Please Give, Nicole Holofcener, 2010

With Please Give, as with her 2006 feature Friends with Money, Holofcener presents a world that is too cold, guilt-ridden, and insular to offer any relatable point of view for the viewer. The director's ear for whip smart dialogue and her acumen for crafting loaded scenarios are very much intact, but can't ultimately overcome the film's abject cynicism.

Winter's Bone, Debra Granik, 2010

Granik's backwoods yarn devotes no small amount of effort to getting the nuances of Ozarks poverty just right. Unfortunately, the narrative unfolding against that vivid backdrop is in most every other way too slight.