instantwatcher.com

Mark Feeney, Boston Globe

1. 5 Broken Cameras 2012 What we do see has an immediacy and intimacy that's involving. It also can feel a bit wayward and cumulatively wearying. full review
2. Backwards 2012 The neatness of the plotting becomes almost comical after a while. Construction is one thing; contrivance is another. full review
3. Brooklyn Castle 2012 Katie Dellamaggiore's lively and affecting documentary introduces us to a cast of characters that's very winning (in both senses of the word). full review
4. Compliance 2012 There is a level of stupidity displayed by the people in this movie that beggars belief. Their behavior is to stupidity as the Death Star is to a doughnut. full review
5. Cosmopolis 2012 Poor Pattinson does the best he can. He's not terrible. But he's definitely out of his element, if not beyond his depth, an altar boy in a bishop's robes. full review
6. Dark Horse 2012 Solondz has made a career out of specializing in highly aberrant views of middle-class life. full review
7. The Details 2012 The movie is many things, but a mess isn't one of them. Estes knows exactly what he wants. Whether it's worth wanting is another matter. full review
8. Detropia 2012 "Detropia" feels somewhere between loose (which is good) and aimless (which isn't). full review
9. Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai 2012 Miike can't seem to get enough of Hanshiro's heroics. That's not just visual excess, though. full review
10. Hitler's Children 2012 The moral weight of "Hitler's Children" is unmistakable. So is that weight's inertness. full review
11. How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster? 2012 A treatment of Foster so reverential it verges on camp. full review
12. The Imposter 2012 Beverly Dollarhide, Nicholas's mother, says of the period after her son's disappearance, "My main goal in life at that time was not to think." Apparently, the filmmakers have taken a cue from her. full review
13. The Invisible War 2012 "The Invisible War" makes all too clear that the military isn't very good at justice. full review
14. Madea's Witness Protection 2012 Reviewing a Tyler Perry movie is a bit like reviewing the weather report. full review
15. Natural Selection 2012 [Harris is] the one good thing in "Natural Selection." full review
16. October Baby 2012 "October Baby" looks and feels like a Lifetime movie waiting not to happen. full review
17. One for the Money 2012 The movie has the by-the-numbers efficiency of a decent TV series, and about as much flavor. full review
18. Orchestra Of Exiles 2012 Writer-director Josh Aronson's flaccid "Orchestra of Exiles" squanders the material's promise. full review
19. Payback 2012 There's a splendid audacity in Baichwal trying to bring to the screen something as idea-driven as Atwood's book. full review
20. The Turin Horse 2012 "The Turin Horse" is a parable, which means it's both very simple and very weighty. It's not about event and emotion, but duration and endurance. full review
21. Whores' Glory 2012 Glawogger has the good sense mostly to stay out of the way and let the material speak for itself. full review
22. Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey 2011 The most interesting part of this lively, likable documentary is the journey. full review
23. Farmageddon 2011 The one-sidedness of "Farmageddon'' isn't just an artistic failing. It's an argumentative failing, too. full review
24. Gerhard Richter Painting 2011 The sight of Richter going back and forth between two related canvases recalls Roger Federer playing tennis with himself in slow, deliberative motion. full review
25. The Hedgehog 2011 Enchantment will go a long way toward overcoming implausibility, but there's not enough of the former here - and far too much of the latter. full review
26. Magic Trip 2011 It's the movie "Yellow Submarine'' should have been but didn't know how to be. full review
27. The Story Of Film: An Odyssey 2011 It's wildly ambitious, often extremely good, occasionally maddening, and always stimulating. full review
28. Surviving Progress 2011 A slick jeremiad, "Surviving Progress" is expertly made (it's far from tedious) but intellectually muddled. full review
29. There Be Dragons 2011 "Inspired by true events'' the opening credits say. "Time to count the factual silverware,'' the moviegoer mutters. full review
30. Nostalgia for the Light 2010 A nearly unbearable examination of good and bad in the human heart. full review
31. The Good Heart 2009 Cox doesn't so much chew the scenery as inhale it. Dano looks on in awe. Who can blame him? For that matter, who can blame Cox? full review
32. Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 2008 A sense of mortality shadows the documentary. On or off the gridiron, time is the only opponent who always wins. Even at Harvard, even at Yale. full review
33. The Rape of Europa 2007 Not helping matters are Joan Allen's blanched tones as narrator, or the general flatness of the talking heads. full review
34. Deep Water 2006 To reveal Crowhurst's decision would be to spoil a stunning tale. Deep Water is not itself comparably stunning. full review
35. Becket 1964 Everything that Doctor Strangelove is -- daring and inspired, vibrant and brilliantly staged -- Becket is not. full review