film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997
The brilliantly unsettling “Two Distant Strangers” is not only the most important of the nominees but one of the movies of the year, of any length. Its surprises are more brutal than mere plot twists.
Bland, predictable cop and crime clichés lacking all urgency and any of the claustrophobia that should come from its high-concept premise. Shutting down Manhattan has zero impact on anything here.
A beautiful story about ugliness, about dignity in the face of hatred, told via delicate yet steely performances that imbue it with a power at once tender and infuriating. Totally enrapturing.
Embarrassingly bad CGI; pratfalls; genital humor; denigration of cat ladies; horrible clichés and stereotypes. This is the cinematic equivalent of stepping in dog poop. You know, for kids!
The iconic New York newspaper columnist died this weekend.
To call it disjointed is an understatement: Exposed is unintelligible. It feels like two completely different movies inelegantly Frankensteined together.
A Scorsese-esque look, fascinating and horrifying, at the 1990s NYPD scandal that saw cops become the biggest, baddest gang on the city streets.
A rote police procedural conducted by a cardboard movie cop investigating a supposedly demonic evil that simply cannot compete with nonsupernatural reality.
Excellent performances by Clive Owen and Billy Crudup can’t disguise the fact that there’s absolutely nothing here we haven’t seen too many times before.
Bland generic action pudding that manages to be sociopathic, too.
