Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 88%
| The Princess and the Frog (2009) | "
It’s gaily colored, handmade art, with a straight stylistic link to old Baby-Boom offerings of the ’50s and ’60s." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Nov 25, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 79%
| Me and Orson Welles (2009) | "
I'm getting very weary of filmmakers making up conversations, inventing motives and creating events so that their "based on a real story" movie can get to "the real truth." Because, actually, there's only one real truth." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Nov 24, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 70%
| The Road (2009) | "
Viggo Mortensen plays "The Man" (in the anonymous, Everyman sense, not in the "Stick it to the…" blaxploitation sense). Charlize Theron is "Wife." Kodi Smit-McPhee is "The Boy." And I'm The Audience, and I'm annoyed." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Nov 24, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 85%
| Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) | "
Even when the movie is not working, it’s never less than eye-catching. It’s also a perfect setting for Cage’s curiously compelling art." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 82%
| Broken Embraces (2009) | "
There is the beloved and the lover. The first moves in shining beauty, and the second envies every ray of light that has the gift of kissing her. This is how it is in obsessions. It’s how it is in the movies, too." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 85%
| Red Cliff (2009) | "
What we’re seeing isn’t all that Woo intended. It’s merely a strong reminder of just how good he can be." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 30%
| The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) | "
It’s slow and not particularly fulfilling -- a half-an-hour or so of drama stretched out for about two." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 92%
| Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) | "
Dahl’s adult approach to children merges beautifully with the filmmaker’s child’s-eye view of adults." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 90%
| The Messenger (2009) | "
What The Messenger has going for it is some sober, straightforward direction from Oren Moverman and a few strong performances." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 59%
| Pirate Radio (2009) | "
If rock ’n’ roll is about joy and rebellion, then a movie about it should be joyful and rebellious, too. But Pirate Radio is staid and stolid." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 38%
| 2012 (2009) | "
Actors say silly lines with deadly seriousness. Exposition is wielded like a sledgehammer. All you can do is grit your teeth and wait for the next wave of destruction." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 47%
| The Box (2009) | "
It’s not slick, standard sci-fi, sure -- and that’s a good thing." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 18%
| The Fourth Kind (2009) | "
As the movie repeatedly insists, it’s only presenting this information; it’s up to you to decide what to believe. Well, I believe this was a waste of about an hour and a half." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 91%
| Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire (2009) | "
The whole thing begins to feel like The Color Purple as rewritten for a poetry slam, heaping on the abuse like a horror film." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 55%
| Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009) | "
It's nice of Hollywood to go to all the trouble but, honestly, Dickens doesn't need the help." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 16%
| Gentlemen Broncos (2009) | "
The filmmakers must have been the most sophisticated wits in the BYU cafeteria. I bet they did really funny impressions of the foreign-exchange students behind their backs." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Oct 29, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 88%
| The House of the Devil (2009) | "
A slightly faster set-up, and slightly more drawn-out climax, would make this even better." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Oct 29, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 80%
| Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009) | "
There’s no sign of sickness here, no sense of an artist past his prime. Instead, you see a performer at his peak." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Oct 28, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 20%
| Amelia (2009) | "
Who was Amelia Earhart, really? It's a good question. Unfortunately, it's one beyond Amelia." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 38%
| Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) | "
The movie has no sense of magic or fun; the characters never seem to have anything at stake. It's just a lot of computer graphics and gleefully hamming-it-up actors." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 70%
| Where the Wild Things Are (2009) | "
It’s a qualified pleasure, now, to say that the movie is not a disaster -- in fact, parts of it are miraculous -- and that it is still, very much, a Spike Jonze movie." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 58%
| Trucker (2009) | "
Even if the film dutifully hits all the old notes, its characters are interesting, its California desert setting is novel, and its cast works hard. And not only is its star trying something new -- she’s getting it wonderfully right." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 78%
| Bronson (2009) | "
Refn tells his story in a gripping, genre-breaking way, introducing broad theatricality and surreal animation. In some scenes, Peterson delivers monologues in a clown’s whiteface; in others, we’re in an asylum as mad as its patients." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 34%
| St. Trinian's (2009) | "
It’s an impressive bit of slumming by some name actors revisiting a childhood favorite -- a bit as if Hollywood had somehow convinced William Hurt to help restart Lost in Space, or Robert De Niro to do a Bullwinkle movie. Oh, wait." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 56%
| The Invention of Lying (2009) | "
The small-town Massachusetts settings are certainly fresh, and some of the involuntary confessions are fun. But, all in all, it’s not a great comedy. And that’s no lie." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 82%
| Whip It (2009) | "
It’s as if Napoleon Dynamite and Little Miss Sunshine strapped on skates and sailed right into some pat Hollywood comedy." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Oct 1, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 86%
| A Serious Man (2009) | "
So which is it: a simply pointless existence? Or a world so complicated, we can’t grasp the point? If you think the Coens are going to try and answer that question, you haven’t seen many of their movies." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Oct 1, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 72%
| The Boys Are Back (2009) | "
It sounds like the start of a Neil Simon sitcom, or some Dennis Quaid movie for Disney, with Rene Russo sweeping in during the second act to bring some order. Actually, that might have been okay. At least it would have had a few jokes." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 65%
| Coco Before Chanel (2009) | "
In the end, even the style and structure of the film are tributes to the great designer herself -- clean, classic and unadorned. And completely unapologetic." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 18%
| The Other Man (2009) | "
Before long, the characters, which director Richard Eyre adapted from a Bernhard Schlink short story, cease to be people and start to become devices." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 35%
| Blind Date (2009) | "
Ultimately, the joke goes on too long -- for the couple and for us -- and the film fades away before the final fade-out." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 28%
| Fame (2009) | "
Pleasant, undemanding entertainment for drama-club kids and the people who love them -- a family-friendly salute to young performing artists." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 39%
| Surrogates (2009) | "
The script is by the team that gave us Catwoman and the last two Terminator movies, which tells you all you need to know." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 75%
| Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) | "
Is everything always the bank’s fault? Is it only the guys in suits who can get greedy? In Moore’s world, yes, it is." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Sep 24, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 76%
| The Informant! (2009) | "
The Informant! is too clever by half -- and yet, at the same time, not quite as smart as it thinks." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Sep 17, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 95%
| Crude (2009) | "
The film is fair (which is different from being objective) and works hard at representing both points of view. That it's already been denounced in some quarters is only proof he has the oil companies worried." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Sep 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 56%
| 9 (2009) | "
As a late-summer treat for adults with a childlike sense of wonder -- or older children with a grown-up sense of adventure -- 9 is a definite 8 out of 10." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Sep 8, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 31%
| Tickling Leo (2009) | "
Briefly in theaters now, Tickling Leo -- the title makes little sense -- will undoubtedly disappear quickly, only to have a faltering second life at small film festivals. You'll miss little if you pass it by." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Sep 3, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 49%
| Taking Woodstock (2009) | "
Too much of Taking Woodstock seems barely sketched out." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Aug 28, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 85%
| World's Greatest Dad (2009) | "
World's Greatest Dad is a twisted comedy that refuses to let any assumption rest in peace -- including the one that every dearly departed is really dear at all." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 86%
| The Baader Meinhof Complex (2009) | "
This dramatic film documents a decade of near-anarchy in Germany, beginning with a brutal 1967 police riot." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 9%
| Post Grad (2009) | "
The story that writer Kelly Fremon wants to tell in Post Grad -- recent college grad strikes out at finding a job, moves back home with her wacky family and finds true love -- is pretty tired." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 70%
| My One and Only (2009) | "
Zellweger isn't dreadful -- in fact, she's more appealing than she's been in years -- but she's not quite good enough. Neither is the film." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 88%
| Inglourious Basterds (2009) | "
It's these fine sequences that can make you truly regret Tarantino's snarky, in-joke impulses, not to mention his arrogant -- perhaps even dangerous -- lack of concern with the story's moral dimensions." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 86%
| Yasukuni (2009) | "
Directed by Chinese filmmaker Li Ying, it's an impressionistic documentary that concentrates on the Yasukuni shrine, a Japanese religious memorial to soldiers who died for the emperor." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 91%
| Ponyo (2009) | "
Miyazaki's artwork can be lovely -- and the delicate, watery colors of Ponyo are particularly well done -- but he's still a slave to the genre's peculiar traditions." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 77%
| It Might Get Loud (2009) | "
Even longtime music fans are bound to pick up a fresh fact or two. But if you really want to enjoy this music, close your door, crank up a CD and whip out that air guitar." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 38%
| The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) | "
The whole thing feels arbitrary. Henry and Clare's love is bedeviled not by anything they've done or have any control over, so the drama fails to build." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 80%
| Bandslam (2009) | "
Bandslam is hardly the definition of a great movie, but it is pleasant and bright and doesn't insult its audience's intelligence. And that's as rare and welcome as a well-crafted three-minute pop song." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 90%
| District 9 (2009) | "
The wildest science-fiction film to come out all year." — Newark Star-Ledger Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
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