You Get a Zero

'Won't Back Down' backed down from decent screenwriting [barf]

Won’t Back Down takes a very serious subject—public education and failing schools—and makes it seem as if changing a school’s curriculum and faculty is pretty easy if—gosh golly!—you want it enough.

Birth, Death, Repeat

Samsara is a thing of captivating beauty [yay!]

Forget what you’ve heard or read about Samsara. Non-narrative, dialogue-free, whatever. It is a completely immersive film experience—fascinating from the moment its first images appear on screen until the credits roll.

Fortunately, this loop ends

Looper's premise its smart, its execution not [meh]

In 2072, it’s impossible to kill a person. Living people can be tracked and, when they’re no longer living, the authorities are alerted. Pity the mafia, which faces the prospect of not killing any

A Nebulous Stew of Whatever

Everything and nothing happens in 'Union Square'

In independent filmmaking there’s a comforting near-truth: Good independent films are more likely to see release than bad independent films. Indie pictures don’t have gargantuan marketing budgets to cover a movie’s mediocrity—or outright badness—with advertising blitzes, marketing campaigns and viral videos.

Bang Bang! You're Dead.

'End of Watch' manipulates

The one thing worse than a movie that’s so totally rah-rah about its subject is to put the audience in a position to care about its subject and then to, rather ruthlessly, kill its subject. Or in the case of End of Watch, half its subjects.

Matt, I’m Only Dreaming

'Sleepwalk with Me' is hilarious [yay!]

Mike Birbiglia has made something of a miracle. Sleepwalk with Me is hysterically funny, filled with good stand-up, sympathetic performances and characters we care about.

The Smiling Scoundrel

'Arbitrage' is smart, sharp and tense

Imagine if Richard Gere’s character in Pretty Woman, Edward Lewis, didn’t have a moral compass. That’s Robert Miller, the character he plays in Nicholas Jarecki’s sharp new thriller, Arbitrage.

Stop Talking

If only the words in 'The Words' were good

How bad is The Words? I’d gladly sit through Cosmopolis again than watch this vapid tale populated with bland souls. Seriously, what were the filmmakers thinking?

Cars, No Crashes

David Cronenberg misses again with 'Cosmopolis'

If there’s one film director who can make audiences flee, it’s David Cronenberg. Anyone who watched Crash, his graphic tale of car crashes and sex, or his adaptation of William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, knows as much.

Rashida Jones, Will McCormack talk 'Celeste & Jesse'

Break-ups are tough. Movies dealing significantly with break-ups are dicey, too. For every Annie Hall (which follows a relationship from start to finish and beyond), there are five The Break-Up's.