Category Archives: Review Roundups

BOFCA REVIEW ROUNDUP: 11/2

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WRECK-IT RALPH

“A big win, striking a near-perfect balance between fan service and geniunely satisfying moviemaking.” – Bob Chipman, The Escapist

“It’s brilliantly animated and has some nice character moments, but all in all, it goes nowhere.” – Greg Vellante, The Eagle Tribune

“John C. Reilly not only gives his character personality, but soul. It makes all the difference.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

“One of those cartoons that works at a variety of levels, so that it really is something the whole family can enjoy.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, NorthShoreMovies.net

“At times overly cutesy and leans too heavily on sophomoric humor, though it is a visually striking, well-crafted flick.” – Evan Crean, Starpulse

“It’s a colorful nostalgia trip for those of us who still store our NES and Sega Genesis in our attics or basements.” – Monica Castillo, Bitch Magazine 

“Too bad the obligatory bromide of being yourself wrecks the pleasure of character cameos from gaming’s past and present.” – Brett Michel, The Boston Phoenix

 

FLIGHT

“The best movies featuring addiction are about the characters and not the Problem. FLIGHT is about the Problem.” – Sean Burns, The Improper Bostonian

“Washington follows the director’s lead by taking just about every cliché there is for playing a drunk on screen and cranking it up to 11.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

“The film’s less zippy pace after the crash almost causes you to lose interest at certain points, and The Rolling Stones tunes feel too much like a Scorsese rip-off.” – Evan Crean, Starpulse

“At well over two hours, this is a movie that could have used someone urging Zemeckis and company to cut to the chase.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, NorthShoreMovies.net

 

HOLY MOTORS

“As confounding as it is pleasurable; as melancholic as it is invigorating… one of the freshest visions the big screen has seen in years, perhaps decades.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE Boston

“Cinema is dead. Long live cinema.” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly

 

A LATE QUARTET

“Aims to tell a bigger story and suffers from its own ambition, relying on a framework too flimsy to support its own weight.” – Norm Schrager, Meet in the Lobby

“All they’ll get from me is the world’s smallest violin playing for their troubles.” – Evan Crean, Starpulse

“What could possibly go wrong? As it turns out, just about everything. And the less said about the way Walken looks sawing his bow across the cello, the better.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

 

THE DETAILS

“Comes off as a film about how much it sucks having to deal with women and minorities.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE Boston

“The movie’s smarminess lingers like a hangover. When it was over, I wanted nothing more than a shower.” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly

 

THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS

“It’s RZA who holds the picture back. He’s trying too much — too many disparate styles and tones, too many characters, too many CGI effects.” – Jake Mulligan, The Boston Phoenix

“It’s unfathomable that Crowe would ever stoop to being in a picture like this, and even weirder that it looks like the most fun he’s had in years.” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly

 

BOFCA REVIEW ROUNDUP: 10/26

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CLOUD ATLAS

“The kitsch factor is weirdly in keeping with the picture’s ardent, disarming sincerity. Even at its most risible, this oddball movie has a groovy, inclusive spirit that feels downright revolutionary.” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly


“The key is not to take CLOUD ATLAS too seriously. If you try to invest yourself in the sci-fi framework or the Wachowski-esque philosophical theory, you’ll be too busy chewing on sand rather than eating up the goodies.” – Norm Schrager, Meet In The Lobby

“This is not just a movie. It’s a cinematic mural, and while its elements may sometimes clash a bit, the overall form is really rather lovely.” – Kilian Melloy, Kal’s Movie Blog

“The year’s most ambitious film, one that will divide critics as well as audiences. You will either be enthralled or bored beyond tears. Given its nearly three hour running time, you’d best be prepared.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, The Sci-Fi Movie Page

“As it took up residence in my memory, my relationship with this film simply grew. I liked CLOUD ATLAS when it ended. But by the next day, I had fallen in love.” – Greg Vellante, The Eagle Tribune

“It looks like the short segments were put together by an editor wearing a blind fold and watching it gives audiences the kind of motion sickness feeling one gets trying to read a book in a moving car.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

“At first, the frequent jumping between time periods is a bit jarring, but it quickly becomes second nature as you get invested in each one of the individual stories.” – Evan Crean, Reel Recon

“Not just one of the best movies of the year, but one of the most ambitious and audicious in a year that has been big on ambitious and audacious.” – Bob Chipman, The Escapist

 

SMASHED

“Just as the melodrama gains traction we cut to a coda and the credits. It runs a scant 85 minutes, and feels unfinished.” – Jake Mulligan, The Boston Phoenix

 

 

THE SESSIONS


“Such an earnest little puddle of feel-good inspiration that I feel like an  asshole for disliking it so much.” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly

“This is a movie not about sexual exploitation, but rather about sexual healing.” – Kilian Melloy, Kal’s Movie Blog


“It is entirely daring in what it chooses to show, but rather tame in what it chooses to say.” – Greg Vellante, The Eagle Tribune

 

CHASING MAVERICKS


“A Lifetime movie with some actual life to it, lending tender observation to the idea that dreams are sitting out there waiting to be seized.” – Greg Vellante, The Eagle Tribune

“An acting range that seems more suited to pouting on the fashion runway than performing as a fully fledged character.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

“A coming-of-age story which should end with the young boy becoming a young man. Unfortunately, fate had other ideas. As the old saying goes, God writes lousy theater.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, NorthShoreMovies.net

 

SILENT HILL: REVELATION

“It’s like watching a recording of someone else playing a video game. You have no control and you have nothing invested in the characters or the outcome.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, The Sci-Fi Movie Page

“It’s more of the same, on a cut-rate budget, without Gans’s atmospheric reverie.” – Brett Michel, The Boston Phoenix

“A full-on, visceral thrill ride that uses 3D technology to throw buckets of blood and gore at the audience with gleeful abandonment.” – John Black, Boston Event Guide

 

FUN SIZE

“Crud. Perfectly unpleasant fluff that offers a few good moments in a mess of horrible ones.” – Greg Vellante, The Eagle Tribune

“If your ‘tweens and young teens are into the offerings on Nickelodeon and Disney then they’ll enjoy this, but there is stuff that parents may find surprising and even disturbing.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, NorthShoreMovies.net

 

BOFCA REVIEW ROUNDUP: 10/17

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ALEX CROSS

“You’ve seen this movie before, but what makes this one almost interesting is just how amazingly poorly miscast the main hero and villain are.” – Bob Chipman, The Escapist

“The usual over-familiar mélange of forensic evidence and titillating torture-porn that reminds me why I don’t watch network television procedurals.” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly

“Lazy, tedious, contrived. This is, by far, the worst action movie of the year.” – Greg Vellante, The Eagle Tribune

 

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4

“Of course it’s all fake and pretty stupid, but that’s beside the point.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, The Sci-Fi Movie Page

 

CONNED

“It’s hard to ferret out who’s screwing whom, but surely, it’s the viewers who are being conned.” – Brett Michel, The Boston Phoenix
 
 
 

BOFCA REVIEW ROUNDUP: 10/12

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ARGO

“One of the most entertaining and smart movies to come out of Hollywood this year. Affleck emerges into the front rank of contemporary American directors.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, NorthShoreMovies.net

“I think it would be impossible to make a movie about U.S. and Iranian relations that had less to say about our current situation than ARGO. Affleck has everything but a strong vision.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE Boston

“A fast, no B.S. procedural drama that harkens back to the glory days of smart, tense espionage dramas.” – Bob Chipman, The Escapist

“Affleck also draws out the ending more than necessary, straying from the historical record in order to goose the audience along for the ride. No matter, as it’s a hell of a ride.” – Sean Burns, The Improper Bostonian

“Truly one of the best films I’ve seen this year. Affleck has successfully set a new bar of excellence for himself with this entertainingly complex slice of history.” – Tim Estiloz, Boston Movie Examiner

“If there is any film of 2012 more appropriate of being deemed a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, I have yet to find it.” – Greg Vellante, The Eagle Tribune

“I didn’t feel any tension or drama. I could hear the music pump up, I could see the editing speed up. And Affleck gives himself too many close-ups.” – John Black, The Post-Movie Podcast

“Ben Affleck may very well be one of the best directors of solid Hollywood entertainment today, a confident, reliable and effective visual storyteller.” – Norm Schrager, Paste Magazine

 

SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS

“I’m not sure it all hangs together in the end, but McDonagh’s grasping at something interesting. And I laughed so hard, I made a spectacle of myself.” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly
 
“With a title like SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS, you shouldn’t be expecting sweetness and light. This is a violent, profane and hilariously dark comedy.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, NorthShoreMovies.net
 
“I can’t think of any single moment I didn’t enjoy, even though some feel slightly out-of-place.” – Greg Vellante, The Eagle Tribune
 
“There’s a seething, underlying rage these guys all have that makes for great comedy.” – Steve Head, The Post-Movie Podcast
 
“The pieces of the action movie puzzle are the same, sure. But you’ve never seen them arranged quite like this.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE Boston
 

 

THE PAPERBOY

“I don’t want to start giving things away, but get ready for watersports, telepathic blowjobs, and much more.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE Boston
 
“Is there a way to make heads or tails of this icky cinematic mess?” – Monica Castillo, Bitch Magazine
 
 
 
SINISTER
 
“A frequently effective fright-machine that makes the most of the familiar footing it treads.” – Greg Vellante, The Eagle Tribune
 
“The result isn’t one of the great horror films, but it’s a lot better than many of the other offerings in the genre this year.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, The Sci-Fi Movie Page
 
 “A virtual encyclopedia of scenes and themes from other, better movies without an identity of its own.” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly

 

HERE COMES THE BOOM
 
“In fact, here’s an idea: Kevin James should get a professional divorce from Adam Sandler. They can socialize in their off hours if they must.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, NorthShoreMovies.net
 
“The movie doesn’t fire on all cylinders, but it fires full force with what it’s got; dumb fun, clever strategy. All in all, it works.” – Kilian Melloy, EDGE Boston
 
“Yes, the movie has some stupid moments. Yes, the plot is absurd. But no, you won’t be bored.” – Greg Vellante, The Eagle Tribune
 
“The implausibilities of the film are insane.” – Steve Head, The Post-Movie Podcast
 
“Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions is the perennial pop-culture zombie that refuses to die and wants to eat your brain.” – Monica Castillo, The Boston Phoenix
 

 

KEEP THE LIGHTS ON

“In trying to capture a moment in time, Sachs has left nothing uncovered. Navigating his darkest moments with unsparing honesty, he finds a flicker of hope.” – Jake Mulligan, The Boston Phoenix 
 
 
 
ATLAS SHRUGGED: PART II
 
“It’s cute that Objectivists now have a BATTLEFIELD: EARTH of their own.” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly 
 
 
 
 

BOFCA REVIEW ROUNDUP: 10/5

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FRANKENWEENIE

“Like it or not, not everything lasts, and if Burton’s supposed golden age has passed it might be something not even a bolt of lightning can revive.” – Bob Chipman, The Escapist
 
“This is very much the work of an older man revisiting the obsessions of his youth, struggling at times to reconnect with them.” – Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly
 
“An animated tour de force that perfectly encapsulates both the wide-eyed, aspiring filmmaker Burton was and the distinctive auteur he has become.” – Greg Vellante, The Eagle Tribune
 
“The film is a very average animated tale geared toward kids.” – Evan Crean, Starpulse
 
“Uncritical young viewers will no doubt enjoy such antics, but even they may find themselves bored or baffled by some of Burton’s choices.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, NorthShoreMovies.net
 
 
 
TAKEN 2
 
“Liam gets mad, Liam escapes, Liam kills everyone. This one is more of the same, slashed to ribbons from what I imagine was an exceedingly gory first cut.” – Jake Mulligan, EDGE Boston
 
“The more elaborate scenes are so silly you end up laughing in all the wrong places. It’s just kind of dull, really.” – Bob Chipman, The Escapist
 

“As absurd as it is, with ham-fisted dialogue and utterly incredible plot turns, no one who is an action fan is likely to be disappointed.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, NorthShoreMovies.net

“Watching Liam Neeson demand the absolute ludicrous while Maggie Grace frantically struggles to comply is some of the funniest junk I’ve witnessed this year.” – Greg Vellante, The Eagle Tribune

“Olivier Megaton could use some more lessons in directing as he bombs in his strained efforts to recreate Pierre Morel’s original.” – Brett Michel, The Boston Phoenix

“As silly as this movie turns out to be, the action sequences are entertaining and there’s a heartwarming family element to the story.” – Evan Crean, Starpulse

 
 

HEAD GAMES

“One wishes James stuck with Nowinski for the whole film, rather than going with an episodic construction that feels destined for PBS.” – Jake Mulligan, The Boston Phoenix
 
 
 
BUTTER
 
“Despite an appealing cast of oddballs, the satire spreads pretty thin.” – Brett Michel, The Boston Phoenix