Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 73%
| Where the Wild Things Are (2009) | "
It’s all very charming and quirky... But it’s also, ultimately, a little flimsy and unlikely to achieve anything like the iconic status of its source material." Posted Dec 11, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 86%
| Avatar (2009) | "
Avatar is an overwhelming, immersive spectacle. The state-of-the-art 3D technology draws us in, but it is the vivid weirdness of Cameron’s luridly imagined tropical otherworld that keeps us fascinated." Posted Dec 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 62%
| The Girlfriend Experience (2009) | "
Staggeringly unsexy but strangely compelling." Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Rotten 3/5
| Fresh 84%
| Disgrace (2009) | "
It’s hard to say what this solid but unadventurous film adds to Coetzee’s powerful source material." Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 50%
| The Descent: Part 2 (2009) | "
The first-time director Jon Harris recreates the sense of airless, claustrophobic panic that worked so effectively the first time around and cranks up the yuck factor exponentially." Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 45%
| The Box (2009) | "
The clueless and overreaching ambition which has started to characterise [Richard Kelly's] cinematic failures comes into play again." Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 89%
| Séraphine (2008) | "
A classy drama and a sympathetic portrait of two outsiders and the vibrant, unsettling work that binds them." Posted Nov 27, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 46%
| Nativity! () | "
Even with an engaging cast of primary school kids practically mugging the camera at every opportunity, this is toe-curling and predictable stuff." Posted Nov 27, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 24%
| Law Abiding Citizen (2009) | "
Full of incoherent, spitting rage, ignorant, paranoid violence and a complete lack of internal logic." Posted Nov 27, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 39%
| The Lovely Bones (2009) | "
[Ronan] captures the uncertainty and intensity of thwarted teenage passions perfectly but, set against the artifice and the manipulative tendencies of the story, her admirable performance is rather swamped." Posted Nov 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 77%
| The Informant! (2009) | "
Director Stephen Soderbergh and its star Matt Damon have crafted a skittish caper movie, a pyrotechnical display of colourful lies that unravel to a giddy retro score." Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 50%
| Glorious 39 (2009) | "
For all its sumptuous production design, Steven Poliakoff’s tale of glamorous toffs and treason is so laboured and slow that it’s practically pensionable." Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 76%
| The First Day of the Rest of Your Life () | "
While it’s competently put together, you can’t help wondering what the point is." Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 0%
| Christmas in Wonderland () | "
With all due respect to his memory, it is truly execrable, a tawdry seasonal exploitation pic set almost entirely within a giant mall. Swayze fans, do yourself a favour and rent Point Break instead." Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 87%
| A Serious Man (2009) | "
A Serious Man represents the brothers at their sardonic best, wringing a sacrilegious amount of gallows humour from the trials of their latterday Job." Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 92%
| Welcome () | "
This is compassionate and humane film-making. While the story does sometimes lapse into cliché, the two beautifully judged central performances carry it through." Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 60%
| Paper Heart (2009) | "
Whimsical, solipsistic and self-indulgent, Paper Heart represents everything that is wrong with American independent cinema." Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 44%
| Jennifer's Body (2009) | "
The premise — Mean Girls with demonic possession and a feminist subtext — is promising. But the film fails to deliver either laughs or scares in sufficient numbers." Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 55%
| Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009) | "
A Christmas Carol should be as cosy and familiar as piping-hot tea and buttered, toasted crumpets, not a brain-battering sensory assault that feels like downing tequila shots on a rollercoaster." Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 100%
| Tales from the Golden Age (2009) | "
While this wry, sometimes poignant collection ultimately runs a little long, it serves as a useful introduction to the talent that makes Romania the place to look for exciting new voices in cinema." Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 73%
| Starsuckers (2009) | "
Starsuckers, a rather gimmicky documentary, certainly fails to contribute much to the table." Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 91%
| Love Exposure () | "
Curious and tasteless, but never dull." Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 10%
| Dead Man Running (2009) | "
Dead Man Running feels like something cobbled together after a cynical producer saw Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and decided to cash in. Except it is ten years too late." Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 57%
| 9 (2009) | "
It looks great, but sadly the screenplay — in particular the stultifying dialogue — simply can’t match the visual inventiveness." Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 65%
| The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) | "
It’s mad and beautiful and bewildering; it represents a unique vision; it’s a peek into the treasure trove of oddities that is Terry Gilliam’s head." Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 84%
| Pontypool (2009) | "
It’s always an unexpected bonus in a zombie film to find the brains evident in the screenplay rather than splattered all over the scenery." Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 82%
| Thirst (2009) | "
With its rapacious appetites and forceful directing style, is definitely a vampire film for grown-ups." Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 100%
| Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (2009) | "
Mamoru Oshii’s digitally tweaked, colour- corrected and otherwise “enhanced” version of his 1995 anime classic remains as visually ravishing and bafflingly opaque as ever." Posted Oct 4, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 100%
| Three Miles North Of Molkom (2009) | "
It’s a nicely judged little film... unexpectedly heart-warming." Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 36%
| Je Veux Voir (2009) | "
Not quite a documentary, nor yet entirely fiction, Je Veux Voir is an awkward blend. But it’s not nearly as awkward as Catherine Deneuve in the central role." Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 76%
| The Firm (2009) | "
While it doesn’t exactly break new ground thematically, this is Love’s most accomplished film to date. Like the terrace heroes who are its subjects, it’s as good-looking and stylish as it is dangerously seductive." Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 26%
| Blind Dating (2007) | "
The whole thing ends with a jolly multicultural dance montage so gruesome that temporary blindness would be a blessed relief." Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 71%
| The Road (2009) | "
Fortunately, the rumourmongers were wrong -- Hillcoat’s vision is forthright and brutal." Posted Sep 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 100%
| Tricks (2007) | "
A child’s-eye view of parochial Poland during a sleepy, endless summer, Tricks is handsomely photographed but defiantly lacking in drama." Posted Sep 4, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 38%
| Passchendaele (2008) | "
It’s hard to overstake how unimaginably dreadful is Passchendaele, a First World War drama that does Canada’s already ropey film-making reputation no favours whatsoever." Posted Sep 4, 2009 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 90%
| District 9 (2009) | "
A thundering blitzkrieg of seat-rattling entertainment with a sociopolitical message; a cerebral sci-fi and apartheid allegory that is as heavily armed with provocative ideas as it is with armour-piercing, tank-splattering torpedoes." Posted Sep 4, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 76%
| Bustin' Down the Door (2008) | "
The characters aren’t quite as charismatic as the Z-Boys and the editing isn’t as abrasively cool, but it does give a glimpse of how an outsider lifestyle evolved into a multibillion-dollar business." Posted Sep 4, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 50%
| Jetsam (2008) | "
The film overextends itself a little as twist piles upon twist and in terms of narrative it’s not entirely successful, but as a masterclass in microbudget film-making this is well worth a look." Posted Aug 29, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 68%
| Funny People (2009) | "
A healthy dose of negativity might have helped to tone this baggy indulgence of a movie into some kind of workable shape. Not every idea is a good idea, after all." Posted Aug 29, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 29%
| The Final Destination (2009) | "
That this fourth instalment brings no fresh ideas to the mix is not a problem; the added dimension is more than enough to reinvigorate interest in this enduringly and deservedly popular series." Posted Aug 29, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 93%
| Mesrine: Part 2 - Public Enemy #1 (2009) | "
The second and final instalment of French gangster Jacques Mesrine’s eventful life story arrives in cinemas, and is something of a let down." Posted Aug 29, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 76%
| Afterschool (2009) | "
If there is one distinctive and promising voice to come out of the info-bite aesthetic of the YouTube generation it is Antonio Campos, whose debut feature Afterschool puts an intriguing spin on the high-school tragedy." Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 88%
| Inglourious Basterds (2009) | "
The final impression of the movie — that it’s crass, juvenile and profoundly distasteful — overrides its more enjoyable moments." Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 11%
| Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus (2009) | "
This film is bad on every level. In fact, it’s bad on levels hitherto unexplored by mainstream cinema." Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 73%
| Meerkats (2008) | "
The beauty and intimacy of the material they so painstakingly captured ultimately overrides the mawkish score and sentimental narration." Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 65%
| Adam (2009) | "
It’s blandly inoffensive but also rather disingenuous, sidestepping the realities of Adam’s condition by investing him with a convenient idiot savant gift for astrophysics and the eyes of a puppy." Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 36%
| G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) | "
The opening sequence says a lot about the fundamental problem with the movie, ie that it’s deeply stupid and heavily armed." Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 86%
| Rumba (2008) | "
The film combines a loony tunes cruelty with the precise comic choreography of the great movie clowns." Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 25%
| Land of the Lost (2009) | "
A doughily inexpressive Will Ferrell extinguishes any flicker of originality in one of the worst performances of his career." Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 16%
| Crossing Over (2009) | "
For anyone who felt that Crash was too subtle and self-effacing, I recommend Crossing Over, a multi-stranded, heavy handed exploration of the issues surrounding immigration and US citizenship." Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
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