KILLING THEM SOFTLY - andrew dominik - 9.0 / 10

Without a doubt, this brutal, angry, violent film is not for everyone.  But if you can get on its wavelength, it reveals itself as probably the most insightful, intelligent film to come out of the gangster genre since Tarantino started making historical epics.  Set around the 2008 Presidential election and the start of the bank-driven economic collapse that continues to impact the country, Killing Them Softly is a blistering indictment of the hollowness of political rhetoric, the absurdity of the American people in continuing to believe such nonsense, the lack of courage of our leaders to make difficult decisions and the inability of the people to hold them accountable for their failures.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN - marc webb - 4.9 / 10

As a character, Peter Parker / Spider-Man is fascinating.  The story of an unpopular, picked-on science geek orphan suddenly acquiring superpowers can go lots of interesting places.  When the story is told well, as in the Sam Raimi / Tobey Maguire version from a decade ago, it can be pretty powerful (enough so to overcome nonsense like the Green Goblin in an old lady's sweater cradling Spider-Man in his arms).  But when told poorly, as it is here, it's just one more story about a superhero with a tragic past and loads of daddy issues (and seriously, enough with the superheros with dead parents already).