question: Team America will either offend you or leave you in stitches. It'll probably do both.

numbered reviews: 1. Although it can get a bit wearing on me to watch puppets, this is so well written and so tongue in cheek, that it was a pleasure.
2. makes a surprisingly cogent, if gleefully vulgar, political argument that has legs because it doesn't take easy sides
3. [The] real target is the polarized state of society. All extremes get an equal bashing here, as they well deserve.
4. It's so accurate that it's barely parody.
5. Made laugh so hard, I almost blew snot all over my own mother.
6. Juvenile in the worst sense: confused and frightened by the adult world, and begging to be protected.
7. The thing is silly as hell and having Kim Jong Il sound like Eric Cartman from "South Park" is a stroke of genius. This is a very funny film and should be seen forthwith.
8. I was laughing my butt off in the first 35 minutes of the film...
9. Shocking, funny, and socio-politically astute
10. Hypocrites of all stripes better stay out of the South Park boys' sights.


question: Uninhibited performances, skillful direction, and a killer blues soundtrack elevate Black Snake Moan beyond its outlandish premise.

numbered reviews: 1. [N]owhere near as provocative as you think it's gonna be, as you've been led to believe it's gonna be... which is something of a disappointment.
2. Cockeyed and raffishly amusing tale of redemption, spilling over with blues music and southern-fried sexism.
3. Brewer's reworking of Southern mythologies can sometimes seem condescending, even though his affection for the region's culture is palpable. But there's no denying he knows how to spin a yarn and create vivid, indelible images.
4. It's all outrageous and patently stereotypical but Brewer and the actors invest these representations with everything they have. It's great to see Jackson working hard here to create a character instead of simply Superflying a bunch of snakes on a plane.
5. Writer-director Craig Brewer does several things very right in his follow-up to the overrated Hustle & Flow (which also boasted a dubious grasp of gender relations). But subtlety is not one of them, and neither is a lack of raging misogyny.
6. Black Snake Moan plays its grim subject matter for laughs, imitating the laugh-to-keep-from-crying quality of the blues tunes on its soundtrack.
7. Maybe Jackson should avoid any more movies with 'snake' in the title.
8. A cartoonish Baby Doll, with a suggestive blues song title, about sex, guilt and redemption. Black Snake is also a rather flimsy parable unable to support the weight of Brewers ambition.
9. Black Snake Moan is an odd little number. It tries to be a lot of things at different times, but isn't particularly successful in any genre.
10. If writer/director Craig Brewer were a member of the X-Men, he would be called 'FirstActo,' and his mutant power would be creating dynamic openings to movies. His enemy would be consistency.


question: Exploring the effects of a family's dealings with an underhanded politician, this crime drama avoids showing the violent outcomes of its characters' misdeeds, resulting in a lingeringly potent film.

numbered reviews: 1. A powerfully bleak family drama that leaves its characters' offenses largely offscreen but lingers with agonizing, drawn-out deliberation on the consequences.
2. It is accomplished, but overdetermined. Its dramatic force can't its equal its visual impact, resulting in a clear indication of where Ceylan's strengths as a director lie.
3. It's certainly worth catching.
4. Those willing to think for themselves, not in a rush for the dénouement and appreciate cinematographic narrative techniques will surely savour nearly every frame of director/co-writer Nuri Bilge Ceylan's ... exceptionally crafted tale of crime, corruption
5. Patience will be required to appreciate this brilliant, gorgeously visual film.
6. Three Monkeys, could be reduced to a simple moral - never do a dodgy politician a favour - though its layering of ironies and wrong turnings render it more subtly disturbing than that précis might suggest.
7. This is a fascinating transitional film from an intriguing director at the top of his game.
8. A grim, slow-burning exploration of guilt, grief and murder that keeps the audience at arm's length through its cold, intermittently misanthropic, vision of humanity but which is filled with ravishing images and a powerfully brooding atmosphere.
9. This is a fascinating film that, once seen, is hard to dislodge from your imagination.
10. A subtly persuasive drama steeped in a strangely beautiful pallor, thanks to superb HD cinematography.


question: Though Hugh Jackman gives his all, he can't help X-Men Origins: Wolverine overcome a cliche-ridden script and familiar narrative.

numbered reviews:
1. It's not a great movie (though it's better than the third entry), and I doubt I'll ever feel compelled to see it again, but I enjoyed it well enough while it was on-screen.
2. What we get is an efficient but thinly plotted comic book violence packed story.
3. Did the plot points stick in my head five minutes after leaving the theater? Not so much ... but I know I was having fun while watching.
4. Lots of action and Jackman is in great shape but the movie is just more of the same
5. The latest edition of the X-Men franchise is easily the least, with a convoluted storyline, poorly defined characters and a dark one-note tone that lacks the humor and light touches of the earlier three installments.
6. 'Wolverine' isn't as powerful as you might think.
7. Could the Wolverine story be getting a little tired at this point, even though Hugh Jackman still looks good with mutton chops? Possibly ...
8. Everything that happens seems to play out as if following a checklist. It's Paint by Numbers: The Movie.
9. Wolverine's backstory was good stuff -- but after the falling out with Schreiber, the story loses its center and it gets wobbly.
10. I was definitely disappointed.