|
66%
|
Shortbus (2006)
|
|
Violet Glaze
|
|
33%
|
Breaking and Entering (2007)
|
"[Minghella's] need to meticulously control every situation, to so perfectly intertwine the lives of every character and to tie up every loose thread creates a degree of contrivance so unrealistic that the fine performances of the cast are muted."
|
Cole Haddon
|
|
14%
|
Wild Hogs (2007)
|
"An unending cycle of gay-panic and object-collides-with-testicles jokes and some laughable moments of maudlin sincerity, all to a soundtrack that regurgitates without irony every song that's ever been in any motorcycle movie in film history."
|
John Thomason
|
|
100%
|
Un Chant D'Amour (A Song of Love) (2004)
|
|
John Thomason
|
|
90%
|
Zodiac (2007)
|
"Very little of it works as well as it should, but somehow the strength of his obsessive, single-minded direction makes you overlook all that."
|
Cole Haddon
|
|
84%
|
13 Tzameti (2005)
|
|
Jason Ferguson
|
|
66%
|
Black Snake Moan (2007)
|
"Craig Brewer skillfully evokes an atmosphere of lingering racial hostility in America's Bible Belt for Black Snake Moan, a cleverly scripted redemption story that defies genre and is filled with surprises both harrowing and pleasant."
|
John Thomason
|
|
70%
|
Amazing Grace (2007)
|
"It's a good story, but director Michael Apted can't help but fall into the usual cinematic habits of the hagiographic species."
|
Ian Grey
|
|
34%
|
Reno 911!: Miami (2007)
|
"Overlong and unimaginative, this inflammation of the usually hilarious Comedy Central show goes to great lengths to justify its extended running time, but winds up repeating its jokes before the first act is over."
|
Jason Ferguson
|
|
57%
|
The Astronaut Farmer (2006)
|
"Coming off like Horatio Alger in a spacesuit, The Astronaut Farmer is anachronistic in a refreshing way, echoing the persistent can-do industriousness of classic Americana, where working hard to achieve your goal is all that matters."
|
John Thomason
|
|
19%
|
Factory Girl (2007)
|
"The vibrant 1960s New York art scene has never seemed as boring and programmatic as in George Hickenlooper's Factory Girl, a pointless excuse for the director to recreate hep locations and counterculture icons."
|
John Thomason
|
|
83%
|
A Summer Place (1959)
|
|
John Thomason
|
|
63%
|
Music and Lyrics (2007)
|
"When it comes to self-deprecating humor, it doesn't get much better than Hugh Grant."
|
J.B. Mitchell
|
|
84%
|
Bridge to Terabithia (2007)
|
"The third act goes necessarily dark, maybe a little too much so for the youngest of viewers, but the sense of loss that it conveys ensures that Terabithia is that much more compelling."
|
Jason Ferguson
|
|
——
|
The Bloody Child (1996)
|
|
John Thomason
|
|
89%
|
Venus (2006)
|
"Venus proves that O'Toole is still one of the best actors in the world. He acts more with his quivering mouth and probing gaze than most actors can reciting the most dramatic Shakespeare text."
|
John Thomason
|
|
19%
|
The Last Sin Eater (2007)
|
"It's stunning how flat and lifeless this film is, and we won't even talk about the chintzy special effects. Another cynical God-market outing from the folks at Fox Faith."
|
Jason Ferguson
|
|
5%
|
Because I Said So (2007)
|
"There's not a member of the cast who isn't better than this premise or its execution."
|
Cole Haddon
|
|
29%
|
Smokin' Aces (2007)
|
"... a lot more than it seems, even if you have to wait until the last five minutes to realize just how much more that is and just how integral the violence is to Carnahan's point."
|
Cole Haddon
|
|
85%
|
Sweet Land (2006)
|
"What we have here is an otherwise respectable period drama that keeps descending to an after-school-special level of bluntness."
|
Steve Schneider
|
|
85%
|
La Moustache (2005)
|
|
Jason Ferguson
|
|
87%
|
Jesus Camp (2006)
|
|
John Thomason
|
|
21%
|
The Hitcher (2007)
|
"This one gets most of its thrills via flashy car wrecks and some spectacularly stupid one-liners."
|
Jason Ferguson
|
|
91%
|
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
|
"Eastwood's provocative exploration of the Iwo Jima conflict is a historically educational lesson and, more importantly, a debate-opening comment on our current war."
|
John Thomason
|
|
96%
|
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
|
"With Pan's Labyrinth, director Guillermo del Toro taps the same magical vein that made his Devil's Backbone so memorable."
|
Cole Haddon
|
|
85%
|
Mouchette (1967)
|
"To this day, this devastating portrait of an ostracized young girl's bleak emancipation from the society of predators that surrounds her remains one of the most exciting and continually rewarding films I've ever seen."
|
John Thomason
|
|
92%
|
Volver (2006)
|
"The unpredictable way all these stories begin to weave together makes it impossible to know where Volver is going until the final act. But it's the exploration of the ties that bind mothers to daughters that offers the real substance."
|
Cole Haddon
|
|
74%
|
Sherrybaby (2006)
|
"Watching Maggie Gyllenhaal's bare body and battered soul in Laurie Collyer's quietly extraordinary Sherrybaby, you almost get a sense that the actress knows the load that was her star-making turn in Secretary ..."
|
Ian Grey
|
|
80%
|
Grease (1978)
|
|
J.B. Mitchell
|
|
74%
|
The Painted Veil (2006)
|
"The characters are extraordinarily well-drawn, and Watts and Norton both do fine, subtle work."
|
J.B. Mitchell
|
|
66%
|
Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)
|
"Zhang does a marvelous job at contrasting the tactile sumptuousness of the sets with the venomous, venal brutality that occurs within their walls."
|
Jason Ferguson
|
|
87%
|
Notes on a Scandal (2006)
|
"Dench is a perfect iceberg, relaying her lines with a smug wit, her eyebrows slanted up like daggers of condescension. When photographed in close-up, she's the very picture of ghostly wickedness. Hate her or pity her -- you can't forget her."
|
John Thomason
|
|
26%
|
Stomp the Yard (2007)
|
"While it doesn't reach School Daze heights of greatness, Stomp the Yard evinces enough heart to elevate it quite a bit past most collegiate dramas."
|
Jason Ferguson
|
|
5%
|
THR3E (2007)
|
"Perfect for that good Christian family who's aching to see a neutered, unoriginal crime thriller that clumsily coughs up its 'spiritual' theme only in the last line."
|
Jason Ferguson
|
|
80%
|
Little Children (2006)
|
"Little Children is intentionally very literary, with narration that sometimes substitutes for dialogue and a symmetrical structure."
|
Mark Jenkins
|
|
——
|
Maxx (2006)
|
|
Jason Ferguson
|
|
——
|
Lavoura Arcaica (To the Left of the Father) (2006)
|
|
John Thomason
|
|
78%
|
Dreamgirls (2006)
|
"This story blazes through the Detroit sound, the '60s and '70s, discrimination, betrayal, greed, pride, loyalty and redemption and so much more. It does it with songs and it does it exactly right."
|
Jason Ferguson
|
|
33%
|
The Good German (2007)
|
"The Good German is a self-serving act of fetishistic virtual embalming, with all the liveliness that description implies."
|
Ian Grey
|
|
76%
|
Rocky Balboa (2006)
|
"Smartly, Rocky Balboa not only acknowledges how ridiculous and unseemly it is to resubmit the Italian Stallion into the pop-culture fray of 2006, but wraps the entire movie around that premise."
|
Jason Ferguson
|
|
54%
|
The Good Shepherd (2006)
|
"Though illuminating as a history primer on the CIA, The Good Shepherd has the spark of an 8 a.m. college lecture."
|
Jason Ferguson
|
|
16%
|
Eragon (2006)
|
"[Contains] a plotline that's a pastiche of tired fate-demands-you-take-this-journey tropes."
|
Jason Ferguson
|
|
66%
|
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
|
"The Pursuit of Happyness -- as over-the-top as it seems conceptually -- actually deals out its heartstring cards subtly and never comes off as too cloying. It's the sort of feel-good film that doesn't make your teeth hurt."
|
Jason Ferguson
|
|
78%
|
Charlotte's Web (2006)
|
"Walden Media should be applauded for continuing on their mission to bring high-quality family-centric fare to audiences without infusing every scene with an ironic wink."
|
Jason Ferguson
|
|
62%
|
Blood Diamond (2006)
|
"Who wants to watch something so gruesome?"
|
Cole Haddon
|
|
69%
|
Cocaine Cowboys (2006)
|
"Cocaine Cowboys is a fascinating look at a time when Miami was so flush with cash from cocaine deals that it was completely buffered from a nationwide recession."
|
Jason Ferguson
|
|
88%
|
Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing (2006)
|
"While Shut Up works great as music doc, progressive pep rally and neo-Capra triumph tale, it's even better as a bighearted tale of the love between three extraordinary women."
|
Ian Grey
|
|
47%
|
The Holiday (2006)
|
"You'll find it hard to leave the theater not beaming."
|
Cole Haddon
|
|
31%
|
Unaccompanied Minors (2006)
|
"For a movie funded by an NPR personality, it also has a nasty anti-environmentalist streak."
|
John Thomason
|
|
65%
|
Apocalypto (2006)
|
"Is it a story of a Biblical apocalypse? A probing look at civil strife that history and the movies have neglected? An allegory for Iraq? Try a thoughtless Hollywood actioner crossed with a glorified snuff film."
|
John Thomason
|
75%
22%
63%
85%
46%
40%
