Fresh 4/5
| Rotten %
| Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (2009) | "
Glenn Gould remains elusive, the self-invented parts jostling for time with the occasional peek behind the curtain. Still, they're all pieces of a puzzle, and Genius Within arguably boasts more pieces than any other previous documented look at the man." — Jam! Movies Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 87%
| Red Cliff (2009) | "
It is a very focused movie, centred on the chesslike manoeuvres of a few key characters, and nicely paced with some quiet, almost Zen-like moments." — Jam! Movies Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 84%
| Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) | "
Herzog's acting advice to Cage to "release the pig" (ostensibly a Bavarian saying) has resulted in perhaps the most memorable performance of Cage's career, and certainly the most over the top." — Jam! Movies Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 22%
| I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell (2009) | "
Warning: moviegoers with no pre-existing predisposition to find other people's humiliation -- usually women's -- hilarious may feel the need for a shower afterwards." — Jam! Movies Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 60%
| Pirate Radio (2009) | "
As it is, it's an okay time-waster at best, one that will leave some catchy music stuck in your head." — Jam! Movies Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
— | Rotten 21%
| The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009) | "
You can't call Duffy's film style original. But he's clever in what he steals." — Jam! Movies Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 50%
| Antichrist (2009) | "
For those who care, it should generate a fairly spirited post-screening debate on the subject of "What's wrong with this guy?"" — Jam! Movies Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 37%
| 2012 (2009) | "
2012 does answer the question of what a filmmaker with no great attachment to logic does when he can't choose between instruments of destruction. The answer: he exploits them all." — Jam! Movies Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| N/A | When We Were Boys (2009) | "
It's such a rich and complex environment, I found myself aching at times for a Jane Goodall to explain the behaviour the way she did the chimps at Gombe." — Jam! Movies Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 18%
| The Fourth Kind (2009) | "
There is a lot of half-baked soap opera wrapped around the hypnosis scenes." — Jam! Movies Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 73%
| More Than a Game (2009) | "
The story itself would be largely untold if Belman hadn't wheedled his way into their trust, filming his own footage and being granted use of a wealth of home-movie material." — Jam! Movies Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 25%
| The Collector (2009) | "
By shaving the plot and motivation to almost nothing, director Marcus Dunstan is pretty much fessing up his understanding that all anybody was ever interested in in the Saw films is the torture porn." — Jam! Movies Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Rotten 37%
| Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) | "
It's tween/teen-lit for boys, delivered with a wink, and some remarkably light humour, considering the morbid plot." — Jam! Movies Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 15%
| Stan Helsing (2009) | "
How low can the genre-spoof genre go?" — Jam! Movies Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| N/A | Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam (2009) | "
A documentary that -- like its protagonist -- isn't quite sure what it wants to say, but has enough Spinal Tap moments to at least loudly entertain." — Jam! Movies Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 94%
| Good Hair (2009) | "
In the end, all we're sure of is that vanity makes people do idiotic things." — Jam! Movies Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 93%
| Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg (2009) | "
Stylistically, Aviva Kempner's documentary is no ground-breaker. But its old-school talking-heads/narration/footage format suits its subject matter, and the remarkable story needs no window dressing." — Jam! Movies Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| N/A | Haeundae (2009) | "
Haeundae is a cheesily melodramatic popcorn movie that plays best if -- unlike us wei-guks (Westerners) -- you haven't seen it played out a hundred times before." — Jam! Movies Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 75%
| Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) | "
Ultimately, Capitalism: A Love Story doesn't break ground, but it's 100% Moore and a little bit more." — Jam! Movies Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 89%
| Zombieland (2009) | "
This is one wild ride, cobbled together from bits and pieces of rides we've been on before, and plugged into a 220-volt outlet." — Jam! Movies Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 80%
| Unmistaken Child (2009) | "
At once a compelling story and a meditative experience -- not something you'll find in Hollywood karma." — Jam! Movies Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| N/A | Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day (2009) | "
For this swan song, themes such as relationships and fate and inevitability are actually explored. Again, yes, in a Trailer Park Boys movie." — Jam! Movies Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 72%
| The Boys Are Back (2009) | "
The young actors are actually the best part of the movie, McNulty especially, but also McKay, whose Harry is surly without being utterly obnoxious." — Jam! Movies Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 28%
| Fame (2009) | "
A bad film that at times is sublimely cheesy." — Jam! Movies Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 66%
| Dead Snow (2009) | "
We get so used to foreign filmmakers giving us original twists on genres like horror it's disappointing to be reminded that they can be banal and derivative too." — Jam! Movies Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 18%
| Love Happens (2009) | "
Nobody seems real enough to care about." — Jam! Movies Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 63%
| Extract (2009) | "
Extract is consistently underplayed (not a surprise, since this is the director's fallback mode), but underplayed and unfocused is a bad combination." — Jam! Movies Posted Sep 4, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 21%
| Halloween II (2009) | "
Zombie really doesn't escape the genre conventions." — Jam! Movies Posted Sep 4, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| N/A | You Might As Well Live (2009) | "
The entire experience of You Might As Well Live is like one of those "Dark Comedy" nights at a sketch club, written on the fly by the most demented people in the room." — Jam! Movies Posted Aug 28, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 56%
| Enlighten Up! (2009) | "
Weirdly, it's the documentarian who seems to unravel throughout." — Jam! Movies Posted Aug 28, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 95%
| In the Loop (2009) | "
It's one verbal skirmish after another, dominated by Capaldi, whose character is smoothly offensive and determined, dropping F-bombs with natural ease." — Jam! Movies Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 91%
| Ponyo (2009) | "
Ponyo is a visually arresting work by an anime master, and both cute enough and suspenseful enough to keep pre-schoolers in their seats." — Jam! Movies Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 100%
| Idiots and Angels (2008) | "
Seldom has a black heart been served up so vividly." — Jam! Movies Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 57%
| Died Young, Stayed Pretty (2009) | "
This "movement" needs context, narration, history, archival footage." — Jam! Movies Posted Aug 12, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 95%
| The Cove (2009) | "
The Cove is advocacy filmmaking at its best, a project whose success will not be measured in box-office dollars, but by the waves it creates." — Jam! Movies Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 96%
| Burma VJ (2009) | "
Ostergaard could have just thrown this together like coleslaw and Burma VJ still would be an important documentary." — Jam! Movies Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 60%
| Paper Heart (2009) | "
Charlyne Yi is so darn cute and self-effacing, I can just about forgive a further battering of the line between what's real and what's scripted." — Jam! Movies Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 74%
| Julie & Julia (2009) | "
Streep as Child is a magnet who draws everybody to her in every minute of screen time." — Jam! Movies Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 26%
| Shrink (2009) | "
The performances will hold your attention -- Dallas Roberts is particularly manic and fetching in his role -- and the inside-Hollywood setting is a bit of a guilty pleasure." — Jam! Movies Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 86%
| Fifty Dead Men Walking (2009) | "
It's the chemistry-fueled give-and-take between Sturgess and Kingsley that gives Fifty Dead Men Walking its soul." — Jam! Movies Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Rotten 3/5
| Fresh 68%
| Funny People (2009) | "
The well is so deep, audiences come out of the movie repeating favourite lines. Unfortunately, they also come out looking at their watches." — Jam! Movies Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Rotten 55%
| Orphan (2009) | "
The stomach-knotting is kept taut throughout, and the acting is first-rate -- none more than Fuhrman, who seems to have the self-awareness and skill to be one of the best child actors around." — Jam! Movies Posted Jul 24, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 14%
| The Ugly Truth (2009) | "
The Ugly Truth isn't really as truthful as it thinks, and its "brave" pushing of the envelope of taste isn't even as transgressive as your typical HBO series." — Jam! Movies Posted Jul 24, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Rotten 53%
| The Stoning of Soraya M. (2009) | "
At its best, The Stoning of Soraya M is a snapshot of how evil can spread among the utterly normal, the well-intentioned and the (at least to them) righteous." — Jam! Movies Posted Jul 17, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 62%
| The Girlfriend Experience (2009) | "
Too much prurient interest would tend to detract from the important statement Soderbergh thinks he's making about the economy and society." — Jam! Movies Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Rotten 47%
| Whatever Works (2009) | "
Larry David is a keeper." — Jam! Movies Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 92%
| Tokyo Sonata (2009) | "
Kagawa does the heavy dramatic lifting in Tokyo Sonata, convincingly portraying a good man flailing against reality. But Koizumi is similarly effective, and the brooding child actor Kai is also top-notch." — Jam! Movies Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| N/A | The Green Chain (2009) | "
Somewhere, buried in the morass of words that is The Green Chain, there is a three-act structure and some interesting character arcs -- useful stuff if they ever decide to make a real movie out of this movie." — Jam! Movies Posted Jun 22, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 10%
| Ghosted (2009) | "
Feels like an overwritten fringe festival play, performed outdoors, with a single camera recording it for posterity." — Jam! Movies Posted Jun 19, 2009 |
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