|
97%
|
Gravity (2013)
|
"Unfolding as a series of terrifying object lessons in Newtonian physics, the movie lends new meaning to the phrase "spatial geometry.""
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
88%
|
Rush (2013)
|
"Rush is not a particularly deep film. But more importantly, it is not a film that mistakes itself for deep. And this self-knowledge makes Rush, in some ways, a wiser film than many that aspire to loftier goals."
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
81%
|
Prisoners (2013)
|
"Ethical exploration or exploitation? In the end, I come down reservedly on the former side: the work done here by Jackman, Gyllenhaal, and especially Villeneuve is simply too powerful to ignore."
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
55%
|
Child Of God ()
|
"Child of God is shot with rough, raw energy and steeped in a suitably barren Southern atmosphere. It's also a chore to sit through."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
33%
|
The Family (2013)
|
"A movie with a PG brain and a NC-17 body count, unsuitable for audiences of any age. "
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
35%
|
Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)
|
"Though there's some admirably clever plotting to interweave the film's second half with events in the original, it's simply not as scary."
|
Ian Buckwalter
|
|
78%
|
Moebius ()
|
"Moebius is sordid, yet-need I say it?-never dull."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
75%
|
Populaire (2013)
|
"A genial, knowing throwback-a reminder of that stylish, half-imaginary era that thrived in Hollywood before Mad Men came along and pickled it in gin."
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
86%
|
Palo Alto ()
|
"An example of how to turn been-there-done-that material into something luminous."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
99%
|
Short Term 12 (2013)
|
"A compact masterpiece of storytelling that brims equally with ambition and humility. It is, by a wide margin, the best film I have seen so far this year."
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
69%
|
The Unknown Known ()
|
"Though it doesn't go very far or deep, Morris has crafted "The Unknown Known" expertly."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
100%
|
The Armstrong Lie (2013)
|
"Gibney's own conflicted feelings toward Armstrong -- awe and admiration mingled with a true fan's fury at being duped -- make for a compellingly nuanced depiction."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
88%
|
Under the Skin ()
|
"A sometimes hypnotically beautiful, sometimes monotonous sci-fi experiment."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
47%
|
Parkland (2013)
|
"Once Kennedy is pronounced dead, "Parkland" goes downhill fast, with a tone of TV-movie solemnity, epitomized by James Newton Howard's heavy-handed score, taking over."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
93%
|
Philomena (2013)
|
"Frears gives the story a slick makeover, blending melodrama and comedy with brisk professionalism and a hearty helping of schmaltz. But Dench and Coogan sell it well."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
78%
|
Night Moves ()
|
"A disquietingly beautiful, deeply intelligent thriller about radical activism and its consequences - both material and moral - in 21st century America."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
3%
|
Getaway (2013)
|
"The only participant to emerge with its reputation intact--though not its paint job--is the Shelby Mustang muscle car, which also delivers the film's most nuanced and psychologically complex performance."
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
79%
|
Tracks ()
|
"The film is lovely to look at, with cleanly framed, golden-hued widescreen images of desert scenery so evocative you practically taste the dust. It's also a bit dull."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
97%
|
Gravity (2013)
|
"A master class in fluid camerawork, bold, unfussy imagery and special effects that put most recent Hollywood blockbusters to shame."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
89%
|
The World's End (2013)
|
"Robert Frost famously mused 'Some say the world will end in fire/Some say in ice.' I prefer Edgar Wright's vision: It will end in a pub."
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
68%
|
Elysium (2013)
|
"Though Elysium is a testament to Blomkamp's extraordinary skill as a visual filmmaker, it does not speak nearly so well for his gifts as a writer. "
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
14%
|
The Smurfs 2 (2013)
|
"Yes, this is the point in the summer when I outsource my critical judgment to my kids. "
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
38%
|
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013)
|
"Yes, this is the point in the summer when I outsource my critical judgment to my kids. "
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
91%
|
Blue Jasmine (2013)
|
"Allen is a famously hands-off director, and while this method succeeds on occasion, too many scenes in Blue Jasmine betray a directorial negligence. "
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
85%
|
The Way Way Back (2013)
|
"An unexpected yet irresistible cross between Meatballs and The Ice Storm, The Way Way Back just may be the best movie of the summer."
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
87%
|
The Conjuring (2013)
|
"...there were moments where it seemed the entire theater was holding its breath. We were united in one feeling: terror."
|
Ian Buckwalter
|
|
42%
|
Red 2 (2013)
|
"Willis is self-evidently capable of kicking the asses of men considerably younger than himself. But at some point shouldn't he consider an alternative pastime?"
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
72%
|
Pacific Rim (2013)
|
"Its visual achievements notwithstanding, Pacific Rim's greatest breakthrough may be that it's the first Hollywood blockbuster to sport a title less descriptive of its plot than of its intended market. "
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
31%
|
The Lone Ranger (2013)
|
"Somewhere, around the hour-and-a-half mark, The Lone Ranger makes the fateful decision not to end. Worse, the movie keeps not-ending for another full hour."
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
50%
|
White House Down (2013)
|
"Essentially a louder, sillier version of Die Hard, with John Cale standing in for John McClane, a precocious daughter standing in for the plucky wife, and, alas, no one even much trying to stand in for Alan Rickman's deliciously wicked Hans Gruber."
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
56%
|
Man of Steel (2013)
|
"There's plenty to like in Snyder's hectic, rowdy film. But by the time we reach the bludgeoning excesses of the last half-hour it's hard to shake the sense that this was an opportunity at least partially missed."
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
84%
|
This Is the End (2013)
|
"Crass, flimsily plotted, and self-referential to the point of narcissistic personality disorder. For those willing to tolerate such defects, however, it is also very, very funny."
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
11%
|
After Earth (2013)
|
"A film in which the text and subtext-an effortlessly gifted father presses his less-talented son to follow in his footsteps-are in perfect alignment. Alas, only in one of the two does the story end happily."
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
84%
|
A Touch of Sin (2013)
|
"A bitter, brutal, often brilliant exploration of violence and corruption in contemporary China."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
94%
|
The Past (2013)
|
"The pile-up of twists and red herrings is slightly arbitrary, but Farhadi's sense of pacing is superb, and he has a genuine feel for the way our personal histories entangle us."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
91%
|
The Great Beauty ()
|
"A vivid glimpse, both funny and deeply unsettling, of a Berlusconi-era Italy rotting below its luscious-looking surface."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
89%
|
The Immigrant ()
|
"An old-fashioned but subdued melodrama, with a pleasingly ripe musical score and scenes full of big emotions performed at a hushed pitch."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
95%
|
Blue Is The Warmest Color (2013)
|
"A shattering masterpiece about sexual awakening, heartbreak, and self-discovery."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
38%
|
Grigris ()
|
"The movie loses its way with too much plot (including an unconvincing love story), weak dialogue, amateurish acting, and a frustratingly recessive main character."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
40%
|
Only God Forgives (2013)
|
"The film succeeds to some extent as a pure stylistic exercise, with a few fine Lynchian moments blurring reality with erotic and violent fantasies."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
——
|
Un château en Italie (A Castle in Italy) ()
|
"A capably directed autobiographical chronicle by turns enlivened and bogged down by the kind of furious narcissism that is a trademark of French family/relationship dramas."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
95%
|
Behind the Candelabra (2013)
|
"Witty, briskly paced and consistently entertaining."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
92%
|
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
|
"The Coen brothers' new movie ranks with their very best in its nearly pitch-perfect balance of biting satirical humour and deep reserves of feeling. "
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
60%
|
Heli ()
|
"One of those skillfully crafted, unflinching works that nevertheless leaves you questioning what the point of all the queasiness might be."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
59%
|
The Bling Ring (2013)
|
"Eschewing the languorous rhythms and visual lyricism of her previous work, Coppola has crafted a fast-paced caper about vapid youth obsessed with wealth and notoriety."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
86%
|
Young & Beautiful (Jeune Et Jolie) ()
|
"A tender, slyly funny and splendidly shot portrait of an adolescent prostitute that is easily the director's best work since "Swimming Pool"."
|
Jon Frosch
|
|
69%
|
Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
|
"Furious Six continues on in the same vein as its predecessor, and may just be my favorite of the lot."
|
Ian Buckwalter
|
|
87%
|
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
|
"For all its chasing and falling and fighting-and the movie supplies a great deal of each-Star Trek Into Darkness is at its best when the Enterprise crew are merely bickering and bantering among themselves: less space opera than soap opera."
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
49%
|
The Great Gatsby (2013)
|
"The central problem with Luhrmann's film is that when it's entertaining it's not Gatsby, and when it's Gatsby it's not entertaining. "
|
Christopher Orr
|
|
79%
|
Iron Man 3 (2013)
|
"Shane Black excels at writing witty, self-referential, pop-infused banter, and there is no actor working today who is better suited to delivering it than Robert Downey Jr."
|
Christopher Orr
|
