instantwatcher.com

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

1. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry 2012 The story is enthralling, but it's not over, and there's no telling where it's going. Which makes what we see on screen all the more involving. full review
2. The Ambassador 2012 Part muckraking nonfiction film, part performance piece, it is a nervy documentary guaranteed, depending on who you are, to enlighten, disturb or offend. full review
3. Ballplayer: Pelotero 2012 It's an eye-opening look at a flawed, potentially exploitative system and how it is being gamed from all sides of the table -- the story of the collision of youthful dreams and a cutthroat adult cartel. full review
4. Brooklyn Castle 2012 It's a wonderful documentary look at an astonishingly successful public-school chess program that manages to be more moving and heartening than you expect. Which is saying a lot. full review
5. The Flat 2012 It tells an out-of-the-ordinary personal story and examines broad historical issues of societal memory and selective amnesia, of what is hidden between generations and what is revealed. full review
6. For Ellen 2012 "For Ellen" is a small but exquisite film, beautifully observed and impeccably executed. full review
7. Head Games 2012 A complex, determined look at one of the most pernicious problems facing organized sports on all levels ... full review
8. High Ground 2012 "High Ground" is a moving documentary that is both the film it presents itself to be and something more. full review
9. The Hunger Games 2012 If, as the ads suggest, the whole world will be watching this, viewers will likely be satisfied with what they see. full review
10. The Imposter 2012 This is a train wreck you think you see coming, but no matter how prepared you are the nature and extent of the damage will overwhelm you. full review
11. The Invisible War 2012 What happened to these women after the rape often shocks and disturbs them as much as the physical act itself. full review
12. The Island President 2012 "The Island President"is heartening and unsettling by turns. full review
13. Jiro Dreams of Sushi 2012 "Jiro Dreams of Sushi"is as elegant and tasty as the splendid sushi prepared by the man in the title, and that is saying a lot full review
14. Marley 2012 The enormous popularity of the transcendent reggae superstar shows no signs of abating, a situation"Marley," a moving and authoritative new documentary, takes as its mission to illustrate and explain. full review
15. Monsieur Lazhar 2012 This film deals almost casually with a range of issues and themes, handling with a light and even affectionate touch weighty subjects like grief, guilt, community and love. full review
16. Oslo, August 31st 2012 "Oslo" is an example of strong, confident filmmaking in which nothing is miscalculated or out of place. full review
17. A Royal Affair 2012 This highly polished costume drama is exceptionally well-made and a model of intelligent restraint, but it is also unapologetically earnest and a bit on the bloodless side. full review
18. Safety Not Guaranteed 2012 Because nothing plays out as anticipated, this off-balance project comes fully alive on screen in a way a written summary can't capture. full review
19. Somewhere Between 2012 You'd have to be a stone not to be moved. full review
20. Unforgivable 2012 Literate, intelligent and a model of accomplished European filmmaking, "Unforgivable" showcases the kind of emotional complexity that is all but gone from the screen these days. full review
21. First Position 2011 These performers are so young, so serious, so full of dreams and so hard on themselves that it is difficult not to be moved by their striving. full review
22. Footloose 2011 Stays remarkably close to its predecessor in all the ways that count. full review
23. Gerhard Richter Painting 2011 A mesmerizing look behind the curtain at a magician at work, a man who creates his enchantments not with a deck of cards or puffs of smoke but rather paint, brushes, canvas and a giant squeegee. full review
24. Goodbye First Love 2011 When we watch Hansen-Love's films, we're not only experiencing a life unfolding before us, we're also realizing what a great privilege it is to be able to do that. full review
25. Page One: Inside the New York Times 2011 Watching "Page One: Inside the New York Times" is like talking to a smart person with a severe case of attention deficit disorder: A lot of what they say is intriguing, but you wish they could stick to the point. full review
26. Pearl Jam Twenty 2011 By the time "Pearl Jam Twenty" is over we can't help but be impressed by the kind of personal and professional integrity that has kept the band honest and allowed them to endure and prosper. full review
27. Pina 2011 Whether you're familiar with Pina Bausch's work or not, the new film "Pina" is a knockout. full review
28. Undefeated 2011 "Undefeated" presents itself as a look at a single season in the life of a striving high school football team in impoverished North Memphis, Tenn., but really it's about so much more. full review
29. Warrior 2011 Hits things so hard, both literally and metaphorically, that it's hard not to feel pummeled yourself by the time it's over. full review
30. We Were Here 2011 This clear-eyed and soulful documentary brings us inside the contagion in a way that is so intimate, so personal, you feel like you're hearing about these catastrophic events for the first time. full review
31. You've Been Trumped 2011 "You've Been Trumped" is a potent study of the intimidating power of money not in theory but on the ground, an examination of how a wealthy man with a boundless sense of entitlement can strong-arm all opposition without really breaking a sweat. full review
32. Bhutto 2010 Benazir Bhutto had a life that makes fiction pale by comparison. full review
33. Bill Cunningham New York 2010 Obsessive artists often create exceptional bodies of work. full review
34. Casino Jack And The United States Of Money 2010 Gibney is as good as it gets at making complicated political material come alive on screen. full review
35. Cave of Forgotten Dreams 2010 The director is excellent at contextualizing these venerable wall paintings, at discussing them with a variety of scientists in a way that allows us to think about them with a perspective we otherwise might not have. full review
36. City of Life and Death 2010 It's a film strong enough to change your life, if you can bear to watch it at all. full review
37. Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer 2010 A sad, disturbing and in some ways tragic tale that in its lurid combination of sex and politics, banal hypocrisy and bare-knuckles power, seems very much an American story of our times. full review
38. The Conspirator 2010 "The Conspirator" is first, last and always a political drama, and, Wright's performance aside, it is the play of events of history that most holds our interest. full review
39. Countdown to Zero 2010 Walker adroitly mixes extensive newsreel footage, lively graphics and talking-head interviews with dozens of people, from scientists to think tank folks to world leaders... full review
40. Exit Through The Gift Shop 2010 For the more you think about this unusual film, the more fascinating it becomes culturally and sociologically, dealing with notions of mania and obsession, art and commerce, hype and quality. full review
41. The Human Resources Manager 2010 "Human Resources Manager" adroitly mixes moving personal drama, absurdist comedy and site-specific cultural situations. full review
42. I'm Still Here 2010 A glum and dispiriting counterfeit of reality that turns out to be much more interesting to speculate about than to actually watch. full review
43. Nostalgia for the Light 2010 A film of rare visual poetry that's simultaneously personal, political and philosophical, it's a genuine art film that's also unpretentious and easygoing. full review
44. True Grit 2010 The big names in the cast all do excellent work, but the biggest surprise is all but unknown Steinfeld. full review
45. Amreeka 2009 This piquant film brings a keen and serious eye as well as that feeling for affectionate human comedy to this fraught situation, smartly avoiding both stridency and sentimentality in the process -- it's an elegant balancing act. full review
46. The Art Of The Steal 2009 No matter what side you're on, you're likely to be flabbergasted as The Art of the Steal details the twists and turns of chicanery and fate that brought his art to the pass it's at today. full review
47. Crude 2009 What Crude does best is take us behind the scenes and show in often candid detail how campaigns are waged, tactics decided on and strategies prioritized. full review
48. Great Directors 2009 If you are able to block out the director's intrusiveness, these people, edited down from 250 hours to 86 minutes, do say some interesting things. full review
49. Kings of Pastry 2009 Everything these men make - no women have ever competed for the pastry MOF - looks so mouth-watering that no one should dare watch this film on even a half-empty stomach. full review
50. Last Train Home 2009 An expert, unobtrusive observer, Fan disappears inside his own film and allows us to get completely inside his subjects' lives. full review
51. The Secret of Kells 2009 A glorious throwback to the more stylized, painterly work of decades past, the kind of vividly colored, fanciful pictorials that are usually confined to the small-scale realm of animated shorts. full review
52. Soul Kitchen 2009 A lively, easygoing farce filled with high-energy music and amusing complications. full review
53. White Material 2009 Simultaneously poetic, dramatic and realistic, "White Material" is an altogether stunning work. full review
54. Man on Wire 2008 They say that seeing is believing, but Man on Wire will make you doubt what your eyes are telling you -- it really will -- as you shake your head in amazement and awe. full review
55. Religulous 2008 Maher sets out not after answers but cheap laughs that preach, so to speak, to the converted. full review
56. Unmistaken Child 2008 Its privileged glimpse deep into unfamiliar spiritual territory has the strength of revelation. full review
57. Beaufort 2007 One of the strongest examples yet of a fearless new wave that has made Israel's cinema a force on the international scene. full review
58. The Rape of Europa 2007 Surprisingly vast and involving. full review
59. Shooter 2007 Shooter is executed with such efficiency and energy by action maestro Antoine Fuqua that ignoring flaws and becoming involved in the proceedings isn't a matter of choice. full review
60. Trumbo 2007 Trumbo is an unconventional film about an unconventional man. full review
61. The Ground Truth 2006 This thoughtful, sensitive film, perhaps the most emotionally wrenching of all the Iraq documentaries, could have been made after any war. full review
62. Lady Chatterley 2006 It's a special pleasure to report that the French Lady Chatterley is the most frankly sensual movie in memory. full review
63. The Wind That Shakes the Barley 2006 Loach has the gift of finding the intensely moving private emotions in broad, societal dilemmas. He does that with his fine new film, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, and he does a few new things as well. full review
64. World Trade Center 2006 The old Stone was not exactly a bargain, but he was never this pious or this conventional. full review
65. The Constant Gardener 2005 A film that grips us dramatically, intellectually and emotionally. full review
66. Four Brothers 2005 Four Brothers takes some pains to add an emotional overlay to the proceedings, to connect, albeit roughly, with the notion that a character's humanity can be part of the on-screen equation. full review
67. Into Great Silence 2005 Though it likely will not persuade people to join the ranks, experiencing life behind the walls has an undeniable effect. We've been allowed a glimpse of eternity. And who would not be changed by that? full review
68. Sweet Land 2005 ... a beautifully photographed film ... that celebrates its regional identity. full review
69. Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price 2005 Greenwald has shrewdly chosen not to go with classic talking head types like economists, academics and journalists. Instead he talked to current and former Wal-Mart employees, including several with a dozen or more years with the company. full review
70. Hotel Rwanda 2004 A film that uses the comfort of the predictable to make horror palatable to a wider audience. full review
71. CSA: Confederate States of America 2003 CSA is rough around the edges, especially where the acting and some of the film's invented characters are concerned. But the way CSA works out its ideas is so provoking that its drawbacks are not difficult to ignore. full review
72. Untold Scandal 2003 Choderlos de Laclos' novel has survived this long for a reason, and Untold Scandal shows us exactly what that is. full review
73. Bloody Sunday 2002 A compelling, gut-clutching piece of advocacy cinema that carries you along in a torrent of emotion as it explores the awful complications of one terrifying day. full review
74. Along Came a Spider 2001 Reasonably diverting. full review
75. Rat Race 2001 Expert comic performers and a broad script that avoids mean-spiritedness create surprising laughs. full review
76. The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle 2000 The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle is completely in the spirit of its progenitor. full review
77. Dark Days 2000 full review
78. Mission: Impossible 2 2000 Once Woo unleashes his bad self and ignites the proceedings here, once the glass shatters, the flames erupt, the gunshots ricochet and the doves fly, all is well with M:I-2. full review
79. Our Song 2000 Takes familiar material and develops it with such tact and skill that we find ourselves moved and sort of amazed at the same time. full review
80. Shaft 2000 The current version tries awfully hard but with little success to create a Shaft for this day and age. full review
81. Titan A.E. 2000 Always up to generating distinctive and involving visions. full review
82. Bringing Out the Dead 1999 This film dances on the edge of flat-lining just like the DOAs that are Frank's stock-in-trade. full review
83. For Love of the Game 1999 Those who have even a small soft spot for baseball's soothing rhythms will be hard-pressed to resist it. full review
84. The General's Daughter 1999 A middling, so-so thriller. full review
85. In Too Deep 1999 Aaron and Brown's script resounds throughout with astringent dialogue and stark authenticity. full review
86. Man on the Moon 1999 A brilliant, almost terrifying impersonation. full review
87. The Muse 1999 Albert Brooks pulls off a deft satire of Hollywood that benefits greatly from the clever casting of Sharon Stone. full review
88. Ride with the Devil 1999 Oddly distant and uninvolving for such a blazing subject. full review
89. Runaway Bride 1999 Flawed and unpleasant! full review
90. Snow Falling on Cedars 1999 Snow Falling on Cedars has to fight to hold our attention and it doesn't always succeed. full review
91. Topsy-Turvy 1999 The performances cut deeper than usual for costume films, and the actors once again seem to literally become who they're playing. full review
92. Clay Pigeons 1998 "You've got a sense of humor, I like that," Lester Long proclaims at one point. Well, we all like that, but would it be asking too much to have a little coherence to go along with it? full review
93. Little Voice 1998 full review
94. The Mask of Zorro 1998 A lively, old-fashioned adventure yarn with just a twist of modern attitude, it's the kind of pleasant entertainment that allows the paying customers to have as much fun as the people on screen. full review
95. Next Stop Wonderland 1998 full review
96. Primary Colors 1998 A smart and savvy piece of work. full review
97. Return to Paradise 1998 If it's to be experienced at all, Return to Paradise is best seen as a lively piece of pulp, not a profound exploration of the vagaries of the human soul. full review
98. Shakespeare in Love 1998 A happy conceit smoothly executed, this is one of those entertaining confections that's so pleasing to the eye and ear you'd have to be a genuine Scrooge to struggle against it. full review
99. Velvet Goldmine 1998 full review
100. Very Bad Things 1998 ...hollow, simple-minded and about as profound an experience as stepping in a pile of road kill. full review
101. What Dreams May Come 1998 full review
102. Anaconda 1997 Anaconda is such a classic combination of feckless dramaturgy and rampant excess that giving way to giggles is the only sane response. full review
103. The Apostle 1997 full review
104. As Good As It Gets 1997 It's a mark of how magically written, directed and acted As Good as It Gets is that we end up loving this film despite knowing how haphazard, scattershot and almost indefinable its charm is. full review
105. The Devil's Own 1997 full review
106. Face/Off 1997 It's difficult to describe the jolt his films deliver when [Woo]'s on, and he is on with a vengeance here. full review
107. The Frighteners 1997 Fortunately director Jackson, at home with all kinds of excess, keeps everything spinning nicely, not even losing a step when the mood turns increasingly disturbing. full review
108. Good Will Hunting 1997 While the charismatic performances of Damon and Affleck make "Good Will Hunting" a difficult entertainment to resist, doing just that is not as hard as the film would like to think. full review
109. Jackie Brown 1997 A leisurely and easygoing diversion that goes down easy enough but is far from compelling. full review
110. Liar Liar 1997 ...as Liar Liar proves one more time, there is probably no more consistently funny performer working in film today. full review
111. Mrs. Brown 1997 full review
112. The Peacemaker 1997 full review
113. Red Corner 1997 full review
114. The Wings of the Dove 1997 full review
115. Michael Collins 1996 Jordan always had 6-foot-4 Liam Neeson in mind to play the man they called "the Big Fellow," and it's more than size that makes Neeson fit the part of a leader known for his "cloudburst temperament." full review
116. 101 Dalmatians 1996 full review
117. Basquiat 1996 full review
118. Big Night 1996 As delicately and deliciously prepared as the dishes it features, Big Night is a lyric to the love of food, family and persuasive acting. full review
119. The First Wives Club 1996 full review
120. James and the Giant Peach 1996 In general the magic as well as the heart of Roald Dahl's novel has remained stubbornly on the page, leaving us with this overly mechanical copy, as appetizing as a once-flavorful peach that's been in cold storage for far too long. full review
121. Love Serenade 1996 full review
122. The Nutty Professor 1996 Messy, raucous, crude and undisciplined though this remake of the 1963 Jerry Lewis vehicle is, it also creates more laughter (and poignancy) than any Eddie Murphy movie has in quite some time. full review
123. A Perfect Candidate 1996 Shrewd, involving full review
124. Pocahontas 1996 Adult viewers, spoiled by what has come before, may feel that this film, which relates the legendary romance between a chief's daughter and English adventurer John Smith in the New World, is more by-the-numbers than inspired. full review
125. Ridicule 1996 full review
126. Trainspotting 1996 Exuberant and pitiless, profane yet eloquent, flush with the ability to create laughter out of unspeakable situations, "Trainspotting" is a drop-dead look at a dead-end lifestyle that has all the strength of its considerable contradictions. full review
127. Bad Boys 1995 Given how much good Bad Boys is going to do for Martin Lawrence's feature career, it's a pity the film couldn't do any more for itself. full review
128. The Crossing Guard 1995 full review
129. Leaving Las Vegas 1995 A film laden with virtues but difficult to embrace. full review
130. Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead 1995 full review
131. Becket 1964 While peripheral elements of Becket do show their age, the core of the film's appeal remains incandescent, and that is the on-screen collaboration between Burton and O'Toole. full review