squeeze themselves into an old-fashioned one, awkwardly."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
67%
|
World War Z (2013)
|
"An extremely unholy child of 28 Days Later and Contagion, the uncompromisingly bleak zombie epidemic epic World War Z is nowhere near as good as those two films but is not without its merits ... [including] an undeniably awesome second act."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
11%
|
After Earth (2013)
|
"Part Scientology tool, part extremely ill-conceived familial gift (wouldn't it be better to let your kid go to school than ask him to endure endless takes in a greenscreen studio?) and part blatant money-making attempt."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
35%
|
The Internship (2013)
|
"Each scene builds the plot without leaving air for jokes. It's like a "perfect screenplay" as punched out by a computer program ... It's a bullet-point movie. "
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
95%
|
Ping Pong (2013)
|
"The actual matches themselves, as they approach the Finals and still contain some of our characters, become really quite exciting."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
92%
|
Farewell, My Queen (2012)
|
"It's kind of the Rosencrantz and Gulidenstern Are Dead approach to history, observing it from the perspective of a "minor character", and it works ... it's a fascinating glimpse of a moment in history from, essentially, a safe bystander."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
69%
|
Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
|
"This franchise puts it all on the screen. It's completely ludicrous, totally bonkers, and that's why you're there."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
93%
|
Frances Ha (2013)
|
"The film boldly - and ultimately successfully - vastly favors character definition over plot, and favors character detail over laughs - although the second half (much more than the first) is very funny."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
49%
|
The Great Gatsby (2013)
|
"This is an interpretation of Gatsby (minor spoiler alert) that revels in the idea of Gatsby and Daisy as two psychopaths (or at least social sociopaths), lovers whose disregard for others, as they pursue their own twisted desires, is bonkers. "
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
100%
|
This Ain't California (2013)
|
"Even knowing the artifice, it's an excellent and extremely enjoyable film. Indeed, knowing the artifice, it's way more impressive ... However true it isn't, it's a lovely evocation of what might have been."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
79%
|
Iron Man 3 (2013)
|
"Paltrow, who plays love interest Pepper Potts (and in a much bigger showing here) said in an interview I heard recently ... that Downey improvised hugely in the first two films but stuck more to the script here. They should have let him flow. "
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
95%
|
The Hunt (2013)
|
"To call The Hunt gripping would be like calling Annie Hall funny. It is, but it's also so much more than that."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
33%
|
Cheerful Weather For The Wedding (2012)
|
"If you're seriously white-knuckling for a dose of English Period Countryside Romanticism while waiting for Downton's next season to roll, Cheerful Weather for the Wedding will be like methadone: it's not going to satisfy you, but it may relieve your itch."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
84%
|
Kon Tiki (2013)
|
"If you're in need of a couple of bursts of all-over goosebumps, Kon-Tiki is your surest bet at the moment."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
93%
|
No (2013)
|
"It's not easy material but it's truly fascinating, and expertly done."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
47%
|
Olympus Has Fallen (2013)
|
"Having stayed up much of the night to watch the hunt for, and ultimate take down, of Suspect 2 in the Marathon Bombings, it was particularly distressing to watch this vile abomination of a movie whose "relevance" only adds to its dishonor."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
69%
|
Trance (2013)
|
"If you were to tell me that Danny Boyle had told his long-standing First Assistant Director to go make a movie "in the style of Danny Boyle", and he had done so, and that the result had been TRANCE, I would've believed you. This is him slumming, badly."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
84%
|
Sleepwalk With Me (2012)
|
"Really, this film lives or dies on the charm of its protagonist. Luckily, Birbiglia is very charming indeed."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
82%
|
De rouille et d'os (Rust and Bone) (2012)
|
"The film achieves what all dramatic films should strive for: complete audience empathy for the main characters. I cared for these two so deeply, and the many, many moments of quiet triumph gave me rushes of joy. A beautiful triumph of precision."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
37%
|
Hyde Park on Hudson (2012)
|
"A delightful piece of historical speculation grounded in historical details and personal recollections that have continually been coming to light over the last seventy years ... Murray is terrific in the part - charming, at ease and cunning as a fox."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
98%
|
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God (2012)
|
"Before you say you can't take another feature length documentary about sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests, know that Alex Gibney's examination of the subject is both fresh and revelatory."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
78%
|
A Late Quartet (2012)
|
"Christopher Walken, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Imogen Poots and Ukrainian actor Mark Ivanir all give pitch-perfect performances, grounding the heavy emotion in realism and understatement."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
14%
|
A Good Day To Die Hard (2013)
|
"You know you're in trouble when an action film opens in Moscow showing a Russian criminal being held prisoner in a cell playing chess by himself. This is the kind of obvious cheesy badly scripted trope A Good Day to Die Hard is rampantly infected with."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
84%
|
Side Effects (2013)
|
"At its best, it's chilling, creepy, strange and intriguing; at its worst, it's gorgeous to look at."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
59%
|
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
|
"Sam Raimi made his first feature film, The Evil Dead, for $90,000. Now he has made Oz The Great and Powerful - a prequel to The Wizard of Oz - for 2,222 times that. The result is a thousand times less entertaining."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
49%
|
Hit & Run (2012)
|
"Hit and Run has a bouncy, goofy charm."
|
CJ Johnson
|
|
77%
|
Killer Joe (2012)
|
"It's like a cheap, nasty dessert: completely devoid of nutrition, probably very bad for you, but kind of delicious while it briefly lasts."
|
CJ Johnson
|
