|
67%
|
Haute Cuisine (2013)
|
"With a title like Haute Cuisine, one can expect a high degree of gastronomic titillation. On that score, the film delivers."
|
Bruce Demara
|
|
41%
|
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2013)
|
"It's a time trip worth taking, with moody lensing and a suspenseful script (by Jacob Forman) that offers more than just the usual bloodbath."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
47%
|
Parkland (2013)
|
"Peter Landesman's bland Parkland approaches history by way of mediocrity."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
8%
|
Runner Runner (2013)
|
"It is oxymoronically a thriller that fails to live up to the genre, playing it safe from start to finish with an insipid hero, a pedestrian plot and a conclusion that is as predictable as the phases of the moon."
|
Bruce Demara
|
|
98%
|
Wadjda (2013)
|
"Wadjda captures Saudi life on the cusp of serious change, but it's by no means a solemn drama. Al-Mansour writes and directs with a light touch and hopeful aspect."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
78%
|
The Dirties (2013)
|
"In such a cluttered cultural space, it feels so startlingly fresh, urgent, honest and real."
|
Bruce Demara
|
|
97%
|
Gravity (2013)
|
"Not since 2001: A Space Odyssey has a film so vividly and realistically transmitted the feeling of being lost in the cosmos."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
94%
|
Muscle Shoals (2013)
|
"The film runs a tad long (just under two hours) and could stand another edit, but Mick, Keith, Bono and Aretha are on a roll, man."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
89%
|
After Tiller (2013)
|
"After Tiller takes a compassionate look at a highly impassioned situation."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
20%
|
Girl Most Likely (2013)
|
"Once you get past Imogene's insufferableness, you'll find yourself rooting for her."
|
Bruce Demara
|
|
——
|
Google and the World Brain ()
|
"Google and the World Brain dives into the contemporary issue of online privacy, copyright, and freedom of information."
|
Paul Clarke
|
|
78%
|
Metallica Through the Never (2013)
|
"Through the Never succeeds as a concert film by serving up enough dazzling visual wizardry and good ol' thrash metal rock to make it a passably engaging experience."
|
Bruce Demara
|
|
18%
|
Baggage Claim (2013)
|
"Baggage Claim is the lost luggage of rom-coms."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
88%
|
Rush (2013)
|
"This is no mere thrill ride by two real-life rival speedsters, although it is certainly that. The film also provides a sobering look at what it takes to be a true champion."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
100%
|
Red Obsession (2013)
|
"Despite being a rather thin, by-the-books documentary that abruptly changes course at the halfway mark, Red Obsession tells a fascinating financial tale about the rise of "wine fever" in China."
|
Linda Barnard
|
|
100%
|
On The Job (2013)
|
"Makes up in character development and action shots what it lacks in narrative innovation."
|
|
|
82%
|
Don Jon (2013)
|
"Gordon-Levitt demonstrates he is a filmmaker with promise who blends a good ear for dialogue with fine pacing and an eye for making a good-looking picture."
|
Linda Barnard
|
|
95%
|
Enough Said (2013)
|
"Gandolfini's achingly honest work is at odds with the rest of Enough Said, which should have been titled Not Enough Said."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
59%
|
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)
|
"At its heart, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is fun, even if it is occasionally so chaotic it tramples the movie's flow like a herd of stampeding Buffaloafs."
|
Linda Barnard
|
|
——
|
Watermark ()
|
"It's meant to inspire us to think about our relationship with water and how we use it, and in this it succeeds admirably."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
——
|
Unclaimed ()
|
"A documentary that sends its audience on a rollercoaster ride of emotions."
|
Bruce Demara
|
|
5%
|
Battle of the Year (2013)
|
"Chris Brown gets punched in the face, so it's not a total wash."
|
Linda Barnard
|
|
——
|
Our Man in Tehran ()
|
"Through it all, Weinstein, the veteran, and Drew Taylor, making his directorial debut, weave an intelligent, complex and tension-filled story that breathes life into historical events that are fast fading from our collective memory."
|
Bruce Demara
|
|
96%
|
Cutie And The Boxer (2013)
|
"More than anything, the film expresses - at an almost subconscious level - the difficulties of discerning not only what real art is, but also what true love is all about."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
60%
|
Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story ()
|
"The film's talking heads format grinds on at times, but at least the quotes are good and occasionally even shocking."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
81%
|
Prisoners (2013)
|
"Prisoners uncoils with a serpent's stealth - and strikes just as suddenly."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
40%
|
The Art of the Steal ()
|
"Feels like a series of vignettes featuring smart quipping stars randomly strung together."
|
Linda Barnard
|
|
34%
|
Salinger (2013)
|
"Salerno's 10-year trawl through Salinger's closely guarded life gets repetitive, since there are no known film interviews or audiotapes of the author to draw on."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
31%
|
Austenland (2013)
|
"Austenland is modest fun but needs to show it has a brain under its sun bonnet."
|
Linda Barnard
|
|
78%
|
Good Ol' Freda (2013)
|
"[Gives] insight into a rare, innocent time in rock history when a scrap of pillowcase that cradled a mop-top singer or an autographed photo were all fans needed to feel close to their idols."
|
Linda Barnard
|
|
51%
|
A Single Shot (2013)
|
"The pace feels too languid, draining some of the tension and suspense from the story."
|
Bruce Demara
|
|
99%
|
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
|
"Knowing that it was made without a single computer, and entirely by human ingenuity, makes it all the more worthy of marveling at, 75 years and an added dimension later."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
62%
|
Les salauds (The Bastards) ()
|
"The most noteworthy thing isn't the pictures but rather the hypnotic soundtrack, a vibrant club mix."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
79%
|
Tracks ()
|
"Mia Wasikowska plays Australian Robyn Davidson, a loner who makes Greta Garbo look like an extrovert, in John Curran's beautifully lensed dramatic recreation of Davidson's 2,700-kilometre trek across the Aussie desert in 1977."
|
Linda Barnard
|
|
97%
|
12 Years a Slave (2013)
|
"Believe the Oscar buzz. Britain's Steve McQueen (Hunger, Shame) nails the horror of America's slavery shame but also finds humanity in one man's determination to free himself and return to his family. "
|
Peter Howell
|
|
85%
|
The Invisible Woman (2013)
|
"Ralph Fiennes both stars (as Dickens) and directs with an exacting eye to period detail and there are great performances across the board, among them Felicity Jones as Nelly Ternan and Kristin Scott Thomas as her mother, Catherine. "
|
Bruce Demara
|
|
100%
|
Tim's Vermeer (2014)
|
"The result astonishes. A fascinating, funny and inspiring story."
|
Linda Barnard
|
|
92%
|
Sample This (2013)
|
"Sample This contains a wealth of revelations about music and musicians with which most people are intimately familiar yet know little about."
|
Jason Anderson
|
|
33%
|
The Family (2013)
|
"While Besson knows his way around an action film, he's not as adept at comedy."
|
Linda Barnard
|
|
34%
|
Passion (2013)
|
"One's ultimate reaction is likely to one of indifference, bemusement or outright disdain considering the pedigree of the filmmaker helming the project: Brian De Palma."
|
Bruce Demara
|
|
35%
|
Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)
|
"If there is a fundamental flaw in Chapter 2, it's that it will make absolutely no sense unless you've seen the first one."
|
Bruce Demara
|
|
34%
|
Adore (2013)
|
"There's an undeniable "ick" factor to this film that overwhelms the justifiable cougar angle. Even worse is the boredom that soon sets in."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
80%
|
Drinking Buddies (2013)
|
"A meandering, unfocused kind-of love story among 20 and 30-somethings that grates as much as it pleases."
|
Linda Barnard
|
|
60%
|
Riddick (2013)
|
"The CGI-created landscape is impressively rendered and detailed, there are loads of cool gadgetry and, of course, plenty of action and "ghosting" - i.e. killing."
|
Bruce Demara
|
|
91%
|
Our Nixon (2013)
|
"Our Nixon shows that while the stooges were good at scheming (up until Watergate, at least) they sucked as filmmakers."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
3%
|
Getaway (2013)
|
"The only real benefit of Getaway is pointing out the likely winners of the next Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple. Come on down, Hawke and Gomez, you certainly deserve it."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
64%
|
One Direction: This Is Us (2013)
|
"One Direction: This is Us is movie fan fare as slickly assembled as the manufactured English/Irish singing group itself."
|
Linda Barnard
|
|
46%
|
Closed Circuit (2013)
|
"Closed Circuit will engage you from the explosive opening frames. It may also leave a deep impression about the limits of personal freedom in a society where electronic eyes are everywhere."
|
Peter Howell
|
|
84%
|
Prince Avalanche (2013)
|
"Its absurdist tact won't be for everybody, but there is satisfaction in the nuanced, often-pleasing performances from Rudd and Hirsch as they slowly reveal their characters to both the audience and each other. These two grow on you."
|
Linda Barnard
|
|
74%
|
The Grandmaster (2013)
|
"Ip Man's story has been told many times before by other filmmakers. Wong builds upon it, establishing the noble fighter as a reflective but still ferocious grandmaster in 1936 in Foshan, Ip Man's home city in southern China."
|
Peter Howell
|
