Film and Felt

Film and Felt is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Gabe Leibowitz
Rating Title/Year Author
58/100 ParaNorman (2012) Gabe Leibowitz An extremely strange blend of genres and styles, ParaNorman somehow manages to pull it off...sort of. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2013
42/100 Rise of the Guardians (2012) Gabe Leibowitz Alas, a sweet heart and a tender message aren't enough to save Rise of the Guardians from its overly sugary ways. EDIT
Posted Jan 12, 2013
64/100 The Evil Dead (1981) Gabe Leibowitz A cult classic of the highest order, Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead is the rare 80′s movie that actually feels worthy of its lofty reputation; relatively, anyway. EDIT
Posted Jan 6, 2013
76/100 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) Gabe Leibowitz Should more than satisfactorily scratch the itch of those who have waited many long years to see Middle Earth back on screen. EDIT
Posted Jan 1, 2013
60/100 Wreck-It Ralph (2012) Gabe Leibowitz Despite being a perfectly entertaining Disney picture, Wreck-it Ralph leaves that nagging taste in the mouth that it could have been so much more. EDIT
Posted Dec 30, 2012
65/100 Arbitrage (2012) Gabe Leibowitz It's appropriate that Arbitrage gets its American release while our country is knee-deep in the fight over the fiscal cliff and the future of our financial institutions. EDIT
Posted Dec 30, 2012
80/100 Skyfall (2012) Gabe Leibowitz Skyfall epitomizes what a Bond movie should be, and its director, for once, justifiably deserves much of the credit. EDIT
Posted Dec 30, 2012
72/100 Senna (2010) Gabe Leibowitz ...a surprisingly deft examination of the power of faith... EDIT
Posted Feb 5, 2012
39/100 The Ides of March (2011) Gabe Leibowitz A rehash of a recent political phenomenon dressed up to seem more daring than it actually is. EDIT
Posted Jan 20, 2012
65/100 The Phantom Tollbooth (1969) Gabe Leibowitz The animation is clean, with enough pop to do Dictionopolis-and-company justice. EDIT
Posted Jan 20, 2012
65/100 Win Win (2011) Gabe Leibowitz There's a real earnestness to the proceedings: if someone had relayed the setup to me via email or over cocktails, I would have bet heavily that we'd be looking at a sappy mess of clichés. EDIT
Posted Jan 13, 2012
57/100 Bridesmaids (2011) Gabe Leibowitz I like that Bridesmaids aspires to be more than just a dumb comedy, but that doesn't mean it needs to belabor its point for what feels like eons. EDIT
Posted Jan 13, 2012
70/100 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) Gabe Leibowitz For the most part, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II picks up right where Part I, the franchise's shining beacon on a hill, leaves off. EDIT
Posted Jan 13, 2012
60/100 Black Death (2010) Gabe Leibowitz An entertaining, if by-the-numbers, entry to the sword-and-shield genre, Black Death features lots of blood, disease, and the seemingly requisite Sean Bean. EDIT
Posted Jan 2, 2012
57/100 Shame (2011) Gabe Leibowitz The writing barely scratches the surface of what should have been a fascinating subject. EDIT
Posted Dec 31, 2011
32/100 A Better Life (2011) Gabe Leibowitz Each sequence plays out in mind-numbingly cliched fashion: father-son lectures, chin-up resilience-especially the final shot-and a stern message about the heartless anti-immigration movement are depicted in an infuriatingly shallow manner. EDIT
Posted Dec 30, 2011
40/100 War Horse (2011) Gabe Leibowitz The treacle is unyielding, and that's basically a kiss of death for a picture that's working off a script with such potential for hokey melodrama. EDIT
Posted Dec 30, 2011
37/100 Young Adult (2011) Gabe Leibowitz If Up in the Air had a certain cavalier attitude in its direction, Young Adult is downright lazy. EDIT
Posted Dec 30, 2011
67/100 Carnage (2011) Gabe Leibowitz Embattled filmmaker Roman Polanski has always been drawn to the dark sides of humanity, so it's no surprise he'd be drawn to the play "Carnage." EDIT
Posted Dec 30, 2011
67/100 Hobo With a Shotgun (2011) Gabe Leibowitz A cult picture that's completely comfortable in its own skin. EDIT
Posted Nov 30, 2011
64/100 The Adventures of Tintin (2011) Gabe Leibowitz A brisk, charming, enjoyable romp. EDIT
Posted Nov 30, 2011
53/100 The Other F Word (2011) Gabe Leibowitz We do get to see Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers cry, though. That gets some bonus points in my book. EDIT
Posted Nov 17, 2011
49/100 Tucker & Dale vs Evil (2010) Gabe Leibowitz This goofy, over-the-top tale of college students on a camping trip warring with two local West Virginia hillbillies lacks a core identity. EDIT
Posted Nov 17, 2011
62/100 The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) Gabe Leibowitz I never held The Lost World in such high esteem, but I watched it multiple times and always felt it got a bit of a bum rap. After checking it out again fourteen years later, I still feel the same way. EDIT
Posted Oct 13, 2011
75/100 The Gay Divorcee (1934) Gabe Leibowitz The Gay Divorcee offers a terrific mix of wit, humor, and, of course, song-and-dance. EDIT
Posted Oct 13, 2011
60/100 Shall We Dance (1937) Gabe Leibowitz It's about innuendo and devious plots (though, of course, the stories are always essentially backdrops to showcasing the Astaire-and-Rogers show), and while it has plenty of amusing moments and some good musical numbers, it feels stiff at times, EDIT
Posted Oct 13, 2011
68/100 The Story of Vernon & Irene Castle (1939) Gabe Leibowitz It's not exactly a stretch for Astaire and Rogers, but they do the old rags-to-riches angle seamlessly, and the finale is surprisingly touching. EDIT
Posted Oct 13, 2011
30/100 The Outsiders (1983) Gabe Leibowitz Francis Ford Coppola's cheesy, overblown adaptation of S.E. Hinton's wonderful novel captures none of the book's gritty magic. EDIT
Posted Jul 12, 2011
76/100 Summer (1986) Gabe Leibowitz It's as if we ourselves are observing life, learning and evolving with Delphine. EDIT
Posted Jul 9, 2011
46/100 X-Men: First Class (2011) Gabe Leibowitz Its attributes and weaknesses can be broken down into two categories: the relationship between Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and everything else EDIT
Posted Jul 9, 2011
78/100 The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) Gabe Leibowitz Peter Yates' crime drama is chock-full of wonderful moments, creative framing (especially an intrusion in a bank teller's home early on in the proceedings), and emotional punch. EDIT
Posted Jul 9, 2011
68/100 Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010) Gabe Leibowitz An extremely dark, brisk chapter in the Dark Knight's ever-popular screen sagas. EDIT
Posted Jul 9, 2011
68/100 Gone With the Wind (1939) Gabe Leibowitz The golden standard for classic Hollywood bombast, this one. EDIT
Posted Jul 9, 2011
35/100 Room Service (1938) Gabe Leibowitz With far too many drawn-out chats lacking in any wit or humor, Room Service is close to a total Marx Brothers dud. EDIT
Posted Jun 29, 2011
69/100 Midnight in Paris (2011) Gabe Leibowitz As befits Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris. is chock-full of cultural homages: Hemingway and Stein are just a small sample of the legends Allen parades onscreen. EDIT
Posted Jun 29, 2011
65/100 The Freshman (1925) Gabe Leibowitz My first foray into the comedic world of Harold Lloyd yielded eerily similar results to my initial exposure to W.C. Fields. EDIT
Posted Apr 24, 2011
57/100 Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) Gabe Leibowitz In many ways, Cave of Forgotten Dreams perfectly embodies the identity that Werner Herzog v. 2000′s has chosen to take on. EDIT
Posted Apr 24, 2011
76/100 Smart Money (1931) Gabe Leibowitz In many ways, the first half of Alfred E. Green's Smart Money can be seen as a stage-setter for John Dahl's game-changing Rounders. EDIT
Posted Apr 24, 2011
69/100 The Roaring Twenties (1939) Gabe Leibowitz A powerful story of wartime bonds and their staying power through the most adverse of circumstances. EDIT
Posted Apr 8, 2011
55/100 The Princess of Montpensier (2010) Gabe Leibowitz Never dull, but it also never takes that step into truly encompassing like the very best genre entries. EDIT
Posted Apr 7, 2011
68/100 Meek's Cutoff (2010) Gabe Leibowitz Meek's Cutoff may not match Reichardt's previous two works in emotional heft, but it continues to cement her as a young director to watch closely. EDIT
Posted Apr 6, 2011
73/100 Park Row (1952) Gabe Leibowitz Another strong, if lesser-known, depiction of the ruthless, cutthroat newspaper industry. EDIT
Posted Apr 5, 2011
56/100 Little Caesar (1930) Gabe Leibowitz Little Caesar makes two classic LeRoy joints that I've found perfectly solid...and thoroughly underwhelming, especially when viewed through the prism of their reputations. EDIT
Posted Apr 5, 2011
61/100 The Thing (1951) Gabe Leibowitz A solid, workmanlike film that holds up better than one would expect. EDIT
Posted Mar 13, 2011
45/100 Winter's Bone (2010) Gabe Leibowitz Winter's Bone certainly has its redeeming qualities, particularly its cinematography and a superb lead performance by Jennifer Lawrence, but man, does it feel EMPTY until a gripping sequence near the end. EDIT
Posted Mar 13, 2011
70/100 Hot Fuzz (2007) Gabe Leibowitz Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright's follow-up to his extremely popular zombie satire Shaun of the Dead (2004), improves on the latter's strong points in every conceivable way while drastically tightening up its weakest elements. EDIT
Posted Mar 13, 2011
54/100 Ministry of Fear (1944) Gabe Leibowitz It's certainly fitting that after filling his German years with ballsy, predictive masterpieces about Nazi rule-by-fear, Fritz Lang would finally make a film that directly involves Nazis. EDIT
Posted Jan 31, 2011
58/100 The Ghost Writer (2010) Gabe Leibowitz Polanski's skills are obvious in his compositions and patience, and a nervous energy hovers over much of the picture...yet I consistently felt disengaged, like the pacing was mismanaged. EDIT
Posted Jan 30, 2011
70/100 The Woman in the Window (1944) Gabe Leibowitz For much of its brisk running time, The Woman in the Window plays like another balls-to-the-wall gem from the rarely-less-than-masterful Fritz Lang. EDIT
Posted Jan 30, 2011
31/100 The Karate Kid (2010) Gabe Leibowitz Zwart's adaptation pretty much fails across the board. EDIT
Posted Jan 27, 2011