2014 Film Log

145 Films Screened
(w/ Twitter-length Capsules)

February 2015

• Olive Kitteridge (Dir. Lisa Cholodenko) B | Uneven patches, belabored concepts in each hour, but finds shrewd details in performance, setting, relationships as it goes.

• The Overnighters (Dir. Jesse Moss) B+ | Handles Reinke's generosity with unexpected wisdom and intricately ties it to a collective spiritual and regional portrait.

• The Great Flood (Dir. Bill Morrison) C+ | Neither striking music or momentous footage ever really convey mood of state-governed panic. Daring, yes, but also limited.

• The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (Dir. Isao Takahata) B+ | Picture book veneer donning classical, empathetic edges. Lovely, lyrical view of an outsider's curiosity.

• The Judge (Dir. David Dobkin) D– | Cold and unseemly, even when attempting warmth. Lighting, score both falter. Inert pile-up of subplots. No one emerges unscathed.

• Lilting (Dir. Hong Khaou) B– | Script may hinge too heavily on "Is he gonna tell her?" setup, but gives cultural, generational dynamics honesty. Lovely lead perfs.

• Stray Dogs (Dir. Tsai Ming-liang) B | Bold immersion in unshakably sour concretions, even when ideas begin waning. Indelibly gorgeous images, courageously long takes.

• How to Train Your Dragon 2 (Dir. Dean DeBlois) B– | Grander in scope, yet retains little of first's strengths. Reliable on central pair. Tired alpha-male resolution.

• The Boxtrolls (Dirs. Graham Annable & Anthony Stacchi) C | Animation labors are impressive but busy. Intricate design, but rarely does any of it click. Hectic plotting. Flat characters.

• John Wick (Dirs. David Leitch & Chad Stahelski) B– | The Passion of Keanu. A bit bare-bones in character and plot logic, but often thrums with slick delivery, worthy adversaries.

• Mommy (Dir. Xavier Dolan) C | Aspect ratio film's biggest risk, but even that feels under conceived. Mars other core ideas, never letting arcs, relationships jell.

• Virunga (Dir. Orlando Von Einsiedl) B | As potent in subject as Last Days... and boldly penetrating as Citizenfour. Favors broad strokes at times, but justified by end.

• Last Days in Vietnam (Dir. Rory Kennedy) B+ | Could go deeper with subjects, but their testimonies bring sprawling sobriety to the chaos. Indispensable footage.

• Still Alice (Dirs. Richard Glatzer & Wash Westmoreland) B– | Moore's discerning about frustrations illness brings to patient defined by her acumen. Film's less wise, but shows care, nuance.

• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Dir. Matt Reeves) C+ | Richer spectacle than Rise. Caesar, ideas still ring hollow. More interesting when humans and apes collide.

• Belle (Dir. Amma Asante) B– | Odd alternations of thorny and prosaic approaches to its historical quandaries. Images undernourished. Mbatha-Raw really nails it.

• American Sniper (Dir. Clint Eastwood) A– | Nimble technique in performance and direction, complex POV of Hero sharply undermine sticky hawkings of "legend" at center.

January 2015

• Goodbye to All That (Dir. Angus MacLachlan) B | Modest conception doesn't do every character favors, but what a treat to be in MacLachlan's observant grip. Sharp cast.

• Cake (Dir. Daniel Barnz) C | Dire direction, structure abound in listless study of grief. But: Jen furnishes project with crafty, detailed, character-specific barb.

• The Interview (Dirs. Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg) C | Rogen/Goldberg repeat old tricks an awful lot for material this "risky" and issues this large. Funny bits, low perspective.

• Closed Curtain (Dirs. Jafar Panahi & Kambuzia Partovi) B | Some have been quick to scoff, but Panahi takes tremendous leaps in complicating his themes and confronting his predicament.

• Finding Vivian Maier (Dirs. John Maloof & Charlie Siskel) B | aka: Relics We Forage. Valuable time capsule of a complicated, elusive figure. Reluctant to highlight the art itself?

• The Imitation Game (Dir. Morten Tyldum) C– | Vital as this story is, myopic approach evades engagement with Turing's sexuality for tin-eared biopic clichés.

• Inherent Vice (Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson) B– | Tows tricky melancholy undercurrent along with dizzying picaresque of ditzy if impenetrable adventures, but...wait...what?

• The Guest (Dir. Adam Wingard) B– | Tops Kill List in brazen undertaking of generic pastiche. Stevens gives frosty-eyed kink to hero-villain. Loses precision at end.

• Men, Women & Children (Dir. Jason Reitman) F | Limited actors asked to perform remote, prurient concepts. Reitman's maimed human behavior never coheres w/scenarios.

• Evolution of a Criminal (Dir. Darius Clarke Monroe) B+ | Director's story of own jail sentence deepened by family's perspective and potent study of working-class stresses.

• Get on Up (Dir. Tate Taylor) C+ | Adheres to predictable, stifling biopic arcs, despite tonal and structural gambles. Odd padding, dull camera, electric star turn.

• Selma (Dir. Ava DuVernay) A– | Impeccable historical probing in a Lincoln vein, revealing complex, uncannily intimate nerves and organisms of an era and revolution.

• National Gallery (Dir. Frederick Wiseman) A– | Great semi-intro to Wiseman, a lucid, pristine rumination on painstaking techniques and labors. Invigoratingly assembled.

• Foxcatcher (Dir. Bennett Miller) B | Near Snowtown-levels of tonal/atmospheric oppressiveness. Obvious current builds to riveting second half. Actors give it heft.

• Big Eyes (Dir. Tim Burton) D | Tritely dramatized in script and direction, shrouding character motivations/perceptions. Faulty tone fails cast, story. Cumbersome.

• Finding Fela (Dir. Alex Gibney) B– | Gibney's repetitive grooves an odd fit for Fela's indefatigable musical rebellion. Enlightening if awkwardly constructed sketch.

• The Hundred-Foot Journey (Dir. Lasse Hallström) D+ | Quasi-uplifting tale made stuffier, less inviting by wan style, tepid conflicts. Clicks more in last act.

• Force Majeure (Dir. Ruben Östlund) B | Unbeatable start poses tasty setup, but from there: a slippery slope in tone, insight, and tension. Characters a bit vague.

December 2014

• Venus in Fur (Dir. Roman Polanski) B | Wicked arsenal of intellectual playfulness and mercurial energies. Smart, if not quite elegant in self-reflexive psychology.

• Into the Woods (Dir. Rob Marshall) C+ | Songs, cast have appeal, but barely sustain Marshall's dissonance, tale's fleeting charm. Smartly-played by non-Depps. Fine.

• The Final Member (Dirs. Jonah Bekhor & Zach Math) B | Oddity of Penis-museum doc opens gate for ribbing or base inquiry of subject, but finds intelligent engagement with story.

• Annie (Dir. Will Gluck) C– | Quvenzhané sells chintziness, script's better intentions more amiably than Gluck. Changes in setting, character utterly floundered.

• The Skeleton Twins (Dir. Craig Johnson) B+ | Darkly funny spin on Estranged Siblings; their shared unrest and compassion. Wiig, Hader keenly perceptive to this dynamic.

• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (Dir. Peter Jackson) C | Not flip about themes, internal conflicts of be all/end all finale, but still whiffs of misguided execution

• The Theory of Everything (Dir. James Marsh) B | Not impervious to biopic cliché or unsubtle accentuation of theme, but Marsh, cast unearth rich nuances from both.

• Frankie & Alice (Dir. Geoffrey Sax) D+ | After 4-year wait, outcome fails to fascinate like troubled distribution. Sax botches story. Berry preserves what she can.

• Wild (Dir. Jean-Marc Vallée) B– | Strains to tie Cheryl's physical and spiritual voyage, but a fair stab. Iffy flashbacks; immediate textures. Welcome home, Reese!

• Mood Indigo (Dir. Michel Gondry) C+ | Gondry's Pee-wee-inspired take on The Congress, with the manic energy/melancholic undertones that implies. Still, hard to savor.

• Memphis (Dir. Tim Sutton) B | Enigmatic yet unblinking character study. Apt companion to Ballast or All the Real Girls in its conjuring of specific local flavors.

• Land Ho! (Dirs. Aaron Katz & Martha Stephens) B– | Sweet, semi-intimate take on well worn tale of aging/male bonding. Both feel like crutches as a result, but are sharp and impactful.

• It Felt Like Love (Dir. Eliza Hittman) B– | Familiar sketch, but also observant and tactile in ways that few U.S. indies ever bother to be. Hittman its biggest find.

• Calvary (Dir. John Michael McDonagh) C– | Like The Guard, arranges a prime showcase for Gleason, but smugly churlish tone often irks, even amid loftier themes and ambitions.

• Citizenfour (Dir. Laura Poitras) B+ | Vital, vivid, unsettling. Clear-eyed study of media jungle. Nails tricky balance of reluctant-but-necessary focus on Snowden.

• Child's Pose (Dir. Calin Peter Netzer) B | Worthy in every respect. Melodramatic surges, socio-political allegory, toxic protagonist thrill even as ideas begin to ebb.

• The Missing Picture (Dir. Rithy Panh) A | Moving, poetic, aptly diverse in form and detail. Takes risks of clay-figure testimony and turns them into virtues.

• Cold in July (Dir. Jim Mickle) C+ | Taut, insinuating narrative puzzle at beginning. Strong on region/period nuances. Still, crude reliance on sexual brutality.

• Thou Wast Mild and Lovely (Dir. Josephine Decker) D | Decker has an eye for stimulating iconography, unusual viewpoints, but makes ugly, disheveled cases for them.

• The Homesman (Dir. Tommy Lee Jones) A– | Cutting, wistful mosaic of Frontier themes, styles and characterizations. Trenchant camera, edits yield gripping authority.

• The Babadook (Dir. Jennifer Kent) B+ | Fearless, indelible plunge into traumatized tone and formal conviction. Eerie, relentless scares, specific to character, milieu.

• Starred Up (Dir. David Mackenzie) B | Mackenzie acerbic as ever with meticulous rhythms and textures of a gutsy if slightly precarious script. O'Connell delivers.

November 2014

• Interstellar (Dir. Christopher Nolan) B | Inception-y amalgam of everything frustrating/brilliant about Nolan's ambitions and emotions. Sincere, for better and worse.

• What If (Dir. Michael Dowse) C+ | Opposite of innovative, but funnier and smarter about male-female friendship than I wagered going in. Good showcase for leads.

• Jersey Boys (Dir. Clint Eastwood) D | Dramatic paralysis. Tunes utterly devoid of joy or catchiness. Squanders promise of cast, barring Walken. Eastwood adrift.

• Big Hero 6 (Dirs. Don Hall & Chris Williams) B+ | Disney's warmest, funniest since Lilo & Stitch. Cleverest Marvel since Cap 1. Shakes influences via disarmingly huggable robot.

• Whiplash (Dir. Damien Chazelle) C | Hyperbolic style, perfunctory script beats limit actors and scenarios; grows increasingly senseless as it goes. Why such raves?

• Dear White People (Dir. Justin Simien) B | Defiant eccentricity makes film feel shaky, but also displays considerable breadth in humor, characters, tough ideas.

• Beyond the Lights (Dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood) B+ | Keenly and carefully considered study of depression and stardom. Subversive, satisfying stab at formula. Mbatha-Raw!

• Tammy (Dir. Ben Falcone) C+ | Frustratingly slipshod in conception, but warmly and valiantly explores what most comedies ignore. One hell of a firework show!

• Abuse of Weakness (Dir. Catherine Breillat) B– | Breillat's bone-cold precision shines even through script's most tepid stretches. Strong Huppert perf. KO of a finale.

• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu) A– | An absolute marvel of grandiose form, evoking film and stage as pompous and noble exercises. Rich, peculiar ambience. Keaton A+

• Listen Up Philip (Dir. Alex Ross Perry) B | Candid, deceptively aloof study of writerly narcissism. Vinegary wordplay redeems structural limits. Moss astounds.

• Nightcrawler (Dir. Dan Gilroy) B– | Shocking, I guess? Pivots heavily on own depravity, for better and worse. Sound, edits entice. Thin blanket of rancid concepts.

• Archipelago (Dir. Joanna Hogg) B+ | Potent, deliberate throwback to Unrelated's remarkable reticence and clarity, linking familial and geographical alienation.

• Exhibition (Dir. Joanna Hogg) B+ | More calculated tricks than Hogg's debut, but collection of studious, comical observations enrich opaque marital profile.

• Unrelated (Dir. Joanna Hogg) A | Crisp, economical style as a rich meditation on barely-contained ennui. Wise choices in structure, performance avoid cliché.

• Pride (Dir. Matthew Warchus) A– | Shrewd political osmosis and a cheerful crowd-pleaser. Builds remarkable urgency, beguiling joy. Generous ensemble. Moving tale.

• Fury (Dir. David Ayer) C | Grisly swerves, lurid acrobatics, minus EoW's brazen voice. Dodges complex politics of story. Sound, MVP actors have charisma.

October 2014

• Two Days, One Night (Dirs. Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) B+ | Dardennes continue to package allegory, polish, surprises in character-specific ways. Delicate but not simplistic.

• We Are the Best! (Dir Lukas Moodysson) A– | Funny, honest, humane. Wise on disorienting adolescent emotion without feeling disoriented itself. Hate the sport!

• Camp X-Ray (Dir. Peter Sattler) B– | Leads anchor heightened, absorbing dual character study. Nabs balance of empathy and strife even when scenes underscore both.

• Björk: Biophilia Live (Dirs. Nick Fenton & Peter Strickland) B | Blissful exhilaration. Marries eclectic visual wit with Björk's bravura audio-sensory pleasures. Crystalline!

• The Good Lie (Dir. Philippe Falardeau) B– | Assured, thoughtful handling of narrative and theme; characters, ideas never sold short. Cast aids dips into tedium.

• The Amazing Catfish (Dir. Claudia Sainte-Luce) B | Intricate family snapshot lent lithe humanist detail from Godard. Hews to a familiar pulse, but heart stays intact.

• Hide Your Smiling Faces (Dir. Daniel Patrick Carbone) B | Rigorous and refreshingly lucid regional excavation, building new weight in adolescent inquiry/sibling bonds.

• One Chance (Dir. David Frankel) D+ | Very Slumdog-meets-Billy Elliot: tiresome, over-edited, condescendingly sympathetic. Script tarnishes Corden's affability.

• Obvious Child (Dir. Gillian Robespierre) B+ | One small step for U.S. indie cinema, one bold leap in tiny but vital political progression. Funny, tender. Slate amazes.

• The One I Love (Dir. Charlie McDowell) B– | Safety Not Guaranteed-ish: stalls on unique ideas/scenarios, coasts on savory cast. Creative mind-tease and genre-bending.

• Gone Girl (Dir. David Fincher) C | Ideal material for Fincher, w/ little inspiration to approach. Tone, pace way off. Smug flippancy flattens spiky thematics.

• Love is Strange (Dir. Ira Sachs) A– | Sachs' modest conception, telescoped human canvas soars with rich details in performance, emotion, and local rhythms.

September 2014

• The Last of the Unjust (Dir. Claude Lanzmann) A– | Frank, indelible witness's ethically shaky position. Deft in Lanzmann's own tie to atrocities. More than a Shoah rehash.

• The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (Dir. Ned Benson) C | Ambitious but stultifying ideas, POV, framework. Able cast, but few cogent cases made for characters.

• Neighbors (Dir. Nicholas Stoller) B | Typical shabbiness from Rogen/Stoller group, but generously funny material for its ensemble. Strong adult/adolescent critique.

• The Congress (Dir. Ari Folman) B– | Laudable conceptual brio, with sharper undercurrents than Folman's last, but quickly degenerates into listless entropy.

• The Fault in Our Stars (Dir. Josh Boone) C | Torpid mix of earnest approach and pandering sentiment. Stilted dialogue and scenarios. Dern its saving grace.

• The Railway Man (Dir. Jonathan Teplitzky) B– | Mixed blessings in frankness of emotion, subject, and narrative presentation, but a sobering stab. Firth very moving.

• This is Where I Leave You (Dir. Shawn Levy) D | Appealing cast can't shake formulaic setups, wobbly tone. Switch out Levy for Demme and you have a start.

• Manakamana (Dirs. Stephanie Spray & Pacho Velez) B | Laconic subjects, static camera are a challenge, but beams with quotidian pleasures. Local nuances overwhelmed by conceit?

• Muppets Most Wanted (Dir. James Bobin) B | Like Muppets, hems songs, gags, actors into self-aware antics; but nails absurdist delight of prior entries. Bliss.

• Borgman (Dir. Alex van Warmerdam) B+ | Last act has trouble landing, but never dulls surprises of serrated, class-based satire. Hitchcock-via-Lanthimos-via-Haneke.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Dir. Jonathan Liebsman) D | Garish design, incoherence of story and spectacle drown out surprising hints of promise. More dull than offensive.

• Night Moves (Dir. Kelly Reichardt) D+ | Reichardt's textural gifts fail. Offers little beyond: "Extremists *gasp* could exist in any group!" Flush with distaste.

• Frank (Dir. Lenny Abrahamson) C | Zippy, shapeless, flatly filmed. Key players capable of pushing premise, music, gonzo concepts past their limits. Unique but flimsy.

• Omar (Dir. Hany Abu-Asad) B– | Promising ambiguities of character and politics get resolutely literal as it goes. And yet, packs a potent sting. Bakri impresses.

• Like Father, Like Son (Dir. Hirokazu Koreeda) C+ | Agreeable if comfortably innocuous humanism. Blunt, unilluminating conceptions more disheartening than simplicity.

• Young & Beautiful (Dir. François Ozon) B | A welcome 180 from Ozon's last: surprising, naturalistic texture, deft intimacy. Complex depiction of newfound desire.

• The Two Faces of January (Dir. Hossein Amini) C+ | Handsome. Taut one minute, overly mannered the next. Dunst weirdly short shrifted. Mortensen easily MVP.

• They Came Together (Dir. David Wain) C– | Amiable and funny at times, but cast, gags, reflections on generic trappings stuck with nonstarter of a conceit.

• Test (Dir. Chris Mason Johnson) B | Peripheral subplots, characters get a bit stiff, but specific POV of subject, energy of frames and cuts make it special. Good lead.

August 2014

• The Normal Heart (Dir. Ryan Murphy) B | Murphy's awkward style, shaky narrative crutches never dull impact of furious tale. Persuasive cast. Raw emotion.

• Vic + Flo Saw a Bear (Dir. Denis Côté) C | Off-kilter lensing and ellipses fitfully intrigue, but gradually drown amid hollow, desultory melodrama. Sour end.

• Boyhood (Dir. Richard Linklater) B+ | Some stretches a bit fussy in execution, but plenty of poignant ones. Bracing observations, amplified small-scale. Parents > son?

• Locke (Dir. Steven Knight) C | Hardy a dependable anchor for concepts of male ego and insecurity that feel neither fresh or revealing. Strained and unconvincing.

• Noah (Dir. Darren Aronofsky) C– | Not a farrago, but tone, aesthetic, ideas all waver. Notion of flood as a cleansing and vile act a big risk, however botched in execution.

• Ida (Dir. Pawel Pawlikowski) B+ | A marvel of confident storytelling and intimacy with characters who often surprise. Uncommonly empathetic look at two modes of grief.

• A Most Wanted Man (Dir. Anton Corbijn) B+ | Crackling political testimony w/ unnerving lack of resolve. PSH, Corbijn deftly layer observation and introspection.

• Guardians of the Galaxy (Dir. James Gunn) C+ | Batty energy, eccentricity a plus. Solid on central quintet. Setpieces, shots, story beats feel hemmed in. Fun-ish.

July 2014

• Maleficent (Dir. Robert Stromberg) B– | Special as feminist fairy tale revisionism, even if execution in structure and design are iffy. Jolie nails tricky tone.

• Norte, the End of History (Dir. Lav Diaz) A– | Heavy on Dostoevskian rhetoric, but nimble in complementary style; rangy in scope and region-specific observation.

• Life Itself (Dir. Steve James) B | Moving, sensitive portrait. Formal shortcomings a result of modest, clear-eyed approach. Rich in perspective and emotion.

• Begin Again (Dir. John Carney) A– | Shoddy start, but Carney slowly attains beguiling, authentic feeling. Winningly loose naturalism from cast, esp. Knightley.

• Happy Christmas (Dir. Joe Swanberg) B+ | Lovely, small-scale specificity. Swanberg conjures ace rapport with characters, actors, rare familial observations.

• Snowpiercer (Dir. Bong Joon-ho) C | Fresh ideas run at a low ebb for such an ambitious conception. At least it attempts to complicate them? Visuals get flabby.

• The Immigrant (Dir. James Gray) A– | Ripe elicitation of classical, melodramatic staging and emotion; grappling wounds of anguish/repentance. Cotillard stuns.

• Under the Skin (Dir. Jonathan Glazer) A– | Blisteringly elliptical view of a female being's descent into vulnerability. Seductive images, upsetting sounds and score.

• 22 Jump Street (Dirs. Chris Miller & Phil Lord) C+ | Funny. Hill-Tatum chemistry reliable for comedic momentum, but a big step down from predecessor. Few threads take off.

June 2014

• Godzilla (Dir. Gareth Edwards) C | Thrills as visual spectacle, but surrounding story, tone, subtext can't compete. Boring humans. Monsters comparably thin.

• The LEGO Movie (Dirs. Chris Miller & Phil Lord) B | Sharper, funnier than I initially thought. Frantic but not muddled on story or concepts. Stunning technical achievement.
  
  Original Twitter Capsule: Clever conceit. Rich in color and design. A bit boastful of sketchy adult humor for a defense of childlike sensibility. B–

• Edge of Tomorrow (Dir. Doug Liman) A– | From dubious vanity conception comes studios' sharpest actioner in years: bracingly cut/written, witty use of Cruise and Blunt.

• About Last Night (Dir. Steve Pink) B– | Sweet, funny, very endearing fluff, despite wonky calculations elsewhere. Ace chemistry from central cast really sells it.

• The Double (Dir. Richard Ayoade) C | Sporadically compelling exercise for Ayoade/Eisenberg, but concepts, characterizations feel stodgy. Overindulges in self-satisfied deadpan.

• Enemy (Dir. Denis Villeneuve) B– | Gyllenhaal ideally cast. Web-like structure yields lurid and cerebral narrative swerves, but never tops opening or closing scenes.

• Joe (Dir. David Gordon Green) C– | Like Mud, but with even fewer insights into its small-town, alpha-male milieu. Green's style tips into self-parody. Good-ish Cage?

May 2014

• X-Men: Days of Future Past (Dir. Bryan Singer) B | Messy plot, needlessly convoluted exposition, but so fun. Seizes opportunities for bold stakes, effective cathartic release.

• Only Lovers Left Alive (Dir. Jim Jarmusch) A– | So many delicious moods and rhythms that missteps hardly matter. Funny, morose, like a decaying society's autopsy.

April 2014

• Blue Ruin (Dir. Jeremy Saulnier) B+ | Simple but knotty revenge narrative finds welcome strains of dark comedy, steely determinism, territorial tensions. Ace lead.

• A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness (Dirs. Ben Rivers & Ben Russell) B+ | Odd, fascinating triptych of three disparate environs abounds with lustrous sounds, images and piquant curiosity. 

• Le Week-End (Dir. Roger Michell) B | The Hope Springs of romantic travelogues: splendid performances, candid approach to dying marriage overcome daffier elements.

• Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Dirs. Anthony & Joe Russo) C+ | Spry showcase for main trio. Ace setpieces interchange with flat, familiar ones. Vague thematics, indifferent frames add little.

March 2014

• The Grand Budapest Hotel (Dir. Wes Anderson) B | Quintessential Anderson with trickiest manipulations of dark and light yet. Stumbles only in last act. Fiennes!

• Nymphomaniac (Dir. Lars Von Trier) B | Brutal, but almost plumlike. Some chapters more revealing than others, but gets points for zest. Vol. 2 a step up for me.

February 2014

• Heli (Dir. Amat Escalante) B+ | Genital-burning, dog neck-snapping just the tip of the iceberg in unsettling, impeccably constructed drug drama. But a bit much?

• Filth (Dir. Jon S. Baird) D+ | McAvoy relishes moment to let loose, but in service of a shapeless, fitfully pointed vehicle in love with its own odiousness.

• Interior. Leather Bar. (Dirs. James Franco & Travis Matthews) C | Central premise tantalizes, but mostly interested in prodding around surface areas. Needs larger variety of perspectives.

• Ilo Ilo (Dir. Anthony Chen) A– | Sweet, affecting tale of mid-'90s Singapore life, steeped in disarming modesty. Scabrous but sympathetic family portrait

• A Field in England (Dir. Ben Wheatley) D+ | Potent sound design and lensing. Otherwise? More hoary boilerplate from Wheatley. In desperate need of Sightseers' anarchism.

• The Monuments Men (Dir. George Clooney) F | Dull, crude perspective on vital history, acted, shot and plotted with mawkish sentiment. Dubious in every respect.

December 2013

• Gloria (Dir. Sebastián Lelio) B+ | The rare movie about single, middle-aged womanhood to not stilt protagonist's appeal or plight. Measured characters. García wows.

• Stranger by the Lake (Dir. Alain Guiraudie) B | Probes story and aesthetic with cool confidence. Expressively lit, rich in skepticism and milieu. Little payoff, though.

Screened, Not Yet Released

• Grigris (Dir. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun) B | Stuffy plotting in Haroun's script erodes what's boldly uncompromising in his direction. Striking piece of cultural distillation.