Fresh 3.75/5
| Fresh 82%
| Broken Embraces (2009) | "
Almodóvar enthuses Broken Embraces with the love of movies and moviemaking." — Film-Forward.com Posted Dec 19, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 89%
| Crazy Heart (2009) | "
Another awards season, another tale of middle-age redemption." — Film-Forward.com Posted Dec 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 37%
| Nine (2009) | "
There's nothing mundane, at least visually, about the film. Bombarded with fast-cut images, the eye doesn't rest for a moment." — Film-Forward.com Posted Dec 17, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 95%
| La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet (2009) | "
Wiseman is precise, revealing to the viewer exactly what he wants you to see, in sync with the company's cautious administration." — Film-Forward.com Posted Dec 8, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 83%
| Me and Orson Welles (2009) | "
Linklater doesn't give his cast the extra shot of adrenaline it badly needs%u2014the direction to pick up the pace." — Film-Forward.com Posted Dec 8, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 28%
| The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) | "
Edward is still a walking mannequin, and his emotional range is so limited that the connection between Bella and Edward seems strained and at crucial times unconvincing." — School Library Journal Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 93%
| Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) | "
An infectiously upbeat menagerie" — School Library Journal Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/5
| Rotten 37%
| Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) | "
The movie avoids the darker aspects of the vampire myth, and like the books, it's more into horror than hormones." — Film-Forward.com Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 73%
| Where the Wild Things Are (2009) | "
Without a smirk, the film stands out from the many pop-culture-laden, wisecracking studio franchises." — School Library Journal Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Rotten 50%
| Hadewijch (2009) | "
Lucid and startling" — Film-Forward.com Posted Oct 12, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| N/A | To Die Like a Man (2009) | "
Despite the hothouse atmosphere or the backstage tantrums and a suicide attempt, [director] Rodrigues lowers the temperature with his slow, steady camera for a flabby 138 minutes." — Film-Forward.com Posted Oct 3, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| N/A | The Sicilian Girl (2009) | "
More Cavalleria Rusticana than Gomorra." — Film-Forward.com Posted Aug 27, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| N/A | Lezione 21 (2009) | "
A brisk, irreverent music-history lesson by way of Terry Gilliam." — Film-Forward.com Posted Aug 27, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/5
| Rotten 0%
| Bullet in the Head (2008) | "
The sudden shock in tone may have another different and unintended effect than the director intended, relief that finally something has happened." — Film-Forward.com Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| N/A | Chouga (2007) | "
Chouga never loses control%u2014a performance Lana Turner would be proud of." — Film-Forward.com Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 86%
| Lorna's Silence (2009) | "
Lorna's Silence is one of the few films in current release which left me wanting more." — Film-Forward.com Posted Jul 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 100%
| You, the Living (2009) | "
Andersson's tableaus of the everyday are full of feeling, especially from the women (probably after a drink or two)." — Film-Forward.com Posted Jul 28, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/5
| Fresh 65%
| Adam (2009) | "
If you're going to be the poster man/child of any disability, you'd want to look like Hugh Dancy." — Film-Forward.com Posted Jul 28, 2009 |
Fresh 2.75/5
| Fresh 79%
| A Woman in Berlin (2008) | "
[Nina Hoss], one of Germany's rising stars, delivers ... the complexity that the film, layered with tangled relationships, seeks." — Film-Forward.com Posted Jul 16, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 96%
| Somers Town (2009) | "
This modest but amicable tale has more depth and more spirit than many films twice its length." — Film-Forward.com Posted Jul 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 83%
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) | "
The film takes flight when the story is grounded in the world of Hogwarts." — School Library Journal Posted Jul 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 78%
| Humpday (2009) | "
Can director Lynn Shelton sustain enough interest building up to the will-they-or-won't-they resolution? Yes, thanks single-handedly to the cast." — Film-Forward.com Posted Jul 9, 2009 |
Rotten 2.25/5
| Rotten 54%
| Cheri (2009) | "
If ever there was a role to be cast based solely on looks, it's Colette's Chéri." — Film-Forward.com Posted Jun 29, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 100%
| Brighton Rock (1947) | "
As brassy, boozy, and blonde entertainer Ida Arnold, [Hermione Baddeley] is a blast of smoky and stale music-hall air." — Film-Forward.com Posted Jun 28, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 76%
| Quiet Chaos (2009) | "
Quiet Chaos jerkily shifts tones, from oddly comic ... to blunt. And by blunt I mean an indiscreet, in-your-face sex scene that turns the viewer from observer to pervy voyeur." — Film-Forward.com Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 81%
| Departures (2009) | "
Count on the first tear to fall by the 55-minute mark." — Film-Forward.com Posted May 29, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 76%
| Outrage (2009) | "
This is gotcha journalism at its most insistent." — Film-Forward.com Posted May 8, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 97%
| The Song of Sparrows (2009) | "
The story is so well told that the symbolism supports rather than sustains the plot." — Film-Forward.com Posted Apr 3, 2009 |
Fresh 2.75/5
| Rotten 59%
| Paris 36 (2008) | "
Without a touch of irony, Paris 36's forthrightly corny." — Film-Forward.com Posted Apr 3, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 83%
| We Live in Public (2009) | "
The film has a train-wreck fascination about it." — Film-Forward.com Posted Mar 30, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/5
| Fresh 91%
| Harmony and Me (2009) | "
It may be true that every generation deserves its droll slacker comedy. But every five years?" — Film-Forward.com Posted Mar 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 95%
| Mid-August Lunch (2009) | "
A charmer that's a sleeper in the making" — Film-Forward.com Posted Mar 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 63%
| Louise-Michel (2009) | "
In its funniest moments, the film displays the delicate timing of the best silent comedies." — Film-Forward.com Posted Mar 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 71%
| Guest of Cindy Sherman (2009) | "
Guest's focus on Sherman and her work is [the film's] strength, providing an in-depth and revealing glimpse of one of the most celebrated artists in the world," — Film-Forward.com Posted Mar 30, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/5
| Rotten 47%
| The Girl From Monaco (2009) | "
If a man had directed The Girl from Monaco, this erstwhile comedy would be labeled misogynistic -- a charge that would stick." — Film-Forward.com Posted Mar 19, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| N/A | Bellamy (2009) | "
Claude Chabrol's disappointing tribute to Georges Simenon and Agatha Christie ... is a pale follow-up to his baroque A Girl Cut in Two." — Film-Forward.com Posted Mar 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| N/A | L' Apprenti (2008) | "
Lead Mathieu Bulle, an actual agricultural student, stands out among the cast of nonprofessional actors and is completely accessible -- well, as much as an emotionally guarded teenage boy can be." — Film-Forward.com Posted Mar 18, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 77%
| Valentino: the Last Emperor (2009) | "
Awash with celebrity, the documentary is a rubbernecker's delight." — Film-Forward.com Posted Mar 17, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| N/A | The Girl on the Train (2009) | "
Téchiné's unsettling The Girl on the Train is his best film in years and already one of 2009's highlights, freely inspired by a sensational real-life media furor." — Film-Forward.com Posted Mar 16, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| N/A | L' Instinct de Mort (2008) | "
Director Jean-François Richet (Assault on Precinct 13) is proof that Luc Besson is not the only French filmmaker taking his cues from an American playbook." — Film-Forward.com Posted Mar 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 89%
| Coraline (2009) | "
Because Selick remains true to the novel's spirit, the film rises far above being a mere novelty." — Film-Forward.com Posted Feb 17, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 97%
| The Class (2008) | "
What will rouse empathy and exasperation, though, is one teacher's attempt to act more like a colleague or mentor than an intimidating white male authority figure%u2014a teacher a student can call un ami." — Film-Forward.com Posted Jan 31, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 39%
| Inkheart (2009) | "
Similar to the movie adaptation of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass (Knopf, 1996), the filmmakers shoehorn most of the book's plot into a small amount of time, leaving little room for character development or nuanced acting." — Film-Forward.com Posted Jan 22, 2009 |
Fresh 2.75/5
| Rotten 45%
| Hotel for Dogs (2009) | "
The film goes to the dogs. They don't steal the scenes, they are the scenes. They bring so much personality that it's hard for any of the actors to compete, even the kids." — School Library Journal Posted Jan 15, 2009 |
Fresh 3.75/5
| Fresh 90%
| The Secret of the Grain (2008) | "
Before you scoff at yet another benevolent look at a family straddling two cultures, Kechiche subtly subverts the genre." — Film-Forward.com Posted Jan 12, 2009 |
Fresh 2.75/5
| Rotten 55%
| The Tale of Despereaux (2008) | "
Unlike so many animated films that are clogged with trendy pop-culture references, the filmmakers recall older tales with a wink and a nod." — Film-Forward.com Posted Dec 18, 2008 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 62%
| Che (2008) | "
The emphasis on the brotherhood of the ragtag rebels wouldn't be out of place in a 1940s war film" — Film-Forward.com Posted Dec 12, 2008 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 78%
| Doubt (2008) | "
Shanley's play would seem ideally suited for the scrutiny of a camera. But if anything, the film feels less nuanced, bulldozed by Streep's take-no-prisoner performance." — Film-Forward.com Posted Dec 12, 2008 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 98%
| Roman Holiday (1953) | "
If only more filmmakers would remember that not all fairy-tale romances need to have a pat, happily-ever-after ending." — Film-Forward.com Posted Nov 25, 2008 |
Fresh 4.5/5
| Fresh 98%
| Sunset Boulevard (1950) | "
Many of its featurettes ... benefit hugely from the participation of co-star Nancy Olson." — Film-Forward.com
DVD REVIEW Posted Nov 25, 2008 |
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