Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 32%
| The Uninvited (2009) | "
The premise is seaworthy, but the execution flounders." Posted Jan 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 13%
| Delgo (2008) | "
This flick is like a cheap thriller where the wisecracks always fall flat and the author couldn't be bothered to invent a new plot, so he just patches together some old ones." Posted Dec 12, 2008 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 25%
| Nobel Son (2008) | "
Nobel Son is as darkly funny as it is exhilarating." Posted Dec 5, 2008 |
Fresh 2/4
| Rotten 25%
| Four Christmases (2008) | "
It's Four Christmases in need of a wedding, or maybe a funeral." Posted Nov 26, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 34%
| Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008) | "
As it has evolved from a 10-minute cabaret piece, through a short film Bousman made in Toronto, to the big screen, Repo! The Genetic Opera has gained in both guts and gusto." Posted Nov 21, 2008 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 13%
| I Can't Think Straight (2008) | "
Buildings and their interiors fare a lot better in this sumptuously lensed and set-designed film. That's because they don't have to talk or act." Posted Nov 21, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 64%
| The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008) | "
That these boys could not fathom what was actually going on in the camps also rings true and is the reason why stories like this one must endure." Posted Nov 7, 2008 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 28%
| The World Unseen (2008) | "
Less an account of hatred and injustice in apartheid-torn South Africa than it is a soap opera-ish romance that could easily be an episode of The L-Word." Posted Nov 7, 2008 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 65%
| Brick Lane (2008) | "
Kaushik is remarkable as Chanu, a role that demands he be a buffoonish, yet loving man, intelligent beneath his self-aggrandizing attitudes, oversized ambitions and determined cheerfulness." Posted Oct 18, 2008 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 73%
| When Did You Last See Your Father? (2008) | "
The winning aspect of this adaptation of a best-selling autobiography is in the director's management of the points of view." Posted Oct 18, 2008 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 90%
| The Secret of the Grain (2008) | "
After two and a half hours, The Secret of the Grain, ends, as arbitrarily as it began." Posted Oct 18, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 92%
| Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) | "
Coming from the man who made his name as a director of often grim social-realist films such as Vera Drake, All or Nothing and Secrets & Lies, Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky strikes one as a film fantasy." Posted Oct 17, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 58%
| The Secret Life of Bees (2008) | "
Quite a bit of honey is applied to make the awful truths palatable, but The Secret Life of Bees curtails the sappiness with performances -- especially Fanning's -- that are grounded in reality." Posted Oct 17, 2008 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 12%
| An American Carol (2008) | "
Utterly asinine, sophomoric, tasteless, the movie has much in common with Zucker's Airplane!, The Naked Gun 2 1/2 and Scary Movie sequels, minus the laughs." Posted Oct 13, 2008 |
Fresh 3/4
| N/A | All Together Now (2008) | "
All Together Now enthrals. It also makes you want to fly to Las Vegas immediately and buy a ticket to LOVE." Posted Oct 13, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 51%
| City of Ember (2008) | "
A thrilling adventure tale and teen fantasy that is grounded in real concerns about who is managing the planet." Posted Oct 10, 2008 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 41%
| Blindness (2008) | "
This film rests uneasily between art and thriller, putting a huge burden on the actors, especially Julianne Moore, to convey the larger meaning of the story." Posted Oct 3, 2008 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 93%
| Tell No One (2008) | "
Tell No One is a thoroughly absorbing whodunit with more twists and switchbacks than the Le Mans racecourse." Posted Sep 26, 2008 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 31%
| Nights in Rodanthe (2008) | "
No character in this turbulent sea of love crashing on the shores of misfortune is any more developed than they are in Sparks' potboiler." Posted Sep 26, 2008 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 35%
| Igor (2008) | "
Igor, like the Frankenstein's monster at the centre of its tired plot, looks like something cobbled together out of used, very used, parts." Posted Sep 19, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 78%
| Outsourced (2007) | "
In the hands of a lesser director, the secondary characters, including Todd's matronly Indian landlady, might have been mere caricatures. Smart production design and camerawork enhance the sense of authenticity." Posted Aug 29, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| N/A | The World According to Monsanto (2008) | "
French journalist Marie-Monique Robin takes a scattershot approach in her exposé of Monsanto, an American multinational chemical and biotechnology company responsible for some of the most toxic and environmentally damaging products ever sold." Posted Aug 1, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 64%
| Brideshead Revisited (2008) | "
Director Julian Jarrold and writers Jeremy Brock and Andrew Davies have not surpassed their predecessors, but neither have they done any lasting damage with their interpretation of the 1945 novel." Posted Jul 25, 2008 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 75%
| The Last Mistress (2008) | "
A costume drama with an emphasis on costume over drama." Posted Jul 25, 2008 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 74%
| A Jihad for Love (2007) | "
While there is much to admire among the subjects of A Jihad for Love, the film itself is a low-grade production that risks losing the viewer with an unimaginative sequence of talking heads." Posted Jul 18, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 37%
| Space Chimps (2008) | "
The animated action movie nevertheless delivers -- da-dum -- more fun than a barrel of monkeys." Posted Jul 18, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 90%
| Alice's House (2007) | "
Nothing much happens in Alice's House, and a turning point in the plot is terribly contrived, but as sociology and maybe even a pilot for a soap serial, the movie is worth a look." Posted Jul 11, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 89%
| Planet B-Boy (2008) | "
If Benson Lee's intention with Planet B-Boy was to set the record straight on the continuing story of break dancers, then his documentary has to be counted a success. With a few caveats." Posted May 30, 2008 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 44%
| The Strangers (2008) | "
With no plot to speak of, no character development whatsoever, no theme and precious little intrigue, what we have here is simply a pileup of effects. And not especially special effects." Posted May 30, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 64%
| The Unknown Woman (2006) | "
Rappoport is the movie's saving grace." Posted May 9, 2008 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 31%
| The Babysitters (2008) | "
The script has a stale air, like something that was doing the rounds for a long time before David Ross found backers to make a film out of it." Posted May 9, 2008 |
Fresh 3/4
| N/A | The Forgotten Woman (2008) | "
[Director Dilip] Mehta has done a fine job of getting the message out to the world." Posted Apr 28, 2008 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 67%
| Ben X (2008) | "
What leads off like a docudrama of the social ills accompanying a misunderstood condition merges into fantasy until, in very clever ways, director Nic Balthazar turns the medium into the message." Posted Apr 18, 2008 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 45%
| Bella (2007) | "
This is not a weepy, but a story about healing, forgiveness and redemption." Posted Apr 11, 2008 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 67%
| Snow Angels (2008) | "
The sabotage plotting, sometimes engaging dialogue, visual inventiveness, a distant soundtrack and some occasionally gripping performances only add up to a film that leaves one feeling as frozen as those snow angels." Posted Mar 21, 2008 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 50%
| Penelope (2008) | "
The semi-satirical treatment of celebrity culture, as Penelope is treated first as a tabloid sensation then a media darling, is lame and dated." Posted Feb 29, 2008 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 92%
| Caramel (2008) | "
[Writer-Director] Labaki writes and directs with a sure hand for capturing universal truths." Posted Feb 22, 2008 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 26%
| Step Up 2 the Streets (2008) | "
Reeks of artificiality and phoney emotion." Posted Feb 14, 2008 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 91%
| Still Life (2008) | "
Nothing much actually happens in Still Life, and yet one is left with a deep feeling of irrevocable loss and destructive change only heightened by the chirpy tourist patter and government promotional talk about the great Three Gorges Dam." Posted Jan 25, 2008 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 40%
| They Wait (2008) | "
There are elements of a good fright flick and intriguing ghost story in They Wait. It's too bad that they are overshadowed by all the bad aspects – terrible dialogue and cheesy special effects and makeup." Posted Jan 25, 2008 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 67%
| How She Move (2008) | "
In the increasingly crowded field of movies based on urban dance, How She Move stands out as a well-written and well-acted drama with an appeal that reaches beyond dance fanatics." Posted Jan 25, 2008 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 89%
| The Savages (2007) | "
The dynamic that operates throughout this film is fantasy versus reality, not just in the lives of the characters but in American life in general." Posted Dec 21, 2007 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 22%
| P.S. I Love You (2007) | "
It's the sort of movie that no man will ever go to unless dragged by a woman. His sole reward will be the sight of Swank in sexy underwear." Posted Dec 21, 2007 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 27%
| Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) | "
Me, I want a hula hoop." Posted Dec 14, 2007 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 15%
| Hitman (2007) | "
The plot of Hitman is difficult to follow and in any case secondary to the sheer spectacle of murder and mayhem." Posted Nov 21, 2007 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 37%
| Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007) | "
As long as Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium sticks to magic, it is pretty engaging, but the lives on display are less than mesmerizing." Posted Nov 16, 2007 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 31%
| Music Within (2007) | "
Pimentel's persistence and eventual triumph over prejudice and discrimination is a story worth telling, if only on a shoestring." Posted Nov 9, 2007 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 64%
| Things We Lost in the Fire (2007) | "
If this were a Susanne Bier film made on her home turf we'd feel a lot more wrung out by the movie's end. Instead we're just worn out." Posted Oct 19, 2007 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 94%
| My Kid Could Paint That (2007) | "
Bar-Lev has made a refreshingly honest documentary." Posted Oct 19, 2007 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Fresh 63%
| Death at a Funeral (2007) | "
Death at a Funeral might have been made in the 1960s, not to be released until well past its stale date." Posted Oct 12, 2007 |
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