Problem: 1. The life of Antwone Fisher may indeed be one that cries out for a movie treatment but you wouldn't know it from this tepid bio.
2. It works. I laughed, I cried, I left the theater with a bounce in my step.
3. It's no surprise that as a director Washington demands and receives excellent performances, from himself and from newcomer Derek Luke.
4. Even Howard Stern and Eminem showed more humility in creating their onscreen portrayals than Fisher does.
5. A stunning achievement for actor/director Denzel Washington.
6. ...an extremely touching story
7. This is the sort of noble, well-produced tearjerker that's bound to work for some people, but one that lacks any real force, conviction or even a single surprise.
8. Yet another year-end, by-the-numbers, button-pushing biopic, but this one is sub-par even when compared to its sickly, tired brethren. It's a dime-a-dozen film that's being touted as a hit simply because it's Denzel Washington's directorial debut.
9. ...a triumphant, three-way debut.
10. Hard, endearing, caring, warm. Bring tissues.
What is the consensus?
****
Answer: Washington's directing debut is a solidly crafted, emotionally touching work.


Problem: 1. Jones admirably steers clear of the pitfalls of what could potentially be a preposterous (and borderline offensive) character.
2. A mixed-genre mutt that cribs liberally from John Ford to fashion a tale of families battling the elements, the frontier, and each other.
3. The movie often works against its own best interests.
4. Where The Searchers challenged assumptions and attitudes still current in 1956, Howard's film embraces, if not panders to, politically correct current attitudes
5. The film will resonate deeply not only with parents, but with all of us who followed the Elizabeth Smart case and, sadly, dozens more like it.
6. There's a pretty good Western hidden somewhere amid the extraneous scenes, unnecessary characters and adoring shots of the New Mexico wilderness, but Howard didn't have the heart to cut his movie.
7. A movie is only as good as its villain, so they say, and the new film The Missing has a particularly lousy one.
8. The elements of popular entertainment are in place, but there's frustration in the failure of the script to delve further into issues it raises, but never really explores.
9. Ron Howard's answer to 'The Searchers' is a tone poem -- whose tone has gone disastrously, horribly wrong.
10. It's an entertaining and gripping film, with stunning production values and magnetic performances. And yet the script's continual pandering to Hollywood cliches lets it down.
What is the consensus?
****
Answer: An expertly acted and directed Western. But like other Ron Howard features, the movie is hardly subtle.


Problem: 1. Mikkelsen's an actor of restraint, and ...Vinterberg's modern day witch hunt tale gives the actor a whole range of restraint to work with in a film whose title begins literally, turns figurative, then, in a chilling coda, suggests a merging of the two.
2. "The Hunt" is a merciless examination of the fear and savagery roiling just below the surface of bourgeois life.
3. [A] quietly devastating drama about a soft-spoken, bespectacled and devoted kindergarten teacher whose life is upended by a false accusation from one of his students.
4. A nuanced portrait of a fundamentally decent man grappling with a world that has decided to treat him indecently.
5. It is a devastating film to watch, a heedful one, and a tragic reminder that no matter how well a life has been conducted, the mere whiff of such scandalous behavior is condemnation enough.
6. Mikkelsen, one of his country's finest actors, in collaboration with Thomas Vinterberg, one of its finest directors, delivers what may be his strongest performance yet.
7. The innocent man wrongly accused is something that everyone can identify with - what if it happened to me?
8. This story is about a witch hunt, an accusation of impropriety that takes on a life of its own, shattering bonds of trust in a close-knit community.
9. Unsettling, forthright and thought-provoking, The Hunt is also brilliantly titled.
10. This is filmmaking of a high order, even though the production's scale is modest and the climax is not without its facile contrivances.
What is the consensus?
****
Answer:
Anchored by Mads Mikkelsen's sympathetic performance, The Hunt asks difficult questions with the courage to pursue answers head on.