Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 41%
| The Last House on the Left (2009) | "
A dismal reminder of just how starved Hollywood studios are for good ideas." Times [UK] Posted Jun 12, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 78%
| The Hangover (2009) | "
The lads duly lurch from one bewildering crisis to another." Times [UK] Posted Jun 12, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 43%
| Doghouse (2009) | "
Jake West’s low-budget British movie Doghouse is so jaw-droppingly bonkers that it actually deserves to be seen." Times [UK] Posted Jun 12, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 95%
| Spartacus (1960) | "
Douglas is terrific as the iron-jawed slave fuelled by righteous fury." Times [UK] Posted Jun 12, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 86%
| Max Manus (2008) | "
So this overdue homage to Max Manus: Man of War is a powerful surprise." Times [UK] Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 100%
| The Hide (2009) | "
Marek Losey’s thriller The Hide is a macabre gem. It’s a crude but enthralling duel with shades of Peter Schaffer’s Sleuth. Shades too of Hitchcock’s Rope." Times [UK] Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 75%
| Anything for Her (2008) | "
Heavy-handed teases do very little for the overcooked melodrama." Times [UK] Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 32%
| Terminator Salvation (2009) | "
Terminator Salvation looks, sounds and tastes like a £2.50 fairground ride. There is nothing human about it. McG feeds you the sort of thrills that can be had on Clacton pier." Times [UK] Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 65%
| The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) | "
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a film with a huge heart and a dazzling eye, but it does little for the very thing it is trying to celebrate: the imagination." Times [UK] Posted May 22, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 88%
| Looking for Eric (2009) | "
Looking for Eric is scathing about the erosion of communal values and the violent, selfish mess of inner-city life." Times [UK] Posted May 18, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 83%
| Bright Star (2009) | "
Jane Campion has turned the short and doomed affair between John Keats and Fanny Brawne into an enthralling film that tenderly rips your heart to shreds." Times [UK] Posted May 16, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 98%
| Up (2009) | "
It's an unusual, magical film with which to open an art-house festival." Times [UK] Posted May 14, 2009 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 95%
| Star Trek (2009) | "
J. J. Abrams’s thriller Star Trek is the first tent-pole film that has made me sob with pure pleasure." Times [UK] Posted May 8, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 87%
| Sounds Like Teen Spirit () | "
The documentary Sounds Like Teen Spirit has a thoroughly dismal premise but it is a remarkable and deeply affecting watch." Times [UK] Posted May 8, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Rotten 57%
| Delta (2008) | "
Delta is a weird, eerie, and utterly compelling Hungarian gem. A lugubrious piece of genius." Times [UK] Posted May 8, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 88%
| Coraline (2009) | "
Technically, it's impeccable. But it’s madly out of synch with the 12A certificate." Times [UK] Posted May 8, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 64%
| The Brothers Bloom (2009) | "
Mark Ruffalo’s elaborate stings are so beautifully conceived that it is difficult to know where real life ends and make-believe begins." Times [UK] Posted May 5, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 66%
| Is Anybody There? (2009) | "
It’s a tragic farce. There are moments of dramatic pudding when the anxieties and fears that Clarence and Edward share grind in opposite directions. But the magic is in the tiny, immaculate stitches." Times [UK] Posted May 1, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 65%
| The End (2009) | "
The flesh-crawling thrill is that these stories about armed robberies, ghastly fights, and grisly murders are utterly compelling." Times [UK] Posted May 1, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 36%
| X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) | "
The novel innovation is that these hairy wolves move in contrary ways. That is the dismal sum of the original thinking." Times [UK] Posted May 1, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 66%
| Is Anybody There? (2009) | "
The rude and real joy is Caine’s performance." Times [UK] Posted May 1, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 36%
| X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) | "
Hood’s edition of the Marvel cartoon myth, which has been turned into a sort of live-action fairground ride, is complete nonsense." Times [UK] Posted Apr 29, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 86%
| Tony Manero (2009) | "
The brilliance of Tony Manero is that it is so black-hearted. There are no forgivable souls within miles. The squalor is a masterclass in tack. The ghoulish hook is that it is totally compelling." Times [UK] Posted Apr 9, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 43%
| Race to Witch Mountain (2009) | "
It’s a rattling good chase movie. The young aliens have useful tricks. Johnson is the contractual comic liability. Perfect holiday nonsense." Times [UK] Posted Apr 9, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 86%
| Fifty Dead Men Walking (2009) | "
This is an appalling scenario for a film that unspools with the ghastly enthusiasm of a Hollywood thriller. But Sturgess’s performance as the feckless hero is absolutely stunning." Times [UK] Posted Apr 9, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 58%
| 17 Again (2009) | "
Amusing, wholesome fun for young teenage swooners who will squirm with horror at the adults who ought to know better." Times [UK] Posted Apr 9, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 56%
| Waveriders (2009) | "
The sensational footage of surfers barrelling through 50ft waves provides most of the appeal. But Joel Conroy’s documentary is full of scrapbook curios." Times [UK] Posted Apr 3, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 70%
| Religulous (2008) | "
Maher crucifies the kooks. What he singularly fails to do, though, is engage with anyone sensible. By mocking the loonies he squanders the precious high ground. A real pity." Times [UK] Posted Apr 3, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 84%
| Cherry Blossoms (2009) | "
Ozu’s handling of the frosty schism between awkward parents and their ghastly offspring resulted in a heartbreaking piece of cinema." Times [UK] Posted Apr 3, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 54%
| The Boat That Rocked (2009) | "
The rom-com glue that has turned every other Curtis film into box-office gold is absent. This is a listless, sketchy mess." Times [UK] Posted Apr 3, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 86%
| Tyson (2009) | "
Toback’s split-screen moments, in which the film dissolves from gripping memories into something far closer to stream of consciousness, is pure documentary poetry. Hold tight for a guided tour of Tyson’s surreal descent into hell." Times [UK] Posted Mar 27, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 61%
| Traitor (2008) | "
The moral maze is not quite as murky as it should be, a suspicion that we may have misjudged the hero whisks the film back into the realms of fiction, and detracts from the issues it raises." Times [UK] Posted Mar 27, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 77%
| Genova (2008) | "
Winterbottom tries to make a modern and meaningful parable. He fails quite miserably." Times [UK] Posted Mar 27, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 93%
| The Damned United (2009) | "
Anyone who has ever kicked a leather football in anger — when they were brown, permanently sodden and weighed 10lb — will almost certainly love this." Times [UK] Posted Mar 27, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Fresh 61%
| Marley & Me (2008) | "
There is something wildly odd about a film that measures human happiness with the whims of a dog." Times [UK] Posted Mar 13, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 57%
| Hush (2008) | "
The label slapped on the side of Mark Tonderai’s low-budget horror movie has absolutely no bearing on the silly contents." Times [UK] Posted Mar 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 31%
| The Burning Plain (2009) | "
[Arriaga] has an uncanny understanding of damaged human beings. He needs to step away to let them live." Times [UK] Posted Mar 13, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 84%
| Wendy and Lucy (2008) | "
Wendy and Lucy is a sweet, slight and beautifully crafted film." Times [UK] Posted Mar 6, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 64%
| Watchmen (2009) | "
Snyder’s last-ditch attempt to raise the geeky bar by introducing “real” people dressed up as heroes is more adolescent than adult, as is the addition of e nough soft-core 1970s bump and grind to win an 18 certificate." Times [UK] Posted Mar 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 71%
| American Teen (2008) | "
The documentary curriculum is sex, gossip and self-pity. Not exactly original, but disturbingly true." Times [UK] Posted Mar 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 61%
| Universe of Keith Haring (2008) | "
The archive footage reveals a deadpan sense of humour and a surreal and marvellous indifference to the ghastly trappings of fame." Times [UK] Posted Feb 27, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 95%
| Obscene: A Portrait Of Barney Rosset And Grove Press (2008) | "
Obscene, is melancholic. The eerie contradiction is how chirpy and cheery this remarkable activist, and self-confessed sex addict, is at more than 80 years of age." Times [UK] Posted Feb 27, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 96%
| Gun Crazy (1949) | "
Admittedly, the script is vintage corn. But visually Gun Crazy is a rude, startling and suggestive pleasure." Times [UK] Posted Feb 27, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 23%
| Push (2009) | "
“What if nothing we did made any sense. Would that throw them off the scent?” Nick asks. You bet." Times [UK] Posted Feb 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 79%
| Gran Torino (2008) | "
What the film aches for is a challenge worthy of the monster Eastwood effortlessly inhabits." Times [UK] Posted Feb 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 68%
| Cadillac Records (2008) | "
Her warts-and-all history of the blues has as much documentary truth as a West End musical." Times [UK] Posted Feb 19, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 13%
| The Pink Panther 2 (2009) | "
The entire film is a tedious string of pratfalls." Times [UK] Posted Feb 12, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 46%
| Hotel for Dogs (2009) | "
It needs something quite special to save this film from toxic splurges of sentiment. Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon duly oblige as a pair of fabulously awful foster parents." Times [UK] Posted Feb 12, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 82%
| Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) | "
Woody Allen’s spoof of the Don Juan myth Vicky Christina Barcelona is his best film this century." Times [UK] Posted Feb 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 16%
| The Secret of Moonacre (2008) | "
Apart from some wooden over-acting, The Secret of Moonacre is a shrewd mix of live action and exotic animation by the Hungarian director Gabor Csupo." Times [UK] Posted Feb 5, 2009 |