Rotten 2/4
| N/A | Film Ist: A Girl & A Gun (2009) | "
A bloated hybrid of graduate-level cinema studies and rudimentary psychology." Posted Nov 30, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 76%
| Angel Heart (1987) | "
Watching a hirsute, long-nailed Robert De Niro daintily peel and unceremoniously scarf down a hard-boiled egg in high definition is more than worth the SRP." Posted Nov 22, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 76%
| Angel Heart (1987) | "
Metaphysical and emotional anemia is an important tradition in cult horror/mystery, a category the daffy plot twists and crimson, incestuous excesses of Angel Heart sit quite cozily in." Posted Nov 22, 2009 |
Fresh
| N/A | The Golden Age of Television (2009) | "
The age might have been more gilded and gullible than golden, but as a lesson in media studies this set is indispensible." Posted Nov 22, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 58%
| Mammoth (2009) | "
A transitional, almost deliberately pensive movie from a director who typically charts a ruthlessly direct course." Posted Nov 16, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 91%
| Defamation (2009) | "
Shamir's propensity for scatterbrained journalism muddles the film's first half to the point of irritation." Posted Nov 15, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 77%
| The Good Soldier (2009) | "
Unlike, for example, Errol Morris's recent works, it doesn't bother to buttress the eye-opening firsthand accounts with a coherent historical argument." Posted Nov 8, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 83%
| Four Seasons Lodge (2009) | "
Four Seasons Lodge will likely be labeled a Holocaust documentary, but it's more accurately a work of sociologically-minded film poetry akin to Michael Apted's ongoing Up series." Posted Nov 8, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 73%
| Act of God (2009) | "
The wishy-washy rotation of characters strands us in the center of the film's complex topic without much aside from useless meditation on the fierce numinousness of nature to keep us company." Posted Nov 4, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 91%
| The Dead (1988) | "
Though it does the heart good to see John Huston's uneven swan song on DVD, The Dead deserves better than this cheap-as-Lucky Charms package." Posted Nov 2, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 91%
| The Dead (1988) | "
What redeems Huston's last gasp is the observational framing and agile editing with which the Morkan sisters' soiree is captured." Posted Nov 2, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 17%
| How To Seduce Difficult Women (2009) | "
A brief walk through a local Barnes and Noble (or any internet community devoted to relationship advice) effortlessly castrates the movie's ambiguous satirical aspirations." Posted Oct 27, 2009 |
Fresh
| N/A | The Samuel Fuller Film Collection (2009) | "
The Film Foundation offers a Fuller understanding of film noir through one of the genre's most unique participants." Posted Oct 26, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 71%
| Killing Kasztner (2008) | "
Notable for, if nothing else, introducing a Jewish character endowed with much of the same historical controversy as his German counterparts." Posted Oct 20, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 55%
| The Little Traitor (2009) | "
The film makes no effort to ameliorate the many contrivances of the novel's plot." Posted Oct 13, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| N/A | One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur (2009) | "
More than an appreciation for Kerouac himself, One Fast Move engenders an appreciation for the mellifluousness of Kerouac's prose read atop footage of briny California waves." Posted Oct 11, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 34%
| St. Trinian's (2009) | "
Rupert Everett also expertly mangles the plum role once inhabited by Alastair Sim." Posted Oct 5, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 61%
| Peter and Vandy (2009) | "
Peter and Vandy implements the time-shuffling love story with more poetic technical aplomb than any other film this year, but its flaws inadvertently fashion a cogent argument against the formula as well." Posted Oct 5, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 85%
| Araya (1959) | "
Araya is an artifactual account of human sweat that aims for pithy sympathy but strikes a far more bewitching bull's-eye." Posted Oct 5, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 57%
| As Seen Through These Eyes (2009) | "
Helstein leads the narrative with superfluous voiceovers from poet Maya Angelou that emphasize the historicity of the events described and, in some instances, dote on details that seem irrelevant to the core topic." Posted Sep 28, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| N/A | Rage (2009) | "
If the performances were more accomplished, or if the murder mystery storyline were less marginal, or if%u2014the simplest fix%u2014the film were simply shorter, we might not feel as weary about spending time with these fashion insiders." Posted Sep 27, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Fresh 100%
| Rashevski's Tango (2003) | "
We feel as though we've spent an hour and a half with the wrong people." Posted Sep 10, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 100%
| Homicide (1991) | "
Criterion's second Mamet release might be the best DVD package of the director's work out there, and should, ya know, garner some of them kudos and all that they got." Posted Sep 4, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 100%
| Homicide (1991) | "
The Pulitzer-winning playwright's movies are often a few steps ahead of their audiences, but Homicide seems to have intuitively anticipated its now-exemplary status." Posted Sep 4, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 65%
| The Last Days of Disco (1998) | "
Criterion's DVD will not only satisfy but validate the cult surrounding one of the best and most relevant films of the 1990s." Posted Aug 25, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 65%
| The Last Days of Disco (1998) | "
The focus of The Last Days of Disco is a psychologically authentic and painfully parasitic female relationship." Posted Aug 25, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 86%
| The Baader Meinhof Complex (2009) | "
One the rare examples of historical fiction that manages to defuse a violent series of real-life events to the point of disinterest." Posted Aug 17, 2009 |
Fresh
| N/A | Extreme Animation: Films By Phil Mulloy (1991-2001) (2001) | "
Imagine awakening from a series of grim nightmares to find your body covered in dried blood and ejaculate." Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
Fresh
| N/A | The Astonishing Work Of Tezuka Osamu (1986) | "
Tezuka Osamu's barbed cartoons meta-examine the same ground they break." Posted Aug 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| N/A | Jonas Mekas - Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1972) | "
Is there a less diluted apogee of the Gonzo-autuerist ideal than artist, critic, and avant-garde cheerleader Jonas Mekas?" Posted Aug 3, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Fresh 67%
| Bliss (2007) | "
Rather than allowing the raw nuance of the sexual hegemony to speak for itself, the topic is enveloped in a storyline that becomes increasingly more squalid as it unspools." Posted Aug 3, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 85%
| Import/Export (2009) | "
The titular backslash of Import/Export turns out to be a vast geographical schism, crossed only intermittently by thin strands of mutual emotional anguish." Posted Jul 28, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 10%
| Ghosted (2009) | "
A clumsily supernatural mystery that strangely uses the fallible density of flesh as its most underscored symbol." Posted Jul 26, 2009 |
Fresh
| N/A | The State - The Complete Series () | "
This set has been lovingly designed for The State fanatics who, at the current price point, will want to dip their balls in it." Posted Jul 13, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 0%
| Homecoming (2009) | "
Pitched halfway between legitimately self-aware slasher camp and--shudder--a sincere relationship thriller, Homecoming hardly seems worth the hour-and-half effort at first." Posted Jul 13, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 93%
| Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg (2009) | "
Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg benefits from a charismatic if elusive biographical subject that has all but faded from public view." Posted Jul 6, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| N/A | Tempest (1928) | "
Contrived romance, racial stereotype, reels of aquiline profile close-ups and an obligatory drunk scene make Tempest the quintessential John Barrymore film." Posted Jul 3, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| N/A | Tempest (1928) | "
Tempest is a pretty paradox, simultaneously pooh-poohing Russian socialism and applauding the American faux-ideal that love is blind to hierarchy." Posted Jul 3, 2009 |
Rotten
| N/A | Eclipse Series 16: Alexander Korda's Private Lives (2009) | "
Accuracy, schmaccuracy: Korda's horny history lessons are best taken with a grain of salt, but outshine Rossellini's fuddy-duddy philosophy portraits with pop badassitude." Posted Jul 2, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Rotten 29%
| Lookin' to Get Out (1982) | "
Despite the confused content of the film, one has to concede that it looks phenomenal." Posted Jun 27, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 29%
| Lookin' to Get Out (1982) | "
Hal Ashby and Jon Voight sadly exhume the rigid, malodorous corpse of the '60s to kiss it on the lips and stuff some 50-dollar bills in its sphincter." Posted Jun 27, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 100%
| Afghan Star (2009) | "
Afghan Star sets out with a delectably postmodern agenda." Posted Jun 22, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 89%
| My Dinner With Andre (1981) | "
For the few film freaks who still wear the "intellectual" epithet proudly rather than ironically, My Dinner with André is a religious experience...with a side of potato soup." Posted Jun 16, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 89%
| My Dinner With Andre (1981) | "
But what an egg it is." Posted Jun 16, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 100%
| Last Holiday (1950) | "
Ignore the social esotericism: Last Holiday is a witty petit mort meant to distract from the arrival of le grand mort." Posted Jun 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 100%
| Last Holiday (1950) | "
Alec Guinness is one of classic cinema's truly genuine curiosities." Posted Jun 14, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Fresh 78%
| The End of the Line (2009) | "
As if we didn't already have enough signs of the impending apocalypse with which to contend." Posted Jun 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 66%
| Dead Snow (2009) | "
Hematophagous audiences dissatisfied with Drag Me to Hell could do worse for a double feature than Dead Snow, a Norwegian love letter to American camp-horror." Posted Jun 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 80%
| $9.99 (2009) | "
These narratives are little more than pleasantly off-kilter sketches with confounding resolutions, but director Tatia Rosenthal and writer Etgar Keret artfully present them as an interconnected, crosscut network of neighborhood activity." Posted Jun 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 76%
| Betty Blue (1986) | "
Expanded to its intended length, the movie feels not like a failed narrative hastily washed in luridness but a purposefully meandering allegory of artistic frustration." Posted Jun 11, 2009 |
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