|
90%
|
Postcards from the Edge (1990)
|
"In this era of postverbal cinema, Postcards proves that movie dialogue can still carry the sting, heft and meaning of the finest old romantic comedy."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
97%
|
The Right Stuff (1983)
|
"Moviegoers seeking a grand yet edifying entertainment, right-stuffed with what Kaufman calls "seriousness of subject matter and a wild humor that comes out of left field," now know where to look..."
|
Richard Schickel
|
|
96%
|
The Big Easy (1987)
|
"A movie that manages to be atmospherically rich while also satisfying the slash-crash imperatives of the police-action genre."
|
Richard Schickel
|
|
93%
|
50/50 (2011)
|
"To the extent that 50/50 works, it because of Gordon-Levitt, one of my favorite actors."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
71%
|
Margaret (2011)
|
"Lonergan didn't bite off more than he could chew with Margaret - this is his personal moral gymnasium - but he did bite off more than others might want to chew."
|
Mary F. Pols
|
|
23%
|
What's Your Number? (2011)
|
"What's Your Number? is not much dumber than the average romantic comedy, but there is something sad and infuriating about it - like running into a high school friend who seemed destined for greatness and walking away realizing she just picked your pocket."
|
Mary F. Pols
|
|
95%
|
Moneyball (2011)
|
"A solid, bustling social comedy at the 130-IQ level, Moneyball boasts the zinging, stinging repartee of grown men working at a kids' game and tired of being handed the prevailing line of bull."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
82%
|
Dolphin Tale (2011)
|
"Kids are going to eat this up. Given what a dismal year it's been for the family film, it's likely their parents will, too."
|
Mary F. Pols
|
|
95%
|
Weekend (2011)
|
"I love what Haigh manages to achieve in his Weekend. The movie is political and challenging, but in an organic way."
|
Mary F. Pols
|
|
93%
|
Drive (2011)
|
"To invest oneself emotionally in the central relationship, or the movie itself, would be akin to investing oneself emotionally in one's car. But when the car looks this good and drives this fast, why not?"
|
Jessica Winter
|
|
17%
|
I Don't Know How She Does It (2011)
|
"It's not that I Don't Know How She Does It tells actual lies about working motherhood - many of its observations and jokes are on point - it's just that it omits the edge, the desperation of a woman on the verge."
|
Mary F. Pols
|
|
77%
|
Killer Joe (2012)
|
"McConaughey's fans might be shocked to see him in this role - more likely, they'd skip the opportunity - but they ought to give his performance a shot."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
74%
|
Rampart (2012)
|
"Harrelson rewards watching; he's no less potent at rest than when he explodes in calculated rage."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
89%
|
The Descendants (2011)
|
"I'm a notorious softie, and I found things to like about the film, most particularly Clooney's performance; but I remained untouched."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
83%
|
The Onion Field (1979)
|
"The Onion Field is a serious and most uncompromising movie. It lacks, however, the sort of disciplined craft that might have made it a powerful and affecting one."
|
Richard Schickel
|
|
83%
|
Warrior (2011)
|
"Warrior's three principle characterizations are compelling - Nolte in particular gives a tempered performance as the shambling, sad-eyed wreck of a dad - but not enough to mask the film's lesser elements."
|
Mary F. Pols
|
|
68%
|
Wuthering Heights (2012)
|
"Faithful and bold..."
|
Mary Corliss
|
|
75%
|
Alps (2012)
|
"It simply demands to be stared at, in awe or incomprehension."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
——
|
Wilde Salome ()
|
"[A] fascinatingly wacky expression of a street actor's passion for a work that seems far from his interests or aptitude."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
83%
|
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
|
"At two hours, the film version is a third the miniseries' length, requiring severe compression by screenwriters Peter Straughan (The Debt) and Bridget O'Connor, which they've accomplished smartly."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
62%
|
Café de Flore (2012)
|
"The film is generous to all its besotted creatures, and to the audience as well. Viewers who fall in love with Café de Flore will find that it loves them back."
|
Mary Corliss
|
|
73%
|
Dark Horse (2012)
|
"Solondz's most waywardly endearing film, his gentlest triumph."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
85%
|
Contagion (2011)
|
"For a good hour, a very good first hour, the film efficiently accumulates small, terrifying incidents and images."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
81%
|
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2011)
|
"We'd call it Crouching Tiger, Freakin' Masterpiece."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
85%
|
The Ides of March (2011)
|
"Clooney sees blustering bustle and edgy familiarity - giant closeups of private conversations - as the contrasts of political campaigns, which are, at heart, all rhetoric and no accountability."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
76%
|
The Debt (2011)
|
"It's a wakeup face slap for a medium that has spent too many warm-weather nights dreaming of superheroes and frat boys."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
81%
|
Higher Ground (2011)
|
"As director, Farmiga is a strong believer in cinematic democracy, allowing the other actors to seize the center of the action and the frame."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
68%
|
Our Idiot Brother (2011)
|
"The movie crafted around Ned is a bit of a shaggy-dog story, struggling with the climax and coda, but the company is so pleasant and the cast so endearing that other flaws are easy to forgive."
|
Mary F. Pols
|
|
64%
|
Amigo (2011)
|
"The problem is that this pot of intrigue takes ages to boil, and the cook refuses to turn up the heat."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
36%
|
One Day (2011)
|
"The characters that Nicholls brought so cunningly to life in the book feel rushed through a timeline, tied to an agenda."
|
Mary F. Pols
|
|
24%
|
Conan the Barbarian (2011)
|
"A gaudily ornamented medieval banquet table groaning with junk food and open entrails."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
45%
|
30 Minutes or Less (2011)
|
"For a soul-sucking 83 minutes, you're trapped inside the film's tiny, ugly mind."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
76%
|
The Help (2011)
|
"For every obvious turn The Help takes, there is Davis, the ideal counterweight."
|
Mary F. Pols
|
|
95%
|
Raiders of the Lost Ark (2012)
|
"Raiders of the Lost Ark has it all -- or, anyway, more than enough to transport moviegoers back to the dazzling, thrill-sated matinee idyls of old."
|
Richard Schickel
|
|
84%
|
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
|
"Here is a dream as old as adolescence, and it is fun to be reminded of its ageless potency, especially in a movie as good-hearted as this one."
|
Richard Schickel
|
|
96%
|
Limelight (1952)
|
"Intended as a tragicomedy, if not a tearjerker, it is a two-thirds bore that comes to life in the last half-hour or so, when the old-master clown stops trying to be pathetic and reverts to his inimitable proper stuff."
|
|
|
96%
|
Dazed and Confused (1993)
|
"Bet it makes you wanna dance."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
84%
|
Moby Dick (1956)
|
"Moby Dick is certainly the most unusual picture of the year and may well be the best."
|
|
|
25%
|
The Change-Up (2011)
|
"Raucous and entertaining but unexciting."
|
Mary F. Pols
|
|
82%
|
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
|
"As both a simian simile and a wonder of technology, Rise of the Planet of the Apes deserves to be in the company of the great original Kong."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
73%
|
The Whistleblower (2011)
|
"Weisz is a dazzling woman, but her beauty is barely noticeable in this role; her character's integrity and her mounting anger grab all the attention."
|
Mary F. Pols
|
|
66%
|
2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984)
|
"Flash: There is intelligent life in outer space. More, anyway, than in this amiable footnote of a movie."
|
|
|
97%
|
The Killing (1956)
|
"At 27 Writer-Director Stanley Kubrick, in his third full-length picture, has shown more audacity with dialogue and camera than Hollywood has seen since the obstreperous Orson Welles went riding out of town on an exhibitors' poll."
|
|
|
85%
|
Our Man in Havana (1959)
|
"The mixture of mayhem and heehaw is particularly tricky to handle, and not even the sure hand of Director Reed has always achieved a smooth blend."
|
|
|
44%
|
Cowboys & Aliens (2011)
|
"Cowboys & Aliens could have been the tangelo of genre-blenders. Instead, it's more like the Jimmy Dean Chocolate Chip Pancake & Sausage on a Stick."
|
Richard Corliss
|
|
98%
|
Forbidden Planet (1956)
|
"[A] nifty interstellar meller."
|
|
|
92%
|
Rocky (1976)
|
"The story is achingly familiar, and though Stallone has a certain power, he is certainly not the subtlest actor to crawl out from under Marlon's overcoat."
|
Richard Schickel
|
|
96%
|
High Noon (1952)
|
"High Noon combines its points about good citizenship with some excellent picturemaking."
|
|
|
90%
|
Serpico (1973)
|
"Wonderful potential, and wasted. Serpico has some brutal surface flash and an acetylene performance by Al Pacino in the title role, but its energy is used to dodge all the questions it should have raised and answered."
|
Jay Cocks
|
|
82%
|
Mildred Pierce (1945)
|
"All this is good melodrama and fair entertainment, but it is much closer to the waltz-time schmalz of Kathleen Norris than to the fox-trot brass of James M. Cain."
|
|
77%
33%
94%
85%
45%
40%
