 |
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D |
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(2008) |
|
"88 Minutes is the sort of overblown thriller in which every action, no matter how insignificant, is pregnant with portent, yet it's a film of nothing but red herrings."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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A |
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(2006) |
|
"Borat is the rare comedy that operates without a safety net. Cohen and director Larry Charles' film provides constant laughter and surprises while daring the viewer to be rightfully offended."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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|
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C+ |
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(2008) |
|
"Like a new driver learning to operate a manual transmission, director Eastwood's awkward shifting of tones makes the lurching Gran Torino a frustrating ride."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
|
|
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C+ |
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(2009) |
|
"My Sister's Keeper might have earned its weepy moments if it had played fair with its central dilemma rather than putting forward a false choice."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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B- |
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(2009) |
|
"Whatever Works is bound to seem familiar, but [Allen's] found a winning formula, even if this film's title suggests a less than fastidious approach to getting it right."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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C |
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(2009) |
|
"Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs needs injections of cartoon merriment and orneriness to cure the blandness afflicting the plot and characters."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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|
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| |
D |
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(2009) |
|
"The first Friday the 13th is not a masterwork by any stretch of the imagination, but it has one crucial thing the 2009 edition lacks completely: the element of surprise."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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B |
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(2008) |
|
"It raises big, intriguing questions that rarely, if ever, come up in the hubbub about steroid use in professional athletics, particularly Major League Baseball."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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C |
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(2009) |
|
"Terminator Salvation boasts impressive setpieces that provide eye-popping visual scale, but the story so badly lacks scope that the film feels small and, ultimately, inconsequential."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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C+ |
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(2009) |
|
"Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian can be too cluttered and hyperactive to appreciate its broad pleasures."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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B |
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(2009) |
|
"An affectionate portrait rather than a sad, derisive takedown, Anvil! The Story of Anvil finds inspiration in the passion and tenacity these aging metalheads display."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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C |
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(2009) |
|
"Biel's performance lacks the zing needed to jolt this comedy of manners."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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D+ |
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(2009) |
|
"This uninspired Torah-lampooning sketch comedy is as arid and empty as the landscapes which the protagonists wander across."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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D+ |
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(2009) |
|
"...an ungainly and incomprehensible assault on the senses."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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D |
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(2009) |
|
"Except for the presence of Hong Kong star Chow Yun-Fat, this shoddy live-action film is no different or bigger than the sort of junk kids plop down to watch on TV after school."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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B |
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(2009) |
|
"The obvious but effective tactic of contrasting words and visuals scrapes off the veneer of domestic bliss that people put on for the world and which gets pasted in scrapbooks and hung on walls."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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B |
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(2008) |
|
"The deft touch with which it addresses spouses' and parents' professional and personal trade-offs proves this to be a more substantial and poignant picture than expected."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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C |
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(2008) |
|
"The Clone Wars elicits some pangs of nostalgia with its grand battles, alien landscapes, and beloved characters but yields little more than fuzzy thoughts of what used to be."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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C+ |
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(2008) |
|
"...too much of the film is filled with material better served for the behind-the-scenes section on the electronic press kit."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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|
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C+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"A slapdash but amiable crossbreed of The Karate Kid and The Wizard of Oz, The Forbidden Kingdom functions as a martial arts cinema primer for American youth."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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|
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F |
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(2008) |
|
"Unsurprisingly Zombie Strippers is poorly acted, written, directed, edited, and lit, but it is so tedious to watch that this might be the first movie that would be improved if Uwe Boll were calling the shots."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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|
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B |
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(2008) |
|
"Shine a Light doesn't break any new ground for Scorsese or the Stones, but it's an enjoyable showcase for the prodigious skills the director and band have."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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B- |
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(2008) |
|
"The lack of explanations in The Ruins may prove unsatisfying to some, but the unknown is often more terrifying than the tangible. Such are the wages of fear."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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|
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C |
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(2008) |
|
"Produced by Judd Apatow and co-written by Seth Rogen, Drillbit Taylor has a been there, done that quality reminiscent of Superbad if it were much tamer and less funnier."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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|
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C |
|
(2008) |
|
"The jokes land softly, but Run Fatboy Run moves at a sitcom-like clip that keeps it watchable even when it isn't especially funny."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
|
|
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B+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"Snow Angels can painfully burrow into one's heart, but such is the cost of empathy, or any human connection for that matter."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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|
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| |
D |
|
(2008) |
|
"With a dreadfully dull story and performances as petrified as 12,000-year-old wooden artifacts, 10,000 BC shambles along as if on a march to its own extinction."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
|
|
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B |
|
(2008) |
|
"Executed with machine-like precision, The Bank Job is a ripping good caper with plenty of interesting twists."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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|
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C- |
|
(2008) |
|
"College Road Trip plays like an instructional video shown at orientation to ease sheltering parents afraid to let their children leave the nest."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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|
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B- |
|
(2008) |
|
"Shot in widescreen, all the better to appreciate the swanky art deco sets, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day can feel static...but the wonderful lead actresses provide the momentum that the composition and editing fail to provide."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
|
|
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| |
D |
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(2007) |
|
"While Charlie Bartlett's spitting in the face of authority may thrill disenchanted teens, its obnoxiousness and phoniness is enough to make me feel like an old man yelling at kids to get off my lawn."
[movie review] |
|
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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|
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B |
|
(2008) |
|
"Cassandra's Dream is not a top-notch Woody Allen film, but this dark drama is a worthy addition to the director's career-long search for meaning in a world where randomness and cruelty often reign."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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B- |
|
(2008) |
|
"Definitely, Maybe stumbles along the way to its destination just like its protagonist does, but the humor and heart compensate for the lack of sure footing that extends all the way to the uncertainty in the title."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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D+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"Like its namesake mineral, Fool's Gold looks like one thing (a romantic comedy), turns out to be something else (an action-adventure), and has zero value."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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|
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| |
C |
|
(2007) |
|
"Dedication's problem isn't its idealized conception of love but the thoroughly unconvincing way in which it is realized."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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|
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| |
A- |
|
(2007) |
|
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly transcends the uplifting movie-of-the-week story through Schnabel's artful direction and deep empathy."
[movie review] |
|
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
|
|
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|
| |
D |
|
(2008) |
|
"The Eye remake rolls off Hollywood's Asian horror assembly line like expired goods that have been repackaged."
[movie review] |
|
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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|
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| |
C- |
|
(2008) |
|
"Instantly forgettable and proudly lazy, Strange Wilderness feels like it's being made up on the spot."
[movie review] |
|
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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|
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| |
D+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"If it were considered unseemly to speak ill of dead films, then the only thing to recommend about Over Her Dead Body would be the lead actor's palpable indifference."
[movie review] |
|
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
|
|
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| |
C- |
|
(2008) |
|
"Boring, hypocritical, and didactic, Untraceable is an exercise in tut-tutting the audience for being curious about the very stuff the film traffics in."
[movie review] |
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Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
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F |
|
(2008) |
|
"At the risk of praising with faint damning, Meet the Spartans isn't the worst film I've ever seen; however, I'm not suggesting that this feature-length parody of 300 is good in any way."
[movie review] |
|
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
|
|
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| |
C+ |
|
(2008) |
|
"Qualms about Rambo's contextual appropriateness aside, this guns-ablazing movie works on a primal level, but stiff performances and a musty script has it firing its share of blanks too."
[movie review] |
|
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
|
|
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| |
B |
|
(2008) |
|
"Bridesmaid dresses are notorious for being unflattering, single occasion garments. Although formulaic, 27 Dresses wears well on its star."
[movie review] |
|
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
|
|
|
|
| |
A+ |
|
(2007) |
|
"There Will Be Blood is a spectacular achievement that, at this early date, seems worthy to be mentioned alongside cinema's avowed masterpieces."
[movie review] |
|
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
|
|
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|
| |
C+ |
|
(2007) |
|
"Although The Bucket List shouldn't sit well on the stomach, it goes down as easily as meals through an IV."
[movie review] |
|
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
|
|
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|
| |
A |
|
(2007) |
|
"Atonement is an exquisitely crafted film bursting with the possibilities that cinema has to offer."
[movie review] |
|
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
|
|
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|
| |
C+ |
|
(2007) |
|
"After choking on laughs for a period, the question becomes whether Baumbach has anything to deliver beyond his misanthropic floggings."
[movie review] |
|
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
|
|
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| |
C+ |
|
(2007) |
|
"Practically a duplicate of the breezy (and bloated) original, National Treasure: Book of Secrets is not without charm, but it lacks the thrill seeker's joy of discovery."
[movie review] |
|
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
|
|
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|
| |
C |
|
(2007) |
|
"For all of the care and creativity put into Walk Hard's original songs, the rest of the film feels less inspired and maybe a little lazy."
[movie review] |
|
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
|
|
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|
| |
D |
|
(2008) |
|
"While it may be clichéd to proclaim the original foreign film to be superior, the fact remains that the Japanese pic contains more scares and intended laughs than this slapdash American remake."
[movie review] |
|
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
|
|
