Mike D'Angelo

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'The King’s Speech' has all the Oscar-bait elements: Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010; If there’s one thing Hollywood loves more than an actor playing royalty, it’s an actor depicting a disability.
'I Love You Phillip Morris' combines farce and romance: Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010; Ewan McGregor plays the titular character in I Love You Phillip Morris, opposite Jim Carey (playing real-life con artist Steven Jay Russell) as his homosexual lover.
'How Do You Know' is rough but lively: Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010; For all its rough patches, the film boasts the one element sorely missing from most Hollywood rom-coms: a pulse.
'127 Hours' is riveting, gruesome and fascinating: Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010; By golly, it kind of works!
'Fair Game' makes middling drama from real-life headlines: Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010; Not every big scandal should be a movie, people.
‘Morning Glory’ is affable fluff: Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010; Morning Glory tales the tale behind the people delivering your news. But does the movie itself deliver?
'Inside Job' is a documentary for the uninformed: Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010; Restating the obvious about the evils of Wall Street.
Pat Tillman's story is fascinating, the movie is not: Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010; Tillman himself remains fascinating; the story of his tragic death and its fairly brief cover-up, much less so.
'Stone,' starring De Niro, Norton and Jovovich, is unusually bracing: Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010; Not that there’s some big twist or anything—you just wouldn’t expect this kind of high-concept, star-driven American film to be so relentlessly interior.
Education doc 'Waiting for Superman' fuels outrage: Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010; “Superman” successfully jerks your tears and fuels your outrage, but it’s more a recruiting tool than a movie.
'Kind of' isn’t good enough: The halfhearted 'Funny Story' feels sorta stale: Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010; Despite its capable cast, the film has little more to offer than stale platitudes and canned one-liners.
Mysterious documentary 'Catfish' is a complex surprise: Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2010; You’re better off knowing as little as possible in advance.
The new 'Wall Street' is preachy and cartoonish: Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2010; As opportunistic, decades-later sequels go, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps makes a bit more sense than most.
'Lebanon' is no 'Apocalypse Now': Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2010; Confined almost entirely to the interior of a single tank, Lebanon is Israeli director Samuel Maoz’s fictionalized account of his harrowing experiences in the 1982 Lebanon War.
'I’m Still Here' may be a joke, but that doesn’t make it funny: Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2010; Joaquin Phoenix "documentary" is more fun to hear about than to actually experience.
Crime drama 'Animal Kingdom' can’t quite put its tension to full use: Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2010; David Michôd’s promising but scattershot feature debut Animal Kingdom thrusts a wary young rabbit into a den of jackals and watches to see if he'll make it out alive.
'Machete' was better as a mock trailer: Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010; This ostensible homage to ’70s sleaze feel more like a late-night comedy sketch.
'Get Low' is an affecting showcase for Robert Duvall: Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2010; Get Low won’t likely be Duvall’s final film, but it functions nonetheless as a sort of crusty valediction.
'The Expendables' is overstuffed and empty: Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2010; Give it up, guys. Your '80s action hero days are over.
Hoax or not, Banksy’s 'Exit Through the Gift Shop' is brilliant: Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010; The film serves as a bitterly hilarious illustration of the way radical and subversive concepts get appropriated by the talentless and watered down for mass consumption
"Winter's Bone" is the best film of the year: Wednesday, July 28, 2010; At first glance, Winter’s Bone, looks like more of the same. Against all odds, however, this turns out to be the most electrifying movie of the year.
"Love Ranch" film makes hookers seem dull: Wednesday, July 28, 2010; You might imagine a movie about legalized prostitution would at least hold your attention. But there’s a reason director Taylor Hackford (Ray) has the word “hack” in his surname.
Real, believably flawed people populate "The Kids Are All Right": Wednesday, July 21, 2010; Every character in this Sundance hit, regardless of sexual orientation, proves to be believably, entertainingly flawed
On the fence: "Cyrus" can’t commit to indie or mainstream: Wednesday, July 7, 2010; This could be either a broad mainstream comedy or a subtle indie character study. As executed by the Duplass brothers, it’s essentially both at once.
Harry Brown: Wednesday, June 30, 2010; Michael Caine is provided with his finest showcase in years, affording him multiple opportunities to wrap that silky-steel voice around barely veiled threats and mock-sorrowful farewells.
Solitary Man: Wednesday, June 23, 2010; Few things in life are more pathetic than the aging privileged male who bumps up against irrefutable evidence of his own mortality and instantly turns into a destructive, carpe-diem a-hole.
Only a great movie: "Toy Story 3": Wednesday, June 16, 2010; Toy Story 3 isn’t the instant classic that its predecessors were, and doesn’t achieve the envelope-pushing creative heights of WALL-E’s wordless first act.
Splice: Wednesday, June 2, 2010; Meet a baby with a tail ending in a giant stinger.
Letter from Cannes: Some pleasant surprises at this year’s uneven Cannes Film Festival; Wednesday, May 26, 2010; Even before it began, the 63rd Festival de Cannes was widely considered a failure.
Hoodwinked: The latest 'Robin Hood' switches out fun for grim seriousness; Wednesday, May 12, 2010; Starring Russell Crowe, the latest "Robin Hood" is all fury, no fun.
We all lose with 'The Losers': Wednesday, April 21, 2010; It’s a mystery to me why the generic Hollywood action movie hasn’t yet followed the example of the generic porn flick.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Wednesday, April 14, 2010; Exposed skin, Eastern mysticism and an angry feminist tract? All of the above.
Date Night: Wednesday, April 7, 2010; Looking to spice up their dull marriage, Phil and Claire Foster depart boring old New Jersey for a night on the town in Manhattan, only to get way more excitement than they bargained for.
A Prophet: Wednesday, March 31, 2010; It’s so rare these days to see a movie demonstrate simple, quiet proficiency that critics can sometimes respond to that quality with a little too much gratitude.
Not a nice guy: Greenberg’s unlikable protagonist overwhelms its insights; Wednesday, March 24, 2010; Greenberg’s unlikable protagonist overwhelms its insights.
No end in sight: Green Zone tediously rehashes critiques of the war in Iraq; Wednesday, March 10, 2010; Green Zone tediously rehashes critiques of the war in Iraq
The White Ribbon: Wednesday, March 10, 2010; No wonder Oscar approves.
The Last Station: Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010; A virtually un-buzzed film gets two Oscar nods, and for good reason.
Martin Scorsese's extraordinary fever dream: Filmmaker brings style to the pulp silliness of 'Shutter Island'; Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010; The Departed may be the better movie overall, but Shutter Island, prioritizing mood and imagery over everything else, makes for superior cinema.
From Paris With Love: Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010; John Travolta is not meant to be bald.
A familiar tune: Jeff Bridges shows off in the predictable but entertaining Crazy Heart; Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010; Jeff Bridges shows off in the predictable but entertaining Crazy Heart
Edge of Darkness: Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010; It feel a bit like Ransom, except that in this case Mel Gibson's child is already dead, so he’s even meaner and more implacable.
"Broken Embraces": Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010; This is yet another tiresomely reflexive film about filmmaking, moving back and forth between present-day Madrid, where a blind writer-director wrestles with footage of a movie he shot.
Peter Jackson takes the wrong approach with "The Lovely Bones": Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010; The movie spends an inordinate amount of time with Susie in her personal heaven, which usually resembles the preposterously idyllic landscapes that pharmaceutical ads employ to distract you.
Lighter than air: The glib Up in the Air is entertaining but insignificant; Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009; The glib Up in the Air is entertaining but insignificant.
Me and Orson Welles: Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009; Presented with a movie called Me and Orson Welles, one can’t help but immediately wonder who “me” might be.
Invictus: Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009; Clint Eastwood's film does almost nothing but congratulate itself for two solid hours.
O Brothers, where art thou?: You’ll probably feel like you’ve seen this remake before, even if you haven’t; Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009; You’ll probably feel like you’ve seen this remake before, even if you haven’t.
A pretty fantastic Fox: Wes Anderson makes a very Wes Anderson-y animated film; Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009; Wes Anderson makes a very Wes Anderson-y animated film.
Precious: Based on the novel "Push" by Sapphire; Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009; Poor black teens. Neglect. AIDS. Rape. Down syndrome. Give this film an Oscar already!

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