|
56%
|
Man of Steel (2013)
|
"For those who crave cinematic mayhem, Man of Steel is right up your alley (and it will make a ton of money)."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
85%
|
This Is the End (2013)
|
"It's funnier and more energetic than a lot of what's out there in a movie season most would qualify as disappointing."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
38%
|
The Purge (2013)
|
"When critics bemoan the dumbing down of movies, they're talking about stuff like The Purge."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
34%
|
The Internship (2013)
|
"Everything about it feels stale: the actors, the story, the comedy, everything. And, to make matters worse, that everything goes on for an interminable two hours."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
73%
|
The Kings of Summer (2013)
|
"One senses the filmmakers were going for something more profound and transformative than what ended up on screen."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
11%
|
After Earth (2013)
|
"The characters are emotionally neutered; the average viewer won't care about them. The pacing is plodding and uneven."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
50%
|
Now You See Me (2013)
|
"With Now You See Me, director Louis Leterrier has taken a page out of the book of his characters: use sleight-of-hand so viewers are distracted from some rather obvious screenplay deficiencies."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
62%
|
Epic (2013)
|
"Although the basic story is too juvenile and simplistic to entertain anyone with an age in the double-digit range, the themes and underlying ideas are too complicated to capture the attention of someone younger."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
71%
|
Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
|
"Exists purely to showcase how idiotically over-the-top action sequences can become when annoyances like gravity are tossed to the side."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
20%
|
The Hangover Part III (2013)
|
"The Hangover Part III is an obvious example of how wrong things can go when the almighty dollar is allowed to rule what comes out of Hollywood."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
98%
|
Before Midnight (2013)
|
"The strength of Before Midnight is how real everything feels."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
87%
|
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
|
"This is sufficiently rousing and entertaining that it should please a majority of movie-goers whether they're confessed Trek fans or not."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
50%
|
The Great Gatsby (2013)
|
"As unlikely as it might seem, high-energy director Baz Luhrmann has in fact crafted a somnambulant motion picture."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
68%
|
The Iceman (2013)
|
"The Iceman offers a chronological view into the life of its title protagonist... and what a life it is."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
78%
|
Iron Man 3 (2013)
|
"The level of acting, at one time viewed as negligible in a superhero movie, is top-notch and no one seems to be mailing it in."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
7%
|
The Big Wedding (2013)
|
"It's tired and dated with too few laughs to justify the stultifying attempts at drama and the impossible-to-swallow plot contortions."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
45%
|
Pain & Gain (2013)
|
"This isn't great cinema, but it's vastly entertaining in an overblown, in-your-face sort of way."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
99%
|
Mud (2013)
|
"A modern-day homage to the settings and characters popularized in some of Twain's best loved works."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
55%
|
Oblivion (2013)
|
"Oblivion is imperfect but some of its imperfections result from being overly ambitious."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
42%
|
To The Wonder (2013)
|
"There are moments of pure poetry in the movie but the production as a whole seems overlong and repetitive and takes a detour or two that distract from the aching beauty of the central story."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
65%
|
Disconnect (2013)
|
"A deeply flawed motion picture containing moments of brilliance that illustrate its strong thematic content."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
77%
|
42 (2013)
|
"It's worth seeing because the film is competently presented and the story is inherently important, but I couldn't help be disappointed that the result wasn't more fresh or visionary."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
68%
|
Trance (2013)
|
"The movie is never boring or uninteresting, but I viewed it from a detached perspective, unable to become involved because I didn't really care about any of the three main characters."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
62%
|
Evil Dead (2013)
|
" It's not scary. It's not shocking. It just wallows in viscera."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
9%
|
The Host (2013)
|
"The movie's structure is awkward. There's no real narrative thrust."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
81%
|
The Place Beyond The Pines (2013)
|
"Although The Place Beyond the Pines is not an unqualified success, when Cianfrance stumbles, it's because he's reaching for greatness ..."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
28%
|
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)
|
"Everything in G.I. Joe: Retaliation is perfunctory - technically proficient but soulless. It's not exciting. It's boring."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
38%
|
Admission (2013)
|
"Infused with an almost relentless blandness, it's defined by soft comedy (a few laughs here and there), flaccid drama, and likeable actors."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
47%
|
Olympus Has Fallen (2013)
|
"While Gerard Butler is no Bruce Willis, his Mike Banning is a better facsimile of John McClane than the guy Willis is pretending to play these days."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
65%
|
Spring Breakers (2013)
|
"In another movie, these girls would be sex objects. In Spring Breakers, we're all too aware of what lurks under the pretty packaging."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
41%
|
The Call (2013)
|
"This is as brain-dead as a movie can be and it assumes the audience will have the I.Q. of a rutabaga."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
37%
|
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013)
|
"The material isn't sufficiently funny to allow me to forgive the film's feeble storyline and two-dimensional inhabitants."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
67%
|
Stoker (2013)
|
"Stoker is deliciously demented, and that's a good thing."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
37%
|
Dead Man Down (2013)
|
"Explores a common ground for noir thrillers before stumbling and imploding in a climax that feels like it might have been hijacked from an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
59%
|
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
|
"An imaginative mix of live-action and CGI that pays homage to the iconic images and timeless sense of wonder in the classic The Wizard of Oz without being too deferential."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
52%
|
Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)
|
"It's fast paced, energetic, and enormously likeable."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
25%
|
Phantom (2013)
|
"Much of what's contained in Phantom is at best speculative and at worst completely made-up. But, regardless of the accuracy, it makes for compelling viewing."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
57%
|
Snitch (2013)
|
"Someone please get director Ric Roman Waugh a tripod!"
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
15%
|
A Good Day To Die Hard (2013)
|
" I guess the people making A Good Day to Die Hard don't understand that mortality is one of John McClane's most endearing qualities. Turning him into a cyborg with a sense of self-deprecating humor makes this a low point in the series' history."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
13%
|
Safe Haven (2013)
|
"It's trash - entertaining and escapist, perhaps - but trash nonetheless."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
46%
|
Beautiful Creatures (2013)
|
"The weaknesses of Beautiful Creatures ultimately outweigh the strengths but the conviction of the central relationship is good enough to keep things from becoming laughably bad, even if it all comes apart toward the end."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
94%
|
Amour (2012)
|
"Many viewers will find echoes of their grandparents, parents, or even themselves in these characters."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
20%
|
Identity Thief (2013)
|
"A lot of movies released into theaters deserve the label of "bad." Only a few cross the line into "reprehensible." Say hello to Identity Thief."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
84%
|
Side Effects (2013)
|
"It's the kind of thriller that Alfred Hitchcock might make if he was still alive and active today."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
47%
|
Bullet to the Head (2013)
|
"It's a series of fight scenes that build to a climax that is surprisingly unsatisfying in the way it ultimately plays out."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
80%
|
Warm Bodies (2013)
|
"It wants to be funny, charming, scary, and dramatic. It ends up being a little of each but not successful as any one."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
40%
|
Parker (2013)
|
"The action scenes are crisply directed, brutal, and invigorating. There are several of them and, in the aftermath of two, Parker is left a bloody mess."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
60%
|
John Dies at the End (2013)
|
"It's one of those films that might as well be announced with the words "cult classic" emblazoned on the marquee. It's an interesting failure that's almost worth seeing for that reason alone. Kind of. Not really."
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
——
|
The Hamster Factor and Other Tales of Twelve Monkeys (1997)
|
|
James Berardinelli
|
|
66%
|
Mama (2013)
|
"It starts out strongly, using evocative visuals and an unsettling backstory to establish a creepy tableau, but it proves unable to sustain those strengths all the way to the finish line."
|
James Berardinelli
|
73%
78%
61%
52%
26%
4%
