 |
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D+ |
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(2009) |
|
""The Men Who Stare at Goats" falls into the politically impotent sub-genre of lightweight satire of which "Charlie Wilson's War" and "The Informant" are recent touchstones."
[movie review] |
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ColeSmithey.com |
|
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C+ |
|
(2009) |
|
"Chris Smith's fiery and provoking documentary provides a searing platform for police-officer-turned-reporter Michael Ruppert to articulate his gloomy vision and, in his view, doomed fate of the world."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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B+ |
|
(2009) |
|
"The film is a perfectly pitched old-school horror homage to a '70s/'80s-era of cinema that should have been."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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B+ |
|
(2009) |
|
""Young Victoria" is a well crafted period romance made personal by Emily Blunt's disarming performance."
[movie review] |
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ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
C- |
|
(2009) |
|
"Just as ridiculous as the title implies, this ill-conceived sequel to Abel Ferrara's masterpiece ("Bad Lieutenant" - 1992) picks up some grains of muscular grit under the unlikely Werner Herzog's guidance, but flails every step of the way."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
A- |
|
(1999) |
|
"Everything about Bjork and Dancer in the Dark is enigmatic in an uncomfortable dissecting way that shows beauty in the crudest way, and crudeness in the complexity of advanced social mores."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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B+ |
|
(2009) |
|
"More than merely a resource for art historians and students, "Rembrandt's J'Accuse" is a gift from an underestimated genius of cinema. You might just might want to see it a second time."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
B |
|
(2009) |
|
"Egos, etiquette, and envy go a long way in this atypical comedy of manners."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
D |
|
(2009) |
|
"Headache-inducing, and featuring one of the worst D-movie performances of the aughts from Costas Mandylor, the latest "Saw" franchise addition is more of the same torture-punishment-rehab-porn audiences have come to expect."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
B |
|
|
|
""Skin" is an Apartheid-era drama made with conviction and perspective by a promising filmmaker."
[movie review] |
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ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
C |
|
(2009) |
|
""Ong Bak 2" is so obviously contrived for the sole purpose of showing off Tony Jaa's martial arts weapons expertise that the film soon wears out its welcome."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
C- |
|
(2009) |
|
"Scattershot and comically unbalanced, "Cirque du Freak" is a wannabe horror film that feels like it was filmed underwater."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
D- |
|
(2009) |
|
"Shallow and inert, "The Stepfather" goes through the motions of a suspense film without ever broaching the horror genre that director Joseph Ruben employed in the original. Talk about "unclear on the concept," this remake doesn't even get the genre right."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
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| |
C- |
|
(2009) |
|
"Gerard Butler's scene-chewing performance holds interest even as the story alternately melts and congeals like a mobile bowl of poorly mixed Jell-O."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
B- |
|
(2009) |
|
"While not an "instant classic," "Where the Wild Things Are" does what it sets out to achieve as a literal but also embellished translation of a literary classic."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
B |
|
(2009) |
|
""Visual Acoustics" offers a history lesson, biopic, and visually harmonic essay via Julius Shulman's gifted focus."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
B |
|
(2009) |
|
""Mary and Max" is a highly inventive claymation tragicomedy told from a very personal perspective. It's not intended to be everyone's cup of tea."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
C- |
|
(2009) |
|
"Compared with a precision horror film like Lars von Trier's terrifying upcoming shocker "Antichrist," "Paranormal Activity" is just kid's stuff."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
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| |
D |
|
(2009) |
|
"The only enjoyment of watching inarticulate modern day American love birds Peter (Jason Ritter) and Vandy (Jess Wexler) interacting in Manhattan, comes from deciding which one is more insufferable."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
D |
|
(2009) |
|
"Soft-peddled father issues, and race relations get coasted over like so much conveyor-belt product in director William Dear's oh-so-safe kids' romantic sports drama."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
A |
|
(2009) |
|
""Precious" is an unforgettable drama whose intrinsic truth outweighs any exploitation or politics that might attend such material. If you want a gritty socially conscious movie, this is it."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
B+ |
|
(2009) |
|
"Here is a profound story of a woman who breaks out of a social cage that she maintained as much as her perceived masters."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
C- |
|
(2009) |
|
"Watching a 12-year-old Abigail Breslin killing zombies with semi-automatic weapons doesn't do much for me, but I'm sure there are many audiences that will remark, "cool." Gratuitous violence never seemed so cheap."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
A+ |
|
(1992) |
|
"In 1992 Quentin Tarantino did something that hadn't been done since 1986 with David Lynch's "Blue Velvet;" he reinvented cinema."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
B+ |
|
(2009) |
|
"Antonio Campos's character study of a prep school social misfit named Robert (Ezra Miller) is an intimate psychological journey into a coded juvenile mindset."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
A- |
|
(2009) |
|
"Hilary Helstein offers a historically significant documentary reportage of Holocaust survivors who utilized art as their primary coping mechanism inside Hitler's concentration camps."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
D |
|
(2009) |
|
"So pretentious it stinks from the screen, "The Blue Tooth Virgin" is a stillborn experiment in screenwriting 101."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
B- |
|
(2009) |
|
"Even if "Beer Wars" works best as a brief introduction to craft beers, and inspires audiences to explore craft breweries in their area and beyond, then the film works."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
C- |
|
(2009) |
|
"It's not so much that "A Serious Man" isn't accessible--it is that. But the film never sets down parameters."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
B- |
|
(2009) |
|
"A kind of second cousin to Paolo Sorrentino's "Il Divo" (2008), "Bronson" shares that film's mechanical sense of ambivalent regard for its subject'"
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
B |
|
(2009) |
|
"French auteur Cedric Klapisch achieves a sublime use of the City of Lights as a living and breathing body of humanity."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
C- |
|
(2009) |
|
"If you keep your expectations low, there are some sci-fi pleasures of visual appeal to be had, but it's tough getting past director Jonathan Mostow's wet noodle brand of storytelling."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
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| |
B |
|
(2009) |
|
"Educational and inventive, the documentary speaks with a strong editorial voice from a backward-looking vantage point. It's a narrative device that proves most effective."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
B |
|
(2009) |
|
"Even non-basketball fans should enjoy this terrific human interest drama of skill, loyalty, and passion."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
A- |
|
(2009) |
|
"This may be the all-time best party film next to "Animal House." If this movie doesn't make you laugh, call a doctor."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
A |
|
(2009) |
|
"...von Trier creates a tense and provocative horror film bound up in terms of psycho-therapy, sexual desire, and the shocking brutality of Mother Nature."
[movie review] |
|
Daily Radar |
|
|
|
|
| |
A |
|
(2009) |
|
"Since making "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Sicko," Moore has polished his humanist vehicle of cinematic political agitprop to a glossy reflecting sheen with an entertaining, touching, and informative movie that's worth repeated viewings."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
C- |
|
(2009) |
|
"Further evidence that Henry Jaglom's filmmaking career is on its last gasp, "Irene In Time" is an all too prosaic story..."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
D |
|
(2009) |
|
"Disgrace" is an infuriating allegory about a sacrificial victim. Becoming a martyr never looked so pathetic."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
C |
|
(2009) |
|
"Punctuated by gory episodes, but lacking in suspense and surprise, "Jennifer's Body" works more as a teen sex endorsement ad for hormone-raging audiences to copy their on-screen peers."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
D |
|
(2009) |
|
"Writer/director/actor Ari Gold has made a competent student film that would graduate him from any film school with flying colors--that's to say, here is an example of a filmmaker who hasn't yet begun to find his own voice."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
B- |
|
(2009) |
|
"As a theatrical filmic exercise, "Blind Date" is a fair experiment. Just don't go expecting to see a movie."
[movie review] |
|
Daily Radar |
|
|
|
|
| |
C- |
|
(2009) |
|
"For as much as the camera loves Audrey Tautou--and it loves her a lot--director Anne Fontaine never shows the particular zing of je ne c'est quoi that rocketed Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel from gifted hat-maker to pioneering feminist fashion designer of the 20"
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
B+ |
|
(2009) |
|
""Chelsea on the Rocks" is a precious cinematic document of a unique global community that gravitated around the Chelsea hotel."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
C- |
|
(2009) |
|
"Oddly, director Steven Soderbergh seems to believe that casting Matt Damon as habitual corporate liar and thief Mark Whitacre constitutes an empathetic protagonist."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
A |
|
(2009) |
|
"Documentarian R.J. Cutler manages the impossible--revealing the notoriously aloof Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour's personality behind the ice queen facade."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
A+ |
|
(2009) |
|
"It's seldom that a film captures something as fragile as a transformation of the human soul, but this documentary of a family's journey to help their autistic child accomplishes just that."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
D |
|
(2009) |
|
"Stagy to a fault, and painfully uneventful, "The Other Man" suffocates from the pitiable writing at hand."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
D |
|
(2009) |
|
"Worse even that its insipid script (co-written by Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger) is Elliot Greenberg's editing of a meandering slasher pic notable only for the number of nubile bare breasts that it manages to fit into nearly every other scene."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
|
|
| |
C- |
|
(2009) |
|
"Blonde-haired white women are omens of doom in screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga's arduous directorial debut."
[movie review] |
|
ColeSmithey.com |
|
|
