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It's time for Groucho's list of the Top 10 Films of 2011. Also check out the San Francisco Film Critics' 2011 awards, announced December 11, 2011: http://sffcc.org.
Groucho Reviews
Latest Reviews
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The Grey (2012)
Though it does thrill with intense, close-cropped action photography, swift editing, and vivid sound design, The Grey makes as much of an impression by being unexpectedly emotional. 
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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2012)
Except as a tool for pediatric grief counseling, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close amounts to a fetishization of its own trappings (the boy, NYC, 9/11) more interested in Oscar than Oskar. -
Haywire (2012)
Finds Soderbergh keeping it simple, stupid, by filling the story's hollowness with kick-butt action and elements of style. -
The Moment of Truth (a.k.a. Il momento della verita) (1965)
This fable of the disposable performer rising above his class transcends ordinary fiction to be an expressive visual record of the art of bullfighting: primal, brutal, repellent and magnetic in equal measure. -
Drive (2011)
A stylish genre exercise...one might just as well say the L.A. story unfolds at the corner of Michael Mann and David Lynch. -
Proof (2005)
Proof plays cleverly with the arcane mysteries of game theory, and if it's only a game, happily, it's one worthy of exhibition. -
The Whistleblower (2011)
Condurache and Weisz’s 'small corrections' make a big difference in steering the movie right, enough to make The Whistleblower a decent entry in the genre of political passion plays. -
What's Your Number? (2011)
[Faris] and Evans deserve better than a string of rom-com clichés, including the surprise date in a closed sports arena. Unless you’re Justin Beiber and Selena Gomez, it couldn’t happen to you. -
Carnage (2011)
A slow disintegration of the thin veneer of social niceties, revealing the human animalism underneath. Like Reza's equally popular Art, God of Carnage isn't as deep as it would have you believe, but both plays are catnip for actors. -
50/50 (2011)
50/50 isn’t interested in defeatism, except as one inevitable way station of the film’s appealing emotional ramble. -
Sid and Nancy (1986)
Oldman's mid-film music-video performance of 'My Way' before a neon staircase compares favorably—as a revelation of character through performance—to Robert De Niro's framing monologues in Raging Bull. -
Killer Elite (2011)
What Killer Elite never manages is to convince us of its sociopolitical import...or its emotional resonance. -
Fright Night (2011)
While it's unspooling, it has enough visual snap, narrative tension, and humor for a satisfying 'drive-in movie' diversion. -
Glee: The 3D Concert Movie (2011)
An orgiastic celebration of Glee concocted by its own creators...sort of like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, but with more hot air. -
Archer: The Complete Second Season (2011)
Shares with...Get Smart roughly the same ratio of silliness and satire, which is to say heavy on the former and light on the latter. -
Justified: The Complete Second Season (2011)
Justified remains one of the most satisfying hours on television, creating a illusion of the social margins of Southern life that's convincing enough that we want to believe in it. -
The Guard (2011)
The film's self-conscious gestures in the direction of fish-out-of-water comedies, buddy-cop movies and Westerns don't amount to much in and of themselves, but they tie together as a functional clothesline for character comedy and left-field drama. -
The Rocketeer (1991)
A charmer in its gee-whiz, irony-light resuscitation of the movie serials of the '30s. -
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
Whether coolly dispatching a fly or eating a Wimpy burger with knife and fork, Oldman carefully makes every gesture part of his quiet revelation of character. -
We Bought a Zoo (2011)
Let me begin by saying something nice about Cameron Crowe’s We Bought a Zoo: kids will probably like it. Okay, that’s all I’ve got.
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Latest Interviews
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Glenn Close—Albert Nobbs, Damages—10/7/11
The surprise every morning of when that face was finally on: it was somebody that wasn't me. You know, I never thought of how masculine or feminine she was. -
Dave Goelz—The Muppet Movie—08/17/07
Jim used to always con you into doing things by saying, 'Oh no, it'll be great. It'll be really nice.' -
Vera Farmiga—Higher Ground—8/19/11
You know, 'I'm gonna direct this film about a woman and her struggle to conceptualize God'...It's like, 'Are you insane? Are you possessed?' -
John Madden—The Debt, Shakespeare in Love—8/17/11
I have no interest in manipulating a performance. I want to unleash a performance. And I want to witness a performance. And obviously use my camera as tellingly as I can to capture that. -
Emma Stone—The Help, The Amazing Spider-Man—7/11/11
There is a certain level of privacy that leaves immediately when you set foot in this small town, y'know? Everybody heard what you had for dinner last night and who you had over. -
Tate Taylor & Octavia Spencer—The Help—7/11/11
[Spencer:] Long before...people who were housekeepers and perhaps felt invisible, I think it is always a gracious thing to acknowledge someone’s influence and going out of their way to help you. So, absolutely. I will always say, 'Thank you.' -
Jesse Eisenberg and Aziz Ansari—30 Minutes or Less, Parks and Recreation—7/6/11
[Ansari:] The worst job I ever had was I used to make crystal meth, and it was really hard because the lab would just explode all the time, and it was a lot of cleanup. -
John Michael McDonagh—The Guard—07/21/11
I’m a big fan of those...late '60s, early '70s movies that all had this...anti-authoritarian edge to them as well. So there are a lot of dumb jokes in the movie, but there are other jokes that are...a bit more pointed and confrontational. -
Michael Rapaport—Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, Small Time Crooks—7/14/11
I never wanted to make a smear piece or a derogatory look at the group...At the end of the day, I’m always going to be a fan of A Tribe Called Quest. -
Michael Biehn & Jennifer Blanc—The Victim, The Terminator, Tombstone—6/3/11
[Michael Biehn:] I watched T4 about a year ago or whenever it came out...it didn’t appeal to me at all. You know, at all. But, if they came to me and said, 'Here’s a check...'
