|
96%
|
Stories We Tell (2013)
|
"Even calling ''Stories We Tell'' a documentary seems rather limiting and not entirely accurate; it's also a deadpan comedy, a juicy melodrama and a gripping mystery, all cleverly blended together with great focus."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
91%
|
Frances Ha (2013)
|
"Nothing really happens in ''Frances Ha'' and yet the film takes us on an emotional journey."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
80%
|
The Boxer (1997)
|
"In each film he makes, Day-Lewis seems to adopt a new persona."
|
Bob Thomas
|
|
86%
|
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
|
"An excessively derivative what-if rehash of themes and interactions that came before, most of the characters lesser copies and even caricatures of the originals."
|
David Germain
|
|
37%
|
Peeples (2013)
|
"These all are amiable people, decent people, sometimes funny people. But unfortunately, the peeps of ''Peeples'' just aren't very memorable people."
|
David Germain
|
|
49%
|
The Great Gatsby (2013)
|
"[Luhrmann's] "Great Gatsby" is all about the glitter but it has no soul - and the fact that he's directed it in 3-D only magnifies the feeling of artificiality."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
78%
|
Iron Man 3 (2013)
|
"The heavy metal action could never sink the irrepressible Downey, but it weighs down the otherwise light joy of ''Iron Man 3.''"
|
Jake Coyle
|
|
46%
|
Pain & Gain (2013)
|
"All but the faintest flashes of humanity and pathos are flattened by the cinematic cyclone that is Michael Bay."
|
David Germain
|
|
52%
|
At Any Price (2013)
|
"The film hasn't quite earned the grim resonance it seeks."
|
Jake Coyle
|
|
72%
|
Elephant (2003)
|
"The approach is oddly riveting, though, because the tension builds slowly, and you know what's going to happen at the end of the day."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
56%
|
Oblivion (2013)
|
"For those who enjoy the simple thrill of handsomely stylized image-making, ''Oblivion'' is mostly mesmerizing."
|
Jake Coyle
|
|
87%
|
A History of Violence (2005)
|
"The less you know about this movie before seeing it -- and you really should see it -- the better."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
78%
|
Sin City (2005)
|
"With a huge, well-chosen cast and the blessing of Miller, who was on set as Rodriguez's co-director, Sin City is a gloriously stylized world unlike anything you've seen before on screen."
|
David Germain
|
|
85%
|
Batman Begins (2005)
|
"Nolan takes an admirable stab at developing a character-driven drama, only to give in to generic action-movie conventions with a blinding, deafening, explosion-laden finale that could have capped off any number of interchangeable Jerry Bruckheimer flicks."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
75%
|
Over the Hedge (2006)
|
"If Over the Hedge aims solely to entertain, it does so in a way that's mildly amusing but mostly hackneyed. If it aims to instruct, it weakens its own argument with the plethora of product tie-ins."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
77%
|
42 (2013)
|
"For all the hate and hostility it depicts, 42 is a film about decent-hearted people. Hate can be infectious, but so can decency. It's the decency you'll take away from 42."
|
David Germain
|
|
81%
|
Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)
|
"Better Luck Tomorrow, a corrosive, insightful study of the pressure-packed lives of suburban high school students, brings a new variant to gangster movies: gangsters with perfect SAT scores."
|
Ben Nuckols
|
|
88%
|
Upstream Color (2013)
|
"The artistry on display is indisputable, and thrilling."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
28%
|
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)
|
"That's not to say that this G.I. Joe is good, aside from a couple of dazzling action set pieces, but at least it's efficient in its muscular mindlessness."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
82%
|
The Place Beyond The Pines (2013)
|
"''The Place Beyond the Pines'' aims admirably for an epic sense of Greek tragedy, and it does have some powerful individual moments, but the characters are all so underdeveloped that the whole effort feels like studied posturing."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
3%
|
Rollerball (2002)
|
"Loud, crude and outlandish, Rollerball is a parody of itself, a frenzy of extreme-sports stunts masquerading as social commentary on violence and the corporate forces that feed off it."
|
David Germain
|
|
93%
|
The Sapphires (2013)
|
"Even when "The Sapphires" is at its most unpolished and cheesiest, O'Dowd and the film's general warm spirit make it a tune hard to resist."
|
Jake Coyle
|
|
64%
|
Fever Pitch (The Perfect Catch) (2005)
|
"Stripped of almost all the brothers' usual crudeness, Fever Pitch proves what we've suspected all along: That beneath the gross-out gags and freak-show humor, Peter and Bobby Farrelly are just a couple of lovable romantics."
|
David Germain
|
|
93%
|
Sugar (2008)
|
"To tell you what happens to him from here would be a tremendous disservice. We'll just say that, refreshingly, nothing about it is sickly sweet."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
43%
|
Admission (2013)
|
"What should be a hilarious, long-overdue pairing of two hugely likable, superstar comedians ends up being a major disappointment with "Admission.""
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
69%
|
The Croods (2013)
|
""The Croods" is both brisk and beautiful, and should be sufficiently entertaining for family audiences for whom few such options exist these days."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
40%
|
The Call (2013)
|
""The Call" dials up a shallow thrill ride, but one efficiently peppered with your typical "don't go in there!" moments."
|
Jake Coyle
|
|
66%
|
Spring Breakers (2013)
|
"We're all screwed, Korine seems to be saying. It's very sad - but also kinda sexy."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
37%
|
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013)
|
"After it's over, poof! You'll forget you ever watched it in the first place."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
60%
|
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
|
"Oz the Great and Powerful aims for nostalgia in older viewers who grew up on The Wizard of Oz and still hold the classic dear while simultaneously enchanting a newer, younger audience. It never really accomplishes either successfully."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
37%
|
Dead Man Down (2013)
|
"The screenplay by J. H. Wyman is squirm-inducing in its preposterous dialogue and haphazard plotting."
|
Jake Coyle
|
|
27%
|
21 And Over (2013)
|
"While comparisons to ''The Hangover'' are inevitable, ''21 & Over'' is actually reminiscent of a different and specific kind of movie: the early Vince Vaughn-Jon Favreau romp."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
67%
|
Stoker (2013)
|
""Stoker" certainly relies too much on its heavy Gothic atmosphere, but it does add up to something - particularly because of Wasikowska's deft performance."
|
Jake Coyle
|
|
52%
|
Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)
|
"''Jack the Giant Slayer'' ends up being smart, thrilling and a whole lot of fun."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
91%
|
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
|
"Barely a year after the release of Mystic River, Clint Eastwood delivers a second consecutive drama that fearlessly probes the shadows of human morality without falling back on easy answers."
|
David Germain
|
|
77%
|
Gladiator (2000)
|
"Time for a little gladiatorial gore with your Milk Duds. Gladiator is here, and it's big, glorious and eminently dumb"
|
David Germain
|
|
70%
|
Bless Me, Ultima (2013)
|
"A mostly gentle and tastefully photographed depiction of a young boy's coming of age in rural 1940s New Mexico."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
94%
|
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
|
"Boyle takes his wildly high-energy visual aesthetic and applies it to a story that, at its core, is rather sweet and traditionally crowdpleasing."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
75%
|
Crash (2004)
|
"Haggis moves seamlessly between all these stories and has structured them in such a way that his characters reach a crisis point simultaneously, followed by melancholy clarity."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
15%
|
A Good Day To Die Hard (2013)
|
"A Good Day to Die Hard is pointless and joyless, a barrage of noise and chaos, an onslaught of destruction without the slightest mention of consequence."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
45%
|
Beautiful Creatures (2013)
|
"A strong cast of likable and, yes, beautiful actors can only do so much with the formula in which they're forced to work."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
20%
|
Identity Thief (2013)
|
"''Identity Thief'' strands these two ordinarily enjoyable comics in the middle of nowhere with no help for miles."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
85%
|
Side Effects (2013)
|
"The complexity of emotion, confusion and loss at the film's start gives way to some acrobatic trickery by the end, but "Side Effects" is never less than gripping or entertaining."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
37%
|
Stand Up Guys (2013)
|
"There's enough humor and tenderness in Fisher Stevens' film to make it a passably enjoyable experience for the most part."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
40%
|
Parker (2013)
|
"Statham is stepping into a well-known persona. But he's not exactly pushing himself outside his comfort zone; he's on auto-pilot here, despite the obvious physical demands of the part."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
30%
|
Broken City (2013)
|
"Everything is simultaneously too complicated and overly spelled out."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
36%
|
LUV (2013)
|
"A kind of "Training Day" hoping for interstitial Terrence Malick poetry in the Baltimore landscape of "The Wire" with the occasional sensationalism of an action film."
|
Jake Coyle
|
|
59%
|
The Last Stand (2013)
|
"Kim keeps things moving briskly and the members of the strong supporting cast don't seem to mind that they're playing flimsy types. Everyone's just here for a mindless good time."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
32%
|
Gangster Squad (2013)
|
"It's all just noise disguised as entertainment."
|
Christy Lemire
|
|
93%
|
Zero Dark Thirty (2013)
|
"Bigelow's extensive staging of the May 1, 2011, raid is a prime example of virtuoso action filmmaking."
|
Christy Lemire
|
79%
27%
100%
85%
45%
40%
