Name : Stephen Whitty / Alias : Newark Star-Ledger
It's well-acted, nicely crafted and imaginatively envisioned; it shows yet another side to an interesting and rapidly developing filmmaker.

Name : A.O. Scott / Alias : New York Times
"A Most Violent Year" presents an honorable man struggling to stay true to his values in the face of temptation. It is also the portrait of a brilliant hustler working a very long con. It's a terrific movie either way.

Name : Kenneth Turan / Alias : Los Angeles Times
It brings to mind the fierce New York-based productions of Sidney Lumet in particular but also the whole notion of character-driven, the-clock-is-ticking melodramas in general.

Name : Joshua Rothkopf / Alias : Time Out New York
Further clarifies what might be the most promising career in American movies: an urban-headed filmmaker attuned to economies of place and time, with an eye on the vacant throne of Sidney Lumet.

Name : Peter Rainer / Alias : Christian Science Monitor
It's a gangster movie that tries to be more than that, not always successfully.

Name : Claudia Puig / Alias : USA Today
A revelation: meticulously constructed, brilliantly acted, suspenseful and sharply written.

Name : Tomas Hachard / Alias : NPR
It bears all the hallmarks of depth except for actual wisdom.

Name : Alonso Duralde / Alias : TheWrap
Just when we're settling into the film being a Lumet-ian character-driven drama, Chandor will, on more than one occasion, organically segue to an adrenaline-packed truck chase that's as exciting as any big action-movie moment of recent memory.

Name : Joe Neumaier / Alias : New York Daily News
A movie that quietly but ferociously immerses us in a time and place, with atmosphere done in minimal yet evocative strokes.

Name : Scott Foundas / Alias : Variety
A tough, gritty, richly atmospheric thriller .

Name : Joe Morgenstern / Alias : Wall Street Journal
Mr. Chandor gives Mr. Isaac everything he needs for a tour de force performance, and the actor makes the most of what he gets.

Name : David Denby / Alias : New Yorker
Some of the menacing atmosphere, and even a few scenes, descend from the first two "Godfather" movies. But, in fact, Chandor has done something startling: he has made an anti-"Godfather."

Name : Todd McCarthy / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
[Chandor] peels back the layers of his story and characters with the skill of an expert dramatist.

Name : Chris Nashawaty / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
It's the kind of uncompromising movie we don't see much of anymore. And it makes you nostalgic for a time when the world was worse and the movies were better.

Name : Mike D'Angelo / Alias : AV Club
Can Chandor make a first-rate film that isn't a testosterone fest? That's the next challenge-one that he shares with the industry as a whole.

Name : Peter Travers / Alias : Rolling Stone
Chastain is killer good, and Isaac is an implosive powerhouse in a film that reflects a world where nothing is held sacred. You watch with nerves clenched, holding on tight.

Name : Andrew Lapin / Alias : NPR
The beats of the movie, not to mention the winking title and the time period, make A Most Violent Year feel like it should be another bloody tale about the dark side of American greed. But Chandor is too smart to go down that path.

Name : Stephanie Zacharek / Alias : Village Voice
It's really just sort of.dumb.

Name : Kyle Smith / Alias : New York Post
"A Most Violent Year" is a small picture, but each brushstroke is laden with detail and craftsmanship.

Name : Andrew O'Hehir / Alias : Salon.com
All this is rendered . in memorable and exemplary fashion. And it's all just a little more boring than it ought to be.

Name : David Edelstein / Alias : New York Magazine/Vulture
It holds you with its gravity and forces your respect. It's also talky, repetitive, thesis-driven, and often strangled by its own solemnity.

Name : Dana Stevens / Alias : Slate
For me A Most Violent Year remained an abstract idea of a great period crime drama, rather than a fleshly incarnation of one.

Name : Liam Lacey / Alias : Globe and Mail
Slick but slight, The Gambler is an unnecessary remake of a well-regarded 1974 film.

Name : Todd McCarthy / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
In nearly every scene, Wahlberg carries off the central role with what could be called determined elan.

Name : Tirdad Derakhshani / Alias : Philadelphia Inquirer
Despite terrific, witty performances by Williams and Goodman, most of the talent is wasted in this picture.

Name : Claudia Puig / Alias : USA Today
The Gambler is a hollow, overwrought and glibly cynical remake of a '70s drama about a self-destructive academic.

Name : Kyle Smith / Alias : New York Post
This remake of the 1974 James Caan film written by James Toback . crackles with mordant cynicism.

Name : Alonso Duralde / Alias : TheWrap
It's no mystery why actors and directors want to relive the magic of American studio movies from the fabled 1970s, but if you're not going to take the risks that the originals did, or illuminate as much about the characters, why redo them at all?

Name : A.A. Dowd / Alias : AV Club
Blackjack is more of a noose than a needle for this self-destructive blowhard, and if that sounds less dramatic than the tale of a man who just can't walk away from the table, it is significantly funnier.

Name : Moira MacDonald / Alias : Seattle Times
A dull, self-consciously arty wallow in the messed-up life of a character we don't care about.

Name : Rafer Guzman / Alias : Newsday
Low on action and tension, long on grand speeches. Wahlberg gets an A for effort in an unlikely role.

Name : Peter Travers / Alias : Rolling Stone
The hopeful ending comes off as too little, too late. Wahlberg gives the role his all, but sticking with him is a futile gesture. The Gambler never pays off. It's a sucker's bet.z

Name : James Berardinelli / Alias : ReelViews
The Gambler is a solid remake - a film that retraces the path of the original while carving out its own identity.

Name : Jocelyn Noveck / Alias : Associated Press
We didn't really care enough about Jim to be invested in his ultimate fate.

Name : Elizabeth Weitzman / Alias : New York Daily News
Whether Wahlberg's been miscast or misdirected, we never buy him as a desperate addict. Still, the movie is so quick and cool that for much of the time, we barely notice how little is actually at stake.

Name : Peter Keough / Alias : Boston Globe
It's just like the Kenny Rogers song says: "You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em." It's time for this "Gambler" to walk away.

Name : Rex Reed / Alias : New York Observer
Another wet battery about a week in the life of a gambling addict.

Name : Kristin Tillotson / Alias : Minneapolis Star Tribune
A string of powerful performances, particularly Wahlberg's, and a killer soundtrack - including M83, Dinah Washington and St. Paul & the Broken Bones - redeem a middling entertainment gambit.

Name : Manohla Dargis / Alias : New York Times
What's mostly missing from "The Gambler" is a sense of why Jim is so insistent on squandering his money, privilege and patrimony.

Name : Rene Rodriguez / Alias : Miami Herald
The Gambler is about the torturous dissatisfaction some people feel when they've managed to do everything right but still don't feel fulfilled

Name : Calvin Wilson / Alias : St. Louis Post-Dispatch
In a role that would have been ideal for Tom Cruise in psycho mode, Wahlberg is merely OK. Unfortunately, the film's effectiveness turns on whether we buy into his angst.

Name : Barbara VanDenburgh / Alias : Arizona Republic
The return is as miniscule as the stakes.

Name : Stephen Whitty / Alias : Newark Star-Ledger
If someone is really that intent on self-destruction, why should we be his audience?

Name : Stephanie Merry / Alias : Washington Post
Watching a hostile pessimist purposefully sabotaging his own good fortune just isn't as fun as it sounds.

Name : Chris Nashawaty / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
The one bit of good news is that the first Gambler is currently streaming on Netflix. Do yourself a favor and watch that one instead.

Name : Bilge Ebiri / Alias : New York Magazine/Vulture
As The Gambler becomes less about its protagonist's dashed intellectualism and more about the gathering danger of his predicament, the film gains power.

Name : Mark Olsen / Alias : Los Angeles Times
By suppressing Wahlberg's more typical sparkling unpredictability, this new reading of the character recasts him into someone more frustrating than free.

Name : Peter Howell / Alias : Toronto Star
This certainly is one driven narrative. Wahlberg reportedly lost 60 lbs. for the role, and his gaunt look makes Jim seem all the more haunted as he repeatedly throws away vast sums on games of chance.

Name : Justin Chang / Alias : Variety
There's enough swaggering cynicism for three pictures but barely enough soul to sustain even one in Rupert Wyatt's "The Gambler," a stylish, energetic but disappointingly glib remake of Karel Reisz's still-potent 1974 drama of the same title.

Name : Stephanie Zacharek / Alias : Village Voice
Wyatt . brings some bristly, swaggering energy to the thing, and that in turn may have loosened Wahlberg up: He's both more intense and freer than he's been in years.

Name : Andrew O'Hehir / Alias : Salon.com
An agreeable if ridiculous slice of old-school Hollywood machismo .