2012 (Sony)

Daily Variety (Todd McCarthy): “This simultaneously spectacular and risible concoction looks likely to trigger a worldwide B.O. tsunami for Sony.”

Hollywood Reporter (Stephen Farber): “Grab-bag of disaster movie cliches will thrill less demanding audiences.”

Fantastic Mr. Fox (Fox Searchlight)

Daily Variety (Todd McCarthy): “The film’s style, paradoxically both precious and rough-hewn, positions this as the season’s defiantly anti-CGI toon, and its retro charms will likely appeal more strongly to grown-ups than to moppets.”

Hollywood Reporter (Sherri Linden): “Although sometimes too sly for its own good, this great-looking carnivorous caper brings Wes Anderson’s whimsical melancholy to a kids’ classic.”

The Messenger (Oscilloscope)

Daily Variety (Peter Debruge): “Nobody plays angry like Ben Foster, but compassion is something new for the actor, who softens his crazy-man shtick to deliver a complex and moving performance.”

Hollywood Reporter (Justin Lowe): “A penetrating assessment of post-war readjustment.”

Pirate Radio (Focus)

Daily Variety (Derek Elley): “Pic generally stays afloat on the strength of its characters but sometimes threatens to sink under its overlong running time and vignettish structure.”

Hollywood Reporter (Ray Bennett): “It’s a bucket full of holes, but Richard Curtis’ comedy just about stays afloat.”