Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 50%
| It's Complicated (2009) | "
Meyers does her job pretty well. She's a clever contriver, adept at adding a patina of apparent relevance, even a veneer of feminism, to situations that are otherwise bogus and artificial." Posted Dec 24, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 82%
| Avatar (2009) | "
Big money, big risk, pretty big reward. That's been his consistent pattern, and it's high time to give credit where credit is overdue: James Cameron delivers." Posted Dec 18, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 82%
| A Single Man (2009) | "
Colin Firth isn't the only reason to see A Single Man, but he's certainly the best." Posted Dec 11, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 46%
| Everybody's Fine (2009) | "
If nothing else (and there ain't much else), Everybody's Fine does prove one thing: Even an actor with the gifts of Robert De Niro can't make bland interesting." Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 89%
| Up in the Air (2009) | "
Reitman possesses a flair for off-kilter scenarios, and he's in fine form again, taking his triangulated principals -- Ryan, Alex, Keener -- out of their comfort zones and into a more complicated geometry." Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 93%
| Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) | "
The tale may be Dahl's, but there's a whole new wag to it -- this is decidedly, weirdly and, at best, wonderfully a Wes Anderson movie." Posted Nov 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 85%
| Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) | "
Add director Werner Herzog to the mix, a guy who knows a thing or a hundred about obsessive protagonists, and we're in for quite the ride -- wild and weird and blackly comic." Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 23%
| Planet 51 (2009) | "
With nowhere to go except toward that incongruous moral, the story is getting thin on the ground, obliging director Jorge Blanco to pad with the usual plush stuffing -- bland action and busy edits." Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| N/A | Love & Savagery (2009) | "
The pair struggle to embody characters who tend to seem like scripted abstractions and clashing symbols. That is, they struggle until the climax, when something wonderful happens." Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 2/4
| N/A | Prom Night in Mississippi (2008) | "
Mainly the film is obliged to circle around the absent centre of the conflict, the dark heart of the very issue under scrutiny. Consequently, like a skinny boy in an oversized tux, it has to pad." Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 39%
| 2012 (2009) | "
As always in Emmerich's rollicking Armageddons, the cannon speaks with an expensive bang, while the fodder gets afforded nary a whimper." Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 55%
| Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009) | "
There's a lot of dark magic in this Dickensian Yuletide." Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| N/A | Inside Hana's Suitcase (2009) | "
What always feels genuine, movingly so, are the faces of the school children caught up in their account of the unforgotten past." Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 18%
| The Fourth Kind (2009) | "
The mission here is to demonstrate how, in this explosive age of dubious information, cynicism can be quickly trumped by gullibility." Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| N/A | Three Blind Mice (2009) | "
We've seen how they run. Now see if we care." Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 73%
| More Than a Game (2009) | "
Really, it's just an extension of the LeBron James brand, released to coincide with a book on the same subject and designed to explore the star's humble roots even while further buffing his galactic glitter." Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 78%
| Bronson (2009) | "
Bronson is one of those “based on a true story” dramatizations where the theatrically staged drama only gets in the way of the more interesting truth." Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 21%
| Amelia (2009) | "
Seldom has a bio's style clashed so deafeningly with its content." Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 14%
| Stan Helsing (2009) | "
How do you make fun of boredom without being boring? Well, that's a tall task requiring lots of smarts and even more artistry." Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 24%
| Law Abiding Citizen (2009) | "
This strikes me as narrative cheating, but you may play the critical game by more relaxed rules." Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 94%
| The Damned United (2009) | "
Like a skill player who just can't score, The Damned United is all dazzle and no finish and, ultimately, damned frustrating." Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| N/A | Haeundae (2009) | "
When all is screamed and done, disaster's mimicry is only competent at best." Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 12%
| Couples Retreat (2009) | "
There are also scenes, the disjointed kind that wander off aimlessly in the vague hope of finding a movie, not to mention a laugh." Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 81%
| Unmistaken Child (2009) | "
This documentary is only partly a story of the chosen one; mainly, and more intriguingly, it's a chronicle of the choosing one, of the nervous young monk charged with the job of leading the search party." Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 65%
| Coco Before Chanel (2009) | "
Director Anne Fontaine is at her strongest when she's aiding and abetting Chanel's all-seeing gaze." Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 89%
| Zombieland (2009) | "
At a brisk 80 minutes, the flick isn't a minute too short. Better yet, for those with a sweet fang for confections, it's far more charming than chilling and way more funny than frightening." Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 57%
| Delta (2008) | "
For all its lofty thematic intentions, this thing has precious little to say." Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 44%
| Jennifer's Body (2009) | "
Apparently, there's nothing like lean and hungry times to awaken the undead." Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 87%
| A Serious Man (2009) | "
That leaves us in limbo -- laughing yes, but also wondering what to make of a film so simultaneously engaging and disengaging." Posted Sep 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 72%
| The Road (2009) | "
The two principals are superb, and the direction is resonant in its very restraint." Posted Sep 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 84%
| Bright Star (2009) | "
[Star, Abbie] Cornish shines." Posted Sep 11, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 86%
| Lorna's Silence (2009) | "
Don't look for milk and kindness in the cinematic world of the Dardennes brothers." Posted Aug 27, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 48%
| Taking Woodstock (2009) | "
The script has a dubious source, taken from a memoir by Elliot Tiber that, based on this evidence, does nothing to scrape the rust off Woodstock's mythic cliché." Posted Aug 27, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 57%
| Died Young, Stayed Pretty (2009) | "
Yaghoobian proves she has a flair for the telling detail every bit as keen as her subjects'." Posted Aug 27, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 88%
| Inglourious Basterds (2009) | "
War reduced to pop entertainment should at least be easy to swallow, but this stuff keeps getting stuck in our craw. The trash that Tarantino used to elevate he now imitates." Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 95%
| In the Loop (2009) | "
The brainchild of British director Armando Iannucci, it takes on the politicians at their own dirty game, daring to fictionally embellish the tawdry facts, to out-spin the spin doctors." Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 38%
| The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) | "
Romance is robbed of its gamble, stripped of its suspense, shorn of its mystery, and deprived of an ending that feels earned." Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 90%
| District 9 (2009) | "
The fresh premise over, the stale action returns." Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 93%
| Sugar (2009) | "
The film's strength is reportorial, sensitively exploring a theme that has grown ever more prominent with the globalization of sport." Posted Apr 17, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 84%
| State of Play (2009) | "
Giving new meaning to movie magic, those Hollywood tricksters have managed to shorten the story while slowing the pace -- all of a sudden, minutes are passing like hours." Posted Apr 17, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 11%
| The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (2009) | "
When a director has an overinflated conception of the adapted book, we stand a pretty good chance of being really underwhelmed by the completed movie." Posted Apr 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 83%
| Two Lovers (2009) | "
Phoenix plays that schism -- the damaged soul in a hunky body -- to perfection, so well that we overlook the logical chasm at the centre of the tale." Posted Apr 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 67%
| Cloud 9 (2005) | "
A heart-rending portrayal of love's labours lost and won." Posted Apr 2, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 32%
| Fanboys (2009) | "
Turns out there is something more annoying than an infatuated bunch of Star Wars nerds. Turns out a movie about an infatuated bunch of Star Wars nerds can really set your teeth on edge." Posted Apr 2, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 88%
| Adventureland (2009) | "
[Director Mottola] coaxes a set of uniformly credible performances from his ensemble cast, and makes effective use of a soundtrack that's as eclectic as the characters." Posted Apr 2, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 72%
| Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) | "
Shooting a chaotic action scene in an extra dimension definitely adds to the clutter, but does zilch to subtract from the tedium." Posted Mar 27, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 18%
| The Haunting in Connecticut (2009) | "
Ho-hum, one more slapped-together exercise in pre-fab horror." Posted Mar 27, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 71%
| Sunshine Cleaning (2009) | "
Sunshine Cleaning is one of those dependent independent films -- dependent on the need to be "quirky" yet "heartfelt" too, and as much a slave to the formulaic as any Hollywood product." Posted Mar 27, 2009 |
Fresh 2/4
| Fresh 80%
| 12 (2007) | "
In the end the film is too much of a piece with its topic, intensely fascinating yet seriously flawed." Posted Mar 20, 2009 |
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