question: A tense and effective thriller, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead marks a triumphant return to form for director Sidney Lumet.

numbered reviews: 1. The movie, however, belongs to Lumet: The fact that he's produced such a vital work as an octogenarian is amazing enough, but the way this tragedy unfolds without a single false move puts the film among the best work of a very prestigious career.
2. After a long series of artistic missteps, Sidney Lumet, 83, makes a smashing return to form with this bleak crime thriller that shows off the veteran director's many strengths.
3. Proof that Sidney Lumet's talent is, in every sense, timeless.
4. Lumet tries getting back to the outrageous satirical mode of Network and Just Tell Me What You Want, but this family dysfunction story fails the classic requirements of social critique.
5. A botched-heist thriller with labyrinthine plot twists, suspenseful character revelations and out-of-sequence narrative elements befitting a grand opera mounted on a massive scale.
6. Back in form after decades of mediocre work, Lumet elevates with skillful, elegant helming and good acting what's essentially updated version of old heist films and family melodramas of Arthur Miller and company, defined by explicit Freudian psychology.
7. The 83-year-old Mr. Lumet, who has handled such immortals as Brando and Magnani in his career, expertly extracts individually charismatic performances from Mr. Hoffman, Mr. Hawke, Mr. Finney, Ms. Harris and Ms. Tomei.
8. A triumphantly brisk, bleak B-movie.
9. This is not classic Sidney Lumet, but it's ample evidence that after more than 40 years working in this business, the director is still capable of crafting an entertaining and thought provoking motion picture.
10. Three years after being presented a Lifetime Achievement Oscar, the 83-year-old director comes forth with a violent family melodrama that is his strongest movie in at least two decades.


question: Overdosing on flashbacks, and more portentous than profound, the overly obtuse Premonition weakly echoes such twisty classics as Memento, The Sixth Sense, and Groundhog Day.

numbered reviews: 1. How many times can the nightmare that is Sandra Bullock keep recurring?
2. Interesting premise but by the weaker third act the audience is left wodnering if they care about any of it.
3. Devolve into a film that only feigns the pretensions of popular entertainment but instead wants to delve into all sorts of family issues.
4. The level of apparent disinterest from everyone involved is astounding.
5. A gripping psychological thriller that will have you guessing from start to finish.
6. I had a strange sense before I walked into the theatre that this wasn't going to be all that good... and that's exactly how it happened.
7. Unfortunately in the end this movie did not live up to the trailer shown.
8. It may be a mediocre thriller, but it's a nice drama about rekindling the spark in a dying marriage. If you don't buy that, consider it a 110-minute fashion show, with more clothing changes than Project Runway.
9. Just a rehashed 'Twilight Zone' plot stretched over 90 minutes while Sandra Bullock stumbles around working on her 'baffled' face.
10. The screenplay by Bill Kelly is a lot like the title character in Mr. Townsend's famous rock opera, which is to say it doesn't know what day it is.


question: Violent and definitely not for the squeamish, Park Chan-Wook's visceral Oldboy is a strange, powerful tale of revenge.

numbered reviews: 1. That Park has talent in the technical department is a given; that he's a good filmmaker is debatable.
2. Its tentacles are still wriggling in my memory, as if I just ate something that should never have been served in the first place.
3. There's a lot less here than meets the eye.
4. As played by Choi Min-shik, Dae-su attains tragic stature. He's like a shaggy King Lear undone by his own foolishness.
5. Park has a strong visual style and a near-surrealistic noir touch, but unraveling the mystery scarcely repays sitting through his relentless rounds of gut-wrenching violence.
6. Definitivamente no para todos los gustos, esta violenta y asombrosa película coreana promete convertirse en una de las verdaderas sorpresas del ańo.
7. Quite an achievement then, and well worthy of its Cannes prize.
8. Not to everyone's tastes, but if you have a strong stomach, OldBoy is sure to impress.
9. Be amazed at my cruel virility. Feel the pain. Oh yeah.
10. Oldboy is a delirious, confronting ride, a movie full of visceral shocks and aesthetic pleasures: it has an explosive immediacy and a persistent afterlife, a lingering impact that is hard to shake.


question: A film that tackles something as simple as everyday life and succeeds beatifully. The witty script and clever direction keep the film flowing, while the superb acting keeps it alive. It doesn't aim for the sky and for that reason it hits its mark.

numbered reviews:
1. Despite the often-unappealing subject matter, however, the film remains compelling.
2. Wonderland's finest asset is its cast...
3. Arrestingly beautiful; you can practically get drunk on its fusion of movement, color, light and sound.
4. The film's realistic approach to storytelling and the strong performances mesh well with Winterbottom's stylistic flourishes.
5. [Winterbottom] can't pull this humdrum tragicomedy out of the gutter.
6. One slice-of-life movie that's sliced entirely too thin.
7. It's a wonderful feature debut script by Laurence Coriat, inspired by Robert Altman's Short Cuts and with a less sprawling nod to Magnolia.
8. It becomes one of those movies that hurt so good.
9. Michael Winterbottom doggedly excavates the innate sadness of his characters -- to the point of numbing his audience.
10. A depressing and ultimately boring story filled with miserable, depressed and lonely characters.