|
11%
|
Gone (2012)
|
"Seyfried has spent too much time lately in vehicles that aren't worthy of her. Gone at least takes her seriously - except when, to delicious effect, it doesn't."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
86%
|
The Forgiveness of Blood (2012)
|
"It's the kind of movie that makes the world feel like a smaller place, suggesting that the similarities connecting us across continents and cultures are more resonant than the things that divide us."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
25%
|
Act of Valor (2012)
|
"Well, it finally happened. The line separating America from America: The Movie found a way to arrange itself into a stick figure and walk off the scene in disgust."
|
Michelle Orange
|
|
59%
|
Wanderlust (2012)
|
"It's Rudd who provides the tenuous through-line that holds together this scattered ramble of a film, by realizing that there's a middle ground between high-rise living and a cooperative farm, and that it's where most people end up."
|
Alison Willmore
|
|
17%
|
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012)
|
"It's not as wild or as fun as it may sound (or that it needs to be to hit the midnight-movie sweet spot for which it aims), but it's a minor improvement on the unintentional silliness of the initial installment."
|
Alison Willmore
|
|
96%
|
Undefeated (2012)
|
"[It examines] issues of class and race through the lens of its ragtag athletics program while also reinforcing American mythos of bootstrapping, hard work and community. Its triumphs are bittersweet, but they're irresistible."
|
Alison Willmore
|
|
26%
|
This Means War (2012)
|
"If men are from Mars and women from Venus, This Means War drifts in cold, empty space somewhere between the two orbits, where, as the famous tagline goes, no one can hear you scream."
|
Alison Willmore
|
|
94%
|
The Secret World of Arrietty (2012)
|
"Wispy but sweet as spun sugar, The Secret World of Arrietty feels like a modest but exquisitely trimmed Japanese gift to fans of The Borrowers, British author Mary Norton's classic children's books."
|
Michelle Orange
|
|
57%
|
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
|
"The Phantom Menace, in any number of dimensions, is an exercise in disappointment, a film filled with enough callbacks to the first trilogy to remind you about what you loved about them without adding much of note in all the new material."
|
Alison Willmore
|
|
30%
|
The Vow (2012)
|
"McAdams can turn up the charisma and make (almost) any role grounded and watchable, even multiple ones involving time travel and memory loss. Tatum is like a very handsome steak."
|
Alison Willmore
|
|
53%
|
Safe House (2012)
|
"Safe House is a twisted claw of a movie, a picture so visually ugly that, to borrow a line from Moms Mabley, it hurt my feelings."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
89%
|
In Darkness (2012)
|
"The idea seems to be to try and make the experience of the 12 Polish Jews who hid in a sewer for 14 months as uncomfortable for the audience as it was for them."
|
Michelle Orange
|
|
86%
|
Chico & Rita (2012)
|
"This is the kind of sophisticated storytelling you rarely get even in live-action movies any more, full of unexpected turns and unruly human complications."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
42%
|
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)
|
"Johnson's disarming commitment to the doodle of a character he's playing isn't enough to inject life into the rest of the film, which is an anemic retread of beats and elements from its predecessor..."
|
Alison Willmore
|
|
85%
|
Chronicle (2012)
|
"This uneven but earnest, often exhilarating film derives its greatest interest from the way it turns the found-footage format inside out..."
|
Michelle Orange
|
|
65%
|
The Woman in Black (2012)
|
"Watkins gets the mood right, which is the major thing."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
76%
|
Kill List (2012)
|
"Kill List is meticulously designed to be a cult film, which means it can never truly be one: It grabs its audience by the collar instead of beckoning seductively and carelessly."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
74%
|
Big Miracle (2012)
|
"The whales at the center of the story ... get lost amid all the criss-crossing love stories, political wheeler-dealing and well-intentioned but inadequate rescue missions."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
79%
|
The Innkeepers (2012)
|
"More so than in West's previous film, which worked on its own steam right up until the end, The Innkeepers feels like a devoted horror fan's attempt to reinvent a classic genre by sheer force of quality."
|
Michelle Orange
|
|
2%
|
One for the Money (2012)
|
"Heigl and O'Mara snipe at each other with the sizzling chemistry of two people who can't wait to whip out their BlackBerries and check their email as soon as a take is over."
|
Alison Willmore
|
|
32%
|
Man on a Ledge (2012)
|
"At the very least, Leth allows us to bask in the illusion that the movie's farfetched conclusion actually might make sense - until you start taking it apart, piece by piece, and realize that it's all utter ishkabibble."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
79%
|
The Grey (2012)
|
"Carnahan is smart enough to know what not to show. When those largely unseen wolves start hooting and moaning, the sound goes right through you: It's a howl of existential pain from nature's peanut gallery."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
86%
|
Declaration of War (2012)
|
"Declaration of War is the classic example of the small-scale movie with lofty intentions that simply tries too hard."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
26%
|
Underworld Awakening (2012)
|
"Murky and perpetually bluish in tinge, Underworld: Awakening does and gets little with the 3-D in which it's being offered, and ends by shamelessly setting up a further and fatally unnecessary installment."
|
Alison Willmore
|
|
39%
|
Red Tails (2012)
|
"It's a shame the idea had to come from George Lucas, whose enthusiasm for his subject translates mostly into a peculiar strain of inept awkwardness."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
80%
|
Haywire (2012)
|
"This is the best kind of action film: One in which we're actually granted the pleasure of watching bodies move."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
64%
|
The Front Line (2012)
|
"Hollywood clichés pervade The Front Line, from its slate and sepia tones to its stock company of characters and dialogue that translates macho posturing into present-day slang."
|
Michelle Orange
|
|
41%
|
The Flowers of War (2011)
|
"While it's as blunt as any typical big-budget war epic would be, the film finds plenty of moments in which Zhang's skill as a filmmaker and his deft handling and interest in female characters shines..."
|
Alison Willmore
|
|
85%
|
Crazy Horse (2012)
|
"Even Wiseman, cerebral, perceptive, and a maestro in the editing room, can't resist urging us, with images if not with words, "Just look at them!" And so we do."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
26%
|
The Divide (2012)
|
"Gens has talent, if also tendencies to steer the visuals into the music video realm, but he treats the characters here like mobile props and nothing more..."
|
Alison Willmore
|
|
97%
|
Sing Your Song (2012)
|
"If nothing else, Sing Your Song works as a testament to Belafonte's drive and dedication to causes well outside the usual goals of simply making money."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
51%
|
Contraband (2012)
|
"An obligingly tense, scruffy addition to the one-last-crime genre."
|
Alison Willmore
|
|
75%
|
Domaine (2012)
|
"Chiha knows when the story is wobbling off the rails of credibility and leans into the turn, embracing the narrative's full-on nuttiness."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
34%
|
Joyful Noise (2012)
|
"A well-intentioned, pleasant-enough picture that shoots off in too many directions to ever ignite."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
13%
|
Don't Go in the Woods (2012)
|
"Outside of the proxy satisfaction it will give those who are dying to see the grim reaper let loose on the set of a very special episode of Glee, the pleasures of Don't Go in the Woods can't quite compensate for its straggly bits."
|
Michelle Orange
|
|
75%
|
Norwegian Wood (2012)
|
"It takes no significant liberties with the plot, and it captures the novel's delicate, half-hopeful, half-mournful tone. So why, unlike its source material, does it feel only half-alive?"
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
6%
|
The Devil Inside (2012)
|
"The Devil Inside just comes across as lazy and unnecessarily serious given how silly it becomes -- if it had just a touch of lightness, at least it'd feel like we were laughing with it instead of at it."
|
Alison Willmore
|
|
57%
|
It's About You (2012)
|
"The result is a kind of homespun video scrapbook, bumpy seams and glue splotches and all; it's flawed, but at least it feels handmade and human."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
94%
|
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2012)
|
"Silence and sound are deployed as artfully as Ceylan's sweeping master shots are."
|
Michelle Orange
|
|
95%
|
Pariah (2011)
|
"Pariah wouldn't work without Oduye's luminous performance, capturing the emotional nuances of a character not prone to letting her emotions show."
|
Alison Willmore
|
|
46%
|
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2012)
|
"Never has the tragedy of 9/11 been made so shrinky-dinked."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
77%
|
War Horse (2011)
|
"It's the largest, most lavish handful of wistfulness money can buy, and sometimes it's too much. Yet it's nice to know that even Steven Spielberg can still wish for something."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
56%
|
In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011)
|
"In the Land of Blood and Honey is gratifyingly short on lectures and, interestingly, on history lessons."
|
Alison Willmore
|
|
67%
|
We Bought a Zoo (2011)
|
"This isn't just an exercise in mawkishness, though it's also nowhere near as emotionally resonant as it strives to be."
|
Alison Willmore
|
|
95%
|
Pina (2011)
|
"Less a strict documentary than a heartfelt - and visually gorgeous - celebration of Bausch's work and her mode of working."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
56%
|
Albert Nobbs (2012)
|
"This story of literal and figurative female sexual repression feels curiously unfinished, its many layers rather decorously undisturbed."
|
Michelle Orange
|
|
75%
|
The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
|
"Winning in a rousing, let's-hunt-down-a-treasure way, once you get past - if you can - the Polar Express-style creepiness of animated figures who gaze through human-looking eyes."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
86%
|
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
|
"The Fincher version doesn't actively negate the presence of the earlier one - it doesn't have to - but its confidence and bravado are like a strong blast of sunlight with the ability to fade the memory of whatever came before."
|
Stephanie Zacharek
|
|
60%
|
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
|
"Action purists should be entertained enough by the slick spectacles Ritchie chains together, set against as handsome a historical London as you're bound to get from the movies."
|
Jen Yamato
|
|
12%
|
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011)
|
"Number of chipmunks who speak fluent chola when necessary: three. Number of Spider-Man/Pepe Le Pew mash-ups I can't really get into: one."
|
Michelle Orange
|
76%
44%
100%
85%
45%
40%
