Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 70%
| The Road (2009) | "
Already, Hillcoat’s film has divided critics on the international festival circuit. The one constant is the praise, rightly so, for Mortensen." — Chicago Tribune Posted Nov 24, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 8%
| Old Dogs (2009) | "
Does no one know how to film physical comedy anymore?" — Chicago Tribune Posted Nov 24, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 29%
| Ninja Assassin (2009) | "
McTeigue can barely shoot straight, and the editing is so hack-y, you have to take the stunts and fight choreography on faith." — Chicago Tribune Posted Nov 24, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 90%
| The Messenger (2009) | "
Some jobs are dirtier than others, and after seeing director and co-writer Oren Moverman’s beautifully acted new film The Messenger, you’ll be better acquainted with some of the most grueling work a human being can be called upon to perform." — Chicago Tribune Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 73%
| The Blind Side (2009) | "
The Blind Side fumbles a remarkable, true story of an African-American product of the West Memphis projects who ended up at a Christian school and in the care of a wealthy white family, and then went on to professional football glory." — Chicago Tribune Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 85%
| Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) | "
Herzog has found his ideal interpreter, a performer whose truth lies deep in the artifice of performance: ladies and gentlemen, Nicolas Cage, at his finest." — Chicago Tribune Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 30%
| The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) | "
Wisely New Moon brings back screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, who continues to prove she has a much better way with English than the author of the books, Stephenie Meyer." — Chicago Tribune Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 59%
| Pirate Radio (2009) | "
It just sits there in the water." — At the Movies Posted Nov 16, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 72%
| That Evening Sun (2009) | "
[Holbrook is] wonderful." — At the Movies Posted Nov 16, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 22%
| The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009) | "
Writer-director Troy Duffy needs to YouTube himself a new idea or two, because his variations on themes provided by Quentin Tarantino and Guy "RocknRolla" Ritchie are pure mold." — Chicago Tribune Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 88%
| The House of the Devil (2009) | "
Even the familiar tropes of The House of the Devil are familiar in the right way, like an old, bloodstained sweater." — Chicago Tribune Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 38%
| 2012 (2009) | "
I quite enjoyed the experience, at least the first five or six hours of it. 2012 is not simply the last disaster movie you ever need to see. It's the last movie you ever need to see." — Chicago Tribune Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 47%
| The Box (2009) | "
I think Kelly is a very inventive writer and I think he is his own worst enemy behind the camera." — At the Movies Posted Nov 9, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 54%
| The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) | "
It’s a disappointment." — At the Movies Posted Nov 9, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 18%
| The Fourth Kind (2009) | "
No, no, no, no." — At the Movies Posted Nov 9, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 91%
| Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire (2009) | "
This is an exceptional film about nearly unendurable circumstances, endured. You will come out the other side of it a markedly enriched filmgoer." — Chicago Tribune Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 69%
| (Untitled) (2009) | "
Has the punctuation and the thinness of a gallery wall label." — Chicago Tribune Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 55%
| Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009) | "
Just when you give up on it, usually in the middle of its latest, extraneous, gyroscoping thrill-ride sequence, Zemeckis reminds you that he’s capable of true visual dynamism, enhanced but not wholly dictated by the digital landscape he so clearly adores." — Chicago Tribune Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 78%
| Bronson (2009) | "
“Nuffin’ wonky about my upbringing,” Bronson says, early on. Nothing wonky about Hardy’s performance, either." — Chicago Tribune Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 91%
| Harmony and Me (2009) | "
In a flat, dry affect, the movie sings the breakup blues." — Chicago Tribune Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 80%
| Yes Men Fix the World (2009) | "
When a British Channel 4 interviewer upbraids Bichlbaum for providing massively false hopes to countless Bhopal residents, I found myself siding with the interviewer, not the prankster with the alleged higher moral purpose." — Chicago Tribune Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| N/A | 21 and a Wake-Up (2009) | "
McIntyre's heart and soul are all over the film, but he's just beginning to learn the rudiments of filmmaking, and sad to say, the location work doesn't pay off." — Chicago Tribune Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 100%
| The Maid (2009) | "
It’s beautifully acted." — At the Movies Posted Nov 2, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 16%
| Gentlemen Broncos (2009) | "
Everything that basically worked in Napoloeon Dynamite -- the behind-the-beat timing, the arch eccentricity -- it’s all misjudged here." — At the Movies Posted Nov 2, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 94%
| In Search Of Beethoven (2009) | "
Grabsky’s appreciation of Ludwig van Beethoven follows the familiar contours, but it pays attention to the humanizing specifics that bring us closer to the subject." — Chicago Tribune Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 80%
| Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009) | "
Naivete, calculation and all, it looks like it would've been a helluva show, complete with eco-consciousness-raising, an onstage bulldozer and 3-D Thriller footage, newly created to dazzle audiences left high and dry by fate and Jackson's demise." — Chicago Tribune Posted Oct 28, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 26%
| Motherhood (2009) | "
Motherhood gives upper-middle-class whining a bad name." — At the Movies Posted Oct 26, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 38%
| Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) | "
This is one of the worst films of the year." — At the Movies Posted Oct 26, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 82%
| Black Dynamite (2009) | "
Even though it sounds funnier than it plays, between the song and the nun chucks, I was happy." — At the Movies Posted Oct 26, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Rotten 49%
| Antichrist (2009) | "
I'm inclined to agree with a colleague who told me he could swing with Antichrist when it was simply unstable but couldn't go with it when it turned insane. It's a useful distinction. And yet the first hour...is pretty stunning." — Chicago Tribune Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 48%
| Astro Boy (2009) | "
I wish the film version of Astro Boy provided a stronger antidote to mediocrity....the script takes its sweet time establishing its rules and locale, then rolls in one too many subplots." — Chicago Tribune Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 20%
| Amelia (2009) | "
A director can do only so much with a script...that feels like it's on the runway, waiting, even when it's up in the air." — Chicago Tribune Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 34%
| St. Trinian's (2009) | "
Firth looks like he’s changing his mind about being in this movie WHILE the cameras are running." — At the Movies Posted Oct 19, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 93%
| The Damned United (2009) | "
Sheen is wonderful." — At the Movies Posted Oct 19, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 42%
| New York, I Love You (2009) | "
The film only feels like two or three different sort of approaches are represented. They don’t really feel like widely different attacks on the material." — At the Movies Posted Oct 19, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 58%
| Trucker (2009) | "
Most of Trucker comes off like a sincere but totally artificial slice of life." — At the Movies Posted Oct 19, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 70%
| Where the Wild Things Are (2009) | "
There’s a certain amount of pain in Where the Wild Things Are, but it’s completely earned. The movie fills you with all sorts of feelings, and I suspect children will recognize those feelings as their own." — Chicago Tribune Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 94%
| An Education (2009) | "
The next Audrey Hepburn? The new Kate Winslet? British actress Carey Mulligan has drawn some pretty bold comparisons for her performance in the charming new coming of age story An Education." — At the Movies Posted Oct 12, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 83%
| Paranormal Activity (2009) | "
I say see it, before the inevitable overhyping begins, along with the inevitable backlash." — At the Movies Posted Oct 12, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 86%
| A Serious Man (2009) | "
A Serious Man has a script, a clarity and a tone that come from craftsmen and wits (dour ones, but wits all the same) at the peak of their game." — Chicago Tribune Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 94%
| Good Hair (2009) | "
Rock takes his Good Hair job as a documentarian seriously enough to be interesting, but not so seriously that the film groans with earnestness." — Chicago Tribune Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 12%
| Couples Retreat (2009) | "
Though I enjoy nearly everyone on-screen in Couples Retreat, I found it pretty meager and more than a little depressing." — Chicago Tribune Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 56%
| The Invention of Lying (2009) | "
I think the first half hour would be almost impossible to sustain because it is so inspired." — At the Movies Posted Oct 5, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 73%
| More Than a Game (2009) | "
Around the halfway point when the LeBron James crew runs into some adversity beyond the socioeconomic circumstances that get short shrift in the movie, it starts getting pretty good." — At the Movies Posted Oct 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 82%
| Whip It (2009) | "
It succeeds because of the emotional rather than comic payoffs, such as a late scene between Page and Harden, where daughter and mother, after a rough patch, hit on an unexpectedly serious subject." — Chicago Tribune Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 75%
| Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) | "
While it’s amusing to watch Moore on camera plaster the entrance to the New York Stock Exchange with crime-scene tape, when Moore goes through his customary security-guard harassment in another segment, it’s hard not to think: Here we go again." — Chicago Tribune Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 89%
| Zombieland (2009) | "
Warts, entrails and all, I had a ball at Zombieland. It’s 81 minutes of my kind of stupid." — Chicago Tribune Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 50%
| The Providence Effect (2009) | "
Adams is well worth a movie, and this one’s engaging as far as it goes. But for the film to be truer to the school’s reputation, it would have had to dig a little deeper." — Chicago Tribune Posted Oct 1, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 65%
| Coco Before Chanel (2009) | "
Coco Chanel was a lot more complicated than you'd guess from this thin slice of over-decorated cake." — At the Movies Posted Sep 28, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 72%
| The Boys Are Back (2009) | "
I didn’t think there was a minute of truth in this thing." — At the Movies Posted Sep 28, 2009 |
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