Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 21%
| Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009) | "
The earlier Alvin movie made more than $217 million just in the United States. It’s hard to imagine this somewhat confused sequel doing as well." Posted Dec 22, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 33%
| The Slammin' Salmon (2009) | "
It has its share of funny moments. But it also has its share of tired ones." Posted Dec 11, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/5
| Fresh 92%
| Defamation (2009) | "
Presumably Mr. Shamir’s film plays differently in Israel. In the United States, it feels like just another day on the Op-Ed page." Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 77%
| The Good Soldier (2009) | "
A film whose benign-sounding title and Veterans Day release give a false impression of what it actually is: an attack on the military, drenched in blood." Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 61%
| The End of Poverty? (2009) | "
Why Philippe Diaz has titled his new documentary The End of Poverty? is unclear, because this guilt trip/history lesson is really about the beginning of poverty." Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/5
| Rotten 0%
| Eulogy for a Vampire (2009) | "
It's hard to imagine anyone watching this attempt at a horror film without guffawing. (Or maybe it's supposed to be a comedy?)" Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 9%
| Opa! (2009) | "
Opa!, a sweet, nontaxing movie set in the gorgeous Greek Isles, has a bit of a black hole at its center named Matthew Modine." Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| N/A | Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story (2009) | "
Several things might strike you as odd about Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story, a documentary about the cross-dressing British comedian." Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Rotten 0/5
| Rotten 20%
| Eating Out: All You Can Eat (2009) | "
It needs to be emphasized that Eating Out 3 has nothing to do with the restaurant business, lest any foodies wander into this ineptly written and acted gay sex comedy by accident." Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 24%
| Adventures of Power (2009) | Your enjoyment of Adventures of Power will be proportional to your tolerance for the one-joke phenomenon of air drumming. Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 77%
| Afterschool (2009) | "
Those with the patience to wait out Mr. Campos’s overindulgences will definitely leave Afterschool unnerved, which is probably exactly what he had in mind." Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 91%
| In Search Of Beethoven (2009) | The film stretches on too long... But the music soothes away a lot of complaints. Posted Sep 22, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/5
| Rotten 17%
| If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans (2009) | "
It’s like choking down 72 minutes of a stranger’s unedited home videos, only without the occasional cute kiddie or pet to lighten the tedium." Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| N/A | Fatal Promises (2009) | "
Lacks focus and adds little to the awareness of the subject that even a casual follower of the news has already acquired." Posted Sep 17, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 62%
| Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009) | Mr. Perry has his moviemaking machine running smoothly, which is to say somewhat predictably. Posted Sep 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 100%
| Rashevski's Tango (2003) | "
In the end, though, Mr. Garbarski makes no judgments, which leaves this film feeling sweet but light." Posted Sep 11, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 84%
| Captain Abu Raed (2008) | Mr. Matalqa seems more interested in a wistful atmosphere than in complexity. Mr. Sawalha, a veteran television and film actor, has no trouble creating that. Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 90%
| Gotta Dance (2009) | Dori Berinstein’s enjoyable documentary is about a 60-and-older hip-hop dance team. Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 100%
| Heart of Stone (2009) | "
Two things keep Heart of Stone from being like every other documentary about a dedicated principal who tries to turn a failed urban high school around." Posted Jul 17, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 100%
| Being Jewish in France (2009) | "
Yves Jeuland’s documentary Being Jewish in France is more than three hours long, and its emotional peak comes relatively early." Posted May 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| N/A | Flower in the Pocket (2009) | "
Liew Seng Tat's film is providing a delicious, quirky example of what the camera can do just by being an unhurried observer." Posted May 8, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 25%
| Jazz in the Diamond District (2009) | "
Some dreams will be realized, some dashed, but audiences, having been dragged through this story too many times, won’t care which." Posted May 1, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 47%
| Battle for Terra (2009) | The movie's messages are delivered with a heavy hand, but some of the scenes are eye-popping, especially -- sorry, peace-loving Terrians -- the battle sequences. Posted May 1, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 31%
| A Touch of Spice (2006) | "
The food metaphors pile up like layers of an overstuffed sandwich in A Touch of Spice." Posted Apr 24, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 32%
| Fanboys (2009) | "
The plot device of young men who refuse to mature has never felt more exhausted, maybe because these actors or ones who look like them have already done this shtick in other movies." Posted Feb 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 71%
| Luck by Chance (2009) | "
Luck by Chance is an appealing tale of two would-be actors looking for movie stardom." Posted Jan 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 60%
| War Child (2008) | War Child, a documentary about the hip-hop artist Emmanuel Jal, is a bit ragged and repetitive, but certainly this young man’s life is amazing proof that one person really can make a difference. Posted Nov 14, 2008 |
Rotten 2/5
| N/A | The Soviet Story (2008) | "
The filmmaking in The Soviet Story is so overwrought that at times the movie comes across as comical." Posted Oct 24, 2008 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| N/A | News from Home/News from House (2008) | "
Somehow it doesn't seem like enough of an insight for a freestanding film." Posted Oct 24, 2008 |
Rotten 1.5/5
| Rotten 0%
| Talento de Barrio (2008) | The violence-laden story, such as it is, is ineptly stitched together; it's unclear who is shooting at whom and why; and the dialogue seldom advances beyond "Yo, dog" and "Whassup?" The soundtrack is the only draw here. Posted Oct 10, 2008 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 40%
| Fireproof (2008) | "
This is a decent attempt to combine faith and storytelling that will certainly register with its target audience." Posted Sep 29, 2008 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 44%
| The Amazing Truth about Queen Raquela (2008) | "
It's like being trapped in a roomful of teenage girls for 80 minutes." Posted Sep 26, 2008 |
Rotten 1.5/5
| Rotten 29%
| Ripple Effect (2008) | Starts with a not-very-original insight and takes too many shortcuts delivering it. Posted Sep 26, 2008 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 67%
| Greetings from the Shore (2008) | "
That's harmless enough in this type of warm-weather reminiscence, until Mr. Sorvino, a real actor and a good one, shows up...and he makes Ms. Shaw and some of the other cast members look like amateurs." Posted Sep 12, 2008 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 68%
| CSNY Déjà Vu (2008) | CSNY Déjà Vu has some delicious moments, but you never quite shake the feeling that it's documenting a tempest in a teapot. Posted Jul 25, 2008 |
Fresh 4/5
| Rotten 37%
| Space Chimps (2008) | Journalism is all about having the courage to write the truth even if it will get you mocked by your relatives and co-workers, so here goes: Space Chimps is hilarious. Posted Jul 18, 2008 |
Fresh 4/5
| Rotten 30%
| Young Yakuza (2007) | "
Jean-Pierre Limosin’s Young Yakuza looks at Japan’s version of the Mafia." Posted Apr 18, 2008 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 67%
| Young & Restless In China (2008) | "
Almost everything experienced by the nine, who appear to be in their 20s and 30s, is garden-variety living and learning." Posted Apr 11, 2008 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| N/A | The Other Half (2008) | Ying Liang’s slyly subversive second feature takes awhile to coalesce, but once it does, it becomes an intriguing exercise in juxtaposition. Posted Mar 19, 2008 |
Rotten 2/5
| N/A | Fade (2008) | "
It would be nice to say that Fade cures the very thing that it’s about, sleeplessness. But that wouldn’t convey the pretentiousness of this psychological drama." Posted Mar 19, 2008 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 100%
| Poor Boy's Game (2007) | Poor Boy’s Game is a movie built around a boxing match, but its most powerful scenes involve no jabs or hooks. Posted Mar 13, 2008 |
Fresh 4/5
| Rotten 42%
| A Bloody Aria (2006) | It may seem an odd thing to say about a film in which a baseball bat as an instrument of assault and rape is a recurring theme, but what makes A Bloody Aria a darkly delightful surprise is its restraint. Posted Jan 11, 2008 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 43%
| The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything - A Veggietales Movie (2008) | "
This is no savvy Toy Story. It's a boilerplate plot like one you might find in any morning cartoon." Posted Jan 11, 2008 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 13%
| Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) | "
It may not be classic sci-fi like the original Alien, which it has in its DNA, but it's a perfectly respectable next step in the series." Posted Dec 28, 2007 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| N/A | Cocalero (2007) | "
Cocalero, Alejandro Landes's documentary about the presidential campaign of Evo Morales in Bolivia, seems to mirror the campaign itself: ragged and bare-bones." Posted Nov 9, 2007 |
Rotten 1/5
| Fresh 69%
| The Girl Next Door (2007) | "
The kind of movie that makes you wish you could rinse your brain in bleach, to wash all traces of it from your memory." Posted Oct 5, 2007 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 70%
| Right at Your Door (2007) | The acting’s pretty good, and the cinematography keeps things lively. Posted Sep 1, 2007 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 17%
| The Last Legion (2007) | This sword-and-sandal spectacle from those epic-loving De Laurentiises might have made a good children’s film. Posted Aug 20, 2007 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 90%
| Punk's Not Dead (2007) | "
Poor punk. Such a bundle of complexes, most of them encapsulated in the needlessly defensive title of Susan Dynner's documentary Punk's Not Dead." Posted Jul 27, 2007 |
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