Critics' Reviews

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Our Picks

A Christmas Carol
VISUALLY SUMPTUOUS 'CAROL'
Our rating:  Our Rating

You have to give Robert Zemeckis credit for persistence. ... [Following "The Polar Express" and "Beowulf"] he's back for another try, this time with a project where cold, dead eyes are actually required ... The movie may be yet another retelling of an iconic story ... but visually it is often quite breathtaking. This is not some tender telling for the children, but rather a full-fledged ghost story, with doorknobs that suddenly turn into death's heads and creatures from beyond who have difficulty keeping their jawbones connected to their head bones. ...Full Review
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Our Picks
Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' By Sapphire
Our Rating:
"... a mixed bag ... doesn't so much evolve as flip-flop into sunlight ..." Full Review
The Men Who Stare at Goats
Our Rating:
"... may result in your falling down laughing, courtesy of a devilishly smart script, subversive japery and a flawlessly funny cast. " Full Review
The Box
Our Rating:
"... a lot of both the fun and fear go out of the film as you feel it stumble towards the finish line and realize it's stuffed with recycled goods. " Full Review
Michael Jackson's This Is It
Our Rating:
"... look a little deeper and it's a movie as grim as it is glad, as complicated and contradictory as the man it mirrors and the myth it maintains." Full Review
Gentlemen Broncos
Our Rating:
"... it's [almost] an endurance test. How many grotesques, morons and creeps can you watch twist in a barely moving narrative wind?" Full Review
Astro Boy
Our Rating:
"... a busy, buzzy piece of computer-animated sci-fi adventure whose darker moments may be a little much for kids." Full Review
Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
Our Rating:
"... suffers from premature sequelitis. ... this 'Harry Potter' wannabe plays like an inconvenient but obligatory prelude to the real action." Full Review
Where the Wild Things Are
Our Rating:
"... is a great film because, for all of its wonder and magic and delight, it also knows about confusion and reality and sadness." Full Review
Paranormal Activity
Our Rating:
"The sizzle of the marketing is impressive; the steak of the actual movie, served bloody and rare and juicy, is even more so." Full Review
Couples Retreat
Our Rating:
" ... lacks ... a truly concentrated comedy punch, preferring instead to land a series of scattered jabs from the 16 arms of its eight leads." Full Review
Zombieland
Our Rating:
"[The zombies are] not particularly scary, and not particularly funny, they're just props for special effects ..." Full Review
The Invention of Lying
Our Rating:
"... even with a story line that unreels by fits and starts, 'Lying' might have nailed the funny if it hadn't played safe." Full Review