Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 86%
| Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) | "
Like the late Klaus Kinski, who so often played crazies in Herzog's earlier movies, Cage is in your face all the way. Laughing maniacally, lying with no sign of a conscience, he pushes the character's frequent tantrums beyond over-the-top." Seattle Times Posted Nov 25, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 73%
| The Blind Side (2009) | "
Except for a few crude exchanges,The Blind Side is almost as squeaky-clean as an old Disney movie. Unfortunately, it can also be just as cute and condescending." Seattle Times Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 69%
| (Untitled) (2009) | "
The impenetrable gallery jargon is quite funny at first, and the brothers' twisted relationship is set up nicely, but the movie errs when it takes itself seriously." Seattle Times Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 85%
| We Live in Public (2009) | "
We Live in Public is the kind of nonfiction film that seems to have been conceived to prove that truth is stranger than almost any fiction..." Seattle Times Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 55%
| Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009) | "
Zemeckis' movie may lack the emotional impact of the 1951 British version of A Christmas Carol, starring Alastair Sim as a truly transformed and happy Scrooge. Nevertheless, it's a visual treat that respects and artfully enhances its source." Seattle Times Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 73%
| Act of God (2009) | "
"It changed my way of looking at the world," says one of the survivors. That's not a bad description of the movie itself." Seattle Times Posted Oct 29, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 95%
| Crude (2009) | "
If you ever had doubts about the impact that celebrities can have on such a David-and-Goliath struggle, Berlinger methodically removes them." Seattle Times Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 73%
| American Violet (2009) | "
While it may be about as subtle as a swinging sledgehammer, it does leave its mark." Seattle Times Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 75%
| Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) | "
The script gradually becomes an ambiguous mixture of hope and desperation; at times it feels almost bipartisan in its politics." Seattle Times Posted Oct 1, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 71%
| Walt and El Grupo (2009) | "
[Thomas] may need more distance from the subject -- Walt & El Grupo could shed about 20 minutes -- but there's no questioning his sincerity or his instinct for revealing anecdotes." Seattle Times Posted Sep 24, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 69%
| Paris (2009) | "
A pretty travelogue about mortality, Paris never quite lives up to what turns out to be a presumptuous title." Seattle Times Posted Sep 24, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 88%
| Amreeka (2009) | "
For the most part, Dabis and her actors charm their way through this material, finding absurdist humor even in the darkest moments." Seattle Times Posted Sep 24, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 96%
| Somers Town (2009) | "
Turgoose continues to convince as a kid whose personality wavers daily if not hourly, while Jagiello playfully suggests that Marek is becoming the perfect straight man." Seattle Times Posted Sep 17, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 85%
| Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009) | "
If you ever thought a marshmallow might make a fine crispy torch, or you've wondered what it would be like to luxuriate in a Jell-O palace, or you've imagined a "snow day" with ice-cream snowballs, you'll find kindred spirits here." Seattle Times Posted Sep 17, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 100%
| You, the Living (2009) | "
Essentially indescribable, You, the Living offers little help to anyone trying to get a handle on it in terms of a traditional narrative. But it can be quite funny if you're susceptible to Andersson's curious way of capturing the human comedy." Seattle Times Posted Sep 10, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 86%
| The Baader Meinhof Complex (2009) | "
Impressive in its scale and momentum, it's the kind of action-packed political melodrama that generates more heat than light." Seattle Times Posted Sep 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 96%
| Burma VJ (2009) | "
Narrated by a frightened journalist who trembles as he accumulates forbidden footage and provides a historical viewpoint, "Burma VJ" uses shocking video images and reconstructed scenes to create a coherent, mostly chronological account of what happened." Seattle Times Posted Aug 27, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 88%
| Inglourious Basterds (2009) | "
Tarantino's wartime fantasies may leave history in the dust, but his movie is a surprisingly satisfying contribution to movies about the Holocaust." Seattle Times Posted Aug 20, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 93%
| Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2009) | "
Not Quite Hollywood is jammed with well-preserved clips of the Aussie movies that started pushing the limits after censorship was essentially dropped in 1971." Seattle Times Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 65%
| Adam (2009) | "
For much of its first hour, writer/director Max Mayer's Adam is one of the year's more endearing love stories." Seattle Times Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 58%
| A Perfect Getaway (2009) | "
[Director] Twohy eventually paints himself into a corner with an explanation that's fatally far-fetched. By the end, you're convinced he'll try anything, no matter how illogical, to hold the audience's attention." Seattle Times Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
Rotten 3/4
| Fresh 95%
| The Cove (2009) | "
For a generation that grew up with Flipper and The Day of the Dolphin, the tense, powerful new documentary, The Cove, is a horror movie." Seattle Times Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 26%
| Shrink (2009) | "
The script by Thomas Moffett slickly satirizes the movie industry's fascination with vampires and special effects without being especially compelling or original." Seattle Times Posted Jul 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 84%
| The Windmill Movie (2009) | "
Although the format will be familiar to fans of Tarnation and Capturing the Friedmans, the result comes closer to Fellini's autobiographical 8 ½." Seattle Times Posted Jul 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 54%
| The Stoning of Soraya M. (2009) | "
The spoiler is in the title of The Stoning of Soraya M., a powerful, relentlessly brutal drama about Iranian capital punishment." Seattle Times Posted Jul 16, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 85%
| Kabei: Our Mother (2009) | "
Partly because they're relatively rare, homefront movies usually offer a fresh perspective on the tragedies of World War II. That's the case once more with Kabei: Our Mother, a sad and stirring drama from the other side of the Pacific." Seattle Times Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 94%
| Munyurangabo (2009) | "
It's the latest in a long and worthy line of low-budget, partly improvised neorealist movies that mix fiction with documentarylike qualities." Seattle Times Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 33%
| The Last International Playboy (2009) | "
They're deeply uninteresting people, thanks to a trite and far-fetched script. There's very little the actors can do to make them credible." Seattle Times Posted Jun 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 89%
| O'Horten (2009) | "
Thanks to the consistent deadpan tone that Hamer and Owe establish, it's oddly satisfying." Seattle Times Posted Jun 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 81%
| Departures (2009) | "
Departures is such an elegant, beautifully mounted meditation on death, funeral customs and parent-child relations that you may find yourself sniffling and resisting simultaneously." Seattle Times Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 25%
| Land of the Lost (2009) | "
It's hard to say what audience Silberling had in mind. For the kids, there's a steady parade of dinosaurs, time-travel adventures and absent-minded- professor jokes. But there are no kids to identify with." Seattle Times Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 92%
| Drag Me To Hell (2009) | "
[The characters are] so innocuous, and they're played with so little verve, that you don't feel a strong identification when their lives are wrecked." Seattle Times Posted May 28, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 73%
| Rudo and Cursi (2009) | "
Some of this is funny, thanks to the playful performances, but much of it just seems familiar and juvenile." Seattle Times Posted May 22, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 32%
| Terminator Salvation (2009) | "
Too bad Schwarzenegger is otherwise occupied these days." Seattle Times Posted May 20, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 91%
| Katyn (2007) | "
Has sweep and conviction and, most rewardingly, a long-overdue revelation of historical truth." Seattle Times Posted May 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 86%
| Tyson (2009) | "
When Tyson finally admits defeat and announces retirement, it's those crinkly, hurting eyes you remember." Seattle Times Posted May 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 94%
| Goodbye Solo (2009) | "
What began as something of a lark becomes increasingly grave, and the actors skillfully adjust to that change in tone." Seattle Times Posted May 7, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 66%
| Is Anybody There? (2009) | "
Despite all the rough edges and predictable touches, the film becomes quite moving in its final act." Seattle Times Posted Apr 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 86%
| Ice People (2009) | "
The director, Anne Aghion, likes to fill the screen with the kinds of lonely landscapes that David Lean once used to suggest another kind of desert." Seattle Times Posted Apr 29, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 41%
| Fighting (2009) | "
Still, the biggest problem with ighting is that Fight Club (which was released 10 years ago) got there first. On almost every level -- pacing, humor, originality, the choreography of the fight scenes -- Fighting can't touch it." Seattle Times Posted Apr 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 88%
| Sin Nombre (2009) | "
Tragic and gripping, Cary Fukunaga's Sin Nombre revitalizes a gang-warfare genre that had appeared to be played out lately." Seattle Times Posted Apr 9, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 35%
| Alien Trespass (2009) | "
Bewildered? You won't be alone." Seattle Times Posted Apr 2, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 92%
| Tokyo Sonata (2009) | "
A goofy and remarkably topical comedy-drama." Seattle Times Posted Mar 26, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 33%
| Knowing (2009) | "
A little levity, applied at key moments, might have helped it make its points and lend plausibility to its characters." Seattle Times Posted Mar 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 83%
| Beauty in Trouble (2008) | "
Beauty in Trouble uses another kind of catastrophe to reveal the true nature of its central characters." Seattle Times Posted Mar 12, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 16%
| Crossing Over (2009) | "
Like too many Crash wannabes, Crossing Over gets an A for effort and a C-plus for execution." Seattle Times Posted Mar 12, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| N/A | Rem Koolhaas: A Kind of Architect (2009) | "
Busy. Captivating." Seattle Times Posted Mar 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 97%
| The Class (2008) | "
Cantet has created a deceptively simple film that gradually deconstructs a Hollywood genre." Seattle Times Posted Feb 19, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 25%
| Friday the 13th (2009) | "
Everyone's working with a much bigger budget this time, but the end result is just as stupid and not as scary as the original." Seattle Times Posted Feb 12, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 13%
| The Pink Panther 2 (2009) | "
Alas, the second time proves no charm for The Pink Panther 2, Steve Martin's latest flimsy attempt to resurrect Sellers' bumbling Inspector Clouseau for the 21st century." Seattle Times Posted Feb 5, 2009 |