Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 83%
| Avatar (2009) | "
It is cool. But all this "change the way you look at films" hype is just that. While Avatar is impressively seamless, you're never fooled. This doesn't look like a documentary film; it looks like a video game." Posted Dec 18, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 39%
| 2012 (2009) | "
If the viewer were ever invited to think or feel about what's happening on-screen, the movie's wow-whoa-ain't-it-cool momentum would collapse in a heap of horrific preposterousness." Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 21%
| Amelia (2009) | "
Amelia is not very good, and not very good in ways that collect and showcase all the familiar failings of the classic biopic." Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 65%
| Coco Before Chanel (2009) | "
The movie does a good job of presenting the social strictures that Chanel refused to be bound by, none more immediate and ubiquitous than the clothes women were expected to wear." Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Rotten 27%
| Fame (2009) | "
The production numbers are great, sometimes jaw-droppingly so." Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Fresh 4.5/5
| Fresh 88%
| Inglourious Basterds (2009) | "
Scenes like the showdown in the tavern and the movie-premiere finale are as imaginative, energetic and, in their own weird, brutal way, beautiful as cinema gets." Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 68%
| Funny People (2009) | "
It all feels so insular and elitist, it's hard to connect." Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 14%
| The Ugly Truth (2009) | "
The truth is this movie is ugly, in spirit and execution." Posted Jul 24, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 67%
| Bruno (2009) | "
Even at 82 minutes, Brüno feels stretched-out with stitched-together filler." Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
Fresh 4.5/5
| Rotten 45%
| Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) | "
This is true family fun. Not the two-tiered sort where there are potty jokes for the kids and pop culture references for the parents. Not only will everyone be laughing at the same time, they'll be laughing at the same things." Posted Jul 1, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 66%
| Public Enemies (2009) | "
Amid the summer season of spectacle and silliness, Public Enemies appears as an oasis of adult entertainment." Posted Jul 1, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 47%
| Whatever Works (2009) | "
The dialogue is forced and stagey, the actions as predictable as they are improbable and the insights little more than dusty clichés." Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 20%
| Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) | "
The action-chase-battle sequences of Transformers are cutting-edge and undeniably powerful." Posted Jun 23, 2009 |
Rotten 3/5
| Rotten 51%
| The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009) | "
At first it's exciting, but as the film progresses, that quick-cut, never-stop pacing seems increasingly desperate." Posted Jun 12, 2009 |
Fresh 4.5/5
| Fresh 77%
| The Hangover (2009) | "
You're likely to hear all about it as friends and co-workers endlessly quote lines or re-create scenes." Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Rotten 25%
| Land of the Lost (2009) | "
Always weird, sometimes aimless but occasionally really funny." Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 98%
| Up (2009) | "
It propels the viewer up, up and away in an experience combining smart, imaginative storytelling with dazzling dreamlike visuals, creating an experience that is the special province of animation -- at once utterly convincing and completely impossible." Posted May 29, 2009 |
Rotten C-
| Rotten 36%
| Angels & Demons (2009) | "
Saying that Angels & Demons is a lot better than its predecessor, The Da Vinci Code, is like saying that this swine flu outbreak isn't nearly as bad as the last." Posted May 15, 2009 |
Fresh A-
| Fresh 77%
| Valentino: the Last Emperor (2009) | "
Above all, Valentino is a celebration of beauty and love, and the ways in which one begets the other." Posted May 8, 2009 |
Fresh A
| Fresh 94%
| Star Trek (2009) | "
The summer movie season has barely begun, but already one thing is certain: It will have at least one indisputably great movie." Posted May 7, 2009 |
Rotten C-
| Rotten 36%
| X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) | "
What a wasteful shame." Posted May 1, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Rotten 55%
| The Soloist (2009) | "
While the film is unable to resolve its central subject, its background portrayal of the ongoing dissolution of the newspaper industry -- captured in a few fleeting images of layoffs and downsizing -- is vividly realized." Posted Apr 24, 2009 |
Rotten C-
| Rotten 38%
| Gigantic (2008) | "
Aselton's reason for making this movie is easy to discern -- he wants to be a filmmaker. But coming up with a reason for watching this movie is more of a challenge." Posted Apr 17, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Rotten 42%
| The Last House on the Left (2009) | "
In this era of torture porn, this film seems intent on reconnecting audiences with the power and intensity of real-life, even quiet and casual creepiness." Posted Mar 13, 2009 |
Rotten C+
| Fresh 64%
| Watchmen (2009) | "
As transferred to the big screen by director Zack Snyder, Watchmen is often visually stunning but also confusing and scattered." Posted Mar 5, 2009 |
Rotten C+
| Fresh 83%
| Two Lovers (2009) | "
While Gray shares Leonard's love of photographing Brighton Beach street life and storefronts, and does so with great sensitivity and skill, this is such a worn-out cinematic setting that it has the effect of someone who's forever showing you baby photos." Posted Feb 27, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 59%
| The International (2009) | "
The script tries to explain how this improbable alliance happened, but it never does make much sense, which is a recurrent theme in this overly complicated conspiracy tale." Posted Feb 13, 2009 |
Rotten C-
| Rotten 23%
| Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) | "
Too bad. It could have been more, and its audience deserves better." Posted Feb 13, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Rotten 44%
| He's Just Not That Into You (2009) | "
Somehow, director Ken Kwapis and screenwriters Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein have managed to construct a movie that stays on its feet." Posted Feb 6, 2009 |
Fresh A-
| Fresh 89%
| Coraline (2009) | "
Parents may need to give a reassuring squeeze now and then, but Coraline is the best kind of children's entertainment -- smartly told and deeply felt." Posted Feb 6, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 98%
| The Wrestler (2008) | "
The movie presses too hard and too often, but the performances are strong enough to withstand the melodramatic impulses, and the themes of isolation and self-destructiveness are too sharply realized to be trivialized." Posted Jan 9, 2009 |
Rotten D+
| Rotten 12%
| Bride Wars (2009) | "
It's been awhile since a movie has been this stridently insufferable while pulling off that moviemaking trifecta of combining bad directing, bad writing and bad acting." Posted Jan 9, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 60%
| Valkyrie (2008) | "
Singer keeps the conspiracy racing to its fated conclusion." Posted Dec 30, 2008 |
Fresh B
| Rotten 55%
| The Tale of Despereaux (2008) | "
The film dispenses entirely with the bathroom humor that has become a standard element in so much kids entertainment." Posted Dec 19, 2008 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 27%
| Seven Pounds (2008) | "
It's impossible to talk about the movie without revealing the least little thing about its secret. And the secret is so flimsy, absurd and obvious that, if we write about it at all, you could figure it out from almost the moment the movie starts." Posted Dec 19, 2008 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 78%
| Doubt (2008) | "
This is a film bound to provoke differing interpretations and lively conversation at the cafe or in the car after it's over. A movie that's rewarding to think and talk about: That's the nicest Christmas present you can give a moviegoer." Posted Dec 12, 2008 |
Rotten D
| Rotten 20%
| The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) | "
This movie is as clunky and unappealing as the space-saving acronym being used to avoid its endless title -- TDTESS." Posted Dec 12, 2008 |
Rotten D
| Rotten 26%
| Punisher: War Zone (2008) | "
This is the third crack Hollywood has taken at the comic-book hero the Punisher. They say the third time's the charm. But then, they say a lot of things." Posted Dec 5, 2008 |
Fresh A
| Fresh 94%
| Milk (2008) | "
It's a reminder, in this age of virtual flash and computer-generated wonders, of the power of simple human expression." Posted Nov 26, 2008 |
Fresh B-
| Rotten 54%
| Australia (2008) | "
Australia provides some remarkable moments: remarkably beautiful, remarkably imaginative and, against all odds, genuinely moving, which in a movie this overwrought and overblown is, in itself, remarkable." Posted Nov 26, 2008 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 88%
| Bolt (2008) | "
The directors and screenwriters hit all their marks and push all the right buttons, but the story never really takes off, and the characters never really spark to life." Posted Nov 21, 2008 |
Rotten C
| Fresh 64%
| Quantum of Solace (2008) | "
The problems can be traced to a screenplay that is stuffed with internecine plot points and shades-of-gray complexities, but little else: no character-sharpening details and none of the wit and charm that buoyed Casino Royale." Posted Nov 14, 2008 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 67%
| Synecdoche, New York (2008) | "
It's hard to say just what kind of movie Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut is, and by the end of it, his film has made a pretty convincing case that it's pointless to try." Posted Nov 7, 2008 |
Fresh B+
| Rotten 45%
| Soul Men (2008) | "
There's nothing here you haven't seen before, but the genuine and infectious chemistry between Mr. Jackson and Mr. Mac and the irresistible energy of their performances is more than enough to give the movie real heft and momentum." Posted Nov 7, 2008 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 65%
| Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) | "
[Rogen's] funny, it works." Posted Oct 31, 2008 |
Rotten C
| Fresh 61%
| Changeling (2008) | "
Changeling may be the most beautiful horror film ever made; it may also be the most boring." Posted Oct 24, 2008 |
Fresh A
| Fresh 86%
| Rachel Getting Married (2008) | "
This is an amazing movie... the best work from Mr. Demme since his classic Something Wild." Posted Oct 17, 2008 |
Rotten C
| Fresh 60%
| W. (2008) | "
Rather than throwing gas on the fire, the in-the-moment, history-as-it's-happening framing of W. throws a bucket of water on the experience. This movie doesn't explode; it fizzles." Posted Oct 17, 2008 |
Rotten C+
| Rotten 51%
| Body of Lies (2008) | "
As a movie seeking to tell a story, Body of Lies is a confused jumble." Posted Oct 10, 2008 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 72%
| Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008) | "
Nick and Norah takes the relatively radical approach of making a movie that occurs on a genuinely human scale." Posted Oct 3, 2008 |
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