Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 11%
| Case 39 (2010) | "
On the strength of Case 39, Zellweger could easily play den mother to a brood of hillbilly psychos in a film by Rob Zombie. That would be horror worthy of the name." — The Age (Australia) Posted Nov 4, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 83%
| Broken Embraces (2009) | "
Spain's best-known living director Pedro Almodovar ranks among the modern masters of melodrama -- as he demonstrates once again in Broken Embraces" — The Age (Australia) Posted Dec 17, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 66%
| Away We Go (2009) | "
Mendes paints in broad strokes, but in this case he seems little more than an interpreter of his screenwriters' obsession with innocence." — The Age (Australia) Posted Dec 9, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| N/A | The Strength of Water (2009) | "
There are more ambitious films around at the moment than The Strength of Water, but it would be a shame if this small gem were forgotten in the Christmas rush." — The Age (Australia) Posted Dec 2, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 77%
| The Informant! (2009) | "
You never know where you stand with Steven Soderbergh, but you cannot accuse him of resting on his laurels -- or making the same film twice." — The Age (Australia) Posted Dec 2, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 75%
| Cold Souls (2009) | "
Cold Souls is imitation Kaufman, written and directed by newcomer Sophie Barthes, who makes no effort to hide the source of her inspiration." — The Age (Australia) Posted Nov 26, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 87%
| A Serious Man (2009) | "
On some level, the Coens' flippancy is self-protective. But there's fascination and pleasure in their trick of constructing a film like a theorem where nothing adds up." — The Age (Australia) Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 63%
| The Brothers Bloom (2009) | "
This is the kind of "movie movie" that puts everything in quotation marks, letting Johnson indulge his most romantic daydreams." — The Age (Australia) Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 60%
| Prime Mover (2009) | "
An uneasy blend of whimsy with elements that are deliberately harsh or humdrum." — The Age (Australia) Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Rotten 55%
| Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009) | "
Even as [Zemeckis] uses the 3D process to turn A Christmas Carol into a rollercoaster ride through a solidly built fantasy world, he never forgets that at bottom the tale is an awful warning about how egoism and greed can destroy your humanity." — The Age (Australia) Posted Nov 4, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 65%
| The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) | "
Doctor Parnassus is sometimes exhilarating, sometimes merely deranged -- but since excess and fragmentation are Gilliam's trademarks, his virtues are impossible to separate from his vices." — The Age (Australia) Posted Oct 28, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 94%
| An Education (2009) | "
A nostalgic, rather equivocal study of the mid-20th-century British sea change in attitudes to sex, class and culture." — The Age (Australia) Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 47%
| Whatever Works (2009) | "
Whatever Works is funnier than anything he's done in a long time -- funny in the robust vaudevillian manner of Groucho Marx." — The Age (Australia) Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 29%
| The Final Destination (2009) | "
The characters are crash-test dummies, with dialogue to match. Yet Eric Bress' script is mockingly self-aware, framing the film as the ultimate example of violence as entertainment." — The Age (Australia) Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 63%
| Louise-Michel (2009) | "
As stylists, Kervern and Delepine specialise in turning industrial landscapes into cartoon playgrounds, through sight gags that rely on offscreen space -- leaving crucial events to the imagination." — The Age (Australia) Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 89%
| Moon (2009) | "
By halfway the film starts to feel like a mere exercise, one more effort to get maximum value from limited resources. Too much machinery, not enough dread." — The Age (Australia) Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 71%
| Van Diemen's Land (2009) | "
A bold attempt at a full-throttle Australian art movie, Van Diemen's Land disappoints mainly when it falls back on convention... the film is at its strongest when it shifts into an elemental realm and psychology falls away." — The Age (Australia) Posted Sep 24, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/5
| Fresh 60%
| Paper Heart (2009) | "
Mildly amusing at best, the interviews are accompanied by twee animated segments featuring paper dolls, which should fill any right-thinking person with disgust." — The Age (Australia) Posted Sep 24, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 24%
| G-Force (2009) | "
The joke of cute animals hacking into mainframes and dodging explosions may not be enough to sustain a movie." — The Age (Australia) Posted Sep 17, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 38%
| Imagine That (2009) | "
Murphy struggles to find work in other genres, but given the way he indulges himself with funny faces and voices, it's equally possible that he genuinely likes acting alongside children." — The Age (Australia) Posted Sep 17, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 23%
| Push (2009) | "
McGuigan's saving grace is a willingness to slow down and savour his own images. At best, a moody inconsequence takes over and confusion feels like part of the plan." — The Age (Australia) Posted Sep 11, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 68%
| Funny People (2009) | "
The film is also an admiring portrait of the artist as Californian solipsist -- unburdened by personal ties or even the need to seem intelligent, free to follow his own random, petty, moment-by-moment train of thought." — The Age (Australia) Posted Sep 11, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 98%
| Up (2009) | "
The latest computer-animated adventure from Pixar Studios has a simple premise that should enchant viewers of all ages, fusing childhood fantasies of escape with adult feelings of melancholy and regret." — The Age (Australia) Posted Sep 3, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 62%
| The Girlfriend Experience (2009) | "
The low-budget digital drama The Girlfriend Experience is one of [Soderbergh's] most successful experiments" — The Age (Australia) Posted Sep 3, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 18%
| Dance Flick (2009) | "
Much of the material is stupid enough to make anyone's brain ache." — The Age (Australia) Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 90%
| District 9 (2009) | "
As an action director, Blomkamp is no John Carpenter. Parts of the story are not dramatised but narrated direct-to-camera by supposed interview subjects -- a lazy device that reduces immediacy and momentum." — The Age (Australia) Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 89%
| Coraline (2009) | "
This is one of those films that works best if you can forget about the source material. Selick’s film is more like a three-ring circus." — The Age (Australia) Posted Aug 5, 2009 |
Fresh 4.5/5
| Fresh 66%
| Public Enemies (2009) | "
A triumph of pure cinema, Public Enemies is one of the most visually experimental films of Mann’s career." — The Age (Australia) Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 54%
| Cheri (2009) | "
Stretching out like a cat on the wide screen, Michelle Pfeiffer shows off her durable glamour in the star role of Lea de Lonval, a high-class courtesan in pre-World War I France." — The Age (Australia) Posted Jul 24, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 45%
| Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) | "
Children will probably enjoy Ice Age 3, but adults may find the script a little over-sophisticated, not to say conflicted in its attitudes towards women." — The Age (Australia) Posted Jul 3, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 20%
| Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) | "
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a Big Dumb Object: an action blockbuster so loud, ugly and exhausting that criticism seems beside the point." — The Age (Australia) Posted Jun 24, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/5
| Rotten 43%
| The Proposal (2009) | "
As one embarrassing scene follows another, The Proposal accumulates so many bad vibes that it becomes grimly compelling." — The Age (Australia) Posted Jun 21, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 15%
| Year One (2009) | "
Year One is an enjoyable knockabout comedy, but as a satire on human folly it's a disappointment; Ramis could have gone much further underlining the parallels between ancient and modern religious wars." — The Age (Australia) Posted Jun 21, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/5
| Rotten 25%
| Rip!: A Remix Manifesto (2009) | "
There are better guides to the subject than Gaylor, who discusses everything from Napster to pharmaceutical patents without ever varying his dated we-the-people rhetoric." — The Age (Australia) Posted Jun 12, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 82%
| I Love You, Man (2009) | "
Rudd ... is perfectly cast -- no actor this side of Hugh Grant is more comfortable getting flustered." — The Age (Australia) Posted Jun 12, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 32%
| Terminator Salvation (2009) | "
It's easy to see why Bale was attracted to this role, but this often fascinating actor gives one of his least interesting performances." — The Age (Australia) Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 84%
| State of Play (2009) | "
State of Play succeeds as mainstream entertainment to the point where it hardly makes sense to complain about its pulled political punches." — The Age (Australia) Posted May 29, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 100%
| My Year Without Sex (2009) | "
Watt strives to cram a great deal into a small space, but her special triumph is that the strain never shows. My Year Without Sex stands as the most accomplished Australian film so far this year." — The Age (Australia) Posted May 29, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/5
| Fresh 76%
| Quiet Chaos (2009) | "
Touching and sentimental in equal measure, Quiet Chaos exhibits many traits that fans will recognise from Moretti's own films as director, such as Caro Diario (1993) and The Son's Room (2001)." — The Age (Australia) Posted May 22, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 32%
| Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009) | "
The misogyny is too insistent to be ironic, despite the relatively small use of nudity and gore. The vampires, when slain, spurt milky white fluid rather than blood, a peculiarly unpleasant, and telling, detail." — The Age (Australia) Posted May 21, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 86%
| The Baader Meinhof Complex (2009) | "
To do full justice to this fascinating subject, you'd need a director with something like Martin Scorsese's appetite for detail, capacity for spectacle, and willingness to face up to his own ambivalence." — The Age (Australia) Posted May 15, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/5
| Rotten 27%
| Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009) | "
McConaughey too once showed promise, but here he seems to be auditioning for a bad sitcom, while Garner misuses her gawky sincerity." — The Age (Australia) Posted May 15, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 23%
| Fired Up (2009) | "
It fails, partly through prudery -- the "nude" scenes are notably unrevealing -- and partly because the leading men make no effort to perform their own stunts." — The Age (Australia) Posted Apr 24, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 43%
| Camino (2009) | "
It is less a docu-drama than a grotesquely manipulative fairytale -- half Walt Disney, half Lars von Trier." — The Age (Australia) Posted Apr 17, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 72%
| Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) | "
Since this is a film for children, we know with virtual certainty that nobody we care about will come to harm. But there's no reason this deft fantasy shouldn't appeal to adults as well." — The Age (Australia) Posted Apr 3, 2009 |
Fresh 2.25/5
| Rotten 32%
| The Uninvited (2009) | "
Thanks to a pair of talented actresses, The Uninvited is intriguing for almost an hour and a half. The ending is a convoluted letdown, but I have to admit I didn't guess the twist." — The Age (Australia) Posted Mar 27, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 65%
| Duplicity (2009) | "
On the simplest level, Duplicity is a tribute to the power of performance." — The Age (Australia) Posted Mar 20, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 62%
| Love The Beast (2009) | "
More than anything, Love the Beast testifies to Bana's need to be liked. As an onscreen presence he exerts visible control over every scene, while as a director he largely avoids tackling painful material head on." — The Age (Australia) Posted Mar 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Rotten 23%
| Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) | "
The film serves as a defense of beauty in the face of moralism, a theme that can never go stale." — The Age (Australia) Posted Mar 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 64%
| Watchmen (2009) | "
[Snyder] seems only half aware that every adaptation must be some kind of betrayal — or remain a shadow of its source, like a pattern sketched in the dust of a dead planet." — The Age (Australia) Posted Mar 6, 2009 |
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