question: This remake has been praised by some as an expertly made B-movie, and dismissed by others as formulaic.

numbered reviews: 1. Jean-François Ríchet, the director of the new Assault, is working from a script, by James DeMonaco, that creates a handful of zingy one-note lowlifes but that hasn't updated the isolated-precinct premise in a timely or thoughtful way.
2. The premise may be outlandish, the action unrealistic and sometimes silly and the characters formulaic. But the movie rips and roars.
3. For one thing, it's silly. For another, it's not always silly enough to be diverting.
4. Strong performances and a couple of new twists.
5. What starts out as a slightly above average action movie sinks to a merely mediocre one as the eye rolls and head shakes build.
6. Give Assault on Precinct 13 points for originality, if nothing else. It's the only thriller in which corrupt cops chase their victims through the woods of downtown Detroit.
7. Though Richet stretches believability near the end, action-movie fans should assault theaters for an entertaining stay at Precinct 13.
8. A movie whose greatest intent seems to be indulging in as much brutality as the MPAA will allow.
9. Jean-François Richet - by the way, could there possibly be a first name that's more French than "Jean-François?" - pounds out the tense tale with vigor and finesse.
10. ...[a] disjointed but jolting jailhouse shoot-'em-up showcase...a frenetic and formulaic action-drama guaranteed to get the adrenaline pumping.


question: With a piercingly powerful performance by Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake brings teeming humanity to the controversial subject of abortion.

numbered reviews: 1. It's difficult to think of another recent film so seamlessly rendered or that envelops an audience so completely in its period authenticity.
2. An exceptional breadth of context and compassion is evident here, though the film is as much a triumph of production design as it is of acting, writing and direction.
3. Even with his film's solid foundation, Leigh seemingly cannot resist the pulpy histrionics.
4. It's almost as if a propaganda film made by Planned Parenthood had resurfaced after decades in storage. Timely, it's not.
5. The title heroine's goodness may stretch credulity, but such people do in fact exist.
6. Like any good Leigh film, Vera Drake is about the nature of family, which is the same thing as the nature of humanity.
7. A Mike Leigh mistake.
8. Leigh and Staunton seem like prisoners of their own plodding naturalism.
9. Staunton is phenomenal -- she barely speaks throughout the entire last third of the film, but the power of her posture and distraught expressions are enough to break your heart.
10. Vera is given a thoroughly devastating portrayal by Imelda Staunton, in the kind of role that elevates an actress into a lofty realm where those who never knew her suddenly knew it all along.


question: Despite all the underdog sports movie conventions, the likable cast and lush production values make The Greatest Game Ever Played a solid and uplifting tale.

numbered reviews: 1. not a feel-good, root-for-the-underdog movie, but a caricature of one
2. This charming film (editing tricks aside), is rich in humor and period detail, and amazingly suspenseful considering we already know the outcome.
3. A great underdog film that is absolutely stolen by the 10 year old caddy played by Josh Flitter. If you don't love him, you have no soul.
4. I'm going to bet that Bill Paxton loves golf. Because, despite his deftly directed "Frailty," "The Greatest Game Ever Played" rolls all over the place.
5. The most visually and emotionally dynamic film ever made about a game of golf — perhaps the most visually and emotionally dynamic possible film about a game of golf.
6. As a film replay, The Greatest Game is hardly that, but it's at least a pretty good one.
7. Riddled with underdog cliches and embellishments, and lays the sentimentality on thick at every opportunity, making the emotional response feel more manipulated then genuine.
8. More than any such movie I remember, The Greatest Game Ever Played celebrates the ideal of sportsmanship.
9. Movies about golf are seldom, if ever, 'great.'
10. It may not be, as the title says, the greatest game every played, but it certainly is a darn good round of golf.


question: The Others is a spooky thriller that reminds us that a movie doesn't need expensive special effects to be creepy.

numbered reviews:
1. A film that has much to recommend it despite its shortcomings.
2. Y es que no se trata de una cinta de terror o de miedo constante, y esa es la virtud obvia e inmediata: los temores son los propios, la elegante forma de...
3. Los Otros representa un nuevo clásico del género, y el tiempo seguramente le dará el justo lugar que merece.
4. a masterful film that reinvigorates the long forgotten genre of the female Gothic.
5. A welcome change of pace from most contemporary scary stories, where the shocks come with all the subtlety of flashers jumping out of park bushes.
6. As surprising a gem as you can find in what seems like an increasingly tired genre.
7. With a top-notch lead and a talented director, it delivers some smart summer chills that serve as a nice tonic from CGI-laden banality.
8. Amenábar racks up the tension to unbearable levels in a spooky shocker that's worthy of any comparison with M Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense.
9. One of the most enjoyable, artfully-constructed films of the year.
10. Thanks to a deft directorial hand, a wonderful attention to detail and some gloriously entertaining performances, The Others ranks among the best movies of the year.