Lady Bird

Genuine, heartfelt and Gretty, Lady Bird soars on updrafts of cool wit and warm sentimentality. Clever writing and perfectly nuanced performances keep this meandering slice of life from overflowing its banks. A misplaced bet on Hedges, family that never Letts go and a play-making drama teacher make the mundane wonderful.

Brooklyn

Saoirse drags her lonely bones to America as her accent finally goes home.  Despite an understated plot Emory certainly isn’t bored as he brandoes it again.  Walters stays seated and stands out as several other wizards immigrate into a story that is endearing and pleasantly simplistic but not spectacularly memorable.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Fantastic Mr. Anderson narrowly manages self-expansion and self-analysis over self-imitation as he disassembles a grand Dubrovnik nesting doll to discover a delicious nut in the form of an abnormally friendly Fiennes.  A smattering of stars pepper the convoluted plot as story and cinematography anamorph from past symmetries to symmetrical pasts.

City of Ember

If the first fifteen minutes of Blast from the Past were a full film set in a subterranean Who-ville decorated by the Weasley family.  This hungover Hunger Games is interestingly conceived but underwritten, and only escapes the darkness on the strong shoulders of running Ronan.  Murray vs. mole rat melee!

The Way Back

Should be 'Long Way Back' as fair warning that this subdued epic will be an exhausting journey. Cast fill worn-down shoes of their characters well as they sneak out of prison in a break even less exciting and noticeable than this film’s release. Hybrid Schindler’s Limp and Lawrence of Siberia.

The Lovely Bones

Jackson attempts return to Heavenly Creatures roots and succeeds in relevance to title, but not in quality. Continuity maintained between poorly shot Earth scenes and poorly digitally rendered heaven scenes through use of poor music video-esque editing. Tucci is sole saving grace with a performance that cuts through the editing.