Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 92%
| Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) | "
The result is not only marvellous whimsy, but also something that advances the burgeoning retro-tech movement." Posted Nov 25, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 91%
| Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire (2009) | "
The picture painted by director Lee Daniels is almost unbearably bleak, but it feels completely honest. It's indeed relentless, but also transfixing and ultimately transformative." Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 92%
| Mary and Max (2009) | "
In a perverse and often immature way, it forthrightly deals with mature issues of love, friendship, forgiveness and mental health. It requires a mature audience, but an audience nonetheless." Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 30%
| The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) | "
The stakes are higher and the intensity deeper this time, despite a plot that approaches the ripest of melodrama – and which occasionally provokes unintended laughter, as does the terribly twee soundtrack." Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 49%
| Antichrist (2009) | "
Antichrist ends up being more unnerving than it is terrifying, and a lot funnier than it's supposed to be." Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Fresh 60%
| Pirate Radio (2009) | "
If there were awards handed out for the most badly bungled concept, Pirate Radio would have to be very much in contention." Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 22%
| The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009) | "
Bold prediction: At his current glacial pace of progress, Troy Duffy is likely to write and direct the great Irish-American payback movie sometime in the year 2049." Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 16%
| Gentlemen Broncos (2009) | "
The sci-fi themed Gentlemen Broncos doesn't just visit Planet Quirk, it crash lands upon it." Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 55%
| Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009) | "
It's like taking a Christmas wreath and dipping it in wax or laminating a Christmas card in plastic. Zemeckis risks creating another Yule ghoul: the Ghost of Christmas Without Soul." Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 78%
| Bronson (2009) | "
It's impossible to deny Hardy's astounding performance, which partially redeems the picture. Looking like a mad circus strongman, his moustache seeming to twirl all by itself, he's so fully immersed in his character, you fear for his sanity." Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 25%
| The Collector (2009) | "
If you didn't already know The Collector was written by two Saw franchise hacks, and directed by one of them, it would soon become as obvious as a fish hook to the face." Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 80%
| Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009) | "
This is Michael Jackson unvarnished, the wizard behind the curtain and the man-child in the mirror, and it's fascinating to behold." Posted Oct 28, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 20%
| Amelia (2009) | "
Courting Oscar with unseemly lust, while also promoting Earhart as an early feminist, the film strives too hard to be profound and not enough to be merely human." Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 94%
| An Education (2009) | "
The point here is not to judge past missteps by modern standards, but rather to point out how easy it is to allow dreams to overtake reality." Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 93%
| The Damned United (2009) | "
Sheen's performance is controlled fury, barely touching ground as he presents Clough as being the very picture of a delusional fool." Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 87%
| A Serious Man (2009) | "
Resolutely paced, impeccably staged and lensed, it's comedy for people who can laugh at poetic car wrecks, obtuse rabbis, mysterious dental messages and an endlessly drained cyst." Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 25%
| Law Abiding Citizen (2009) | "
You want to see what happens, even as logic tumbles, and there are fascinating undercurrents in the bargain." Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 71%
| Where the Wild Things Are (2009) | "
It's a joy for thinking moviegoers of any age. It doesn't seek to "keep out all the sadness," yet neither does it wallow in gloom. Instead it presents childhood as a journey filled with things both wonderful and fearful, and ultimately all of the mind." Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 83%
| Paranormal Activity (2009) | "
The people most scared by Paranormal Activity may be the makers of high-priced special effects, who will have to explain to studio bosses how a kid with $15,000 and one or two cameras can create such effective terror." Posted Oct 12, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 12%
| Couples Retreat (2009) | "
Beneath the ham acting and the relentless banter is a serious movie about relationships. We're being sold laughs, but a few sober thoughts are delivered." Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 89%
| Zombieland (2009) | "
"Nut up or shut up," is the most quotable of Woody Harrelson's cowboy maxims in the genre mash-up Zombieland, and squeamish moviegoers should take it as gospel." Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 75%
| Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) | "
The result is a film that stands as one of Moore's finest arguments. It's also one of his funniest, if you accept that the jokes are all of the gritted-teeth variety." Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 65%
| Coco Before Chanel (2009) | "
A more conventional movie would work this love triangle to maximum pathos. Fontaine sees it as simply part of the Chanel construct, and Tautou is completely in tune with her." Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 83%
| Bright Star (2009) | "
It's refreshing to see romantic drama where credulity hasn't been stretched by the magic of Hollywood or the fantasies of the mind." Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 27%
| Pandorum (2009) | "
The long middle portion does get tedious, obvious and downright laughable, but sci-fi fans probably won't regret the experience." Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 39%
| Surrogates (2009) | "
Surrogates bleakly satirizes our increasingly plugged-in world." Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 77%
| The Informant! (2009) | "
In adapting reporter Kurt Eichenwald's non-fiction account of Mark E. Whitacre, the corporate corn husker turned federal snitch, Soderbergh has given this incredible story exactly the amount of insanity it deserves." Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 45%
| Jennifer's Body (2009) | "
Jennifer's Body comes across as Diablo Cody lite, something she seems to have dashed off in-between talk show appearances and updating her MySpace page with her latest caustic witticisms." Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 96%
| Up in the Air (2009) | "
Up in the Air has many amusing moments -- Clooney has never been funnier, either – yet this is more drama than comedy." Posted Sep 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 56%
| 9 (2009) | "
The post-apocalyptic adventure 9 adds up to everything except an obvious audience." Posted Sep 9, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 86%
| Lorna's Silence (2009) | "
In casting the previously unknown Dobroshi, the brothers approach greatness with their lean portrait of simple humanity tested by desire and driven desperate by circumstances." Posted Aug 28, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 49%
| Taking Woodstock (2009) | "
Can you dig it? Maybe, if you aren't already up to your tie-dyed shorts in Woodstock memories, and if you can accept that there's relatively little music in this happy-go-lucky movie about history's most celebrated music festival." Posted Aug 28, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 95%
| In the Loop (2009) | "
The film, while often very funny, is so relentlessly savage it could destroy whatever shred of respect you may still retain for politicians and that flogged horse called democracy." Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 88%
| Inglourious Basterds (2009) | "
These Basterds blend into a much richer story, a hugely entertaining one with stars you don't immediately see shining." Posted Aug 20, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 68%
| Tetro (2009) | "
What makes it eminently watchable is the craft. Cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr. films in luscious widescreen monochrome that looks almost wet. Osvaldo Golijov's score is another pleasure." Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 90%
| District 9 (2009) | "
In a summer where toy robots and action heroes have rocked the box office and killed brain cells, it's nice to see a movie where some serious thought has been put into reviving a stale genre." Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 38%
| The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) | "
If you can get past the calendar gymnastics, The Time Traveler's Wife plays as an affecting allegory of love that persists even when the lover is gone." Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 85%
| Flame & Citron (2008) | "
The action scenes are well-staged and the performances are aces." Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 96%
| Burma VJ (2009) | "
An awe-inspiring documentary by Denmark's Anders Ostergaard that tracks how the news escaped in 2007 during Burma's civil uprising." Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 82%
| Thirst (2009) | "
Too bad the film never quite gets the blood pumping in the viewer, which may be a failure of Park's to define his audience." Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 95%
| The Cove (2009) | "
The Cove plays like the James Bond version of an environmental doc. It could also be viewed as a horror movie for the carnage it depicts. Yet it's quite simply one of the year's best movies." Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 36%
| G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) | "
It is possible that never before in the annals of cinema has so much destruction been depicted on screen to so little purpose, unless you count brain or ear damage." Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 26%
| Shrink (2009) | "
In seeking to depict the shallowness of Hollywood life, it's hard not to appear shallow yourself." Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 68%
| Funny People (2009) | "
Presented with an opportunity to make an honest dramatic statement about loneliness, fate and life choices, [Apatow] turns to penis jokes, stunt casting and white-picket platitudes." Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 75%
| Humpday (2009) | "
[A] startlingly good comedy that makes Brüno seem barely daring." Posted Jul 24, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 83%
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) | "
There is still magic, but it all has dramatic purpose -- and much of it points to the final two films." Posted Jul 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 91%
| Il Divo (2009) | "
We may not know the man, but we know the dance, as seen in the highly diverting and hugely controversial Il Divo, a biopic as wly as its subject." Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 98%
| The Hurt Locker (2009) | "
Just when you thought the battle of Iraq war dramas had been fought and lost, along comes one that demands to be seen -- if you can handle the raging adrenaline." Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 89%
| Moon (2009) | "
The under-appreciated Rockwell finally gets a leading role -- make that roles -- worthy of his considerable talent." Posted Jul 3, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 45%
| Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) | "
This third trip to the Ice Age cooler should delight families with its amusing new dino buddies, even as it risks terrifying tots." Posted Jul 1, 2009 |
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