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6/10
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Higher Ground
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Though the film cries out for a sharper focus, Farmiga expertly captures a woman who realizes that until she herself is grounded, there can be no higher ground.
Posted Aug 25, 2011
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7/10
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The Guard
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
The film is entertaining, surprising and Gleeson is once again on top of his game. If only director McDonagh had made some room for Cheadle and Mark Strong to shine as well.
Posted Aug 07, 2011
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9/10
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Project Nim
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
We are uncomfortably reminded throughout the film that all living creatures have worth. Including man-made hybrids. Correction: especially man-made hybrids.
Posted Aug 07, 2011
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4/10
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Everything Must Go
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Ferrell's credible performance notwithstanding, it's as if Raymond Carver's minimalism has overtaken the show. No 4-page short story here, we'll need a little something more for a 96-minute film.
Posted May 13, 2011
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8/10
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Bridesmaids
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Kristen Wiig has always been the bridesmaid, never the bride. Which is no longer a negative, as the emphatically unbridled Wiig takes the wedding cake to delicious new lows.
Posted May 13, 2011
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8/10
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The Future
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
A sober, funny, beautiful film. July is a filmmaker unlike any other, working tangentially in the modern neuroses of a Woody Allen, a Nicole Holofcener, while playing in the kingdom of magic realism.
Posted May 07, 2011
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3.5/10
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Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
The overblown title and exclamation point suggests an entertainment of the most stupendous! fantastic! thrilling! kind. Hence the concept of 'hoodwinked.'
Posted May 03, 2011
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|
4.5/10
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Water for Elephants
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Powerful, sensitive, she creates a huge performance that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Addressing the elephant in the room ... oh, let's do. She's the only mammal worthy of our attention.
Posted Apr 22, 2011
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7.5/10
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The Big Uneasy
(2009)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Rather than making us feel 'uneasy,' this film should flood us with rage. What Shearer's worthy film cries out for ... is the bite from the filmmaker/satirist himself.
Posted Apr 15, 2011
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7/10
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The Conspirator
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Though it's a bit heavy-handed, the film is visually meticulous, with strong performances. Wright is a powerhouse, emanating a calm, mature strength that is mesmerizing to watch.
Posted Apr 15, 2011
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5/10
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Hanna
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Think La Femme Nikita facing down Bullwinkle Moose's Natasha Fatale, with breakneck running la Run Lola Run. Add in borrowed sets from Fellini, and voila! Hanna is served -- sadly, not as well as it should be.
Posted Apr 08, 2011
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4/10
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Arthur
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Couldn't that billionaire Arthur afford to treat us to a better show?
Posted Apr 08, 2011
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4/10
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Wrecked
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
A character study sans a character. Oops. It might have worked as a short but as a feature, we're left wandering around the woods, stranded, starving for a story.
Posted Apr 01, 2011
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|
2/10
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Insidious
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
It's a horror show all right. Stilted line readings creep hand-in-demonic claw with pacing that could induce rigor. If only Mrs. Gas Mask Psychic could have warned us in advance ...
Posted Apr 01, 2011
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9/10
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Source Code
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Jones' brilliant visuals work perfectly with Ripley's story, the scenes playing out like musical variations of an underlying theme. In the land of the one-trick pony, Jones is a rare exception.
Posted Apr 01, 2011
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2/10
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Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Rodrick schools his brother to always lower people's expectations. The film succeeds ... in doing just that.
Posted Mar 25, 2011
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2/10
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Peep World
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Dysfunction rages more behind the camera than in front, the amateurish direction matched by hackneyed writing. Simply put: this faltering family plot cries out for a whole other kind of family plot.
Posted Mar 25, 2011
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8/10
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Jane Eyre
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Given the superb acting, the few sparkling rounds of wordplay, and the gothic haunts that amp up the wilder aspects of the drama, this beautifully-shot Jane stands among the best of its gazillion versions.
Posted Mar 25, 2011
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6/10
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Limitless
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
As if we, too, had taken some drug, it's not until we shrug off the visual effects of the film that we realize that the plot is rather silly. But holy hallucinogens, that eye candy can't be beat.
Posted Mar 18, 2011
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9/10
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Rango
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
No tightly-plotted Pixar masterpiece, Rango is its own insane expression, a nervy bundle of outrageous daring, jangled and tangled to a free-wheeling fare-thee-well. Green hasn't been this much fun since early Shrek.
Posted Mar 04, 2011
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1.5/10
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Beastly
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
No one erred by choosing to mothball Beastly for eight months. It was only in the mistaken decision to release it that the ugly came roaring out.
Posted Mar 04, 2011
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|
1/10
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Take Me Home Tonight
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
'80s rocker Eddie Money called ... he wants his song title back.
Posted Mar 04, 2011
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7/10
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When We Leave
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Script problems aside, the fact that newcomer Feo Aladag has created such a strong-hearted drama, getting our attention and making us care, opening our eyes to such a senseless crime, is no small feat.
Posted Feb 25, 2011
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2/10
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Hall Pass
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Appealing not to the lowest common denominator but the shortest, i.e., the toddler set, barred due to the R rating. Or, as one young lad said to his friend in the sandbox: "Waaaaaah!"
Posted Feb 25, 2011
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4.5/10
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How I Ended This Summer
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
When it finally concluded, how did the filmmakers end this summer? With an aching crawl, all the while giving us a sharp sense of regret for the fine film buried underneath the tons upon tons of tundra.
Posted Feb 23, 2011
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8/10
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I Am
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
In Shadyac's earlier films, the hero gets a supernatural, life-altering jumpstart. Here, he's his own hero, his unexpected blow to the head leading to his own happy ending. Maybe even affecting ours as well.
Posted Feb 18, 2011
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6/10
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Cedar Rapids
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Like the location of Iowa in regard to the rest of the country, the film ends up right in the middle. Not enough of this, not enough of that. However, it is Helms' daffy sweetness that redeems the whole.
Posted Feb 11, 2011
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9.5/10
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Win Win
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
W/D McCarthy addresses the everyday issues with such humanity and natural humor, intermingling the comedy and drama into a perfectly-hued shade of heightened reality ... that WIN WIN is about as good as it gets.
Posted Feb 10, 2011
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3/10
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No Strings Attached
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Sex, sex, sex, sex. Echoed repeatedly, the word is used like a hopeful incantation, as if by its mere repetition we'll be convinced that the movie is indeed something hot and desirable. It's not.
Posted Feb 07, 2011
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5/10
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Reagan
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
While it's not surprising to see the president's son Ron picking his way through a potential minefield, wanting both to celebrate his father and address his failings honestly, what's the filmmaker's rationale?
Posted Feb 05, 2011
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8.5/10
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The Music Never Stopped
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
JK Simmons takes center stage, clueless as to how to communicate with his son. And then there's the music, grabbing at us, taking us out of ourselves while pulling us in. Playing us, as it were -- but in a good way.
Posted Feb 04, 2011
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8/10
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Our Idiot Brother
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
A well-written, delightful throwback to the Frank Capra/Preston Sturges sensibility, in which the one who owns the least usually has the most.
Posted Feb 04, 2011
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9.5/10
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In a Better World
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
A visual masterpiece, with robin's egg blue skies shot through with cotton candy clouds, heaven is beyond our reach while hell is the very ground below our feet. Bier suggests that only we can bring that heaven closer to ourselves.
Posted Feb 03, 2011
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9/10
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Incendies
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
It is the very fact that the hatred is blind, one group attacking each other just because it's ingrained to do so, that is at the heart of this sad, magnificent film.
Posted Feb 03, 2011
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8/10
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Marwencol
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Hogancamp didn't know he was creating art ... he was merely surviving, spinning stories for his sanity. In an era of 'look-at-me,' this type of agenda is as far away from our world as Marwencol itself.
Posted Jan 18, 2011
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9/10
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Rabbit Hole
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
It's an understated, superbly-written drama that is extraordinarily ordinary, deeply moving in its slow, purposeful exploration of human behavior that is so recognizable, it takes our breath away.
Posted Jan 15, 2011
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4/10
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The Dilemma
(2011)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Though The Dilemma refers to a singular predicament, the film miscalculates its total number of problems ... particularly with regard to its grab-bag of styles running throughout.
Posted Jan 14, 2011
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2/10
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Country Strong
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
It's a relief when Paltrow's character bursts into song. That's the only time when she's not pitching fits to beat the band ... making the band, and the audience, extremely grateful.
Posted Jan 08, 2011
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1/10
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Hemingway's Garden of Eden
(2008)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
The question that occurs is not whether director Irvin hates actors but rather, how much. We can imagine him shouting to the cast: 'Once more, with less feeling. Get shallow! Can't you do worse than that?'
Posted Jan 07, 2011
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6/10
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All Good Things
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
While the acting is superb and the film worth viewing, in this odd straddle between fact and fiction, the filmmakers miss the chance to bring more fictive power to the tale.
Posted Jan 07, 2011
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9/10
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Waste Land
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
A fascinating film, offering a glimpse of a world we've never seen before ... allowing us to savor the unexpected power in the phrase, 'Recycle yourself.'
Posted Jan 04, 2011
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1.5/10
|
Tiny Furniture
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
A film can't get much smaller than Tiny Furniture, a glorified home movie rife with non-actors, a vague plot and flaccid direction. Neither entertaining nor compelling, it's just painfully dull.
Posted Dec 30, 2010
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6/10
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I Am Love
(2009)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Though a flimsy melodrama -- so overdone that it often collapses under filmmaker Luca Guadagnino's ineffable sense of bloat -- Swinton saves the day.
Posted Dec 29, 2010
|
|
1/10
|
Little Fockers
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Per Fockers' actress Blythe Danner: 'All the films have been a joy. I hope they keep coming, even if we graduate to walkers and wheelchairs ...' Oh God. We're all severely focked.
Posted Dec 29, 2010
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8.5/10
|
True Grit
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Bridges is a marvelous Cogburn, leaking words out of the side of his mouth as if he were simultaneously chewing on gravel. Those fearless Coens, refusing to be pigeon-holed, treat us to a tall order of bona fide grit.
Posted Dec 22, 2010
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2/10
|
How Do You Know
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Some more whine with your waffling? All of you?
Posted Dec 20, 2010
|
|
9/10
|
Never Let Me Go
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
Nothing about this movie is casual. Perhaps the most impeccably-shot film of the year, every quiet word, every move, every unspoken desire leads us, if we so choose, to reflect on our own paths.
Posted Dec 20, 2010
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|
9/10
|
The Fighter
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
The script is never heavy-handed, adeptly mingling humor with drama, with a tone so authentic that we feel we could easily share a beer with these folks. Even better ... we'd want to.
Posted Dec 17, 2010
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|
1/10
|
Yogi Bear
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
The classic Jellystone sign cries out for an edit: from "Please Don't Feed the Bears," to "Please Don't See the Bears."
Posted Dec 17, 2010
|
|
8/10
|
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
(2010)
|
Kimberly Gadette
|
He, um, "seize" you when you're sleeping ... At a zippy 84 minutes, akin to a blast of Lapland frosty air, this film's take on Santa offers up a refreshing break from frequently sappy holiday fare.
Posted Dec 03, 2010
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