BOFCA REVIEW ROUNDUP: 03/08

Oz The Great And PowerfulOZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL

“The actresses are just so damn good that you can’t help but notice how flat Franco’s performance really is. The script may call for him to be the center of attention, but it’s impossible to focus on what Oz is doing once the three sisters start heating things up on screen.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

“A visual screen delight; a thoroughly enjoyable and thrilling adventure for both adults who love the classic Oz stories; as well as for the kids new to the wondrous land that exists over the rainbow.” – Tim Estiloz, Boston Movie Examiner

“A blast. A great family film, a worthy successor and reverent homage to a classic, and the return of one of the great modern American filmmakers. Unreservedly recommended.” – Bob Chipman, The Escapist

“There is a lot to like here. Visually the film is a feast. This may be the first family-friendly acid flashback. There are sequences where you’re just overwhelmed.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

 

NoNO

“As with LINCOLN, this is a movie about pragmatism, and sometimes you have to sacrifice your ideals and fudge the rules a bit for the greater good, because the people casting votes are generally stupid.” – Sean Burns, The Improper Bostonian

“There’s a great scene in TAXI DRIVER where Cybill Shepherd says that selling a political candidate is like selling mouthwash. Here’s a movie about a man who realizes that.” – Jake Mulligan, The Boston Phoenix

 

DEAD MAN DOWNDead Man Down

“Sometimes international filmmakers come to America and bring their style along with them. Some adapt to the Hollywood house style. But this movie’s so bad, and so clichéd, that I can’t help but ask if Oplev filmed it as satire.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE Boston

“It’s probably a good thing that Danish filmmaker Niels Arden Oplev isn’t that good of a craftsman to begin with. Nobody will decry his fall from artiste status because he never attained it in the first place.” – Andrew Crump, Go See Talk

 

YOSSIYOSSI

“Fox hardly breaks new ground — this is a standard bildungsroman. But he lights the scenes well, frames shots competently, and moves things along at an enjoyable pace. Maybe with another 10 years, he’ll develop a voice.” – Jake Mulligan, The Boston Phoenix

“Fox seems to understand that the joys and tears of looking for love are not unique to gay Israeli men, and is able to present his protagonists so that viewers can relate to the emotional conflicts regardless of one’s orientation.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, The Jewish Advocate

 

EMPEROREmperor

“Just like Bruce Willis in a super-cheap 50 Cent movie, pretty much all of Tommy Lee Jones’ scenes take place on the same set; and they add up to about a combined ten minutes. His name may be on the top of the poster, but I doubt he was shooting for more than three days.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE Boston

“Alas, instead of putting Jones front and center, the film demotes him to a supporting role and weaves a threadbare fiction involving MacArthur’s real-life second-in-command. The real criminals are the screenwriters, who distract with a dopey, doomed romance.” – Brett Michel, The Boston Phoenix

“The big problem is the casting of Matthew Fox as General Fellers. He looks completely out of place in a general’s uniform – it’s almost shocking to hear other characters refer to him as general because he looks like such a boy scout.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

“Director Peter Webber turns this pivotal moment in world history into a poorly told melodrama. This is a complex story and compelling historic fact watered down to Little Golden Book simplicity and flavored with the saccharine of a Harlequin romance novel.” – Tim Estiloz, Boston Movie Examiner

 

Greedy Lying BastatrdsGREEDY LYING BASTARDS

“Not just another environmental movie about how we’re killing our planet and ourselves, Craig Scott Rosebraugh’s documentary focuses on the political manipulation of the debate, both nationally and around the world.” – Monica Castillo, The Boston Phoenix

An ideological affirmation. Provocative and inciting, the film very much preaches to the choir. On the other hand, Rosebraugh probably won’t change any minds, at least not while he’s so busy being sarcastic and self-righteous.” – Andrew Crump, Go See Talk

 

LORELore

“Cate Shortland’s second feature is raw, disorienting and never bothers to tell you what it can instead show. The grit and squalor of the filmmaking push the survivalist angle into strictly visceral territory.” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly

 

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