| Critic |
Review |
Quote |
Analysis |
This Week's Verdict |
A.O. Scott,
The New York Times |
Rendition |
"Rendition may be earnest, but it is hardly naïve. Rather, it tries to be thoughtful and respectful of complexity while at the same time honoring the imperatives of commercial entertainment. It has timely issues and serious ambitions.
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Or was it serious issues and timely ambitions? Zzzz. . .
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Stephanie Zacharek,
Salon.com |
Rendition |
"This is Syriana-style filmmaking, where you're not supposed to know exactly where you are, or what's going on, at every moment, a technique that spells out 'serious intent' in block letters. […] Gyllenhaal's chief task here is to register gradual gradations of disbelief and horror, and that's OK, because he has a good face for it." |
Jake Gyllenhaal = the new George Clooney.
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J. Hoberman,
The Village Voice |
Wristcutters: A Love Story |
"And yet, certain things translate. Ponder these dejected antics long enough and the low-quirk curtain parts. Keret's metaphor for Israel comes through, as if from afar — the sense of displacement, the uncertain boundaries, the youthful alienation, the crummy beaches, the desert wandering, the military detritus, the Russian immigrants, the magic-realist kibbutz, and the enigmatic bureaucracy, not to mention the cult of the false Messiah King that figures in the final act." |
Not sure why J. Hoberman feels this would be lost in translation — it sounds quite a bit like Brooklyn to me. (Well, maybe not the kibbutz part.)
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Armond White,
New York Press |
Why DId I Get Married? |
"Liberal critics seem put-off by Perry's fundamentalist morality and by his populist approach to drama — even though Perry's message of love and social unity is what white romantic comedies desperately desire (except for hipster romances like Before Sunset)." |
Armond White continues his brave battle against hipster filmmakers. Also, against critics who have problems with fundamentalist morality, apparently.
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Joe Morgenstern,
The Wall Street Journal |
Reservation Road |
"It's amazing how quickly movies can reveal themselves. I say this on the basis of a little game I sometimes play with myself, trying to infer what's to come — style, pacing, gracefulness, clumsiness, promise or lack of it — from the first five or ten seconds of the first scene. Much more often than not, those few seconds prove predictive." |
Nice to see a critic fess up to one of the essential facts of life; snap judgments save so much time, don't they?
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