instantwatcher.com

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

1. John Dies at the End 2013 A movie so brazenly off-kilter that I'm not entirely sure its title is even accurate. full review
2. 2 Days in New York 2012 Delpy and Rock click so well together that we'd much rather hang out at home with them, instead of racing around the city with sitcommish supporting characters. full review
3. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry 2012 One can't help wishing the subject would make his own, more complex cinematic self-portrait. But for now, Klayman has provided a valuable introduction to a man everyone should know. full review
4. ATM 2012 While "ATM" does offer a few jolts, we're paired with bland characters and an underrealized premise. full review
5. The Babymakers 2012 How does a comedy troupe even get from the frat-humor antics of "Beerfest" to the middle-class suburbanality of "Babymakers"? full review
6. Bachelorette 2012 What's actually off-putting about this movie is how desperate the filmmakers are to exploit other people's ideas. full review
7. Booker's Place: A Mississippi Story 2012 With empathetic craftsmanship, the film unspools as a brief history of hatred that may be recognizable to anyone who lived through the 20th century or has been paying attention in the 21st. full review
8. Bully 2012 Should be considered required viewing for every parent, teacher and teenager in America. full review
9. Butter 2012 It's one thing to create biting social satire; it's quite another to shoot at such easy targets. full review
10. Cheerful Weather For The Wedding 2012 Not to say it isn't an enjoyable diversion. Just that it's also a superficial one. full review
11. Collaborator 2012 It's no surprise that Donovan's directorial debut finds him firmly rejecting the mainstream in favor of a deliberately suffocating challenge. full review
12. Cosmopolis 2012 Frustratingly bland work from lead Robert Pattinson results in an awfully watery stew. full review
13. The Flat 2012 Ultimately, this is not a film about one specific event but about human nature - most notably, the instincts toward denial and delusion, acceptance and forgiveness. From start to finish, revelations abound. full review
14. The Forgiveness of Blood 2012 There is so much to admire in Joshua Marston's "The Forgiveness of Blood" that it's easy to overlook the miracle at its center: Marston's artistic idealism. full review
15. Friends With Kids 2012 [Westfeldt] makes a promising directorial debut with this good-natured dramedy, boosted in large part by an outstanding ensemble. full review
16. Gayby 2012 [It] embraces broad jokes and obvious setups. Fortunately, these are balanced out by assertive pacing and entertaining observations. full review
17. General Education 2012 As generic and forgettable as its title, this half-hearted attempt at a teen comedy feels like a term paper you might buy online: poorly written and cribbed from a million other sources. full review
18. Girl Model 2012 Don't expect to look at a catwalk in quite the same fashion again. full review
19. God Bless America 2012 Given that the movie starts out in such interesting fashion, it's hugely disappointing to see it devolve so lazily into a generic vigilante fantasy. full review
20. Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai 2012 It's an indelible picture of a cold-hearted ruling class that has allowed self-interest and hypocrisy to override its own humanity. full review
21. Head Games 2012 James has a worthy message, but never makes the case that he needs an entire documentary to deliver it. full review
22. Hitler's Children 2012 It's always dispiriting to see an ideal subject given shallow treatment, and one spends most of this documentary wishing a more experienced director had made it. full review
23. How to Survive a Plague 2012 Should be invaluable to every frustrated movement, as both a road map and a reminder of how vital personal activism remains. full review
24. I Wish 2012 How does Hirokazu Kore-eda do it? His films are so casually infused with graceful realism, they make other movies feel painfully stilted and false. full review
25. The Innkeepers 2012 A well-shot but generically dull disappointment. full review
26. The Invisible War 2012 Every adult who owes a debt of gratitude to American soldiers should see Kirby Dick's heartbreaking documentary about sexual violence in the military. full review
27. L!fe Happens 2012 [Bosworth] brings some intriguing shadows to a movie that looks, upon first glance, to be a two-dimensional, post-"Sex and the City" romantic comedy. full review
28. Lay the Favorite 2012 Hall works like mad to create this character, giving her a breathy voice and hair-twisting tics and wide-eyed expressions that, rather than rounding her out, only flatten her. full review
29. Mansome 2012 A skin-deep look at the state of contemporary masculinity. full review
30. Meet the Fokkens 2012 The filmmakers follow the sisters around town, creating a delightful portrait of good-natured extroverts. full review
31. Nature Calls 2012 After a lot of wandering around, we realize we've really just been walking in circles the whole time. full review
32. One for the Money 2012 There have been notable exceptions, but Heigl tends to imbue her characters with an off-putting mix of insecurity and abrasiveness. This film is a prime example. full review
33. Oslo, August 31st 2012 With only two films, Danish director Joachim Trier has soundly established himself as a singular talent. full review
34. The Pact 2012 In truth, there's nothing here we haven't seen before. But McCarthy, who also wrote the straightforward script, keeps the pace moving and the atmosphere eerie (if rarely terrifying). full review
35. The Perfect Family 2012 We need more of Turner onscreen, so I hesitate to criticize when she finally appears. But the truth is that she's sadly underutilized in Renton's debut. full review
36. The Queen of Versailles 2012 Director Lauren Greenfield finds the pathos in an ultra-wealthy couple who willingly mortgaged their own future. full review
37. Red Hook Summer 2012 Lee grapples with a number of urgent themes, but his approaches are often either too direct (we are repeatedly pummeled by the bishop's fiery preaching) or too circuitous (the verbal and visual meanderings are sometimes valuable, and sometimes not). full review
38. Seeking Justice 2012 There's a good idea here, in the story of helpless victims who get caught up in citizen vigilantism. But it's buried under a cheap, straight-to-DVD esthetic. full review
39. Sleepwalk With Me 2012 Birbiglia's gift, really, is one of reassurance. It's nice to know that we can fail spectacularly and still be okay. full review
40. Special Forces 2012 An uneven effort ... full review
41. Struck by Lightning 2012 One can't blame Colfer for wanting to expand his range, but he's created a character who is neither hero nor villain, in a black comedy that is neither dark nor funny enough. full review
42. Teddy Bear 2012 A heart-wrenching central performance anchors Mads Matthiesen's intimate, empathetic drama about a Danish bodybuilder who aims to grow up as he nears middle age. full review
43. Tonight You're Mine 2012 Mackenzie is so taken with his concept that he forgets to build a fully realized film around it. full review
44. Tyler Perry's Good Deeds 2012 Every Perry movie has its highs and lows. This time, the highs are a little higher, and the lows not quite so low. full review
45. Union Square 2012 Despite its problems, there's a touching sweetness at the heart of Nancy Savoca's intimate family drama about estranged sisters trying to reconnect. full review
46. Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning 2012 Anyone who stumbles into "Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning" unprepared is bound to leave shellshocked. Not just because of the movie's brutal violence, but from the stunning realization that this grim franchise will never stop regenerating itself. full review
47. We Have a Pope 2012 What appears to be an amusing tale of a leader who has lost his way is also an unapologetic challenge to faith itself. full review
48. The Woman in the Fifth 2012 Pawlikowski can't decide what to do with his protagonist, whose writer's block is the least of his emotional burdens. full review
49. Another Happy Day 2011 Levinson's uneven family drama bears all the hallmarks of a self-conscious indie debut. But he has one distinct advantage many young filmmakers lack: a powerhouse cast. full review
50. Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey 2011 Even Oscar the Grouch would be moved by the inspiring history of Kevin Clash, the man who gives Elmo his voice. full review
51. Buck 2011 Even if we can't live his cowboy life, Buck Brannaman's world is well worth visiting. full review
52. Cat Run 2011 Though John Stockwell's action comedy is shamelessly derivative, his enthusiastic cast propels it much further than it should go. full review
53. The Devil's Double 2011 full review
54. Dirty Girl 2011 One can appreciate an artistic effort without actually endorsing it, which may be the most generous approach to Abe Sylvia's frustratingly uneven debut. full review
55. The Flowers of War 2011 [Yimou] turns the Rape of Nanking into a visually stunning melodrama. But the effect of such extreme contrast is unsettling to say the least. full review
56. Footloose 2011 Wormald lacks Bacon's charisma but Hough has an undeniable star quality, and Teller is a comic delight. full review
57. Friends With Benefits 2011 "Friends With Benefits" isn't nearly as original as it pretends to be. But it's cute and funny and sweet, which -- as any woman can attest -- puts it way ahead of most Friday night options. full review
58. Goodbye First Love 2011 Is it "annoying," "talky' and "complacent," or "beautiful and deep"? full review
59. The Hedgehog 2011 Comedy and tragedy are given equal respect, and even the quietest souls are valued. full review
60. Hell and Back Again 2011 As vital as the best war chronicles to come out in recent years, this is one every American ought to see. full review
61. I Melt with You 2011 If it weren't played so very straight, this jaw-dropping thriller might pass for an accurate satire of Hollywood self-indulgence. Instead, it serves as a prime example. full review
62. Into The Abyss 2011 Any subject Werner Herzog wants to explore is surely worthy of our interest. And his latest documentary is a characteristically insightful study of human nature. full review
63. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never 2011 [Bieber is] the perfect first crush, and this is the perfect movie for someone currently experiencing that crush. full review
64. Keep the Lights On 2011 Lindhardt pushes the picture into realms of such exposed intimacy, you almost feel like you're dating him yourself. full review
65. The Kid with a Bike 2011 It's miles away from big-budget, pop-culture entertainment, but you may be surprised by its impact. full review
66. Like Crazy 2011 Doremus has crafted an intelligent and evocative story driven by two expert leads. I liked it very much. I just wish I could say I was crazy about it. full review
67. Magic Trip 2011 Ken Kesey decided the camera was mightier than the pen. This enjoyable but surprisingly unenlightening documentary suggests otherwise. full review
68. Margin Call 2011 How good is J.C. Chandor's debut? So good I was ready to buy what he was selling even though I didn't entirely understand it. full review
69. No Strings Attached 2011 Portman will get past this speed bump with well-earned swiftness. The affable Kutcher, however, seems stuck in a cycle of depressingly empty comedies. full review
70. Peep World 2011 Judging by the actors involved in Barry Blaustein's amusing but unpolished comedy, it's fair to assume he has a friends in high places. That's good, since they refine Peter Himmelstein's rough script. full review
71. The Perfect Host 2011 Crawford radiates charisma, and Pierce sells even the nuttiest moments. full review
72. The Pill 2011 While their story is feather-light, Khoury and his actors have each type down perfectly. full review
73. Pina 2011 An intimate and ravishingly filmed tribute to German dancer Pina Bausch. full review
74. Polisse 2011 The details will gut you, and then haunt your dreams. full review
75. Rango 2011 Sharp-edged, surreal, and often astonishing in its giddy creativity. full review
76. Scream 4 2011 Relying on obvious cliches doesn't seem ironic anymore, just easy. And though there are several genuine jolts, poor pacing leaves too much time between the silliness and scares. full review
77. Surviving Progress 2011 The cumulative power of so many great minds envisioning our potential self-destruction is undeniable. full review
78. True Legend 2011 Fans who've been waiting 15 years for the director of "Drunken Master" to helm a new movie definitely won't be disappointed. full review
79. Wrecked 2011 It's a tribute to Adrien Brody that Wrecked works as a modestly compelling thriller, since there's almost nothing to see but Brody himself. full review
80. You've Been Trumped 2011 First-time director Anthony Baxter jettisons all pretense of impartiality, without adding any of the intelligent outrage of his evident influence, Michael Moore. full review
81. A Bag of Hammers 2010 Woven amid the glib one-liners and contrived scenarios is an unexpected, and undeniably touching, sense of heart. full review
82. Bill Cunningham New York 2010 Those who pore over his fashion columns in the New York Times Style section will particularly appreciate this respectful look at a true local character. full review
83. Blood Done Sign My Name 2010 Though it can't quite transcend its filmmaker's earnest intentions, this solemn history lesson offers several powerful moments. full review
84. Casino Jack And The United States Of Money 2010 That the film is overlong ultimately testifies to its importance, though after a while, the outrageous details start to run together like surreal satire. Except, of course, that it's all true. full review
85. The Conspirator 2010 Redford's fictionalized chronicle of Mary Surratt's 1865 trial is high-minded and slow-moving. Some may chafe at his unsubtle sermonizing, but strong central performances will reward the patient. full review
86. The Extra Man 2010 Kline has a ball, while Dano turns in a pitch-perfect performance. He never mocks his character's desires, or undersells his fears. full review
87. Punching the Clown 2010 Every aspiring performer will appreciate Gregori Viens' unassuming comedy, which cheerfully skewers industry pretensions and media-fueled trends. full review
88. The Romantics 2010 Holmes is completely implausible as an insecure outsider, while Paquin isn't nearly threatening enough as her perfect rival. full review
89. Vanishing On 7th Street 2010 The complete lack of explanation suggests Jaswinski forgot to finish his script. But Anderson tries hard to compensate, distracting us with suitably ghostly atmospherics. full review
90. White Irish Drinkers 2010 Despite the cliches that push every scene forward, there's an unexpected appeal to John Gray's modest drama, emanating from its center. full review
91. Beeswax 2009 Bujalski has an unusual gift for spotlighting small moments and underplaying large ones. full review
92. The Proposal 2009 It's impossible to guess why Bullock was ever attracted to this insulting role, and the eternally confident Reynolds is miscast as a young, bullied underling. full review
93. The Art Of The Steal 2009 Argott treats Barnes' story as an intellectual crime thriller, uncovering each new surprise - and a seemingly endless parade of villains - with a deadpan flourish. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2010/02/26/2010-02-26_short_tak full review
94. The Boys Are Back 2009 What you can't see with your mind's eye, however, are the performances, which save the movie from a treacly inevitability. full review
95. Collapse 2009 It would have been helpful had Smith put his words into some sort of context, allowing others to assess his theories. Instead there's simply Ruppert, talking, raging and warning, as if his very life depended on it. full review
96. Crude 2009 One has to wonder if oil industry executives are concerned about the release of Joe Berlinger's damning documentary. full review
97. The Eclipse 2009 There are few surprises hidden in the film's hushed spookiness. full review
98. Extract 2009 The entire cast, in fact, seems to be having fun, with Affleck and Koechner cheerfully stealing each one of their scenes. full review
99. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 2009 The mismatched leads make a compelling pair, and director Niels Arden Oplev keeps the action relatively tight. full review
100. The Good Guy 2009 There's too little difference between the good guys and the bad guys in Julio DePietro's uninspired debut, a slickly cynical romance destined to be quickly forgotten. full review
101. I Hate Valentine's Day 2009 Given the inevitable response to this equally regrettable rom-com, she can expect to loathe Independence Day, too. full review
102. The Joneses 2009 The all-important production design perfectly captures a generation of unthinking consumers. And Moore and Duchovny, who have great chemistry, are strong enough to make the most of a script that really needed another rewrite. full review
103. Bottle Shock 2008 More enthusiastic than genuinely entertaining. full review
104. Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 2008 Rafferty keeps the structure so blandly standard, the title is nearly the most intriguing element of the whole film. full review
105. Management 2008 But if there's a point to be made here, it's that persistence pays off, whether you're onscreen or in the audience. full review
106. Momma's Man 2008 A little miracle, Azazel Jacobs' lovely story of a life lost and found tackles big issues -- love, maturity, fulfillment -- in deceptively modest fashion. full review
107. New York, I Love You 2008 Where's the ethnic diversity? The cultural overflow? The dirt, the chaos, the cramped quarters, the people who look like us, rather than movie stars? full review
108. Passing Strange 2008 You'll probably have to resist the urge to stand up and cheer with the onscreen audience during the emotional curtain call. full review
109. Play The Game 2008 Stay home and find yourself a Golden Girls marathon. full review
110. Shrink 2008 Jonas Pate's derivative L.A. indie brings few fresh revelations, but it does offer this insight: There is no more juice left in the strangers-connected-by-coincidence story line. full review
111. Unmade Beds 2008 Overly familiar but endearing nonetheless, this coming-of-age indie from Alexis Dos Santos is most likely to appeal to those who recognize themselves in the story's lost heroes. full review
112. Arranged 2007 For a movie meant to shake viewers out of their ignorance, this clunky drama sure does indulge in a lot of stereotypes. full review
113. Black Snake Moan 2007 The movie strolls right past absurdity into offensiveness, by trying to pass this pulp nonsense off as noble art. full review
114. Broken English 2007 The director doesn't have the confidence to veer too far from the norm. Her touchingly quirky screenplay eventually turns into a disappointingly conventional fairy tale. full review
115. Chris & Don: A Love Story 2007 Though a bit too conventional to perfectly reflect the unique affair at its center, Chris & Don is likely to inspire romantics of all kinds. full review
116. Confessions of a Superhero 2007 You've just found one of this week's hidden treasures. full review
117. Eagle vs. Shark 2007 Scornful laughs are cheap laughs, and although [director] Waititi allows a few moments of gentle sweetness, he takes the easy way out too often. full review
118. Encounters at the End of the World 2007 A hypnotically digressive travelogue. full review
119. The Go-Getter 2007 full review
120. Hot Rod 2007 Most of the jokes either drag on endlessly or are cut short without a real punch line. full review
121. Mr. Bean's Holiday 2007 If you've never been particularly fond of Atkinson's brand of slapstick, you certainly won't be converted by this trifle. full review
122. Paranoid Park 2007 The story's fractured structure -- and Christopher Doyle's dreamlike cinematography -- make for a striking mood piece. full review
123. Postal 2007 It's hard to imagine a worse movie will come out this year, and yet Boll's growing notoriety has already earned the trailer millions of hits on YouTube. Ed Wood never had it so good. full review
124. Steal a Pencil for Me 2007 Not even Hollywood could invent a romance more extraordinary than this one. full review
125. The Ten 2007 The Ten is so proud of its own wit and irreverence that when you fail to be equally impressed, you are likely to wonder if your own sense of humor is, in some way, deficient. Rest assured it is not. full review
126. Bloodrayne 2006 How fitting that director Uwe Boll (House of the Dead) would choose a vampire flick as his latest project - the man has a career that, despite the horror he continually inflicts on innocent moviegoers, simply will not die. full review
127. Crossing the Line 2006 You'll be untangling Dresnok's knotty reality long after you leave the theater. full review
128. Curious George 2006 Skip the movie altogether, and buy one of the books, instead. full review
129. Fay Grim 2006 Hartley's work has always been an acquired taste. While Fay Grim is too uneven to win him many converts, it is laced with enough intelligence and wit to remind longtime fans why they were drawn to his unique vision in the first place. full review
130. Jackass: Number Two 2006 Only adolescent boys -- the movie's target audience, despite a well-earned R rating -- will appreciate the most extreme gross-out gags, none of which can be described in a family newspaper. full review
131. Maxed Out 2006 James Scurlock's often riveting documentary is likely to leave you outraged over the manipulative greed of America's banks and credit card firms. full review
132. Saint of 9/11 2006 Overly reverent but still immensely touching ... full review
133. Sixty Six 2006 full review
134. Coach Carter 2005 By the time you leave, Jackson will have you believing that his Coach Carter is a true original. full review
135. Cowboy Del Amor 2005 Every moment of this story - about America's unlikeliest matchmaker -- is fascinating. We just need more of them. full review
136. The Devil's Miner 2005 Though they're telling a story of potentially deadly child labor, filmmakers Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani never amp up the drama, wisely preferring a straightforward approach that respects the bleak reality of their subjects. full review
137. Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man 2005 Offering both too little material and too much, the movie leaves us in the bizarre position of understanding its subject no better by the end than we did at the beginning. full review
138. The Outsider 2005 As is often the case with Toback's films, even as you're shaking your head at his shameless self-indulgence, you can't help but keep on watching. full review
139. Serenity 2005 As always, Whedon's sci-fi fantasies smartly parallel the serious issues we're grappling with here on Earth, while his protagonists remain mordantly funny in the face of utter disaster. full review
140. Special 2005 It may not be perfect, but this under-the-radar indie from Hal Haberman and Jeremy Passmore is smart enough to leave you glad you found it. full review
141. Stagedoor 2005 The movie jumps from scene to scene, too scattered to make a strong connection with anything, or anyone, in particular. full review
142. A State of Mind 2005 Not even the widest political chasms, Gordon finds, can eradicate the universal pleasure of a young girl's giggle. full review
143. Sweet Land 2005 Selim's script doesn't hit new territory, but beautiful cinematography takes it just far enough. full review
144. The Goebbels Experiment 2004 Devoted family man, aspiring poet and petty whiner, the Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels depicted in Lutz Hachmeister's unusual documentary presents a compelling study of the banality of evil. full review
145. Kill Your Idols 2004 ...an atonal love letter to a single corner of the culture - one built, in the words of singer Lydia Lunch, on 'beauty and truth and filth.' full review
146. Mouth to Mouth 2004 Like the homeless kids at its center, Alison Murray's feature debut is passionate, angry and suffering from a serious lack of discipline. full review
147. Secuestro Express 2004 Part exploitation thriller and part sociopolitical statement, Secuestro Express is a little too enamored of its own gangsta cool to be taken seriously. full review
148. White Chicks 2004 If you want to laugh at cartoonishly shallow rich girls, you'd be much better off staying in to watch the new season of The Simple Life -- for free. full review
149. I Like Killing Flies 2003 Anyone who laments the loss of an older, grittier New York ought to adore this affectionate portrait of Greenwich Village restaurant owner Kenny Shopsin. full review
150. The Hebrew Hammer 2002 The movie hits as much as it misses, with enough witty observations to ensure that somewhere, Kesselman's mother is kvelling. full review
151. Suspended Animation 2002 Since the movie's sensibility ranges from the preposterous to the absurd, there are few genuine frights. full review
152. XX/XY 2002 An ongoing problem ... is the complete lack of chemistry between the leads. full review
153. Shaolin Soccer 2001 One of the silliest, sweetest and most fun family films in recent memory. full review
154. Acts Of Worship 2000 For better and worse, Rosemary Rodriguez's directing debut feels just like what it is -- a drama about addiction made by a recovering addict. full review
155. The Nightmare Before Christmas 1993 (Producer Tim) Burton's skewed vision is seamlessly realized by director Henry Selick and cleverly enhanced by Danny Elfman's songs. full review