Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 85%
| Red Cliff (2009) | "
From landscape shots that have the serene beauty of a Han Dynasty watercolor, to its dramatic naval engagements and thundering cavalry charges, this is magnificent filmmaking, and a magnificent film." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Nov 25, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 92%
| Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) | "
Witty and wonderful, Fantastic Mr. Fox is the perfect Thanksgiving entertainment..." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Nov 24, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 70%
| The Road (2009) | "
I cannot think of another film this year that has stayed with me, its images of dread and fear -- and yes, perhaps hope -- kicking around like such a terrible dream." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Nov 24, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 59%
| Pirate Radio (2009) | "
Pirate Radio takes a great story -- the hugely popular offshore radio stations that illegally broadcast pop and rock in 1960s Britain -- and turns it into an aggressively irritating floating frat-party romp." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 44%
| Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (2009) | "
Offers is the opportunity for a bunch of actors, many of them tethered to TV series, to deliver theatrical monologues pulsing with misogyny and narcissism. It's like second-rate Neil Labute." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 69%
| (Untitled) (2009) | "
(Untitled) asks a lot of intriguing questions -- more intriguing than the film itself." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 16%
| Gentlemen Broncos (2009) | "
Where do you go after rocket-propelled deer statuary, cyclops warriors in golf carts, and Mike White with a dubbed Irish accent?" — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 94%
| Revanche (2009) | "
There's real biblical tragedy, and redemption, in Spielmann's fine, sad, suspenseful film." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 18%
| The Fourth Kind (2009) | "
A mildly scary, totally meaningless excursion into the realms of psychological horror and alien-abduction conspiracies." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 54%
| The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) | "
The Men Who Stare at Goats has a glorious good time satirizing the extravagant lengths to which the military and intelligence establishments will go if they think there's a payoff at the other end." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 49%
| Antichrist (2009) | "
What is Von Trier trying to say?" — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 94%
| Good Hair (2009) | "
Good Hair is certainly no arid anthropological study. Rock's queries are loose and quippy, but his instincts are as sharp as an investigative journalist's." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 70%
| Where the Wild Things Are (2009) | "
With Sendak's blessing, and with the aid of writer Dave Eggers, who teamed on the screenplay, Jonze has transformed the iconic picture book into a satisfyingly moody, melancholy, madcap live-action romp." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 22%
| Law Abiding Citizen (2009) | "
That the film, directed in swift strokes by F. Gary Gray from a screenplay credited to Kurt Wimmer, doesn't really work -- unrelentingly grim, unintentionally funny -- is almost beside the point. It's a wild concept." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| N/A | Cartel (2009) | "
The Cartel does what good reporters are supposed to do: follow the money." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 95%
| Crude (2009) | "
Powerful and powerfully upsetting." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 72%
| The Boys Are Back (2009) | "
Relationships -- between men and women, fathers and sons -- are more complicated in real life, and The Boys Are Back deftly acknowledges that fact." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 89%
| Zombieland (2009) | "
From its inventive opening credits to a surprise cameo and accompanying laugh-riot Ghostbusters homage, the zom-com Zombieland delivers gore and gags in equally satisfying spurts, so to speak." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Oct 1, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 70%
| American Casino (2009) | "
The documentary details in no-nonsense, talking-head style how commercial and investment banks moved high-risk mortgages out into the economy, dumping debt and reaping profits in the process." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Oct 1, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 69%
| Paris (2009) | "
Perhaps it's time for a moratorium on movies where the trajectories of various people intersect, often portentously, across the tableau of a big city." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Oct 1, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 89%
| No Impact Man (2009) | "
Like reality TV, there are moments of drama that have an aura of awkward self-consciousness about them and incidents that feel, if not staged, at the very least orchestrated, amped up. But you have to hand it to Beavan and Conlin." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Sep 24, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 88%
| Amreeka (2009) | "
Although the drama heads on a predictable course, Faour brings intelligence and humor to her performance and Muallem, as the smart adolescent turned surly and scared, is likewise sharp." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Sep 24, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 100%
| Still Walking (2009) | "
Pitch-perfect and profoundly moving..." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Sep 24, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 63%
| Extract (2009) | "
A mix of coolheaded cultural satire and anxiety-inducing workplace and marital shenanigans, Extract is an odd project. It's smarter than most of the comedies out there right now, but that doesn't necessarily make it funnier." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Sep 3, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 85%
| World's Greatest Dad (2009) | "
For a comedy about autoerotic asphyxiation, epic deception, and shameless exploitation, World's Greatest Dad is a surprisingly sweet and tender affair." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Sep 3, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 6%
| All About Steve (2009) | "
All About Steve struggles mightily to find its loony essence. But Bullock's apple-cheeked larkishness is all flailing limbs and bug-eyed reaction shots -- there's no there there." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Sep 3, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 86%
| Big Fan (2009) | "
Big Fan shares a nutty kinship with the obsessive-loner pictures of Martin Scorsese, namely Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. And while Oswalt is no De Niro, the stand-up comic brings a schlumpy pathos to his portrait that shows depth and dimension." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Aug 27, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 75%
| Cold Souls (2009) | "
A clever existential comedy." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Aug 20, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 9%
| Post Grad (2009) | "
Ostensibly a comedy, and a feeble and innocuous one at that, Post Grad is one of those what-were-they-thinking? studio productions that should have been shelved back in the script stage." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Aug 20, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 88%
| Inglourious Basterds (2009) | "
Tonally schizoid and rife with anachronisms (a David Bowie song on the sound track, out-of-era vernacular), Tarantino's Third Reich folly is utterly exasperating." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Aug 20, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 26%
| The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009) | "
The Goods is not without its share of laughs. But the laughs come with contempt and condescension, not empathy." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 86%
| Lorna's Silence (2009) | "
The Dardennes' film offers a portrait of a fragile yet determined woman set on making a home for herself in the world, even as that world unravels before her eyes." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 38%
| The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) | "
A kooky, head-spinning romantic mess." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 90%
| District 9 (2009) | "
What is absolutely impressive are the visual effects: the hordes of aliens, the mother ship, the seamless blending of the real with the fantastic." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Aug 13, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 65%
| Adam (2009) | "
To its credit, Adam doesn't go for the cheap, easy solution. In that way, the film shares something of the spirit (and realism?) of (500) Days of Summer: an acknowledgment that not every close encounter, no matter how meaningful, can last forever." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 87%
| Jerichow (2009) | "
A taut, German-made thriller, Jerichow adds a bit of European xenophobia to the pulp traditions of passion and betrayal." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 80%
| $9.99 (2009) | "
Using the medium of Wallace and Gromit and Gumby, Israeli filmmaker Tatia Rosenthal turns her clay figures into real people in $9.99, a wise, wistful study of hope and dread." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Jul 30, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 26%
| Shrink (2009) | "
A pity-party of Hollywood narcissism." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Jul 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 68%
| Funny People (2009) | "
Funny People turns out to be fairly predictable, and not so rough. In a thoroughly satisfying way." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Jul 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 24%
| G-Force (2009) | "
Just about the only folks likely to find this humdrum hybrid of Mission: Impossible and The Wind in the Willows worthy for consideration are non-discriminating pip-squeaks happy to watch rodents rappelling walls and scampering along air ducts." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Jul 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 100%
| Afghan Star (2009) | "
Havana Marking's excellent, illuminating film follows four Afghan Star finalists over the frenetic final months leading to the Moment of Truth." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Jul 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 92%
| Séraphine (2008) | "
The character's fleeting success in the art world, her moody naivete and childlike reverence for both the natural and religious worlds, is conveyed with such tenderness and totality that it's almost heartbreaking to behold." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Jul 16, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 83%
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) | "
Half-Blood Prince is a bubbling cauldron of hormonal angst, rife with romance and heartbreak, jealousy and longing." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Jul 13, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 15%
| I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009) | "
The charmlessness of its central characters -- Rust's charisma-challenged Denis, Panettiere's Barbie-hard and vacuous Beth -- makes this putative farce all the more difficult to endure." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 98%
| The Hurt Locker (2009) | "
Like all the best war movies -- no matter what war, what era -- The Hurt Locker goes to the core of human nature." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 47%
| The Girl From Monaco (2009) | "
At best diverting, at worst an almost self-parodic compendium of French film cliches." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Jul 3, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 89%
| Moon (2009) | "
In the end, Moon raises disturbing ethical questions about science and bioengineering, but it's the emotional questions the film poses -- about memory, about family, about identity -- that really resonate." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Jul 2, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 67%
| Public Enemies (2009) | "
Ultimately, the movie's a bust." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Jun 30, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 24%
| Little Ashes (2009) | "
A bravely earnest and gauzy bit of biography." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 47%
| Whatever Works (2009) | "
Allen and David do stuff in Whatever Works that shouldn't work but does." — Philadelphia Inquirer Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
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