 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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| |
2/4 |
|
(2009) |
|
"If 2012 is an apotheosis of all disaster movies, that means it's also an apotheosis of all disaster-movie clichés."
[movie review] |
|
Christianity Today |
|
|
|
|
| |
C |
|
(2009) |
|
"Acker does himself no favors with rote anti-dogmatism and vapid characterizations. Despite that, though, his little creations remain oddly compelling."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
3/4 |
|
(2009) |
|
"A fine tribute to an American pioneer, but I feel sure that Earhart's story merits, and would reward, a more searching and thoughtful exploration."
[movie review] |
|
Christianity Today |
|
|
|
|
| |
D |
|
(2009) |
|
"Langdon may wind up saving the Church, but does Angels & Demons offer any hint of a church worth saving? If not, why should we care?"
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
C+ |
|
(2009) |
|
"Has visual style to burn, but its politically correct tale of rapacious invaders and noble natives is less interesting than the world in which the story is set."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
3/4 |
|
(2009) |
|
"When in movie history has the girl ever revealed her true self and become more attractive to the hero by putting on spectacles and pulling back her hair?"
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
B+ |
|
(2009) |
|
"With its dark tale of changeling parents and imprisoned souls, Coraline comes closer to the bracing spirit of the traditional European fairy tale than perhaps any other film, animated or otherwise, in recent memory."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
B |
|
(2009) |
|
"The story is robust enough to survive the theme-park treatment, and for the most part it's a very good ride, with a welcome note of actual Christmas caroling spirit."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
A- |
|
(2009) |
|
"[The "popcorn" egg-burning scene] in a way represents the whole film: There's popcorn appeal for casual viewers, but something more vital and desperate at stake underneath."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
A- |
|
(2009) |
|
"In a sea of Hollywood formula, artifice and escapism, here is an invitation to wonder, awe and gratitude."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
2/4 |
|
(2009) |
|
"There's nothing wrong with G-Force that John Lasseter couldn't fix."
[movie review] |
|
Christianity Today |
|
|
|
|
| |
B |
|
(2009) |
|
"Continues the trajectories of recent installments — it’s darker, more tragic and more romantic … loyalty to and trust in Dumbledore emerges as a defining moral trait for Harry."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
C- |
|
(2009) |
|
"Marks Blue Sky Studios' descent into the kind of crude and suggestive humor they once left to DreamWorks."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
A- |
|
(2009) |
|
"Confronts us with the inveterate human capacity for self-justification
we are all prone to casting ourselves as the hero of our own drama and the victim of our own tragedy."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
C |
|
(2009) |
|
"Has one character that really matters - Ginormica - and no relationships to speak of … As a tale of female empowerment and male comeuppance, Monsters might have been provocative, like, 50 years ago."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
A- |
|
(2009) |
|
"Sam's predicament touches on issues from the deconstruction of human nature and the commodification of human life to existential loneliness, alienation and the dehumanizing effects of corporate ruthlessness."
[movie review] |
|
Christianity Today |
|
|
|
|
| |
2/4 |
|
(2009) |
|
"A subtext of self-criticism runs through Vardalos's material. Over and over characters tell her, "You're not funny. Stop trying." Is it a sort of apology to the audience?"
[movie review] |
|
Christianity Today |
|
|
|
|
| |
C |
|
(2009) |
|
"The Lincoln Memorial statue is something of a travesty."
[movie review] |
|
Christianity Today |
|
|
|
|
| |
B+ |
|
(2009) |
|
"Sticks together disparate bits and pieces of fairy tale, mythopoeia, sci-fi and family film with the artless simplicity of a child mashing up Tinkertoys, Playdoh and Daddy's cuff links into a single sculpture."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
C |
|
(2009) |
|
"With its well-staged stickups and shootouts … it seems to be all surface — a glossy updating of 1930s Hollywood gangster melodrama without any substantial commentary or insight."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
C+ |
|
(2009) |
|
"Slicker, darker and funnier than the original films, though wall-to-wall action makes it a bit of a one-trick pony, and prevents the characters from catching their breath and displaying more than one side."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
B- |
|
(2009) |
|
"The basic contours of the story do emerge from the ill-advised Hollywood stylings … Does Lopez help Ayers? Does Ayers help Lopez? It's messy."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
A- |
|
(2009) |
|
"It's like what Alan Moore said about Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns: 'Everything is exactly the same, except for the fact that it's all completely different.'"
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
C+ |
|
(2009) |
|
"Like The Magdalene Sisters, Soraya M offers its audience only those appalling truths they want to know about the evils of an alien culture they are already inclined to look down upon."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
A |
|
(2009) |
|
"Bound up in this haunting, moving meditation on a family in transition are implicit questions about globalization and the relationship of art, life and culture, the past and the future."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
2.5/4 |
|
(2009) |
|
"Although well-crafted but improbable action set pieces cast Neeson as an essentially indomitable force, the film's emotional force rests on the comparatively persuasive setup."
[movie review] |
|
Christianity Today |
|
|
|
|
| |
2/4 |
|
(2009) |
|
"Uncritical celebration of that overwrought, obsessive passion that is the hallmark of immaturity, that subordinates all sense of one's own identity and readily leaps to suicidal impulses and fantasies."
[movie review] |
|
Christianity Today |
|
|
|
|
| |
A |
|
(2009) |
|
"What other animated film has contemplated the anxious stubbornness of the elderly to cling to whatever independence they can for as long as they can, to remain connected to familiar places and things?"
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
D |
|
(2009) |
|
"A thoroughgoing deconstruction of humanity as well as heroism, one that takes its world apart without putting it back together again. There are things to admire here, but Watchmen doesn't make me care."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
A- |
|
(2009) |
|
"The book is about anger, while the film is as much about sadness. Here is a film broken-hearted over the messiness of the world. It is sad, and beautiful, and true."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
C+ |
|
(2009) |
|
"You go in knowing it has certain beats to hit, and it hits most of them in ways you might expect … What it's most conspicuously lacking is any sense of surprise, of revelation, of creative boldness."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
A- |
|
(2008) |
|
"Embodies the humanistic perspective… that simply to relate the story of a significant human event, to tell the truth without gloss or commentary, has value in itself."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
C+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"Much like Scorsese's Gangs of New York, it's a film that has been long labored over, and the artist's love of the material is clear, but the inspiration has been lost along the way."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
3/4 |
|
(2008) |
|
"[Gondry] seems almost to relish his house-of-cards approach, so much so that the uncharmed critic might reasonably feel it a waste of breath to blow it down. I would agree."
[movie review] |
|
Christianity Today |
|
|
|
|
| |
C- |
|
(2008) |
|
"It’s as if Waugh’s story has been filtered through the spiritual blindness of young Charles. The movie sees, but it doesn’t understand."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
C+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"It’s morbidly absurdist, thoroughly pointless, and can certainly be funny at times."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
3/4 |
|
(2008) |
|
"A gooey, insubstantial confection, often sweet, occasionally cloying, sometimes sticky- -- in many respects about on a par with the likes of Beauty Shop."
[movie review] |
|
Christianity Today |
|
|
|
|
| |
B+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"More inspired by the book than adapting it, Caspian is most likely to appeal to those not especially attached to the book, which is after all a lesser work flanked by two more popular tales."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
(2008) |
|
"Riddled with historical distortions, at least some of which seem agenda-driven, perhaps even more or less deliberate."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
A+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"Delves so deeply into the darkness that lurks in the hearts of men that it comes almost as a shock, bordering on euphoria, to find that it maintains a tenacious grip onto hope in the human potential for good."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
A- |
|
(2008) |
|
"One book can't contain Horton's dogged heroics!
His stoical pluck shows up all other stoics!
And it gets even better! I'm pleased to relate
That Horton's the very best Blue Sky to date."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
3.5/4 |
|
(2008) |
|
"As a sports non-fan, my definition of a good sports film is one that my dad and I both enjoy. The Express has the goods."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
3/4 |
|
(2008) |
|
"First and foremost, Hellboy II is a riot of creature and set design as well as big action set pieces. Yet Del Toro never reduces the characters to mere action figures."
[movie review] |
|
Christianity Today |
|
|
|
|
| |
C+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"It never even gestures at the philosophical heavy lifting of exploring alternate interpretations of ambiguous events."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
B- |
|
(2008) |
|
"Diverting but forgettable entertainment after a strong opening act, though for Hulk fans smarting from the thoughtful, flawed Ang film, it may just be balm for the soul."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
B |
|
(2008) |
|
"Delivers more or less what one would expect: a reunion with a few old friends amid disposable popcorn entertainment … Enjoy it for what it is, but don't hope for more."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
B+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"Smart, sardonic and more than a little silly, Iron Man is a successful super-hero movie that never takes itself too seriously."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
B+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"Both a surprisingly good kung fu movie and a solid family flick… The story is sweeter and shows more heart than you might think."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
|
|
| |
2.5/4 |
|
(2008) |
|
"After running through some pretty contrived paces for much of its running time, The Lucky Ones has some surprises in the last act that ultimately make it more satisfying than it might have been."
[movie review] |
|
Christianity Today |
|
|
|
|
| |
C- |
|
(2008) |
|
"A hodgepodge, combining elements of The Lion King, Joe vs. the Volcano, Happy Feet and some romantic comedy that I'm sure must exist but which I haven't yet identified."
[movie review] |
|
The Decent Films Guide |
|
|
