For 8,156 reviews, this publication has graded:
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49% higher than the average critic
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3% same as the average critic
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48% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.9 points lower than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Movie review score: 59
| Highest review score: |
Critic Score
100
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| Lowest review score: |
Critic Score
0
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Score distribution:
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Positive: 3,636 out of 8156
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Mixed: 3,390 out of 8156
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Negative: 1,130 out of 8156
8,156
movie reviews
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 40
Mr. Goode shows all the charisma of a stalk of boiled asparagus molded into the likeness of Jeremy Irons. -
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 70
Ms. Omarova has a painter's eye for composition and a novelist's sense of character. -
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 70
Interspersing shots from the original film - many of which are justly famous for their power and complexity - with interviews, Mr. Ferraz has produced a welcome piece of historical explication. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 70
As ever, Mr. Chabrol’s style is delicate and precise. Comedy of Power is not his deepest or most ambitious film, and its stance of knowing resignation in the face of corruption can feel a little glib. But Ms. Huppert's ferocity compensates for the director's detachment; no French actress is as riveting to watch once the gloves come off. -
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Reviewed by
Jeannette Catsoulis 70
Anyone looking for some idiosyncratic, visually stimulating entertainment this week could do worse than Where Is Where?, an intriguing narrative experiment by the Finnish artist and filmmaker Eija-Liisa Ahtila. -
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Reviewed by
Jeannette Catsoulis 70
Portrayed entirely without sentiment, everyone here is equally abject, from the crushed victim of a human stampede to the starving baby playing in its own feces. The mood of scrambling desperation can be exhausting, but the filmmaking is never less than exhilarating. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 30
Like too many big-studio productions, Cloverfield works as a showcase for impressively realistic-looking special effects, a realism that fails to extend to the scurrying humans whose fates are meant to invoke pity and fear but instead inspire yawns and contempt. Rarely have I rooted for a monster with such enthusiasm. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 50
There is something shallow and cautious about this film, which strains to maintain a glib, cheery demeanor that is not always appropriate to the details of the story.- Posted Oct 20, 2010
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Reviewed by
Lawrence Van Gelder 70
It's an intimate chamber piece, dialogue-heavy and at times claustrophobic, but the four central characters are so deftly sketched, and their shifting alliances so intricately choreographed, that the film never feels talky or staged. The actors are consistently excellent. -
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Reviewed by
Nathan Lee 70
What emerges is a liberal meditation on freedom and compromise, and a nostalgia trip graced by eloquent restraint. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 70
Despite the filmmakers’ efforts to persuade us that The Young Victoria is a serious work, and despite some tense moments and gunfire, the movie’s pleasures are as light as its story. No matter. Albert may never rip Victoria’s bodice, but he does eventually loosen it, to her delight and ours. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 70
Engrossing and at times impressive, a pretty good movie that is disappointing to the extent that it could have been great. Is this the way the world ends? With polite applause? -
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Reviewed by
Jeannette Catsoulis 50
Has a friendly, blue-collar vibe (Cody is an ex-fish-sorter from the Shiverpool, Antarctica) and some sly, low-key humor. Nevertheless, a moratorium on penguins might be called for, despite the inevitable anthropomorphic void. -
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 90
Moves with fluidity and ease through brisk opening conventions to a perfectly poised and balanced endgame. -
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Reviewed by
Elvis Mitchell 70
The visual illusion that Ms. Lohan is actually two characters has been accomplished so seamlessly that it barely diverts attention from one of the film's greatest passions, its product plugs. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 80
Echoes its director's own deportment as a performer, alternating silky smoothness with burlap coarseness. Though Mr. Malkovich stays entirely behind the scenes, he creates a languorous but gripping story of people fighting to stay a step ahead of hopelessness. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 80
Deeply whimsical beneath its poker face, The Princess and the Warrior has the structure of an elaborate mind-teasing puzzle. -
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Reviewed by
Dave Kehr 60
His (Roy's) informed contempt is highly entertaining, but he neglects some of the more problematical and perhaps more illuminating aspects of his story. -
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Reviewed by
Rachel Saltz 50
Intermittently absorbing, if deliberately stripped of drama.- Posted Jul 28, 2011
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 40
A "slam, bam, thank you, ma'am" trifle of an entertainment. -
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Reviewed by
Nathan Lee 70
Room is an existential horror film, a parable of the war against terror being waged in Julia's psyche. -
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 60
While far from a great movie, nonetheless effectively dramatizes a position that has been argued, by principled commentators on the left and the right, for several years now: that the abuse of prisoners, innocent or not, is not only repugnant in its own right. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 60
If Conan O'Brien Can't Stop is consistently watchable, it isn't especially funny, nor does it give any deeper insight into its star than you might get from seeing his late-night shows.- Posted Jun 23, 2011
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 70
Mr. Maggio's strengths here are his people (not their stories), a sense of intimacy and textured place rather than the generic hoops he forces the characters to jump through.- Posted Nov 3, 2011
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 70
Regards its characters with affectionate detachment, and assures its audience that no great calamities or revelations are in store. Instead, there are a series of small crises and tiny epiphanies, all adding up to a story that courts triviality in its pursuit of charm. -
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Reviewed by
Jeannette Catsoulis 70
Posing proudly with their rifles or musing matter-of-factly about their own deaths, the boys are tragic enough. But it's the girls who break your heart, stoic and wise beyond their years. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 70
One of the best-known cultural figures of the past half-century, leaves the movie with little to do but add its sometimes sanctimonious voice to the chorus of praise and admiration. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 50
Nothing but the Truth has nothing much at all to do with the historical record, which wouldn't be bad if it offered something persuasive and worthwhile in return, like a reckoning of journalism and its abuses. -
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Reviewed by
Jeannette Catsoulis 50
A tragically missed opportunity to illuminate one of the more unusual cinematic talents working today. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 60
Best approached as an admiring portrait of a likable, creative powerhouse at midcareer. No disapproving voices interrupt the stream of praise for his politics and his art. Mr. Kushner’s place in the history of American theater and in American culture, in general, is left unexamined. These are subjects well worth exploring in another, deeper film. -
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- Posted Mar 1, 2011
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 50
This well-meaning but irritatingly naïve feature delves into the horrors of prostitution, or more accurately, the filmmaker's horror about the subject. -
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Reviewed by
Neil Genzlinger 70
Eventually, though, Hey, Boo settles into a pleasant rhythm. It gives the fascinating history of how the book came to be.- Posted May 12, 2011
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Reviewed by
Neil Genzlinger 50
Over all, though, the hands-off approach leaves the viewer to draw his own conclusions, but without providing enough information. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 60
As the movie becomes more explosive - and more demanding of its cast - it loses some of the quiet, careful intensity that made Silviu's situation worth attending to in the first place. The seams of the narrative start to show, and by the end you are more aware of the filmmakers' ideas than of the character's life.- Posted Jan 5, 2011
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 40
Given that movies can now show us everything, the manifestations that Ms. Rowling described could be less magical only if they were delivered at a news conference. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 80
So assured in its manipulative prowess that only afterward do you realize how fully you've been worked over. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 70
With its pointed narrative, the film makes its case with a minimum of pushiness and a subtle nod to its crowd. -
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Reviewed by
Elvis Mitchell 90
A hilariously brazen comedy whose heroine is an improbable hoot. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 90
An indelible, gripping documentary portrait.- Posted Apr 2, 2013
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Reviewed by
Janet Maslin 50
Still, as the documentary plods past the two-hour mark, much of Mr. McGovern's legend seems dependent on Nixon's faults, and even the Democrat's political supporters, with hindsight's many gifts, can't infuse his persona with any more dynamism. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 80
At times The Hedgehog suggests a Gallic "Harold and Maude," with an intellectual gloss as it celebrates the life force passed from an older generation to a younger. But its concept of vitality isn't the popular cliché of kicking up your heels, breathing deeply and gorging on ice cream. It is an aesthete's ideal of pursuing moments of ecstatic perfection in art and companionship.- Posted Aug 18, 2011
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 40
A superficially clever, self-important and finally incoherent thriller. -
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Reviewed by
Nathan Lee 80
At once a fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse, bittersweet autobiography and witty trip down art-world memory lane, Guest of Cindy Sherman isn't out to settle scores or exploit access, public or otherwise. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 90
Mr. Moretti finds broad comedy in the antics of some clerics, who can seem as sweet as children, but in Melville there is pathos and there is tragedy, and not his alone.- Posted Apr 5, 2012
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 60
It's an unshowy, generous performance [by Franco] and it greatly humanizes a movie that, as it shifts genre gears and cranks up the noise, becomes disappointingly sober and self-serious. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 60
Silent Waters is several different movies, and most of them feel negligible and meandering, until the film finally packs a wallop. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 60
The movie's tolerant, good-humored view of its characters drains it of some dramatic intensity, but Mr. Harris seems more interested in piquant, offhand moments than in big, straining confrontations. -
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Reviewed by
Jeannette Catsoulis 60
The movie’s stunning underwater photography (fearlessly captured by Mr. Ravetch) effectively dilutes the saccharine tone. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 70
A fairly tough-minded film until the end, when several commentators who have been critical suddenly turn misty-eyed and suggest that underneath it all, Holmes was really a sweetie. -
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Reviewed by
Elvis Mitchell 60
Although Robbins might have drawn some of these characters with less obviousness and more satirical bite, he ably keeps this lively, complicated film on track. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 50
Clumsy when it should be light on its feet, the movie takes itself even more seriously than the comic book and its fans do, which is a superheroic achievement. -
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Reviewed by
Dave Kehr 50
The material is disparate and wide ranging, and it is often difficult to follow Mr. Friedman and Mr. Nadler down all the side streets and back alleys of their investigation. -
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 80
Waugh's dialogue, effortlessly catching the lockjaw intonations and facetious mannerisms of the British aristocracy between the world wars, is a gift to screenwriters and performers alike. The actors Mr. Fry has assembled receive the gift with gusto and grace. -
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 60
As drama, Stage Beauty is both timorous and ungainly, words that might also describe Ms. Danes's performance. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 60
Reasonably enjoyable until its guys are forced to grow up. Because bad behavior is usually more fun to watch than good, the movie is especially fine during the preliminaries. -
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Reviewed by
Jeannette Catsoulis 60
Successfully conveys the pervasive anxiety of a country on the brink of civil war. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 80
In Changing Times, Mr. Téchiné, the great French director, is near the peak of his form. Weaving a half dozen subplots, he creates a set of variations on the theme of divided sensibilities tugging one another into states of perpetual unrest and possible happiness. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 50
While Mr. DiCaprio turns out to be an ideal fit for Blood Diamond, there's an insolvable disconnect between this serious story and the frivolous way it has been told. There is no reason to doubt the filmmakers' sincerity; only their filmmaking. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 70
In Freedom Writers Hilary Swank uses neediness to fine effect in a film with a strong emotional tug and smartly laid foundation. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 50
Raises expectations that it has no real inclination to fulfill. The movie's best bits would stand alone nicely on YouTube, or on Funnyordie.com, the comic video boutique of which Mr. McKay is an owner and where he sometimes dabbles in short-form hilarity. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 70
The film is good news nonetheless - it's a store-bought valentine with real heart. -
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Reviewed by
Jeannette Catsoulis 70
The film is not a primer on this heartbreaking condition. Instead it recounts a deeply personal, highly subjective and inarguably thought-provoking story of one family’s quest for a certain kind of peace. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 80
Casts its spell by drawing out the horror of everyday existence bit by bit, and then tossing in some otherworldly weirdness that makes the hair on the back of your neck try to run for cover. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 80
Insurrection is breezily paced, and Michael Piller's screenplay has enough good-natured humor to keep things from bogging down into sentimental pomposity. -
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Critic Score 70
Luckily, the director Keven McAlester keeps Mr. Erickson's humanity front and center. He lets music critics and musicians praise Mr. Erickson's smiling banshee voice (which influenced Janis Joplin) and pioneering use of feedback, but he doesn't insist on his subject's genius or oversell his importance. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 50
As is so often the case in modest, aimless little movies like this one, it is the acting that saves Jack Goes Boating from triviality or worse. -
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 80
Mr. Hogan understands both themes, and his filmmaking style is a perfect mixture of wide-eyed wonder and slightly melancholy sophistication. -
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 40
In the end, though, Robots is hollow and mechanical, an echo chamber of other movies and an awkward attempt to turn the intrinsically scary sensitive-robot theme into something heartwarming and cute. -
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Reviewed by
Lawrence Van Gelder 70
Written and directed by Deepa Mehta, this glossy melodrama, mixing references to Indian mysticism and the epic poetry of the "Ramayana" with late-20th-century feminism, teeters unsteadily between sociology and soap opera. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 70
However frustrated they may be by political paralysis, corporate trickery or plain human stupidity, none of them seem inclined to give up. When they do, we really will be screwed, and we won't have or need movies like this to tell us so.- Posted May 3, 2012
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 80
A subtle, humorous, illuminating study of politics, power and social mobility. -
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Reviewed by
Lawrence Van Gelder 70
It is probably hopeless in the presence of Trekkies to do anything but sit back -- amused, bemused and astonished -- and watch the devotions of fans of the various incarnations of "Star Trek." -
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Reviewed by
Dave Kehr 40
Seems held back by vestiges of an old-fashioned format that Mr. Gatlif has long since outgrown. -
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Reviewed by
Elvis Mitchell 50
But for all its enthusiasm, this film isn't sharp enough to afford all the time it wastes on small talk, long drives, trips to the mall and favorite songs played on car radios. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 60
If the movie has loads of nerve, its ambitious fusion of cartoons and live-action comedy is only fitfully amusing. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 70
Its scrupulous, even-toned gentleness makes " The Butterfly suitable for children, while its clear-eyed intelligence and refusal to condescend should make it appealing to adults. -
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Reviewed by
Janet Maslin 80
Silverado is sufficiently modern to make its landscapes bigger, its people smaller and its moral polarities less powerfully distinct than those of simpler, more starkly beautiful westerns gone by. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 60
In Search of a Midnight Kiss has its derivative moments along with awkward patches -- the inelegantly shaped climax tries to force uninteresting parallels between the two central couples -- it manages the difficult task of creating a sustained, plausible and inviting world. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 70
Despite such floundering, Lymelife keeps you hooked, mostly through Mr. Hutton, Mr. Baldwin and Kieran Culkin as Scott's older brother, Jimmy. -
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Reviewed by
Janet Maslin 30
Lacks the sexy elan of "La Femme Nikita" and suffers from infinitely worse culture shock. [18 Nov 1994, p.C18] -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 70
An ode to the joy and sweet release of sex, the film manages to be a sincere, modest political venture that finds humor where you might least expect it, notably in a ménage à trois featuring a cheeky rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner." -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 90
It's a fine, tough little movie, technically assured and brutally efficient, with a simple story that ventures into some profound existential territory without making a big fuss about it.- Posted Jan 26, 2012
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 80
It's a mirror and a portrait, and a movie as necessary and nourishing as your next meal. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 70
It’s pleasurable nonsense and another reminder that one of the great pulls of cinema is the spectacle of other bodies in blissful motion. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 90
This coldly compelling film doesn't try to explain Michael's behavior or analyze his disease. As if doing penance for Michael's sins, it eventually metes out unequivocal punishment, but it is small consolation.- Posted Feb 16, 2012
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 60
In typical Godardian fashion the film manages to be both strident and elusive, argumentative and opaque.- Posted Jun 2, 2011
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 70
Both in its parts and in the sum of them Tokyo! is playfully and sometimes disorientingly apocalyptic. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 90
Mr. Hong is not yet the equal of Mr. Antonioni, but it has become increasingly difficult to see intellectually stimulating, aesthetically bold films like this in American theaters. -
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Reviewed by
Vincent Canby 30
The film tries to cover too much ground, even though Calder Willingham's script eliminates or telescopes events and characters from the Berger novel. -
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Critic Score 90
In the end, Revenge of the Electric Car is a slick, enjoyable valentine to a retooling industry. This optimistic film lacks the outrage of the earlier work, but that's O.K. A movement needs its triumphs too.- Posted Oct 20, 2011
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 80
Mr. Willis has always been an acquired taste, but for those who did acquire that taste, riding shotgun on his good times and bad, it's a pleasure to see him doing what comes naturally. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 70
Its rich, wide-angle view of Italian politics and society stays with you. The details may vary from nation to nation in the industrialized West, but the big picture is pretty much the same everywhere. -
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Reviewed by
Lawrence Van Gelder 60
An engaging and colorful but somewhat overbalanced documentary. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 70
Songcatcher is a sweet, lyrical ode to rural America in the early 1900's. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 70
Ms. Lane has the role of her career in Connie, and her indelible (and ultimately sympathetic) performance is both archetypal and minutely detailed. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 60
Except for the access the director, David Teboul, had to Mr. Saint Laurent's inner circle, "Times" wouldn't be out of place on A&E. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 70
Scary enough to make the faint of heart decide never to venture into the woods or to lie on the grass again without protective covering. -
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Reviewed by
Caryn James 50
Darkman sustains mild interest throughout, but it never takes off, partly because a real-estate scam, gangland shootouts, city corruption and a love story clutter up the sad story of Westlake's strange mutation.- Posted Mar 3, 2013
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Reviewed by
Jeannette Catsoulis 70
Monsters effortlessly compels. The ending may be pure sci-fi schmaltz, but it's schmaltz that this viewer, at least, could believe in.- Posted Oct 28, 2010
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 70
But Babies just might restore your faith in our perplexing, peculiar and stubbornly lovable species. -
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Reviewed by
Janet Maslin 60
The stunning black-and-white cinematography in Francis Coppola's Rumble Fish functions rather like a cold compress, subduing a film that is otherwise all feverish extremes. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 70
If Nobody Else but You is smart and entertaining, it is a little too clever for its own good.- Posted May 10, 2012
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 70
In this stratum of Middle American society during wartime and hardship, the movie suggests, life is tough and challenging. You admire these characters for their considerable resilience while understanding that even the best-intentioned people can break under the stress.- Posted Feb 9, 2012
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Critic Score 60
Those concerned with obesity issues may find Lbs. authentic and inspirational. Otherwise it’s an earnest little low-budget indie without much to distinguish it beyond the appearances of Miriam Shor and Sharon Angela. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 60
If The Imperialists Are Still Alive! doesn't go much of anywhere despite its peripatetic characters, that stasis seems intentional.- Posted Apr 14, 2011
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 60
It's a slam-dunk of an opener in a film filled with terrifically choreographed action and very little on its mind. -
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Reviewed by
Neil Genzlinger 60
For $600, it turns out, you can make a short documentary about aging recreational swimmers that has just enough winning moments in it to let viewers forgive that it's little more than a glorified home video. -
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Reviewed by
Rachel Saltz 70
A fascinating blend of musical, melodrama and feminist fairy tale, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag shows Bollywood’s moral universe in transition. -
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Reviewed by
Jeannette Catsoulis 80
Mr. Murray creates a beguiling, visually rich canvas.- Posted Aug 11, 2011
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Critic Score 70
A real-life examination of competitive surfing in Papua New Guinea, the film derives tension from the proverbial big tournament but also from how the event helps foster a worthy morality.- Posted Feb 2, 2012
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Reviewed by
Lawrence Van Gelder 70
Artfully treading a fine line between operatic tragedy and romantic comedy. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 80
A wholesome self-help fable about the unlocking of shame and its magical transformation into pleasure and personal liberation. -
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Reviewed by
Dave Kehr 60
The film's mechanical workings are still impressive, but between the unsympathetic characters and the coldly precise direction, there is little here for an audience to clutch to its heart. -
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 70
If all this does not quite add up to a coherent movie, it does produce a bouncy, boisterous and charming one, which becomes downright thrilling when it shows the bands in action. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 40
Like "The Sixth Sense," He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not reaches for a crowning final twist, but in this case it falls flat. -
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Reviewed by
Dave Kehr 80
For those in search of something different, Wendigo is a genuinely bone-chilling tale. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 50
Although it is briskly directed and enjoyably stylized, the film is shallow -- but empty. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 50
Leaves a sour aftertaste since it's obvious that the filmmaker's intrusion on these unhappy people, fictional or not, only further worsens their discomfort and their difficulty communicating. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 60
Shamelessly stirring, brandishing Mr. Gibson's anguished masculinity like a musket. It may be effective, but you leave the theater feeling used. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 80
A B-movie-style throwback that’s consistently diverting and blissfully free of morals and messages, A Perfect Getaway is just the thing for the summertime movie blahs: it’s a genuinely satisfying cheap thrill. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 70
It is interesting and ingenious, even if some of the kinky, queasy fascination that had been so intoxicating in the earlier scenes ebbs away.- Posted Sep 1, 2011
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 70
The film is more funny ha-ha than LOL; it’s a smarty-pants satire that mocks and embraces almost every cliché in the biography playbook. -
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Critic Score 70
From moment to moment, Planet B-Boy is fun, sometimes thrilling and packed with illuminating details and striking personalities. -
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Reviewed by
Jeannette Catsoulis 90
Though the film’s ice-cold blend of the cerebral and the atavistic can be off-putting, it enables a queasy portrait of moral disengagement that lingers long after Simon has slipped from the screen.- Posted Apr 4, 2013
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Reviewed by
Janet Maslin 70
It benefits not only from Mr. Brando's peculiar presence, but also from Johnny Depp, who again proves himself a brilliantly intuitive young actor with strong ties to the Brando legacy. The movie is cheesy, but its stars certainly are not. -
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Reviewed by
Mike Hale 70
Absorbing and amusing for as long as it looks back at those Hollywood westerns, recounting their sins against American Indians. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 70
There are modest pleasures in a familiar story told differently enough that you're happy to keep guessing and watching.- Posted Mar 17, 2011
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 70
Btter-than-average screen Shakespeare: intelligent without being showily clever, and motivated more by genuine fascination with the play's language and ideas than by a desire to cannibalize its author's cultural prestige. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 50
Scott's ravishing visual style, characterized by a fetishistic attention to surface detail and unrelenting beauty, can work wonders with big subjects, but this is also a director who needs actors powerful enough to shoulder narrative and emotional extremes. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 50
Unfortunately, Ms. Faucher's screenplay, written with Gaëlle Macé, never finds its focus or reason for being, and Ms. Naymark just doesn't have enough screen presence to make up for the lack of a story or to justify all those tenderly attentive close-ups. -
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 60
Ms. Silverman is a skilled performer, and Jesus Is Magic is occasionally very funny, but don't be fooled: naughty as she may seem, she's playing it safe. -
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 70
That El Perro is so unassuming is part of what makes its humane, sympathetic story so satisfying. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 60
The insensitivity of the news media and law enforcement is an implicit acknowledgment of the gap between men and women on the issue; in the film's view men just don't get it. And the submerged rage that wells up in Nira and Lily is boiling hot. The film is less successful in depicting their personal lives.- Posted Jul 10, 2012
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 50
A film divided against itself. The more the cat-and-mouse game between prisoner and reporter points it in the direction of "The Silence of the Lambs," the closer it inches toward the sort of exploitation it condemns; for me, that's too close for Crónicas to be taken without a big grain of salt. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 80
Mr. Jennings and Mr. Goldsmith have held onto a genuine sense of childlike wonder, which works as a nice corrective to what might otherwise come across as an overabundance of hip. -
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Critic Score 80
Kevin has the potential to be the mawkish child or the obnoxious little adult so common on screen, but he is neither. Played with great glee by Macaulay Culkin, he is a totally endearing, up-to-the-minute little boy. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 90
This movie is graceful, subtle and sure-footed, much as its English title implies.- Posted May 31, 2012
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 60
Ms. Lévy is rescued from her maudlin, preachy tendencies by the skill and sensitivity of the actors, who turn a wobbly parable of tolerance into a graceful and touching story of real people in a surreal situation.- Posted Oct 25, 2012
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Reviewed by
Dave Kehr 50
Makes compelling viewing. But it is viewing of an eerily familiar kind, almost as if the real-life lawyers in the film had patterned themselves on television archetypes. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 60
As gamely as the movie tries to make sense of its title character, there remains a huge gap between the film's creepy, clean-cut Dahmer (Jeremy Renner) and fiendish acts that no amount of earnest textbook psychologizing can bridge. -
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 70
Mr. Longley makes powerful use of the techniques of cinéma vérité. The absence of voice-over narration and talking-head interviews gives his portrait of daily life under duress a riveting immediacy. -
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 60
The story, touching though it is, does not quite have enough emotional resonance or variety of incident to sustain a feature, and even at 85 minutes it feels a bit long. The premise, too, is a little thin. -
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 70
It has an air of melancholy humor as its characters fumble toward normalcy. -
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 60
It is not so much a documentary as a fictional film about the making of a documentary, or perhaps a documentary about the making of a fictional film about the making of a documentary. If this sounds a bit maddening, it is, though the confusion that The Blonds induces is clearly part of its intention. -
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Reviewed by
Dave Kehr 70
Mr. Ratnam is a dynamic, natural filmmaker who happily uses every device at his disposal, from rapid-fire MTV editing to sped-up action scenes that recall silent serials, to keep his lengthy film moving at a brisk pace. The film flags only when Mr. Ratnam must turn his attention to the soggy romantic subplots. -
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Reviewed by
Jeannette Catsoulis 50
A cold and moody psychodrama poised frustratingly on the border between novel and banal. -
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Reviewed by
Nathan Lee 60
Authentic in texture if narrow in scope, LOL is a movie about the way we live -- or rather about the way white, urban, heterosexual circuit boys are failing to live. -
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Reviewed by
Laura Kern 60
Leisurely paced and never truly engaging or frightening (beyond the fear commitment-phobes may experience), this low-budget film, shot on high-definition video, looks cheap, but makes up for it in part with solid performances (especially Ms. Coogan's) and capable direction by Dave Gebroe, whose script is infused with some wickedly funny lines. -
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Reviewed by
Neil Genzlinger 70
The film bounces around enjoyably, giving a history of the game, talking to people who love it and chronicling the 2009 Monopoly World Championships in Las Vegas.- Posted May 6, 2011
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Critic Score 50
Filled with crushing facts about animal cruelty yet also overstuffed and overwrought, it's emotionally and visually tough to watch.- Posted Dec 7, 2012
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 70
"Miramax porn." The term refers to manipulative tearjerkers like Dear Frankie whose sensitive performances, along with a light dusting of grit, allow them to be marketed as art films. This one is clever enough to fool a lot of people. -
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Reviewed by
Nathan Lee 60
For the first full hour, as we're guided inside privacies of culture and consciousness, Ms. Albou sustains her rich and gently intoxicating mode of storytelling, a feat all the more admirable in light of the overly schematic script. -
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Reviewed by
Jeannette Catsoulis 70
Mr. Wood has created a poignant portrait of an artist unable to escape the stamp of her class or the burdens of aging.- Posted Mar 28, 2013
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Reviewed by
Lawrence Van Gelder 50
A rare and often chilling glimpse into the culture of North Korea. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 70
At the end, Bear Cub does have a brush with sentimentality. But by then, its integrity and low-key truthfulness has been certified in a dozen different ways. -
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Critic Score 60
The triumphant musical cues and comic double takes encourage us to cheer Vitus's high jinks as if he were Ferris Bueller's ivory-tickling kid brother. -
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Critic Score 70
There’s nary a twist you don’t see coming. But the film’s strong acting, spectacular dance routines and culturally specific details turn clichés into catharsis. It’s the sort of film that sends you home with a spring in your step. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 100
Mr. Wright's Anna Karenina is different. It is risky and ambitious enough to count as an act of artistic hubris, and confident enough to triumph on its own slightly - wonderfully - crazy terms.- Posted Nov 15, 2012
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 50
Observed through emotional gauze, its four likable women are symbolic cheerleaders for personal loyalty and wholesome living. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 50
There's something poignant about the image of this actress (Pfeiffer) sitting in a pool of sunlight without a smile or trace of visible makeup. But she's trying to reach a character that her director seems intent to keep from her grasp. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 70
The results are about as naughty as that sounds (not very), but it also makes for a fairly giggling good time.- Posted Jul 21, 2011
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 80
In its quiet, literate way, the film is almost as subversive as its central character. -
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Reviewed by
Elvis Mitchell 70
Dwarfed by the enormity of what it means to illustrate, the diffuse Amistad divides its energies among many concerns: the pain and strangeness of the captives' experience, the Presidential election in which they become a factor, the stirrings of civil war, and the great many bewhiskered abolitionists and legal representatives who argue about their fate. -
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Reviewed by
Janet Maslin 70
The cinematic safari's simple pleasures are best experienced with the littlest ticket-holders, who get an edifying thrill ride and a computer-assisted sense of a wider world. -
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Critic Score 70
Especially in the early footage, Chogyal Namkhai Norbu is an engaging, charismatic figure; by the end, Yeshi is finding his own footing, able to relate to a young, wired-in audience. My Reincarnation makes a pretty strong case: when the family business is enlightenment, listen to your dad.- Posted Oct 27, 2011
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 90
The glue holding the film together is Adam Newport-Berra's elegant hand-held cinematography, which captures changing shades of winter and the frightened faces in natural light with an astonishing intensity.- Posted Nov 16, 2012
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Reviewed by
Nathan Lee 70
Though Mr. Berends strays too often, he does so down some compelling paths. His material is intimate and hair-raising, granting us rare access to scenes inside mosques, at a Shiite militia rally and in homes under fire. -
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Reviewed by
Jeannette Catsoulis 70
An unusually restrained and genuinely eerie little movie perched at the intersection of faith, folklore and female puberty. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 60
There are humor and pathos, but a crucial dimension of intensity is missing. The best I can say is that it's kind of a good movie. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 70
Its upbeat tone, perky visual rhythm and sleek graphics capture the "swinging '60s" aesthetic epitomized by Mr. Sassoon's major invention: the geometric "five-point" haircut.- Posted Feb 10, 2011
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 80
Reel Paradise is a deliberately untidy, open-ended, thoroughly absorbing chronicle that lets the lives of its characters spill across the screen without editorializing. -
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Reviewed by
Nathan Lee 70
Boring people who made extraordinary music, the Pixies are inexplicable. In attempting to demystify them, the directors Steven Cantor and Matthew Galkin achieve the opposite. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 80
Not quite a biopic, not really a documentary and only loosely an adaptation, Howl does something that sounds simple until you consider how rarely it occurs in films of any kind. It takes a familiar, celebrated piece of writing and makes it come alive. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 80
Jacobs, the great 20th-century philosopher-evangelist of urban life, would surely recognize this retired restaurant cook, a resident of the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans and the subject of Jonathan Demme's marvelous new documentary, as an indispensable "public character."- Posted Sep 12, 2012
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Reviewed by
Rachel Saltz 70
There's a lovely, unhurried quality to Mr. Hosoda's storytelling, which nicely matches the clean, classically composed images of his outer story.- Posted Dec 30, 2010
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 90
The Hunter never declares who is good or bad or right or wrong. And the implications of Martin's decision when the moment of truth finally arrives are left for the viewer to unravel.- Posted Apr 5, 2012
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 50
Song after song, as relationships and rebellion bloom, you wait in vain for the movie to, as well, and for the filmmaking to rise to the occasion of both its source material and its hard-working performers.- Posted Dec 25, 2012
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 100
The movie itself is a nonstop barrage -- somewhere between a riot and an orgy -- of crude, obnoxious gags and riffs. If you are a connoisseur of sexual, scatological or just plain stupid humor, you will find your appetite satisfied, even glutted. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 60
As informative and packed with cultural lore as it is, The Komediant is dramatically diffuse. -
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 50
The problem lies in the calculating pretentiousness of using human misery to make shallow entertainment seem serious. It's worth comparing Spy Game with "The Tailor of Panama," John Boorman's far superior exercise in post-cold-war spycraft. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 70
Yes, it's all terribly hokey. But once you accept the premise as a conceit that allows the director, Jean-Jacques Annaud, to offer an intimate, utopian vision of the animal kingdom, Two Brothers succeeds as an inspirational pastorale and passionate moral brief for animal rights and preservation. -
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 60
More amusing than annoying. It is not as maniacally uninhibited as "Old School" or as dementedly lovable as "Elf," but its cheerful dumbness is hard to resist. -
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Reviewed by
Dana Stevens 80
An unadorned, unsparing chronicle of a young man's descent into a nightmare of delusion, paranoia and self-destructive behavior. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 50
The truth about the case of Christine Collins is so shocking and dramatic that embellishment must have seemed pointless, but in sticking so close to the historical record, Mr. Straczynski and Mr. Eastwood have produced a distended, awkward narrative whose strongest themes are lost in the murky pomp of period detail. -
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Reviewed by
Jeannette Catsoulis 50
Though each character is living a distinctly personal tragedy, the filmmaker's antipathy to context or coherence effectively bars us from all but the most fleeting emotional involvement. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 60
Paradoxically, it is precisely because Mr. Devor refuses to acknowledge the murkiness that clings to every frame in his film, because he refuses to engage with the world beyond that of the zoophiles, that they seem like creatures from some never-ending night. -
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Reviewed by
Jeannette Catsoulis 70
For those who care about the winning and losing of championship belts, the film's slow-motion attention to pugilistic style and powerhouse punches is thrillingly instructive.- Posted Oct 20, 2011
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Reviewed by
Anita Gates 70
A significant development turns Susan Kaplan's documentary into a thought-provoking story. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 70
Surprisingly Rocky Balboa, is no embarrassment. Like its forerunners it goes the distance almost in spite of itself. It's all heart and no credibility except as a raw-boned fable. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 70
The most gratifying thing about "Eames" is that it shows, in marvelous detail, how their work was an extension of themselves and how their distinct personalities melded into a unique and protean force.- Posted Nov 17, 2011
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 70
The dazzling, high-flying silliness is quite an achievement. The movie is better than it deserves to be, given its origins: a ride at Disneyland and Disney World. -
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Reviewed by
Janet Maslin 70
Over all, this deferential film salutes Mr. Hockney's artistry as an elixir for creaky texts, a hallucinogen for orthodox opera fans, and an antidote to his own senescence. As much as he lets the filmmaker be present, he successfully avoids real intimacy, keeping his personal life comfortably backstage. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 50
Mr. Svankmajer’s provocations skew toward the intellectual and the shivery rather than the pop and the visceral, and at his best, he doesn’t just get under your skin, but also deep in your head, too. Here, unfortunately, he does neither, despite some marvelous stop-motion animated sequences involving a literal moveable feast of severed animal tongues, loose eyeballs and errant brains. -
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Reviewed by
Jeannette Catsoulis 70
Assembled without frills or fuss, A Man Named Pearl is as much a portrait of a small Southern town as of an unassuming black folk artist. -
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Reviewed by
Dave Kehr 70
Whether or not you buy Mr. Broomfield's findings, the film acquires an undeniable entertainment value as the slight, pale Mr. Broomfield continues to force himself on people and into situations that would make lesser men run for cover. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 60
Although The Grace Lee Project is ostensibly about a name, it's really about cultural assimilation and a stereotype of virtue and subservience that has deep roots on both sides of the Pacific. As oppressive as her name may be, Ms. Lee also knows full well that there are worse fates than being a 16-year-old Harvard freshman. -
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Reviewed by
A.O. Scott 80
When Mr. Greengrass made "United 93," his 2006 reconstruction of one of the Sept. 11 hijackings, some people fretted that it was too soon. My own response to Green Zone is almost exactly the opposite: it's about time. -
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Reviewed by
Manohla Dargis 60
That The Assassination of Richard Nixon is as well directed, acted and shot as it is makes Mr. Mueller's inability to invest his film with significance all the more disappointing. -
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Reviewed by
Stephen Holden 60
King of California may look and feel realistic, but it is really a Don Quixote-like fable about nonconformity and pursuing your impossible dream to the very end. -
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Reviewed by
Dave Kehr 80
The film is full of ingenious details and effective character sketches (Thomas has a mother who would give Woody Allen the willies) that go a long way toward covering up its conventionalities. -
