BOFCA REVIEW ROUNDUP 11/29

FROZENFROZEN

“…this may be the best animated offering out of Hollywood this year.” – Daniel Kimmel, North Shore Movies – Daniel Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“Succeeds in updating, modernizing and even critiquing the [Disney Princess] franchise-formula – without turning into a SHREK-style jaded gagfest.” – Bob Chipman, Escapist (Spoiler-free. In-depth piece w/spoilers HERE)

 

HOMEFRONTHOMEFRONT

“It’s not exactly idiosyncratic, but at least it doesn’t feel as if it came off the focus-tested-$150-million-movie conveyor belt.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE

“A straightforward thriller with beatings, shootings, a young girl in peril, and a stoic hero who never loses his cool. It’s worked before. There’s no reason it shouldn’t work again.” – Daniel Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“You can think James Franco’s turn in SPRING BREAKERS was the defining supporting performance of this year and still want to watch him get his block knocked off by Statham. At least I do.” – Sean Burns, The Improper Bostonian

 

OLDBOYOLDBOY

“I liked this movie fine but I’ll get back to you when I figure out a reason why it exists.” – Sean Burns, Technology Tell

 

 

PHILOMENAPHILOMENA

“Provokes fury and outrage, but also supplies a balm in the form of truly gracious forgiveness.” – Kilian Melloy, EDGE

“Needless to say, the grande dame’s performance, alternately goofy and grave, is an absolute tour de force.” – Inkoo Kang, Village Voice

 

BLACK NATIVITYBLACKNATIVITY

“It’s goofy and probably very easy to mock, but so full of positivity and good spirits that I can’t imagine why anybody would want to bother.” – Sean Burns, Technology Tell

“Lemmons hits all of the expected notes that come prepackaged with this sort of picture; call it corny and hammy, because it is, but she’s more than up to the task of making all of the expected “stuff” of its archetype work.” – Andrew Crump, Go-See-Talk

 

NEBRASKANEBRASKA

“This is more of a melancholic reverie than a young man’s outburst – this once-furious auteur has grown up, and mellowed out.” – Jake Mulligan, Movie Mezzanine

“Payne cobbles together a shockingly accurate portrait of the US’s flyover states, at least as envisioned by those of us living on the East and West coasts; they’re desolate, barren, cultural wastelands, places that time has forgotten, populated by people modernity has passed by.” – Andrew Crump, Go-See-Talk

“It’s a gimmicky sitcom script gussied up with “artful” affectations borrowed from the New Hollywood heyday of the early ’70s. Except it doesn’t even get those right.” – Sean Burns, The Improper Bostonian

BOFCA REVIEW ROUNDUP 11/22

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRECATCHINGFIRE

“In many ways it’s a better film than the first one. It keeps the strengths of the first film––the brilliant casting, the striking art direction––and does a much better job telling the story.” – Daniel Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“It’s quite engrossing until the movie abruptly stops mid-scene, teasing another sequel coming soon to a theater near you. Sigh, the perils of franchise maintenance.” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia City Paper”

“This flick is a nail biter, even in the quiet moments.” – David Riedel, Santa Fe Reporter

“Sure, it faithfully aligns with the book and safely plays to the franchise’s core audience. But this sequel is better cast, well-wound and powerfully paced.” – Norm Schrager, Meet-In-The-Lobby

 

DELIVERY MANDELIVERYMAN

“Slight but feel-good entertainment. It probably should have gone right to Lifetime in the first place, because it’s not going to be finding much of a home in movie theaters this weekend.” – Daniel Kimmel, North Shore Movies

 

 

BOOKTHIEFTHE BOOK THIEF

“The finished product is so lacking in visual dynamism and cinematic texture that it plays like an audio book with images attached. You could watch the picture with your eyes closed and lose very little.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE Boston

 

 

GO FOR SISTERSGOFORSISTERS

“It’s an absorbing, well-researched snapshot from the American class struggle with excellent performances and an evocative sense of time and place.” – Sean Burns, Technology Tell

 

 

THE ARMSTRONG LIE

“The underlying thread in this ruinous yarn is that the movie we’re seeing today only exists because Armstrong screwed the happy ending to Gibney’s 2009 documentary.” – Monica Castillo, DIG Boston

BOFCA REVIEW ROUNDUP 11/15

THE BEST MAN HOLIDAYThe Best Man Holiday

“HOLIDAY is aiming to offer us a profound emotional experience alongside the humorous observations, and falls pretty short.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE

 

 

THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWNBROKENCIRCLE

“Structured like a more like a song than a conventional narrative, THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN loops through moments in time like verses returning to choruses in this ballad of a doomed couple in Ghent during the early 2000s – united by their love of music and torn apart by tragedy.” – Sean Burns, Technology Tell

“The intimacy of the connection we feel to this family is palpable; we are close to them like people we grew up with.” – Joyce Kulhawik

BOFCA REVIEW ROUNDUP 11/8

THOR: THE DARK WORLDTHOR2

“The biggest leap yet into the silly, nutty, crazy, cosmic side of the Marvel Universe; and it’s hard not to get a contact high from how deliriously in love it is with the Jack Kirby-inspired scifi/fantasy/Ancient Aliens mash-up that is it’s world.” – Bob Chipman, Escapist

“It’s more about feeding the franchise than anything else.” – Daniel Kimmel, Sci-fi Movie Hype

“Crashes and burns under the weight of its obligations to the series, packing in too many characters, too many plot points, and far too many action scenes pitched toward the sensibilities of eight-year-old boys.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE

“I think this entry is a slight improvement from the first. At least they dropped the Dutch angles.”- Monica Castillo, Cinema Fix

“If Marvel is going to continue making movies about Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, maybe they should keep them down to Earth.” – Sean Burns, Technology Tell

 

DALLAS BUYERS CLUBEXCLUSIVE: Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto film scenes together for The Dallas Buyers Club in New Orleans.

“Yes, this subject was covered in much greater depth in last year’s essential documentary HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE — and of course, when Hollywood told the story, they had to pick the time it happened to a straight guy — but DALLAS BUYERS CLUB still knows how to work a crowd.” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia City Paper