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3 / 5
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The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
(2013)
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Norm Schrager
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The mix of reality and absurdity gives Felix Herngren's film a pleasant patter, but the energy feels too loose and strangely artificial.
Posted Apr 21, 2016
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3.5 / 5
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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2
(2015)
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Norm Schrager
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The cast is an enormous plus, filling the movie with seriously seasoned pros who bring real weight to the film.
Posted Apr 21, 2016
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3.5/5
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The Battered Bastards of Baseball
(2014)
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Norm Schrager
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... just about holds up as a documentary, usually great fun and relatively dramatic as the baseball bureaucracy starts firing arrows at Russell's class-A kingdom.
Posted Nov 08, 2014
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3/5
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Bears
(2014)
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Norm Schrager
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...the landscape and photography are regularly astounding, and that should be enough to hold most adults' attention for the film's 75 minutes.
Posted Nov 08, 2014
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4.5/5
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Blue Ruin
(2013)
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Norm Schrager
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Two films come to mind while watching Blue Ruin: Carl Franklin's One False Move and The Coens' No Country for Old Men. That's some damned impressive company, and it's appropriate.
Posted Nov 04, 2014
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4/5
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Obvious Child
(2014)
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Norm Schrager
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Jenny Slate is the reason to see Obvious Child. And she holds the promise of better comedies to come.
Posted Nov 04, 2014
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3.5/5
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Interstellar
(2014)
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Norm Schrager
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... a physically overwhelming space mega-movie that often fires on all cylinders, but sputters toward the journey's end.
Posted Nov 04, 2014
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2/5
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Upside Down
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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Solanas takes on the genre with the swoony rush and sloppiness of a lovesick preteen.
Posted Jan 11, 2014
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4/5
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Lone Survivor
(2013)
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Norm Schrager
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the screen ideal of a steely-eyed military maneuver: well-mapped out but terrifying, with unrelenting focus and attitude.
Posted Jan 11, 2014
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5/5
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Inside Llewyn Davis
(2013)
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Norm Schrager
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... an unexpected gem, a movie that seems completely familiar while turning narrative convention on its ear again and again.
Posted Dec 06, 2013
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4/5
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The Great Beauty
(2013)
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Norm Schrager
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... the endless charm, the boundless creativity and Luca Bigazzi's cinematography are inarguably wondrous.
Posted Nov 30, 2013
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3.5/5
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The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
(2013)
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Norm Schrager
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... this sequel is better cast, well-wound and powerfully paced.
Posted Nov 22, 2013
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4.5/5
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Gravity
(2013)
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Norm Schrager
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Space, land, sea. Life, death, evolution. Technology, humanity, destruction. All within a conventional structure that lacks conceit, and is constantly riveting.
Posted Nov 09, 2013
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2.5 / 5
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Prisoners
(2013)
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Norm Schrager
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The makers of Prisoners think they're validating the film's vicious actions with provocative reactions, but it's a hollow effort.
Posted Sep 19, 2013
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4.5/5
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A Band Called Death
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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... the total package is simply joyous, a lovingly told celebration of big dreams and second chances.
Posted Sep 07, 2013
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3.5/5
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Computer Chess
(2013)
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Norm Schrager
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Despite its creative smarts and originality, Computer Chess can really be summed up as an artistic curiosity.
Posted Sep 07, 2013
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4/5
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The Act of Killing
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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Oppenheimer's conceit is a daring one, maybe even exploitative to a point, but man, does it work.
Posted Sep 07, 2013
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2.5/5
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Hell Baby
(2013)
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Norm Schrager
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It screams "midnight movie"... the slot in which it may find an audience in the coming months. The late hour helps. Getting stoned at the late hour should really help.
Posted Sep 07, 2013
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3.5/5
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Stories We Tell
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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... the subject matter is generally self-involved but Polley's curiosity, investigation and filmmaking technique add a layer of complexity that's worth attention.
Posted Jul 13, 2013
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4.5/5
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Upstream Color
(2013)
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Norm Schrager
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... an addictively entertaining mind-melter that's high on artistry and ambitious as hell.
Posted Jul 13, 2013
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4/5
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Despicable Me 2
(2013)
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Norm Schrager
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... consistently creative and lovingly made. When you're hunting down a bad guy who possesses a zombie serum, where else would you find him but at the mall?
Posted Jul 13, 2013
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2/5
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The Great Gatsby
(2013)
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Norm Schrager
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... the characters play second fiddle to their surroundings, plotted out in carefully architected 3D depth, lightly glazed with an (East) egg wash.
Posted May 09, 2013
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3.5/5
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Silver Linings Playbook
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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Cooper and Lawrence--Cooper especially-a-re naturally inviting actors, so we're willing to put up with their BS, and the screenplay's...
Posted May 01, 2013
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4.5/5
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Burn
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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... an American treasure, expertly told and exceptionally executed
Posted Mar 28, 2013
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3.5/5
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We Have a Pope
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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Piccoli is so overwhelmingly effective as the pope that his touching performance commands the film, and overrides Moretti's odd storytelling shortcomings.
Posted Mar 24, 2013
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4.5/5
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Starbuck
(2011)
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Norm Schrager
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By the film's satisfying final scenes, Scott and company are tugging at heartstrings earnestly and damn effectively.
Posted Mar 24, 2013
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4/5
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John Dies at the End
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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... where George Romero, the Evil Dead series and Richard Kelly's brain are having cheap sex, and everyone is on laughing gas.
Posted Feb 23, 2013
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3.5/5
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56 Up
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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Apted's subjects have the physical changes, of course... and there's a greater tendency toward the self-awareness and resignation that comes with age. But fans of the series may be otherwise surprised by the update's distinct lack of stopping power.
Posted Feb 08, 2013
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3/5
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Quartet
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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Hoffman knows and respects his audience, but his film refuses to challenge them... Quartet is just, well, appropriately pleasant.
Posted Jan 24, 2013
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3.5/5
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Detropia
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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... photography and spare music that sustains a hauntingly dim tone, while suffering the occasional monotony of a documentary without a story arc.
Posted Jan 17, 2013
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4/5
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Les Misérables
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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A rewarding musical movie. Its sweeping orchestrations and memorable acting make those longer sequences feel shorter, make the overly saccharine stuff not too sticky.
Posted Dec 26, 2012
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3.5/5
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This Is 40
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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... a narrative mess, a stack of repetitive story blocks hastily piled into a 2-hour-plus comedy. But it's also really funny.
Posted Dec 18, 2012
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4.5/5
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This Is Not a Film
(2010)
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Norm Schrager
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... we start to believe this just might be one of the great bold, clandestine film projects ever made.
Posted Dec 09, 2012
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3.5/5
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Safety Not Guaranteed
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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Once the actors get into a comfortable groove, Safety reveals some touching moments...
Posted Nov 20, 2012
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3.5/5
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A Late Quartet
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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When Hoffman and Keener are onscreen... Yaron Zilberman's debut feature plays its most beautiful and intelligent music.
Posted Nov 01, 2012
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4/5
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Cloud Atlas
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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Tom Tykwer and The Wachowskis have created a film that transcends its heft, adapting David Mitchell's mega-novel into a brisk, cinematic showcase of excitement and surprises.
Posted Oct 28, 2012
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2.5/5
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Pusher
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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... the story hasn't aged particularly well, and the director's attempts to recreate that 1990s style are uneven, unintended, or just plain unnecessary.
Posted Oct 28, 2012
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2.5/5
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Backwards
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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In this romantic drama, sweet and innocent equals plain and predictable. And unless you're a hopeful teenage moviegoer, that's a subpar equation for a feature film.
Posted Sep 27, 2012
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4.5/5
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Welcome to Pine Hill
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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... feels so richly authentic, you could easily mistake it for a documentary.
Posted Aug 25, 2012
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4.5/5
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Compliance
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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The setup is cinematically basic - and, as a director, Zobel has fine skills in ensuring a movie about a phone call doesn't feel static - but there are plenty of cultural and sociological layers within.
Posted Aug 25, 2012
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4.5/5
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Dark Horse
(2011)
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Norm Schrager
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Dark Horse does offer a melancholic connection to the audience, one with eerie, unexpected impact.
Posted Aug 11, 2012
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3.5/5
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Ruby Sparks
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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Ruby Sparks clicks, making the most of rich performances by stars Dano and Zoe Kazan, with a script by Kazan that embraces as much convention as it intends to buck.
Posted Jul 26, 2012
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3.5/5
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The Dark Knight Rises
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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... a huge, mixed bag of Nolan-sized ambition, working both for and against the film.
Posted Jul 19, 2012
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4.5/5
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5 Broken Cameras
(2011)
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Norm Schrager
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... a story that posits man's tender connections against its violent tendencies.
Posted Jun 26, 2012
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2/5
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Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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... unsure and inconsistent, waffling between horror humor and historical fiction, never feeling firm enough to establish either...
Posted Jun 22, 2012
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2.5/5
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Patang
(2011)
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Norm Schrager
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Bhargava is so caught up in his subtle, non-participant viewpoint - which works very well, by the way - that he doesn't emphasize dialogue or actors enough to craft an emotional bond.
Posted Jun 16, 2012
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4/5
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The Color Wheel
(2011)
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Norm Schrager
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Perry takes two characters, a road trip plot, and grainy 16-millimeter Kodak film (yes, film) and smugly rips up a generation of indie film trends.
Posted Jun 03, 2012
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4/5
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The Grey
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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Joe Carnahan's Alaska-set survivalist fable feels familiar, but it's also sharp and focused, Carnahan's best film in a decade.
Posted Jun 03, 2012
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3.5/5
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Think of Me
(2011)
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Norm Schrager
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...it illuminates the miserable upbringing suffered by a horrible number of American children, amplified by the possibility of escape.
Posted May 16, 2012
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3.5/5
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The Hunger Games
(2012)
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Norm Schrager
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... older folks (like, ages 25-45) who've witnessed frightening tales of oppression or violence in fiction before, will generally be unaffected by the hand-to-hand combat, sword-throwing, poisoning and other such untimely demises.
Posted Mar 23, 2012
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