|
85%
|
Chronicle (2012)
|
""Chronicle" is an energetic hodgepodge that tweaks familiar conventions just enough to seem fresh. Forget the X-Men - these are iHeroes."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
86%
|
Carol Channing: Larger Than Life (2012)
|
"Not merely affectionate but cheerfully indulgent."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
75%
|
The Innkeepers (2012)
|
"A well-shot but generically dull disappointment."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
74%
|
Kill List (2012)
|
"It would be easy to say that the final minutes of this mixed-up thriller make everything before it meaningless, but that would indicate the odd conclusion has meaning, too."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
75%
|
Splinters (2012)
|
"A cool doc that pivots adroitly between viewpoints and ambitions."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
48%
|
Perfect Sense (2012)
|
"Sadly, even aficionados of the Cinema of Extinction may make "Perfect Sense" an Omega choice."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
71%
|
Big Miracle (2012)
|
"The genuinely sweet nature of this sometimes clunky movie is mixed with a little sass, and wins you over."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
17%
|
W.E. (2012)
|
"Madonna's second shot at directing is a definite step up from her first, 2008's "Filth and Wisdom." Unfortunately, that's faint praise at best."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
63%
|
The Woman in Black (2012)
|
"Though Radcliffe is our eyes and ears, he rarely speaks. It's not easy to carry an entire film in which your job is primarily to react, but he handles the task with impressive confidence."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
——
|
Chemical Brothers: Don't Think (2012)
|
"The visuals never achieve the immersion they're after. In fact, the screen frame winds up circumscribing the experience, rendering the audience voyeurs."
|
Jim Farber
|
|
3%
|
One for the Money (2012)
|
"There have been notable exceptions, but Heigl tends to imbue her characters with an off-putting mix of insecurity and abrasiveness. This film is a prime example."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
87%
|
Declaration of War (2012)
|
"What is surprising is how the film appreciates the way people unready for a huge responsibility can step up to the challenge, and find out who they really are in the process."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
77%
|
The Grey (2012)
|
"Joe Carnahan's great adventure follows Neeson's lead and stays steely to the end, even as its grizzled winners take nothing."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
32%
|
Man on a Ledge (2012)
|
"Like Cassidy, Leth never quite knows whether to jump or stand firm. Too often, he just winds up wobbling in the wind."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
28%
|
Underworld Awakening (2012)
|
"[The] latest, dreadful entry in the vampires-battling-werewolves franchise."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
44%
|
Watching TV with the Red Chinese (2012)
|
"This quirky indie has an off-kilter, shaggy appeal and a filling story."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
55%
|
The Front Line (2012)
|
"While its tone and humanity offset the futility of each side's need for one crucial hill, much of this intense, honorable film is too drawn-out."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
64%
|
The City Dark (2012)
|
"An illuminating documentary about what constant exposure to artificial light does to our bodies, our minds and the natural world."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
38%
|
Red Tails (2012)
|
"While its cast is first-rate and its flying sequences sharp, the movie is as glazed and wide-eyed as a 70-year-old comic book."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
41%
|
Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston (2012)
|
"This isn't simply the biography of an American icon, but the chronicle of a misguided filmmaker."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
84%
|
Crazy Horse (2012)
|
"It's undeniably interesting to watch each element come into place, from choreography to costumes. But the truth is, most viewers will best appreciate the retro-sexy dance numbers themselves."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
80%
|
Haywire (2012)
|
"Carano is cool and in control, even after running, in real time, several blocks and pummeling a guy in an alley. But "Haywire," clean and no-fuss as it is, needs more action scenes to match Carano's game."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
89%
|
Miss Bala (2012)
|
"[A] well-shot, bluntly propulsive thriller..."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
73%
|
Domaine (2012)
|
"Chiha brings a knowledgeable weariness to his feature debut, as his story heads toward an end that feels familiar in all the right ways."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
15%
|
The Divide (2012)
|
"Gens and his screenwriters have nothing but contempt for the characters, the cast and, especially, the audience."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
34%
|
Joyful Noise (2012)
|
"Queen Latifah radiates such effortless charisma that she can elevate the lousiest film. Unfortunately, that effort seems to have become her norm."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
7%
|
The Devil Inside (2012)
|
"It stumbles along to what may arguably be the most abrupt, nonsensical ending since Luis Bunuel stopped slicing cows' eyes for the sake of surrealism."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
92%
|
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2012)
|
"Gorgeous to look at, intriguing to think about and, at times, hard to sit through."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
72%
|
The Hunter (2012)
|
"Pitts turns images of everyday urban sights - plaza steps, concrete apartment houses - into reflections of Ali's sense of emptiness and entrapment."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
74%
|
Norwegian Wood (2012)
|
"Tran seems to realize that the best a filmmaker can do under these circumstances may be to substitute visual for linguistic beauty. And he has created stunning tableaux, before which the saddest of stories unfolds."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
0%
|
Beneath The Darkness (2012)
|
"[Quaid] needs to resist hamming it up in Z-movies like "Beneath the Darkness," which are beneath him and pretty much everyone else."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
68%
|
Roadie (2012)
|
"Rare is the film that refuses to judge its flawed characters, or that grasps the ache of nostalgia while remaining clear-eyed in the face of reality."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
57%
|
It's About You (2012)
|
"If opportunities arise to explore Mellencamp's process or personality, the Markuses pass."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
54%
|
The Iron Lady (2012)
|
"Those hoping for insight into the life and times of Margaret Thatcher herself will leave deeply disappointed."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
23%
|
Angels Crest (2011)
|
"There's actually less here than meets the eye."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
95%
|
Pariah (2011)
|
"Something so honest and touching that you're instantly drawn in to its feelings and sense of place."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
99%
|
A Separation (2011)
|
"Together and apart, Hatami and Maadi are magnetic."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
46%
|
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2012)
|
"While aiming to explore the riddle of grief, this particular story fails by listening to strange angels."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
94%
|
Pina (2011)
|
"An intimate and ravishingly filmed tribute to German dancer Pina Bausch."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
46%
|
The Flowers of War (2011)
|
"[Yimou] turns the Rape of Nanking into a visually stunning melodrama. But the effect of such extreme contrast is unsettling to say the least."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
52%
|
In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011)
|
"A movie that is often harrowing, never less than intense but important, one unafraid of moments too many have chosen to forget."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
76%
|
War Horse (2011)
|
"The vision we connect with isn't that of a horse or his owner, but a storyteller so fascinated by the best and worst of humanity, he continues to search for a way to reconcile them."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
63%
|
We Bought a Zoo (2011)
|
"The moment in any family film when dignity goes out the window is an animal reaction shot."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
53%
|
Albert Nobbs (2012)
|
"The rest of the movie, sadly, can't live up to its leads."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
75%
|
The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
|
"The film is spectacularly constructed, from intimate closeups to dizzying chase scenes. But as is often the case with this format, the motion-capture animation feels weirdly lifeless."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
87%
|
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
|
"Fincher's film, with its chilly esthetics, would seem as calculated as a Michael Crichton thriller of the '90s. But Mara keeps us entranced even when we want to look away."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
60%
|
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
|
"Ritchie's franchise - 7% classic formula, 93% adrenaline - is smart in a showoffy way that flatters its star as well as its audience."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
|
38%
|
Cook County (2011)
|
"There's rarely a point when we believe in any of these characters, the bleakly romanticized setting or their increasingly ugly story."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
94%
|
Corman's World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel (2011)
|
"An excellent introduction to a director equally adept at following his own vision and nurturing those of others."
|
Elizabeth Weitzman
|
|
72%
|
Carnage (2011)
|
"Often very funny and bitingly incisive. Yet, like a visit to friends you don't really care for, you kind of can't wait to leave."
|
Joe Neumaier
|
63%
85%
71%
