ROTTEN TOMATOES: James Kendrick

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Q Network Film Desk

JAMES KENDRICK

""Movies are the art form most like man's imagination." -- Francis Ford Coppola

"Great movies are rarely perfect movies." -- Pauline Kael"

Agrees with the Tomatometer 80% of the time.

Biography: James Kendrick is the film and DVD critic at QNetwork.com, where he has worked since 1998. From 1996 to 1998, he wrote reviews at his own, now defunt web site, "Charle Don't Surf!" He is also an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Baylor University.

Favorites: Current All-Time Top 10 (Chronological Order)—Always Subject to Change Intolerance (D.W. Griffith, 1916) Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946) Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) Au hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966) Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967) 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968) The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969) The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972) Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994) Best Films of 2004: 1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry) 2. Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood) 3. Spider-Man 2 (Sam Raimi) 4. The Aviator (Martin Scorsese) 5. Maria Full of Grace (Joshua Marston) 6. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater) 7. Sideways (Alexander Payne) 8. The Incredibles (Brad Bird) 9. Kill Bill Vol. 2 (Quentin Tarantino) 10. Primer (Shane Carruth) Honorable Mention: Garden State (Zack Braff) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Alfonso Cuarón) Mean Creek (Jacob Aaron Estes) The Bourne Supremacy (Paul Greengrass) The Passion of the Christ (Mel Gibson) Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (Kerry Conran) Mean Girls (David S. Waters) Spartan (David Mamet) Wish I could include: Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, 1927) The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1929) M (Fritz Lang, 1931) Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) Ivan the Terrible Parts I & II (Sergei Eisenstein, 1945/1946) Beauty and the Beast (Jean Cocteau, 1946) The Bicycle Thief (Vittorio De Sica, 1947) Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952) The Wages of Fear (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953) Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954) The Searchers (John Ford, 1956) Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959) 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini, 1963) Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964) Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968) Straw Dogs (Sam Peckinpah, 1971) Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman, 1972) Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog, 1972) Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1974) Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975) Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976) Dawn of the Dead (George A. Romero, 1978) Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979) Manhattan (Woody Allen, 1979) Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979) Dressed to Kill (Brian De Palma, 1980) Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980) Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986) Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989) Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg, 1993) Seven (David Fincher, 1995) Titanic (James Cameron, 1997) In the Mood for Love (Wong-Kar Wai, 2000)

Publications: Q Network Film Desk

Critics' Group: Online Film Critics Society

Total Reviews: 2418
Total QuickRatings: 7

Location: Waco, Texas

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date (default)

Fresh 3/4	Fresh 77%	Invictus (2009)	" even if it sometimes simplifies the historical issues in favor of uncomplicated multiplex feel-good uplift, it's hard not to get swept up in the joy" Posted Dec 16, 2009
Fresh 3/4	Fresh 94%	Crazy Heart (2009)	" Bridges does what he does best in disappearing into a complex character who earns our sympathy the hard way" Posted Dec 16, 2009
Fresh 4/4	Fresh 87%	A Serious Man (2009)	" an at times sublime cinematic exploration of the inscrutable nature of earthly suffering and possibly the best mainstream treatment of that subject since Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors" Posted Dec 12, 2009
Rotten 2.5/4	Rotten 31%	Ninja Assassin (2009)	" revels in the unrealistic absurdity of both its plot and its action sequences, plying the audience with its splatterfest silliness but always keep a straight face just in case" Posted Dec 10, 2009
Fresh 3/4	Fresh 71%	The Blind Side (2009)	" takes what could have been a cliché three-hanky tearjerker designed to assuage white guilt and turn it into something deeper and more meaningful" Posted Dec 7, 2009
Fresh 3.5/4	Fresh 92%	Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)	" no longer does Anderson seem like a childish filmmaker trying desperately to be idiosyncratic and zany, but rather an adult filmmaker using a children's story to speak across generations" Posted Dec 7, 2009
Fresh 3.5/4	Fresh 97%	Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989)	" a thoughtful and absorbing portrait of unconventional human relationships" Posted Nov 26, 2009
Fresh 3/4	Fresh 91%	Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire (2009)	" as powerful and moving as Precious is, there are some problems with it that are difficult to ignore and, more importantly, offer compelling insight into the divided views of how race should be portrayed" Posted Nov 25, 2009
Rotten 2.5/4	Rotten 28%	The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)	" benefits from greater romantic tension emanating from a love triangle, the inclusion of werewolves, and Kristen Stewart reducing her lower lip biting by at least fifty percent" Posted Nov 23, 2009
Fresh 3/4	Fresh 87%	Clerks (1994)	" an exemplar of what can happen when the stars align and someone's home movie can help foment a revolution" Posted Nov 23, 2009
Rotten 2.5/4	Rotten 55%	Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009)	" takes full advantage of the technologies available, but fails to illuminate or otherwise expand Dickens' story in any meaningful ways" Posted Nov 23, 2009
Rotten 2.5/4	Rotten 39%	2012 (2009)	" works best when it immerses us in the vulgar mayhem, rather than when it's asking us to care too deeply" Posted Nov 23, 2009
Fresh 3/4	Fresh 77%	Downhill Racer (1969)	" could be lumped into the convenient category of "uplifting sports drama," but in fact is a challenging deconstruction of all the underdog clichés associated with that genre" Posted Nov 23, 2009
Rotten 2.5/4	Rotten 54%	The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)	" gets by on its goofy, absurdist charm and gonzo characters without ever making a significant impact" Posted Nov 9, 2009
Fresh 4/4	Fresh 97%	Wings of Desire (1987)	" a film of sheer visual poetry and deep emotional resonance" Posted Nov 8, 2009
Fresh 3/4	Fresh 75%	Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)	" in our brave new world of Glenn Beck-style paranoia, anger, and histrionics masquerading as political discourse, Moore's sarcastic mugging seems very nearly quaint" Posted Nov 6, 2009
Fresh 3.5/4	Fresh 80%	Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009)	" I cannot image a visual record of any kind doing a better job of showing us what might have been, which makes it both a cause for celebration and its own unique tragedy" Posted Nov 6, 2009
Fresh 3/4	Fresh 73%	Night of the Creeps (1986)	" virtually every frame of the film is a love letter to a bygone era as realized in the vibrant tones of the music-video-addled '80s" Posted Nov 6, 2009
Fresh 4/4	Fresh 91%	Z (1969)	" a relentlessly fast-paced political expose that has not a single wasted second" Posted Oct 28, 2009
Fresh 3.5/4	Fresh 73%	Where the Wild Things Are (2009)	" Jonze and Eggers do an admirable, and at times alchemic, job of transforming the slim volume into something decidedly weightier in terms of plot without sacrificing the essence of the book's focus on the darker edges of childhood" Posted Oct 26, 2009
Fresh 3.5/4	Fresh 82%	Paranormal Activity (2009)	" absolutely bone-chilling" Posted Oct 21, 2009
Rotten 2/4	Rotten 57%	The Invention of Lying (2009)	" a terribly unwieldy vehicle built on an inherently funny premise that just can't sustain what Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson eventually want to heap on it" Posted Oct 20, 2009
Fresh 3/4	Fresh 65%	The Last Days of Disco (1998)	" Stilillman pulls off a unique balancing act of conveying the specificities of the cultural milieu but also maintaining a sense of universality that keeps the film from being solely about its time and place" Posted Oct 13, 2009
Fresh 3/4	Fresh 77%	The Informant! (2009)	" tweaks the story just into the realm of dark humor, but without ever losing the sense that it is fundamentally a tragedy" Posted Oct 10, 2009
Rotten 2.5/4	Rotten 27%	Pandorum (2009)	" too much of the film devolves into hectic action sequences that makes you feel like someone suddenly dropped you into a blender and turned out all the lights" Posted Oct 10, 2009
Fresh 4/4	Fresh 98%	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)	" the film's overall effect is undeniable, not only on the history of cinema as a whole, but in each new viewing that reveals another dimension or additional detail, the sum total of which is one of the true cinematic masterpieces" Posted Oct 10, 2009
Fresh 3/4	Fresh 89%	Zombieland (2009)	" manages to successfully rework the familiar in a way that pokes fun at its living-dead predecessors while also recognizing the underlying sense of dread that has allowed the genre to thrive for nearly four decades" Posted Oct 10, 2009
Rotten 2/4	Fresh 84%	The September Issue (2009)	" sporadically successful, but mostly feels stranded at the surface, possibly because its insider-ism gets the best of the filmmakers by keeping them so trapped inside the Vogue universe that we never hear any outside voices" Posted Oct 10, 2009
Fresh 3.5/4	Fresh 100%	Homicide (1991)	" one of Mamet's strangest and most compelling films" DVD REVIEW Posted Sep 28, 2009
Fresh 3/4	Fresh 85%	Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009)	" funny and at times wonderfully weird, and even has a few meaningful things to say" Posted Sep 25, 2009
Fresh 3.5/5	Fresh 94%	Last Year at Marienbad (1961)	Click here to read article DVD REVIEW Posted Sep 24, 2009
Fresh 3.5/5	Fresh 93%	Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967)	Click here to read article DVD REVIEW Posted Sep 24, 2009
Rotten 2/4	Rotten 44%	Jennifer's Body (2009)	" the various ingredients Diablo Cody tosses into the script blender mix into a lumpy mess, rather than the smooth concoction you might expect." Posted Sep 23, 2009
Fresh 3/4	Rotten 6%	All About Steve (2009)	" If it didn't come from a major studio, I would think the film is a satire of romantic comedies, or at least some kind of avant-garde experiment in testing the limits of audience identification" Posted Sep 22, 2009
Fresh 3.5/4	Fresh 100%	That Hamilton Woman (1941)	" Leigh and Olivier translate their real-life passion to celluloid, making it curiously difficult to discern what was performed and was simply there" Posted Sep 22, 2009
Rotten 2/4	Rotten 6%	Whiteout (2009)	" a relatively mediocre, by-the-numbers mystery thriller that melts from your mind as soon as you step into the sunlight" Posted Sep 22, 2009
Rotten 2.5/4	Rotten 58%	9 (2009)	" a weird and wonderful but narratively lacking post-apocalyptic fantasy" Posted Sep 16, 2009
Rotten 2/4	Rotten 49%	Taking Woodstock (2009)	" saddled with side stories that are meant to put specific faces on the issues of the time, but feel meandering and unfocused" Posted Sep 14, 2009
Fresh 3/4	Fresh 63%	Extract (2009)	" mocks idiots, hypocrites, and all the other clueless denizens of life who make it difficult for everyone else, but the bile is balanced with affection for the ordinary people who make the world turn" Posted Sep 14, 2009
Rotten 1.5/4	Rotten 23%	Sorority Row (2009)	" little more than an unconscious projection of the filmmakers' simultaneous desire for and deep fear of grotesquely overprivileged and snarky girls gone wild" Posted Sep 14, 2009
Fresh 4/4	Fresh 100%	Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)	" maddening, hypnotic, fascinating, mundane, electrifying, mind-numbing, and ultimately shocking" Posted Sep 14, 2009
Rotten 1.5/5	Rotten 13%	Friday the 13th - Part 3 (1982)	Click here to read article DVD REVIEW Posted Sep 8, 2009
Fresh 3.5/4	Fresh 93%	Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967)	" a wide-ranging cinematic essay that may seem scattershot and abstract on first viewing, but rewards more and more with each repeated experience" Posted Sep 7, 2009
Rotten 2.5/4	Fresh 93%	Made in U.S.A. (1966)	" While in theory it all sounds very interesting and intriguing and, well, Godardian, the whole never really comes together" Posted Sep 7, 2009
Rotten 2/4	Rotten 29%	The Final Destination (2009)	" would be a genuinely terrible movie (even as far as horror sequels go) except for its mordant sense of humor" Posted Sep 7, 2009
Fresh 3/4	Fresh 88%	Inglourious Basterds (2009)	" Tarantino is much less interested in the gory possibilities of the premise than he is in old-fashioned suspense and tension" Posted Aug 28, 2009
Fresh 3/4	Rotten 55%	Orphan (2009)	" a carefully staged deconstruction of our assumptions about horrorshows about preternaturally manipulative and malevolent children" Posted Aug 25, 2009
Fresh 3.5/4	Fresh 97%	The Class (2008)	" creates dramatic energy without a tightly delineated storyline" Posted Aug 25, 2009
Fresh 3.5/4	Fresh 90%	District 9 (2009)	" a sharp-edged science fiction parable that mixes metaphor and violent action with such dizzying confidence that you leave the theater feeling charged and alive" Posted Aug 25, 2009
Rotten 2/4	Fresh 63%	Husbands (1970)	" as a time capsule rendition of men being boys, it certainly has an inherent intrigue, but it is not one of Cassavetes' strongest films" Posted Aug 25, 2009

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JAMES KENDRICK

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