Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 40%
| Surrogates (2009) | "
Good ideas rub up against bad ideas, and the result is a movie that is worth a look but could have been much more." Posted Oct 31, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 12%
| Couples Retreat (2009) | "
Somewhere in all of this, there is the potential for a pretty good comedy, but this movie isn't it." Posted Oct 31, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 15%
| Year One (2009) | "
A buddy comedy that takes a relentlessly lowbrow look at the Book of Genesis." Posted Jun 24, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 94%
| Star Trek (2009) | "
For those who want a thrilling ride, Star Trek should do the trick. It has just enough old-school stuff to keep longtime fans intrigued, even if a bit disappointed." Posted May 7, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 83%
| I Love You, Man (2009) | "
A bit of a mess, but it's funny more often than not, and at times it has real heart. If you can handle the language and gross gags, it could be good for a date or a guys' night out." Posted Mar 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 33%
| Knowing (2009) | "
The film takes our expectations and rattles them around a bit, and it may be just the sort of thing that can tease us into active thought about what we believe and why." Posted Mar 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 60%
| Valkyrie (2008) | "
To Singer's credit, the film is remarkably suspenseful, even though we know pretty much how it will end." Posted Dec 25, 2008 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 62%
| The Reader (2008) | "
Moviegoers may find themselves unable to dismiss the film outright, but also unable to put a finger on what the movie is really about, or how it should have been about it." Posted Dec 23, 2008 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 84%
| Wendy and Lucy (2008) | "
You have to admire Wendy's determination to keep forging ahead, little by little, despite the seriously disappointing setbacks that keep coming her way." Posted Dec 23, 2008 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 25%
| Bedtime Stories (2008) | "
For parents who aren't Sandler fans, Bedtime Stories may seem like just another dumb comedy that their kids will drag them to over the holidays." Posted Dec 23, 2008 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 20%
| The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) | "
Caught between the need to bring the material up to date and the pressure to recycle familiar elements from the original, even when they don't seem to fit." Posted Dec 16, 2008 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 88%
| Bolt (2008) | "
Funny, charming, and a feast for the eyes. It is also quite probably the best animated film made by Disney in years." Posted Nov 20, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 64%
| Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) | "
Definitely not a film for the ages, and you might not even remember it by the end of the year, but as it is, it's a reasonably pleasant, amusing and diverting bit of animation." Posted Nov 7, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 64%
| The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008) | "
It prompts us to admit, however sadly, that childlike innocence is not sufficient in a world like ours%u2014that we need to be wise as serpents even as we remain innocent as doves." Posted Nov 7, 2008 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 92%
| Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) | "
There is something infectious and unique about Poppy's joy, and Leigh seems to have caught the bug. Poppy can't make everyone happy, but for many of us, she'll do all right." Posted Oct 24, 2008 |
Rotten 2/4
| N/A | Billy: The Early Years (2008) | "
Hammer does a credible Graham impression, but if the script isn't up to snuff, none of the other stuff matters. And this particular screenplay is nowhere close to that." Posted Oct 10, 2008 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 28%
| Eagle Eye (2008) | "
If you have a taste for this sort of nonsense, then all this hyper-implausibility is actually kind of fun." Posted Sep 29, 2008 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 40%
| Fireproof (2008) | "
After a shaky start and a steady middle, the film ends on a genuinely moving note; the folks at Sherwood Baptist Church have made their most impressive movie yet." Posted Sep 29, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 66%
| Save Me (2007) | "
Where other films would have demonized Christians outright, Save Me presents a world where gays and Christians can go their separate ways while wishing each other well." Posted Sep 5, 2008 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 82%
| Tropic Thunder (2008) | "
A bizarre little film that manages to be both an exercise in tasteless humor and a commentary on Hollywood's tastelessness." Posted Aug 15, 2008 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 68%
| Pineapple Express (2008) | "
The noisier and bloodier it gets, the more you notice how uninspired the movie is. If you're high, this might not be a problem. But for the rest of us, it's a bit of a drag." Posted Aug 8, 2008 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 37%
| Swing Vote (2008) | "
Near the end, Bud admits that his situation used to be funny, but now it isn't any more. The same, alas, can be said of the movie as a whole." Posted Aug 1, 2008 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 37%
| Space Chimps (2008) | "
The movie is so routine that you welcome offbeat things like an alien who makes incredibly high-pitched noises. It's the sort of thing that might jolt you out of your sleep." Posted Jul 18, 2008 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 61%
| Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008) | "
At times, Journey has an enjoyably stupid feel. At other times, it's simply stupid. But it does have one thing going for it: being released in 3D in many theaters." Posted Jul 11, 2008 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 72%
| Wanted (2008) | "
The plot has its share of holes, but for those who like shutting off their brains but discovering they might be thinking deeply anyway, Wanted is a worthy diversion." Posted Jul 10, 2008 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 36%
| You Don't Mess With The Zohan (2008) | "
Any positive messages are practically drowned out by the film's relentless crude humor, much of which is too dumb to be all that funny." Posted Jun 6, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 66%
| The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) | "
In steering the film closer to his own vision, director Adamson steers it away from C.S. Lewis's, and so it loses some of the book's core spiritual themes." Posted May 18, 2008 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 100%
| Unsettled (2008) | "
Unsettled raises all sorts of messy but important questions%u2014and it does so by immersing the viewer in the personal experiences of others in a most compassionate way." Posted May 9, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 80%
| Standard Operating Procedure (2008) | "
The wounds of Abu Ghraib are still so fresh, we may not be ready to transcend them just yet." Posted Apr 25, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 64%
| The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) | "
All of this is packaged fairly entertainingly, and the action sequences are a marvel to behold, expertly combining physical stunts with computerized effects." Posted Apr 18, 2008 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 84%
| Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) | "
Raunchy humor and genuine emotion typical of Apatow's films, but it lacks the moralizing and social commentary found in 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up" Posted Apr 18, 2008 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 37%
| Street Kings (2008) | "
While it is not quite of the same caliber as L. A. Confidential and Dark Blue, it works well enough as a standard meat-and-potatoes example of its genre." Posted Apr 11, 2008 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 9%
| 10,000 B.C. (2008) | "
It promises spectacle and action but fails to deliver all that much of either, and ends up being so dull it can't even be enjoyed for its camp value." Posted Mar 7, 2008 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 16%
| Jumper (2008) | "
The film . . . ends up promising more than it can deliver. For all its epic locations, Jumper remains pretty small-scale." Posted Feb 14, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 73%
| The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (2007) | "
The film does affirm the basic message of the best kind of fairy tale: as with water, so with other things: there is more to this world than what we see on the surface." Posted Jan 4, 2008 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 31%
| National Treasure 2 : Book of Secrets (2007) | "
You will probably want to spend some time with Wikipedia after watching this film, and you may never look at famous monuments and presidential furniture in quite the same way again" Posted Dec 21, 2007 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 66%
| The Kite Runner (2007) | "
There is a compelling movie in this somewhere, but the film as made lacks a certain momentum." Posted Dec 14, 2007 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 82%
| Atonement (2007) | "
It taises important questions about the relationship between honesty and kindness, and ends on a powerful note that asks whether there can ever be true mercy without, well, truth." Posted Dec 7, 2007 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 42%
| The Golden Compass (2007) | "
The Golden Compass wraps things up in less than two hours -- zipping from one plot point to the next -- and it feels rather rushed as a result." Posted Dec 6, 2007 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 93%
| Juno (2007) | "
Juno has an implicit pro-life sensibility: Life is life, and deserves to be nurtured, even -- if not especially -- when everything around it is broken." Posted Dec 5, 2007 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 38%
| August Rush (2007) | "
A light, fanciful touch at times bolsters its "fairy tale" feel, but at times the story incorporates just enough "realistic" elements to drag the whole thing back down to earth." Posted Nov 21, 2007 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 27%
| Lions for Lambs (2007) | "
If there was ever a film that not only preached to the choir but threatened to put it to sleep, this is it." Posted Nov 9, 2007 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 31%
| Martian Child (2007) | "
The film feels lazily conventional. There are truths to be had here, but much of the film still rings false." Posted Nov 2, 2007 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 81%
| Lars And The Real Girl (2007) | "
The film encourages us to look beyond the surface when we are dealing with people, and it just might be one of the more heart-warming and redemptive movies this year." Posted Oct 26, 2007 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 14%
| The Ten Commandments (2007) | "
As a straightforward introducition to the biblical story, it is arguably better than some of the splashier or more sensational movies out there." Posted Oct 19, 2007 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 34%
| Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) | "
The Golden Age recycles much of the same basic material without offering any real insight into the woman or the times in which she lived" Posted Oct 12, 2007 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 27%
| The Game Plan (2007) | "
As comedies go, The Game Plan is srictly by the playbook, but Johnson is game for anything, and he does a fine job of entertaining the child in all of us." Posted Sep 29, 2007 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 13%
| Mr. Woodcock (2007) | "
If this film were one of his students, Mr. Woodcock would have every reason to tell it to take another lap." Posted Sep 14, 2007 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 17%
| The Last Legion (2007) | "
This movie, for all its quasi-realism, is never as inspiring, interesting, or disturbing as the stories to which it points." Posted Aug 18, 2007 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 19%
| The Invasion (2007) | "
The bigger problem with this film is that it simply isn't very scary." Posted Aug 18, 2007 |
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