Question: Problem: 1. The whole movie goes bland and flat as a fast-food knish or a blank computer screen.
2. It's handsome, professional moviemaking all around, just a little flat when it ought to soar.
3. Drenched in schmaltz and oozing with saccharine sweetness, Hanks and Ryan squeeze every last drop of cornball sentimentality out of the script, but -- despite all the puff about their on-screen chemistry -- fail to ignite many sparks.
4. El amor traspasa las barreras de la cibernética para conquistarlo todo
5. Mail may not be as romantic as Sleepless, but it's wittier.
6. This film enchanted me, and even if it did work for me slightly better as a comedy than as a romance, it's still a great comedy -- and Ryan and Hanks are teriffic.
7. The movie grows on you until you don't want to leave it.
8. You've Got Mail is a valentine to the happenstance miracle of lovers and other strangers, a movie that regards modern romance as something that is, ultimately, old-fashioned to its core.
9. That Joe is smug, oily and a ruthless destroyer of small businesses, while Kathleen intolerably twee, makes for some rough sledding that the combined star power of Ryan and Hanks doesn't ameliorate.
10. Charmless and hokey!
What is the consensus?
****
Answer: Great chemistry between the leads made this a warm and charming delight.


Problem: 1. The story falls apart, while Gondry ratchets up the silly action so far over the top the structure of the film can't support it.
2. The Green Hornet's only victory is that it isn't flat awful.
3. Rogen's image and his attitude as co-screenwriter of The Green Hornet updates the bland superhero template using comic irreverence.
4. What opens as a 21st-century variation on Hudson Hawk (and I mean that as a compliment) soon trades in its gleeful weirdness for a Pineapple Express-style blend of rote action and abrasive, unfunny comedy.
5. The interplay between the Green Hornet and straight man Kato delights, overshadowing Cameron Diaz as a mutual love interest.
6. With Jäger, it'd probably be a blast.
7. Part origin story, part spoof, part bromance -- the movie can't decide. It winks at itself constantly, but only to hide its cluelessness.
8. Gondry's biggest success is recognising that superheroes can still be funny, and embracing that in every part of this film.
9. 3D, 4D. You can throw double-D's at The Green Hornet, and you'll still end up with C-minus.
10. This is not the Green Hornet. It's barely an action movie.
What is the consensus?
****
Answer: It's sporadically entertaining, but The Green Hornet never approaches the surreal heights suggested by a Michel Gondry/Seth Rogen collaboration.


Problem: 1. The kind of film that makes you want to go out and hug old people.
2. Extracting big drama out of small events is Mike Leigh's forte, and with his latest little masterpiece, Another Year, the English director pushes himself to the extreme.
3. The final scene around the dinner table is a masterwork in cinematography.
4. Leigh has made another must-see for art house film goers. He simply does every time he gets behind the camera.
5. Year's success rests heavily on its cast's and director's shoulders. And the performers, most stage veterans and Leigh alums, don't disappoint.
6. It's been a long time since we've been treated to such a simple and wonderful film.
7. Few characters experience anything interesting; this family clearly has a history, but it needs more present.
8. Another Year continues in the vein of Leigh's last feature, Happy-Go-Lucky, considering characters who've made peace with their lives and others who are still at war (and losing).
9. It illuminates profoundly in matters of class, age, family, friendship, economics and even nationality.
10. Leigh engages with those questions, and even bigger bogglers -- What is love? What is happiness? When did they both escape me? -- by arranging long, lingering scenes of closely observed behavior of the most ordinary sort.
What is the consensus?
****
Answer:
Answer: Characterized by strong performances and the director's trademark feel for the nuances of everyday life, Another Year marks another solid entry in Mike Leigh's career of kitchen-sink English drama.