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OFCS Rating: 76% Fresh |
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| "an affecting examination of disconnected lives in an interconnected world." |
| Eye for Film |
| Anton Bitel |
A- | "How much you enjoy Babel will be based entirely on your degree of cynicism." |
| FromTheBalcony |
| Bill Clark |
B- | "I would be surprised if, after 140 minutes of grim punishment, any audience member could be truly moved by this everlasting symphony of pain." |
| FilmJerk.com |
| Brian Orndorf |
2/5 | "succeeds only in making noise." |
| Filmcritic.com |
| Chris Barsanti |
A- | "Alejandro González Iñárritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga cap off the trilogy of films that began with "Amores Perros" and "21 Grams" with a rich and engrossing drama." |
| ColeSmithey.com |
| Cole Smithey |
| "Babel suggests that violence forges its own kind of language, a means to forge closeness across distances of experience, location, and time." |
| PopMatters |
| Cynthia Fuchs |
2.5/4 | "Babel is a well-intentioned -- and finely acted -- tower of power that might have worked better had its theme of universal communication difficulties been better integrated." |
| rec.arts.movies.reviews |
| David N. Butterworth |
1/5 | "Babel isn't actually about anything. It's just 140 minutes of self-conscious cinematic navel-gazing dressed up in Oscar-bait clothing." |
| eFilmCritic.com |
| Dawn Taylor |
B- | "... settles for being a decent but contrived and unmoving psychological drama." |
| Ozus' World Movie Reviews |
| Dennis Schwartz |
3.5/4 | "Thought-provoking long after its haunting final frame, Babel is a weighty and complex spellbinder." |
| TheMovieBoy.com |
| Dustin Putman |
2/4 | "Comparisons to Crash are fair only up to a point, given how Babel is prone to sacrificing character at the altar of the almighty shock tactic, but the film more accurately brings to mind the schematic, globe-trotting Syriana." |
| Slant Magazine |
| Ed Gonzalez |
2/5 | "Si algún mérito tiene González Iñárritu (además de la conducción de un buen elenco) es el de haber sido capaz de dar a una película menor y pretenciosa la forma de un cine supuestamente original e importante." |
| Uruguay Total |
| Enrique Buchichio |
C | "Has an unwelcome sense of self-importance and heavy-handedness." |
| EricDSnider.com |
| Eric D. Snider |
3.5/4 | "Weaves its power through, instead of above us, in the effort of its own testament that the inner horrors of our time on Earth should be a uniter and not a divider, no matter who the decider might be." |
| eFilmCritic.com |
| Erik Childress |
A- | "Babel is about lack of communication, per its title, and that theme resonates through Inarritu's four stories on levels both global and personal." |
| Film Blather |
| Eugene Novikov |
3/4 | "Robert Altman ha muerto, pero el futuro de los denominados hyperlink movies está en excelentes manos con Alejandro González Iñárritu." |
| Doncinema.com |
| Flavio J. Arosemena |
B- | "Like its scriptural model, an impressive structure, but one that doesn't reach the intended emotional heights." |
| One Guy's Opinion |
| Frank Swietek |
5/5 | "A multidimensional story that explores what happens when love is ignored, squandered, or annihilated by anger, alienation, hatred and violence. One of the best films of the year." |
| Spirituality and Practice |
| Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat |
3.5/4 | "Its complex (yet not mystifying) storytelling, forceful character development, and superb cinematography make this a candidate for one of 2006's best offerings." |
| ReelViews |
| James Berardinelli |
2.5/4 | "a collection of often powerful scenes in search of something grand to say" |
| Q Network Film Desk |
| James Kendrick |
| "When bad things happen to stupid people, are we supposed to care?" |
| SA Movie & DVD Magazine |
| James O'Ehley |
8/10 | "Click here to read review" |
| Kinoblog.com |
| Jaroslav Vishtaljuk |
8/10 | "At the simplest level, the movie is several dramas told effectively, and processing the emotions in its most dramatic moments may be the best reward in watching it." |
| ReelTalk Movie Reviews |
| Jeffrey Chen |
| "...this is one tower of Babel which won't be coming down any time soon." |
| Light Views |
| John Larsen |
| "I probably won't see a better film this year." |
| Planet Sick-Boy |
| Jon Popick |
| "Dread hovers over this movie like a chaperone at a parochial school dance." |
| In the Dark |
| Jonathan F. Richards |
3.5/4 | "The fact that someone was so inspired by our pathetic and pitiable inability to communicate with our fellow man to craft a film with that message and that message alone is noteworthy." |
| Bangitout.com |
| Jordan Hiller |
3/5 | "full review in Greek" |
| Movies for the Masses |
| Joseph Proimakis |
| "With some irony, the byzantine Babel is the one that babbles, speaking without actually saying much of anything." |
| Pretentious Musings |
| Kevin Koehler |
4/4 | "Surpasses Crash and Syriana in the depiction of a post-9/11 world of heightened racial tensions and political turmoil." |
| Montreal Film Journal |
| Kevin N. Laforest |
B | "...while the pair's [Iñárritu and Arriaga] filmmaking skills cannot be denied, the film's emotional resonance is weakened by a feeling of repetition and cliche..." |
| Reeling Reviews |
| Laura Clifford |
5/5 | "Babel es más que eso, es contradicción y antítesis, es la obra cumbre y gloriosa de un visionario en un retrato triste y dramático de nuestro mundo." |
| Cinenganos |
| Luis Martinez |
3/4 | "Despite its provocative elements, there's less to Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Guillermo Arriaga's variations on the theme of miscommunication and careless acts than meets the eye." |
| TV Guide's Movie Guide |
| Maitland McDonagh |
2.5/4 | "The film's ambition, unfortunately, exceeds its reach, let alone its grasp." |
| Mark Reviews Movies |
| Mark Dujsik |
6/10 | "This is a moving but very downbeat film. The stories do not add up to much other than to say that bad things happen." |
| rec.arts.movies.reviews |
| Mark R. Leeper |
3.5/4 | "Babel is the kind of movie I would recommend to a specific audience. If you don't mind sitting and soaking up the little details and absorbing a theme as deep as it will go, then you may agree that this film is quite rewarding." |
| Aisle Seat |
| Mike McGranaghan |
B+ | "The film's sympathy for all of its characters is in itself the answer, or at least the beginning of one, to the questions it raises." |
| Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies |
| Nell Minow |
C | "There isn't a second when Iñárritu's film feels as if it's replicating life's coincidental nature." |
| Lessons of Darkness |
| Nick Schager |
3/5 | "Acaba trazendo [seu diretor e seu roteirista] em um caminho que já percorreram duas vezes %u2013 só que, aqui, eles o fazem de maneira bem mais esquemática, melodramática e, conseqüentemente, menos interessante." |
| Cinema em Cena |
| Pablo Villaca |
3.5/5 | "...here's the most important lesson %u2013 if you're going to a Mexican wedding, make plans to spend the night." |
| Film Threat |
| Pete Vonder Haar |
4/5 | "Iñárritu and Arriaga continue their three-pronged approach with this powerfully moving drama." |
| Shadows on the Wall |
| Rich Cline |
2/5 | "A lumbering, stitched-together mess." |
| eFilmCritic.com |
| Rob Gonsalves |
B+ | "Iñárritu's spiritual side combines with his insight into human nature to transcend the shakier elements." |
| Flipside Movie Emporium |
| Rob Vaux |
C+ | "Similar in tone to Iñárritu's earlier film, "21 Grams," but not as effective." |
| Laramie Movie Scope |
| Robert Roten |
B | "The world-spanning story has intriguing elements...But, the overall study falls short of the individual stories." |
| Reeling Reviews |
| Robin Clifford |
3/4 | "Finds a tense undercurrent (that) keeps us involved through the film's moderate pace and constant narrative shuffling." |
| Charlotte Weekly |
| Sean O'Connell |
10/10 | "Tension-filled and compelling - it's one of the best pictures of 2006!" |
| www.susangranger.com |
| Susan Granger |
3.5/4 | "...A richly nuanced, at times shattering film that brings Inarritu's Death Trilogy to a stunning close." |
| Reel.com |
| Timothy Knight |
| "Click here to see review" |
| Wolf Entertainment Guide |
| William Wolf |
3/4 | Read review |
| Big Picture Big Sound |
| Joe Lozito |
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OFCS Rating: 76% Fresh |
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