 |
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| |
C- |
|
(2008) |
|
"From its silly exploitation treatment of prostitution and sexual bondage you'd never imagine that Giuseppe Tornatore, the same director who created the magnificent "Cinema Paradiso," made "The Unknown Woman.""
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
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| |
B- |
|
(2008) |
|
"For a low budget, independent comedy made in 19 days, "The Foot Fist Way" is a clever and surprisingly satisfying effort from first-time director and co-writer Jody Hill."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
C+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"No matter how dark your sense of humor, the Bush Administration’s joke has become a harsh reality. There’s no spark of humor when you’re staring into an abyss."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
B+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"Documentarian Doug Pray ("Scratch") connects the narrative dots between the Paskowitz's nine children that survived their unconventional upbringing with varying degrees of success. You have to see this unusual story to believe it."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
B+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"Although not a perfect film, "Quid Pro Quo" is a highly crafted cinematic achievement that taps into its characters' subconscious with surgical precision and elegant assurance."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
C |
|
(2008) |
|
"Norwegian auteur Joachim Trier isn't a close relative of Lars von Trier, but his debut feature film bares the characteristics of an ambitious if overreaching young filmmaker taunting his elders to scold him for his audacity."
[movie review] |
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ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
C- |
|
(2008) |
|
"This tone-deaf flick from hack screenwriter Dana Fox, is an example of a Hollywood formula romantic comedy where the author never properly learned the recipe."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
A |
|
(2008) |
|
"The Wachowski Brothers achieve a divine vision of psychedelic visual ecstasy while digging deep into an campy comic/dramatic tone that works for audiences of all ages."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
B- |
|
(2008) |
|
"For all of it's anti-corporate military themes, "Iron Man" spends too much time watching technology genius Tony Stark tinkering with his super-hero costume design to get around to developing much of a story."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
B |
|
(2008) |
|
"Claude Lelouch's ode to the 'train station novel' is a perfectly balanced genre blend of romance and suspense thriller that shifts gears like an Aston Martin on Route One."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
B- |
|
(2008) |
|
"It may be just another Mamet experiment in the limits of dramaturgy, but "Redbelt" keeps the audience guessing."
[movie review] |
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ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
B- |
|
(2008) |
|
"Writer/director David Ross crosses a line into gratuitous exploitation by accentuating semi-pornographic settings to incite mixed emotions. The sensual side effect could work as a way of bringing an audience into the story's cruel discussion on human natu"
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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D+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"The movie doesn't know if it wants to be a kid's movie (it's not), or just a prepubescent reverie. Either way "Son of Rambow" is a slapdash story told in a slapdash way."
[movie review] |
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ColeSmithey.com |
|
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C- |
|
(2008) |
|
"Dark humor, along the lines of "The Honeymoon Killers," gives way to fractured set pieces that gesture toward the film's gratuitous climax, one that's destined to bestow upon it a cult status."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
D- |
|
(2008) |
|
"Uwe Boll is the epitome of a hack director who thinks that putting an Osama impersonator and a George Bush lookalike together in a scene will automatically make some comic impression. It just made me sleepy."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
B+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"Surrogate motherhood is the comic topic of the day, and this is one funny chick flick that won't rankle male members of the audience."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
B |
|
(2008) |
|
"In spite of their dubiously short stay at the prison of the film's title this multi-culti screwball buddy comedy, about stoner goofballs Harold and Kumar, properly roasts post 9/11 America with an irreverent vengeance."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
D |
|
(2008) |
|
"Think of it as a cinema-of-the-infantile and you'll be better able to stomach the utter boredom that goes along with Korine's prepubescent logic."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
B- |
|
(2008) |
|
"Although muddled at times from its cross-purpose agendas of trumpeting conservation and establishing a story arc that never quite congeals, "Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk" is a lush look at a journey that few people will ever experience except vic"
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
B- |
|
(2008) |
|
"From a philosophical viewpoint it's fitting that the inaugural movie to unite martial arts legends Jackie Chan and Jet Li is a fantasy film for young teenagers. Forbidden Kingdom" may not be "Enter the Dragon," but it's not supposed to be."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
D |
|
(2008) |
|
"Okay, so Al went slumming and all he got was a paycheck and movie for his fans to ignore. All is forgiven. Just don't do it again Al. Please don't do it again."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
B- |
|
(2008) |
|
"Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a romantic comedy for guys, but there’s plenty of material aimed at female audiences as well, not the least of which are the full-frontal male assaults. We’re all friends in Judd Apatow’s comedic vision."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
B |
|
(2008) |
|
"Far from the exploitation movie that you'd expect from its subject matter, "Irina Palm" is a significant piece of cinematic satire that comes straight from the heart."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
B+ |
|
(2008) |
|
""Bra Boys" exposes a specific slice of rebellious Australian surfing culture hardboiled from the senseless violence visited upon them by authorities and rival gangs alike. Maroubra means, "place of thunder." Upon seeing this gripping movie, you'll know wh"
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
C+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"Somebody should have told screenwriter Mark Poirier that it's oxymoronic to trumpet a Republican character as a "smart" person in this well-acted but underwhelming comedy."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
B- |
|
(2008) |
|
"A combination of implausible plot-points, and the miscasting of television's Hugh Laurie as Internal Affairs chief Captain Biggs, hampers a convoluted crime thriller that is nonetheless entertaining for its grotesque action sequences."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
B |
|
(2008) |
|
"Based on Wendy Orr's youthful feminized spin on Robinson Crusoe, "Nim's Island" is a low-key adventure comedy for preteens that will touch the hearts of their gooey-eyed parents."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
C- |
|
(2008) |
|
"Critical darling auteur Wong Kar Wai may have a knack for luscious cinematic compositions, but his limited narrative sensibilities hobble this scattershot romantic drama."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
A+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"Where Scorsese's focus for the "The Last Waltz" was on capturing a cultural zeitgeist that supported a generational shift of musical ideas, here he goes after the incredibly honed inner-workings of the Rolling Stones' performance style and musical deliver"
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
C- |
|
(2008) |
|
""21" relies too heavily on music video montages to connect its cardboard characters."
[movie review] |
|
Daily Radar |
|
|
|
|
| |
C+ |
|
(2008) |
|
""Run, Fat Boy, Run" is a cut-and-dried formula comedy slightly elevated by its more than competent cast."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
B+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"Maddening, upsetting, and articulate, it's a film that dares to address a malicious tentacle of Government expediency connected to a much larger monster."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
C |
|
(2007) |
|
"Call it a cinema of guilty pleasure, and don't worry if you fall asleep in your seat after the sex scene is over. You won't be alone."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
C |
|
(2008) |
|
"Apart from a few mildly funny bits of slapstick, "Drillbit Taylor" doesn't come near the level of comedy that Judd Apatow and screenwriter Seth Rogen are known for."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
B |
|
(2008) |
|
""Planet B-Boy" takes a step toward bringing together foreign communities by sharing a communal model of freedom of expression--the freedom of movement."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
A |
|
(2008) |
|
""Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who" is an inspired cinematic adaptation that improves on the book in a way that a movie of this magnitude should."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
C- |
|
(2008) |
|
"Yesterday's Fight Club is today's "Combat Club" in this battle of teen six-pack abs."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
A |
|
(2008) |
|
"Both versions of Funny Games equally represent the most indigestible and unsettling fictional film I've ever seen."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
C |
|
(2008) |
|
"Rhetoric far outweighs substance in this vaguely satisfying and preachy doc."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
A- |
|
(2008) |
|
"Visually stunning and emotionally moving, "Blindsight" is real joy through and through."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
C |
|
(2008) |
|
""CJ7" has some moments of sweetness and CGI inflected humor, but comes off as slight compared to the filmmaker's previous efforts."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
B- |
|
(2008) |
|
"There's gentile satire here, to go along with suspense and sexual intrigue, but the tone of the piece stays too melodramatic to hit its potential to resonate. Every actor pours on his or her best, in a tempered showcase movie that's worth seeing."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
B |
|
(2007) |
|
"Director/co-writer Ramin Bahrani ("Man Push Cart") gives a candid window into America's impoverished underbelly via a Queens junkyard neighborhood called the "Iron Triangle," where 12-year-old Latino orphan Ale (Alejandro Polanco) plans for his future"
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
B- |
|
(2007) |
|
"Realistically filmed, but limited by narrative cuts that hopscotch through time, "It's a Free World" is a flawed film that overflows with ideas. You should never pass up a Ken Loach movie, and this is no exception to the rule."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
B+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"Frances McDormand executive produced this deft and sophisticated screwball comedy that's more than just a perfect movie for grandmothers."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
B |
|
(2008) |
|
"The Bank Job is good old-fashioned bank heist movie that's based on a 1971 London robbery in which a Lloyds Bank vault was emptied while the city slept."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
B- |
|
(2008) |
|
"Will Farrell loiters in the comfort of his signature punch-drunk delivery of outrageous lines and sight gags in a '70s era parody that extends the funk vibe of Judd Apatow's summer comedy "Superbad.""
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
C- |
|
(2008) |
|
"Adapted from Philippa Gregory's 2002 novel, the potentially captivating subject of two sisters put before a womanizing king by their power-hungry father and uncle, is alas much less than the sum of its parts."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
A- |
|
(2008) |
|
"Here is an unabashed call to a new age of protests. Is it agit prop propaganda? You bet."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
A+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"With his trademark use of slow-motion images and direct-to-camera interviews, Errol Morris spells out the extent of one of the biggest cover-ups in modern U.S. history."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
