question: In spite of its spotless pedigree and a strong sense of visual style, London Boulevard stumbles over its frenetic pace and crowded, clichéd plot.

numbered reviews: 1. Brutal and with a plot that's all over the place, it seems we're taking early delivery of a Christmas turkey.
2. As gangster thrillers go, this one is a ripper. William Monahan, Oscar-winning screenwriter for The Departed (2006) has adapted Ken Bruen's book in great style and directs his top cast adroitly
3. There are all kinds of weirdo supporting players and the requisite amount of bloody killing scenes, but it doesn't add up to much and London Boulevard just feels like its trying to hard to be edgy.
4. This crime story smacks of all-too-familiar elements and is told with a blandly straightforward approach.
5. Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley make a dynamite pairing.
6. A stylish if familiar tale of a man hopelessly entangled in his past.
7. Screenwriter William Monahan trades in South Boston for South London, only to discover he forgot to pack his A to Z.
8. A movie is more than dialogue and a soundtrack. And direction is a lot more than making sure all your favorite parts of your own script make it to the screen intact.
9. In trying to take a bite out of crime and another out of fame, [Monahan has] ended up with more than he can chew for his first time in the director's chair.
10. Monahan's trademark tart dialogue is as strong as ever, and Farrell and Winstone make for a formidable pair of opponents.


question: Brilliantly performed and smartly unconventional, The End of the Tour pays fitting tribute to a singular talent while offering profoundly poignant observations on the human condition.

numbered reviews: 1. A deeply human study of the internal impulses we indulge or hide, whether that pertains to intellect, attraction, emptiness or otherwise.
2. Many feel the film, based on Lipsky's interview transcriptions, carries a ghoulish aura of opportunism. It doesn't strike me that way ...
3. Like a hipster version of a bromance, The End of the Tour wrings humor and pathos from a macho-intellectual pas de deux. But it ultimately taps a rare and delicate strain of fellow feeling.
4. "End of the Tour" does provide a fascinating insight into the relationship between a smart, semi-fawning journalist and his extremely perceptive subject.
5. Road trips are a fairly routine framework for movies, often with a focus on two traveling companions. Never have I seen one that moved me so close to tears as "The End of the Tour," which transforms that common clay into a work of beauty.
6. Now, [Lipsky's] book serves as the basis for this always talky, often engaging, occasionally fascinating, and sometimes shaggy but never quite boring movie starring Jesse Eisenberg as Lipsky and Jason Segel as Wallace.
7. "The End of the Tour" chooses the low-key over grand gestures and melodramatic histrionics, and it proves more richly powerful as a result.
8. The film consists of the two men talking, and not a lot else. But the performances, by Jason Segel as Wallace and Jesse Eisenberg as Lipsky, are perfect.
9. A thoughtful, moving testament to genuine connection.
10. Ultimately, "End of the Tour" feels like a sensitive portrait of a good man struggling to deal with depression and fame, as well as a tender depiction of what a towering talent and decent person that awful disease snuffed out.


question: This intelligent horror film is subtle in its thrills and chills, with an ending that is both shocking and truly memorable.

numbered reviews: 1. The ultimate British cult classic -- a unique film that straddles genres, features Christopher Lee in a dress and builds toward one of cinema's most memorable climaxes.
2. Devised by its star Christopher Lee, director Robin Hardy and writer Anthony Shaffer as a meditation on the rise of New Age spiritualism, the movie is now, of course, gleefully camp and a tad reactionary.
3. A British golden-oldie worthy to be placed alongside classics such as Ira Levin's The Stepford Wives or Rosemary's Baby.
4. Part folk musical, part occult chiller, and quite mad.
5. The premise is quite intriguing and is certainly sinister, but it's undermined by a too-leisurely pace and musical numbers that are straight out of an x-rated fetish-fantasy as imagined by Walt Disney.
6. It envelops you in a time and space that is unfamiliar, fascinating, exotic, and frightening all at once.
7. The Wicker Man is, more than anything else, a film about what people can do in the name of religion or, more generally, belief. Its power comes not from appeals to the supernatural but from a deep understanding of our own undeniable nature.
8. It's a heady brew, but Hardy keep the mystery simmering, while his staging of several merrie pagan songs -- and of course the chilling climax -- is truly memorable.
9. They deliberately cast horror icons to help them break the mold... if you keep in mind its original context, it can be a very interesting film.
10. One of best horror films ever made.


question: Full of twists and turns, The Prestige is a dazzling period piece that never stops challenging the audience.

numbered reviews:
1. It may be dry and sullen, but it's also smart and classy.
2. Stylishly twisty turny
3. Clever story up the sleeve, but nothing in the way of the wonder of magic. Honestly, I found the mood rather miserable.
4. Not to be confused with "The Illusionist," although it will be, is "The Prestige," the second period piece about magicians to hit the big screen within the last few weeks.
5. Had the Nolans held their cards closer to their vests for the first half of the film, The Prestige would have been one of the best of the year.
6. Watching Bowie as Thomas Edison's archenemy Nikola Tesla, you wish the role (a glorified cameo) were more integral to the story.
7. The supporting cast are excellent, particularly rising British star Rebecca Hall as Borden's wife and David Bowie,looking disturbingly like Ricky Gervais in a bizarre turn as mysterious scientist Nikolai Tesla.
8. The PrestigeH is infused with faux intellectualism -- it pretends to be more cerebral than it really is, when all it really wants to do is be the new Sixth Sense.
9. The Prestige is about dueling magicians, but the movie itself is the magic trick.
10. The Prestige's magic pales in comparison to other 'magical' films released this year.