Rich and Strange

Leading candidate for worst film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. No mystery, no suspense, no action, but plenty of racism and moralizing -- and the story is an ugly cousin of Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut.

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The Town

Captures the spirit of classic Hollywood caper films of the '40's, right down to the "moral" denouement, but with the breathless bombast that now defines the genre. I'm beginning to like Affleck.

Tron Legacy

Lacks the high camp of the first movie, but we have learned a thing or two about action sequences and computer animation.

Cloverfield

Would have been much more tense if the characters hadn't been such idiots. What a waste of a well realized sci fi milieu.

Toy Story 3

Time to get weepy.

Valhalla Rising

An awesome, atmospheric period piece about northern Europeans waylaid in a strange place during the time of the early Crusades. If you don't like the first ten minutes, turn it off. You won't like the rest.

City Island

A good movie about the redemptive power of being honest / present.  And very funny.

Hors de prix

Outrageously funny at moments when it enters the "pure farce zone"(tm), but a little flat overall as a romantic comedy.

Scott Pilgrim

It's true.  If you don't like video games, you won't like this movie.  And if you do, well, the jury is out.  But it's fun eye candy of the Speed Racer variety.

Pay It Forward

A great little idea. I sincerely hope the book was much better than the movie.

Monsters

More of a quiet, travelogue kind of science fiction movie (a la Code 46) than a movie about aliens -- though with a little too little character study.

The Alamo

If you thought Titanic was bad because it hung its narrative on a cliched love story, you'll be happy with The Alamo, which follows no story arc at all, and barely musters an interesting supporting role in Davy Crocket.

The Girl on the Train

Not at all about antisemitism but rather about resisting then accepting growing up. How did Techine fit so much into this little movie?

Everything is Illuminated

So poorly marketed, it took me five years to finally watch this beautiful, moving, almost-un-cliched modest gem.

Desperate

Because Raymond Burr was not always a good guy.

The Killers

Kind of like Mr and Mrs Smith but without the wit.

Harry Brown

What a waste of a great actor.

The Joneses

An interesting romantic comedy about.... Consumerism?

The Square

Real noir. Those Aussies really know how to make quicksand.

Shutter Island

Better than you would have thought, with the best Scorsese soundtrack in quite a while.

Revolutionary Road

Almost a very good movie. Definitely a very scary one.

Ondine

Though it hits no false notes, it doesn't really sing a fantastic tune, either.  Or should I say its non-magical-ness is not as magical as it thinks it is.

Youth in Revolt

...doesn't even raise a minor protest.

Mother

Severely creepy in a quiet Norman Bates kind of way.

2046

Like staying up drinking all night and talking about failed relationships -- and enjoying it.

The Runaways

Nothing new going on here. If you are a fan of the band or the time, it's
entertaining enough, but even fans of the genre may wonder what story felt so
intriguing that it needed to be told on film -- and why that story didn't make
it onto the screen.

Pannique au Village

A wild surreal cheery warning about making sure you are really ordering what you
think you are ordering off the internet -- especially if you are a Belgian
claymation character and live in the twilight zone.

Ghost Writer

Although "The Pianist" was a very good film, this feels like the first great
"Polanski" Polanski since "Death and the Maiden".

Inception

Too much bombast. Too little psychology. The best virtual reality film since
The Matrix though Nolan should have cribbed a few creepy cues from the
less-perfect-but-underrated eXistenZ. Definitely entertaining.

Invictus

Precisely the uncomplicated sports+politics feel-good movie you were looking for.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Standard film noir plot. Makes complete sense that Fincher will direct the US remake.
SPOILER ALERT. "Seven" was the touchstone mainstream serial killer torture mutiliation wittiness attempt. In the case of Dragon Tattoo, adding rape, incest, and spousal and child abuse to the serial killer torture mutilation recipe -- and having it passed down from Nazi father to psycho son -- doesn't make it any more successful.

Gimme Shelter

Should always be shown with Woodstock as a double bill.

Green Zone

Factually incorrect but very true. Unfortunately not nearly as entertaining as "Bourne in the Desert" might have been.

Hot Tub Time Machine

The road to happiness is paved with riches acquired through insider trading. Should I have said "spoiler alert"?

Daybreakers

Smart scifi + social commentary + vampires = heaven (with an excess of gore).

Pirate Radio, aka, The Boat That Rocked

All the elements for a great anti-establishment, pro rock-and-roll movie are present -- except respect for the intelligence of the audience.

Summer Hours

Probably the best circle-of-life/how-do-museums-relate-to-what-they-preserve film France has ever produced. An unexpected treat.

The Road

As a big fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, I hate to say I was disappointed by The Road. Maybe my expectations were too high. The world depicted reeked of realism, but the movie would have benefited from a plot beyond "how bad can it get?".

The Wolfman (2010)

Don't. Waste. Your. Time.

Metallica: Some Kind of Monster

Possibly the best movie about psychotherapy yet.

Malice in Wonderland

Far from perfect but far more interesting and entertaining than Burton's Disney drivel.

Nine

Apparently doomed from the start by poor songs inadequately integrated into an unfriendly narrative skeleton. For a fan of musical theater this was an exercise in cringing for the full running time.

The Book of Eli

Although imperfect, still a highly likable ultra-violent post-apocalyptic action movie about faith.

Alice In Wonderland (2010)

Utterly devoid of the original's spirit. It's almost as if someone grafted characters from the original stories onto a generic "a hero will rise and slay the dragon and win the battle of good versus evil" plot.

House of Games

Vintage 80's flavor, including a classic 80's retro take on '40's film noir motifs, and a groundbreaking long con setup, only marred by the final act which feels decidedly less believable (spoiler alert: really, she gives up the money without any belief she'll get it back? really, all the cons congregate at a place she is familiar with after the con is complete?) than everything preceding it.

Crazy Heart

A simple story, told very well.

The Party

Blake Edwards channels Jacque Tati and other than the (racist?) Peter Sellers in brown-face, it is laugh-out-loud funny.

The Count of Monte Cristo

I have found the secret source of all of Stephen King's stories.

Damned United

Not a sports movie -- most of the games are summarized by a score written on the screen, and the few with game play last only a handful of minutes -- but a reminder that many successful people make some big big mistakes along the way. And cannot do it alone.

Land of Plenty

Occasionally strident but still one of the better responses to 9/11, shot about 2 years after the attacks.

The Box

I always preferred the original theatrical cut of Donnie Darko. It had an engrossing ambiguity apparently due to budget- or studio oversight- imposed limitations.  When given the chance to enhace the film for a "directors's cut," all of that mystery was removed by Richard Kelly -- and the less interesting "truths" behind the bizarre happenings watered down the film's impact.  It didn't quite become Southland Tales, but it did become something like The Box.  So even with lovely Kubrickian flourishes and intriguing premises aplenty in Kelly's latest work, he still explains too much and it isn't quite as Rorschachian as it should be. It doesnt quite exceed itself. But it's still better than most.

Paris

Sure, it's set in Paris, and draws on Parisian particulars for color. But it's not about Paris. It's about us.

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

Gilliam is back!

Men Who Stare At Goats

Starts out a bit funny and slowly fizzles out.

New Moon

I hate movies that are just part one (The Matrix Reloaded, Dead Man's Chest, Kill Bill) of what should have been one long, single film.

Up In The Air

For those that liked (though it's better than) American Beauty (the film -- not the pasta, plant, nor album).

Precious

.....is not about Black America.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Pixar could learn a thing or three. I haven't laughed this much in quite a while.

Step Brothers

Yes, all of the trailer moments are there, and they are appropriately silly, but the real belly-laughs, while sometimes even more low-brow, are what make this comedy an entertaining movie. Leave your intellect at the door.

Edge of Heaven

As if Kieslowski was reincarnated as a Turk.

The Invention of Lying

Though structured like a romantic comedy, this is not so much a comedy as an intriguing feature-length Twilight Zone episode, with a few very good laughs and a surprisingly cynical (humanist?) "exegesis" of the Judeo–Christian (emphasis on Christian) tradition. Man in the sky, indeed.

Niagara

Middling tale of jealousy and revenge, with absolutely superlative use of real world location settings (the classic tourist destination circa 1953) integrated into the story, throughout.

The Man From Earth

Not to be confused with the 35-year-old movie "The Man Who Fell to Earth" (a personal guilty pleasure), the Man From Earth (2009) has a witty script, is marred by poor production values and suffers from mediocre acting. It would make a brilliant one act play, using a single set. As it is, it's a nice exercise in the "what if" category of a single premise (a person who doesn't age, and so has been around for thousands of years) getting played for maximum speculative effect. Religious history will never look quite the same again.

The Squid and the Whale

A calm reminder of how the generations pass on their myopias as well as their verve, and what it takes to make sense of some of them, by "growing up."

Sleep Dealer

Winner of the Philip K. Dick movie of the week award. Or maybe that was the William Gibson award. I forget.

Taking Woodstock

Ang Lee's worst movie is kind of like an "afterschool special" with clips lifted from the famous documentary that makes Forrest Gump's historical references look witty.

Surrogates

The best big studio science fiction movie of 2009. Don't be fooled by the ending.

Whip It

The best sports movie since The Wrestler, but this one will make you happy.

Whatever Works

Woody Allen channels Noel Coward through a Hannah and Her Sisters filter. Trifling, uneven, but more charming than most of his throwaways from that last decade.

Gomorrah

Makes you think twice about buying a haute couture gown, and then booking your honeymoon in Naples.

Che

A good argument for circumstances being what enable people to make history, and an utter disregard for explaining one famous man's motivations.

In The Loop

It's a satire that fans of The Office will appreciate, but it also contains more truth about how we get into wars than any documentary can convey.

Cold Comfort Farm

Perhaps the best explanation of what I do in my day job. Good work, Flora.

Dead Like Me

A good series that was a little too soft to be great. But it does bring to the fore what I like best about vampire tales -- the lack of mortality and corporeality, while bypassing the grim blood lust -- and adds a hefty helping of spirituality. These are not your grandparents' grim reapers -- or maybe they are.

Dead Reckoning

Almost top drawer Bogart noir.

Border Incident

Even a half century ago, it was clear that the short term solution to illegal immigration was going after the employers that knowingly enable it. (The long term solution, greater economic opportunity, was a bit beyond this film, too.)

The Hurt Locker

If one defines a war movie as "good," based on the kinds of discussions it engenders, then The Hurt Locker is a good war movie.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

A surpisingly sympathetic portrait of a young man ahead of his time who became an old man behind the times -- who demonstrated comendable ethics throughout.

District 9

An awesome little "what if" kind of science fiction movie.