Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 71%
| The First Day of the Rest of Your Life () | "
Over-stylised and undernourished, French director Rémi Bezançon relies a little too heavily on clichéd cinematic catastrophes to provide dramatic momentum to what is at heart a rather unspectacular saga of familial discord and reconciliation." — Scotsman Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 76%
| The Informant! (2009) | "
This is Soderbergh having fun with his craft again – and inviting us to join in the laughs." — Scotsman Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 86%
| A Serious Man (2009) | "
Not vintage Coen brothers... but they're still filmmakers to love, even if they sometimes make it increasingly difficult to do so." — Scotsman Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 75%
| Cold Souls (2009) | "
It's a precious, whimsical premise, but while Barthes has some decent jokes, and a wonderful facilitator for those jokes in Giamatti, its underlying insights aren't all that profound and this ultimately feels more formulaic than it should." — Scotsman Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 18%
| The Fourth Kind (2009) | "
Purporting to be a true story of alien abduction, in reality it's a clumsy attempt to update the hoax technique Orson Welles perfected seven decades ago." — Scotsman Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 49%
| Taking Woodstock (2009) | "
Lee's film, rambling and maddeningly vague as it often is, does manage eventually to get at why something so ephemeral meant so much to so many." — Scotsman Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 38%
| 2012 (2009) | "
Emmerich attempts to outdo himself in every reel, but the end result is too long, too cheesy and too lacking in self-awareness to be the brain-off, block-busting thrill ride it should have been." — Scotsman Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 20%
| Amelia (2009) | "
What should have been a soaring, inspirational, complex epic has been grounded by bad storytell ADVERTISEMENT ing, chocolate-box visuals, rubbish star turns and another awful US accent from a Ewan McGregor." — Scotsman Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 89%
| The White Ribbon (2009) | "
Haneke... relies on intimidating us into submission with his supposed intelligence. But his superiority and sneering contempt is unearned." — Scotsman Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 77%
| Harry Brown (2009) | "
As a slice of histrionic Charles Bronson-esque revenge cinema, it pushes all the right buttons." — Scotsman Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 83%
| Bright Star (2009) | "
A sedate, intelligent and quietly sensuous film." — Scotsman Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 60%
| Paper Heart (2009) | "
Sort of like a twee version of Curb Your Enthusiasm, it's this blurring of fact and fiction that transforms Paper Heart into a rom-com for the cynical reality-TV age, one that smartly uses documentary elements to provide real heart." — Scotsman Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 92%
| Welcome () | "
This nicely performed French drama puts a human face on the ripped-from-the-headlines immigration theme, telling an absorbing, if contrived, tale." — Scotsman Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 50%
| 1 Day () | "
It's a noble endeavour, but not a particularly successful one, primarily because her cast, as authentic as they are, don't really have the dramatic skills." — Scotsman Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 55%
| Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009) | "
Really, who cares? The essence of the story has been lost in the process. Give me The Muppet Christmas Carol any day." — Scotsman Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten 3/5
| Rotten 45%
| Jennifer's Body (2009) | "
The satirical spin on female sexuality and high-school hierarchies implied by its Carrie-meets-Heathers cinematic reference points are more confused than cutting, and there's also a fatal lack of genuine scares." — Scotsman Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 80%
| Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009) | "
This Is It doesn't have enough revelatory, caught-on-the-fly footage of Jackson to raise it above the level of a well-produced DVD extra." — Scotsman Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 47%
| The Horseman (2008) | "
Directed with flashes of genuine skill by debut film-maker Steven Kastrissios, The Horseman can't quite decide if it wants to be a full-on exploitation movie or something a little more complex." — Scotsman Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 100%
| Tales from the Golden Age (2009) | "
The ironic, comedic tone used to depict these assorted urban legends always has a grim punchline to remind us that life under Ceausescu was no laughing matter." — Scotsman Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 56%
| 9 (2009) | "
Beautifully designed but boringly told." — Scotsman Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 10%
| Dead Man Running (2009) | "
This increasingly shaggy dog story won't convince you there's any mileage left in the cockney gangster thriller – no matter how much all involved believe there is." — Scotsman Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 73%
| Starsuckers (2009) | "
It's sobering stuff that refuses to let anyone off the hook." — Scotsman Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 94%
| An Education (2009) | "
The sort of picture that's so effortlessly entertaining that its easy to praise it purely for its superb performances." — Scotsman Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 38%
| Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) | "
Shoddily structured, boring, and featuring the drippiest teen lead this side of the Jonas brothers, it seems designed for junior fanboys who still wet the bed. They're welcome to it." — Scotsman Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 26%
| The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009) | "
A shrill and lazily written wreck of a movie." — Scotsman Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 95%
| The Cove (2009) | "
[An] impassioned piece of agit-prop, which goes to great lengths to penetrate Taiji's tight security to expose this problem in gruesome detail." — Scotsman Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 92%
| Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) | "
In what has been another fairly strong year for animation, this just edges ahead of the competition for sheer originality, confidence and kooky brilliance." — Scotsman Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 47%
| Ong Bak 2 (2009) | "
Impressive as some of this is, it grows pretty wearisome pretty fast." — Scotsman Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 84%
| Pontypool (2009) | "
In an era of generic horror films, this has enough ideas to stand out." — Scotsman Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 81%
| Triangle (2009) | "
This is a further downpayment on what may yet turn out to be a decent mainstream filmmaking career for [the director] Christopher Smith." — Scotsman Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 12%
| Couples Retreat (2009) | "
Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau further damage their credibility (though not their bank balances) with another lazy, underwritten comedy." — Scotsman Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 82%
| Thirst (2009) | "
Unleashing torrents of stylishly shot blood-letting he mocks the anaemic approach to the carnal undercurrents of vampire lore favoured by western cinema." — Scotsman Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 65%
| The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) | "
A shambolic Gilliam film may still be better than no Gilliam film at all, but losing the plot isn't quite as much fun as it used to be." — Scotsman Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 94%
| Katalin Varga (2009) | "
Strickland delivers a psychologically complex twist on the genre's usual cathartic blood-letting. Haunted performances, an intricate and creepy score and a folklore-like setting add to the foreboding atmosphere." — Scotsman Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 94%
| Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee (2009) | "
Considine reveals himself to be a fine comic actor here and, while the fly-on-the-wall format is no longer fresh, the emphasis on generating actual laughs, as well as pathos, is." — Scotsman Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 89%
| Zombieland (2009) | "
The flat-out funniest horror film since Shaun of the Dead." — Scotsman Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 98%
| Up (2009) | "
The first ten minutes or so of Pixar's latest animated wonder are cinematic perfection." — Scotsman Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 0%
| The Spell (2009) | "
Full of laughably bad dialogue, tortuously constructed drama, am-dram acting and hilarious attempts at conveying terror on screen it's like a cover version of a horror movie done by some one who has never actually seen a horror movie." — Scotsman Posted Oct 4, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 27%
| Pandorum (2009) | "
Paul WS Anderson rains down another cinematic crapstorm with Pandorum, a confused, unfocused (sometimes literally) attempt to make an ideas-driven but mainstream sci-fi flick." — Scotsman Posted Oct 4, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 96%
| The Beaches of Agnes (2009) | "
A wonderful, warm, witty and insightful cinematic memoir from the godmother of the French new wave." — Scotsman Posted Oct 4, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 56%
| The Invention of Lying (2009) | "
Despite Gervais's considerable creative input, The Invention of Lying is not very good. It seems stuck in strange limbo, torn between a desire to be both hip and cutting-edge and be a quality piece of accessible mainstream entertainment." — Scotsman Posted Oct 4, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 55%
| The Soloist (2009) | "
It takes admirable steps to avoid the sentimental pitfalls that tend to accompany all such redemptive Hollywood tales, but it still leaves you with a weird aftertaste." — Scotsman Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 26%
| Blind Dating (2007) | "
An inoffensively bland piece of rom-com fluff." — Scotsman Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 8%
| 31 North 62 East (2009) | "
Crudely produced, the action scenes have no zip, the drama is underpowered and the performances have a bit of an am-dram feel." — Scotsman Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 100%
| Three Miles North Of Molkom (2009) | "
This is a film that's open-minded about the benefits of such places as life experiences, if not necessarily life-changing ones." — Scotsman Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 29%
| Gamer (2009) | "
Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor deserve some credit for being upfront about their desire to deliver purely adrenaline-driven action cinema and for making it look brilliant." — Scotsman Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 76%
| The Firm (2009) | "
Love, a visual stylist with nothing original to say, delivers plenty of sickening violence, but softens the outcome – and the point – with a sentimental, redemptive ending." — Scotsman Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 66%
| Away We Go (2009) | "
It's the kind of movie that wallows in winsomeness, kooky characters and the overbearing use of Nick Drake-style songs." — Scotsman Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 6%
| Whiteout (2009) | "
This generic snowbound thriller desperately wants to remind you of Insomnia, but it's not worth losing much sleep over." — Scotsman Posted Sep 11, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 84%
| The September Issue (2009) | "
Director RJ Cutler trails the Devil Wears Prada inspiration in the run-up to the magazine's biggest and most important issue he still finds himself with an interesting story to tell." — Scotsman Posted Sep 11, 2009 |
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