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A Separation: If this movie were an American film, I don't see how it couldn't be an Oscar front-runner. Well, it still should be. It's one of the most harrowing movies of 2011. It's tense, incredibly well-acted, and almost reminds me of Carnage in some ways (except that instead of everyone being just plain wrong, everyone is part right). I feel like this is a part of middle Eastern life that's rarely shown - the middle class. It's fascinating to see how religion is used in every day life, as well as this story. It's what a good domestic drama should be - with an ending that will annoy old people for a good while.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: I liken this movie to picking up a very drunk girl at a bar. Sure, you're technically correct when you brag to your friends that you scored, but is it really ethical? Do you feel good about it? It's the same with ELIC. You feel the emotions that it wants you to feel, but...it's because of 9/11. Even Stephen Daldry's not THAT terrible of a filmmaker to be able to mess that up. Thankfully, it doesn't really overshadow the fact that the rest of the movie's not very good. Whatever may have worked in the book just...doesn't. The kid is one of the most annoying protagonists in recent memory - his idiosyncrasies don't make him endearing, they make him an ass. I hesitate to really speak ill of child actors, but I will in this case, all he does is yell and steal Haley Joel Osment's whisper-acting from The Sixth Sense (which, um, doesn't work in this case). Surprisingly, though, the rest of the cast, including Sandra Bullock (!) is excellent. Maybe they realized they wouldn't be in this manipulative movie for very long and were so happy about it that they decided to actually try.

Max Braden: You know, on Albert Nobbs, I keep hearing complaints that Close wouldn't pass as a man or that it could never happen. In point of fact, one of my issues of American Ancestors detailed a case in the 1800s where the bride didn't know she was dating a woman until after they were married (and there were legal consequences to the ruse). And Close may have over/under acted, but she doesn't look *that* far off of Red Buttons.

David Mumpower: I'm finishing up the 2011 release schedule right now, which is a grueling project I undertake every January. Out of the titles I've seen recently, Priest did the least with the best concept. What is frustrating about the film is that with Paul Bettany, Maggie Q and Karl Urban, it has three of my favorite actors yet little of note otherwise.

I saw Sanctum at roughly the same point in time that the news of the 20 million year old lake is about to be uncovered, which made the project somewhat more interesting to me. Unfortunately, it has 45 minutes of quality build-up followed by an hour of predictable, annoying events focused upon one of the actors I like least in the world, Ioan Gruffudd. His character is so ill considered and predictable that I understand why James Cameron took his name off the project.

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