BOFCA REVIEW ROUND-UP: 10/24/2014

john-wick

JOHN WICK

“For all its B-movie pulp bravado, JOHN WICK – a rather absurdly entertaining comeback vehicle for the preternaturally youthful Keanu Reeves – is best looked at not as an action movie, but as a dance picture.” – Sean Burns, Movie Mezzanine

“With JOHN WICK, we see that maybe Keanu Reeves hasn’t seen the last of quality movies after all.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show

“Sometimes you laugh with it. Sometimes you laugh at it. Either way, you’ll have a hell of a time …” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

“…the film is a predictable but excellently executed mix of hand to hand combat and bullets flying while the body count piles up.” – Deirdre Crimmins, All Things Horror

“…an entertaining action film which seems to be taking place in an alternate universe.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“The intricate action scenes are staged mostly in awesome, seemingly uninterrupted master shots with minimal editing from other angles.” – Tim Estiloz, Boston Examiner

“Far from apologizing for its reliance on the well-worn action movie conventions from which it’s cobbled together, JOHN WICK revels in them.” – Kilian Melloy, Edge Boston

 

birdman_aBIRDMAN

“A mix of SUNSET BOULEVARD and the recent Robin Wright film THE CONGRESS, BIRDMAN takes an introspective look at an actor’s career and transforms it into a savage Hollywood critique.” – Monica Castillo, Movie Mezzanine

“It’s wildly funny, thrilling, and heartbreaking, cutting deep into our hopes, fears, and need to matter in a world awash in consumerism, and just too damn much of everything.” – Joyce Kulhawik, Joyce’s Choices

“There sure are a lot of pictures about caped crusaders out there, but don’t even the most over-the-hill superheroes deserve a chance to fly anew?” – Andy Crump, Paste Magazine

“…a sometimes dazzling, often infuriating act of gaseous virtuosity.” – Sean Burns, Spliced Personality

“What you get from BIRDMAN more than anything is top shelf acting all the way around.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show

 

13914-2DEAR WHITE PEOPLE

“DEAR WHITE PEOPLE is a peeved film, a touching film, a thoughtful film, and a funny film all at the same time, but structurally it’s an exercise in developing tension.” – Andy Crump, Paste Magazine

“…an empathetic exploration of both how difficult it is to navigate this paradoxical new world and the burden that “otherness” can inflict.” – Inkoo Kang, The Wrap

“There’s hardly a straight-through plot here; instead, we open and close with moments from a climactic blackface-party-slash-”race war,” with numerous preceding incidents involving the participants of said war filling the time in between. ” – Jake Mulligan, Movie Mezzanine

 

Whiplash-5547.cr2WHIPLASH

“The movie is a sleek machine that works you over and bats you around until the climax incites the audience into the kind of frenzy I haven’t seen in an auditorium since Rocky beat Drago. It’s viscerally thrilling, and distressingly hollow.” – Sean Burns, Spliced Personality

“While the casting and characterizations mesh perfectly, and the movie creates an indelible atmosphere of creative foment and psychic disrepair, the last act loses the very discipline Fletcher embodies.” – Kilian Melloy, Edge Boston

“Good music, great acting and an interesting approach to a film about music makes WHIPLASH a winner in my book.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show

 

maxresdefault (2)OUIJA

“If Hasbro want to sell us advertisements, they’re going to need to be better than this.” – Jake Mulligan, Edge Boston

“..this breaks no new ground, but it bumps along at a steady pace, providing the requisite scares and laughs along the way.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“The plot barely limps along down a completely uninspired path. The film takes itself way too seriously, and yet is horribly boring for long stretches of time.” – Deirdre Crimmins, All Things Horror

 

theirishpub6372THE IRISH PUB

“… an endearing, affectionate snapshot of a fading way of life, of places where strangers from ages eighteen to eighty can still stop for a friendly chat on their way home from wherever, taking comfort in conversation and company.” – Sean Burns, North Shore Movies

 

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