Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 82%
| The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2010) | "
A finely plotted, stylishly photographed and brilliantly acted whodunit that clocks in at 2 1/2 hours but never seems long." Posted Mar 19, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 100%
| Vincere (2009) | "
Bellocchio's bigger-than-life story requires over-the-top performances, which are provided by Giovanna Mezzogiorno as Ida and Filippo Timi as the young Mussolini and, later, his grown son." Posted Mar 19, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 89%
| Mother (2010) | "
Bong realizes the treasure he has in Kim and allows the camera to fixate on her -- in wide shots of glowing fields and in unforgiving close-ups." Posted Mar 12, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 82%
| Children of Invention (2010) | "
Performances are realistic and unpretentious, and the backbone of this observant movie by a director-writer with a promising future." Posted Mar 12, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 92%
| Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Suss (2010) | "
Moeller avoids sensationalism or pointing fingers, letting each side have its say and allowing viewers to decide Harlan's agenda for themselves." Posted Mar 5, 2010 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 13%
| Harlem Aria (2010) | "
Harlem Aria has been gathering dust since it screened at the Toronto Film Festival in 1999. Why it is now getting a release is something Congress should look into." Posted Mar 5, 2010 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 96%
| A Prophet (2010) | "
Stephane Fontaine's hand-held lensing complements Audiard's in-your-face bravado." Posted Feb 26, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 90%
| Prodigal Sons (2010) | "
Anybody who has ever doubted that truth is stranger than fiction should see Prodigal Sons." Posted Feb 26, 2010 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 67%
| Toe to Toe (2010) | "
What happens when a movie's lead actors are better than their material? You get something like Toe to Toe." Posted Feb 26, 2010 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 44%
| Last New Yorker (2010) | "
Adam Forgash's script is a generic collection of schmaltz and implausibility..." Posted Feb 19, 2010 |
Rotten 1/4
| Fresh 69%
| Phyllis and Harold (2010) | "
My only question: Why does Kleine -- who's married to Andre Gregory of My Dinner With Andre fame -- think that anybody outside her family gives a damn?" Posted Feb 19, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 90%
| Terribly Happy (2009) | "
Genz seems to delight in keeping viewers off guard. Nothing is as it seems at first, and nothing ever plays out the way you expect." Posted Feb 5, 2010 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 81%
| Red Riding Trilogy (2010) | "
Direction of all three films is no more than workmanlike, which isn't surprising since they were originally made for British television." Posted Feb 5, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 95%
| Ajami (2010) | "
The complexity might require a second viewing, but there is compensation in the realistic acting by a cast of non-pros and the eye-grabbing, hand-held lensing by Boaz Yehonatan Yacov." Posted Feb 3, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 40%
| For My Father (2010) | "
For My Father is a rarity indeed: A sweet, sentimental movie about a suicide bomber." Posted Jan 29, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 91%
| Off and Running (2009) | "
As the father of an adopted daughter, I was very moved. But the film is so well done that just about anybody will have that feeling." Posted Jan 29, 2010 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 83%
| North Face (2010) | "
Kolja Brandt's hand-held cinematography and Philipp Stolzl's direction keep the suspense level high. Unfortunately, somebody decided to insert a superfluous love story involving a completely fabricated female photojournalist." Posted Jan 29, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 75%
| The Girl on the Train (2010) | "
It is Dequenne who holds the film together -- she and Téchiné's youthful touch, which belies his 66 years." Posted Jan 22, 2010 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 44%
| The Paranoids (2010) | "
Medina has taken a series of vignettes and fashioned them into a feature film as aimless as Luciano’s life." Posted Jan 22, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 89%
| Fish Tank (2010) | "
Fish Tank is grim, to be sure, but it leaves us with a feeling of hopefulness." Posted Jan 15, 2010 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 40%
| Carmel (2010) | "
Carmel will be embraced by Gitai fans, who are familiar with his work and ideas. Casual moviegoers will be perplexed." Posted Jan 14, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 100%
| Flooding With Love for the Kid (2009) | "
A masterpiece of ingenuity." Posted Jan 8, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 100%
| Garbage Dreams (2010) | "
Who knew that people could love their garbage so much that they grow angry when it is taken from them?" Posted Jan 8, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 96%
| Sweetgrass (2009) | "
Castaing-Taylor's lensing -- from sheep staring into a camera to panoramic views of the gorgeous landscape -- is pleasing to the eye." Posted Jan 6, 2010 |
Rotten 2/4
| N/A | The Other Side of Paradise (2010) | "
A welcoming indie road movie that has its faults but otherwise speaks well for Justin D. Hilliard, its director and co-writer." Posted Jan 5, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 91%
| Old Partner (2009) | "
Too bad there isn't an Oscar for best performance by a beast of burden." Posted Jan 1, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 33%
| My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? (2009) | "
A surreal descent into a twilight zone created by the twisted sensibilities of two cinematic geniuses." Posted Dec 11, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 11%
| Hannah Free (2009) | "
It might be OK some early morning on an obscure cable network. But that's it." Posted Dec 11, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 25%
| Staten Island (2009) | "
Best is D'Onofrio as a gangster turned environmental activist -- he puts on a white three-piece suit, climbs to the top of a gigantic tree and refuses to come down." Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 77%
| The Good Soldier (2009) | "
Has important things to say. Sadly, it does so in an unexciting manner." Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 67%
| Dare (2009) | "
Dare is a high school coming-of-age film that dares to push the envelope. It doesn't always succeed, but that's not for lack of trying." Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Fresh 82%
| Collapse (2009) | "
Collapse is boring. But what do you expect from a one-sided movie about a kook, who, at the time the film was shot, faced eviction from his home because he hadn't paid the rent?" Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 27%
| Splinterheads (2009) | "
Splinterheads might suffice some late night on cable, but that's about it." Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 25%
| Looking for Palladin (2009) | "
Looking for Palladin has a split personality. It starts as a comedy but morphs into an icky family melodrama. It should have stuck with the yuks." Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 87%
| Skin (2009) | "
The direction is never more than conventional, with a tear-inducing finale better suited to a TV soap opera." Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 94%
| The Wedding Song (2008) | "
An intelligently written and directed story of two 16-year-old girls -- one Jewish and one Muslim -- and their friendship in Tunis during the Nazi occupation in the 1940s." Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 46%
| Ong Bak 2 (2009) | "
There isn't much of a plot, although Jaa's fans won't mind a bit. All they want is lots of bloody, muddy action in the Thai jungles, which they get." Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Rotten 48%
| Antichrist (2009) | "
Please don't take anything I've said to indicate that Antichrist isn't difficult to watch. It most certainly is, but as somebody (the Marquis de Sade, perhaps) once said: No pain, no gain." Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 93%
| The Maid (2009) | "
Silva's script has the ring of truth, not surprising since he based it on real-life experiences. He even shot most of the scenes in his own family's house." Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 9%
| Opa! (2009) | "
The water is blue, the women are beautiful, the guys are hunky and the ouzo flows without end. So do the clichés." Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 77%
| Bronson (2009) | "
Refn films much of the violence in slow motion, accompanied by classical music, which adds impact to the brutality." Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 54%
| Intimate Enemies (2009) | "
Along the way, Siri exposes French hypocrisy -- showing that the Algerian rebels were only doing what the French Resistance did in battling the Nazis who ruled their country in WorldWar II." Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 0%
| A Beautiful Life (2009) | "
A Beautiful Life makes little attempt to be credible or original. And the acting is poor." Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 63%
| As Seen Through These Eyes (2009) | "
Unfortunately, Angelou's detached and often superfluous narration lessens the film's impact." Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 50%
| The Providence Effect (2009) | "
Adams and the school's students and teachers deserve an A-plus, although the film rates a much lower grade. It unfolds lifelessly, as Binzer parades a contingent of talking heads before the camera in what could pass for an infomercial." Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Fresh 67%
| The Bluetooth Virgin (2009) | "
Brown's film consists of a series of long, talky, humorless takes, during which the old argument about art versus commerce comes to the fore." Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 92%
| In Search of Beethoven (2009) | "
What made Ludwig such a great musician? The documentary In Search of Beethoven, directed by Phil Grabsky, answers that question reasonably well." Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 84%
| Disgrace (2009) | "
I cannot tell a lie. I derive great satisfaction watching John Malkovich act." Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 32%
| The Burning Plain (2009) | "
That fractured structure worked well for Arriaga in his scripts for other directors. Here the characters aren't compelling enough to ask viewers to give their brains a workout to determine exactly what's going on." Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 96%
| 35 Shots of Rum (2009) | "
Denis -- who has called the film a tribute to the great Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu -- keeps dialogue to a minimum as she delicately examines how immigration is changing the face of France." Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
