Splat |
Caché (2005) |
"Haneke's aspiration to artistry is hideously high-toned." |
Armond White |
Splat |
Canary (2008) |
"In Canary, the audience is encouraged to sit back and allow sleepily serene scenes of quiet isolation to limit their opinions to tranquil tsk-tsks." |
Simon Abrams |
Tomato |
El Cantante (2007) |
"Lopez, Anthony and Ichaso seize the opportunity to make Hollywood’s first NuYorican epic." |
Armond White |
Splat |
Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) |
"Moore’s ambush-and-blame methods are bad journalism. His lack of moral, political context is as questionable as ever." |
Armond White |
Tomato |
Caramel (2008) |
"If nothing else, Labaki suggests a calm alternative to the ugly pronouncements of Middle East disasters broadcast on CNN: the modern chick flick." |
Eric Kohn |
Splat |
Cassandra's Dream (2008) |
"It’s wearying to watch Allen’s murder obsession when he doesn’t know how to dramatize morality." |
Armond White |
Splat |
Chandni Chowk to China (2009) |
"Chandni Chowk to China never captures our imagination the way those twin Tarantino films did, mostly thanks to a lead character who’s too dumb to root for, much less believe in." |
Mark Peikert |
Splat |
Changeling (2008) |
"Changeling isn’t just a mess of manipulative attitudes like a Spike Lee film, above all, it’s an extremely unpleasant experience." |
Armond White |
Tomato |
Chaos Theory (2008) |
"Chaos Theory, starring Ryan Reynolds, confirms the underground vision of screenwriter Daniel Taplitz, who has re-imagined the screwball comedy in original terms." |
Armond White |
Splat |
Che (2008) |
"Out-perversing Gus Van Sant’s Milk, Soderbergh makes a four-hour-plus biopic about a historical figure without providing a glimmer of charm or narrative coherence." |
Armond White |
Tomato |
Cherry Blossoms (2009) |
"Doris Dorrie’s Cherry Blossoms translates a foreigner-in-Japan experience much better than Sofia Coppola could." |
Armond White |
Tomato |
Chicago 10 (2008) |
"Morgen displays obvious admiration for the Yippies’ festive mentality in the shadow of authority, but he makes a valiant effort to avoid treating them as relics." |
Eric Kohn |
Splat |
The Children of Huang Shi (2008) |
"A film whose gorgeous cinematography and endearing subject matter almost mask its mediocrity." |
Raphaela Weissman |
Tomato |
La Chinoise (1967) |
"It’s shocking to see Godard bite the hand that admires him, but this is what makes the movie relevant and timeless." |
Armond White |
Splat |
Choke (2008) |
"Despite its occasionally charming, relentlessly sarcastic tone, Choke censors its own aspirations." |
Eric Kohn |
Splat |
Choking Man (2007) |
"For all its enticing dramatic hooks, Choking Man has a fairly unrewarding conclusion." |
Eric Kohn |
Tomato |
Chris & Don: A Love Story (2007) |
"By examining this older/younger couple for differences of social circumstance, individual ego and personal desire that pertain to any love relationship, Santi and Mascara present a complex testament of gay experience. It’s remarkable because it’s rare." |
Armond White |
Splat |
A Christmas Tale (2008) |
"A Christmas Tale isn’t repugnant, just regressive. The modern family film has moved beyond this Gallic update of I Remember Mama." |
Armond White |
Tomato |
CJ7 (2008) |
"Chow’s thesis is more profound than There Will Be Blood's, and it’s expressed through a more sophisticated narrative." |
Armond White |
Splat |
The Class (2008) |
"It’s all designed to flatter the middle-class art-film audience’s patronizing attitude toward the Third World." |
Armond White |
Splat |
Cloverfield (2008) |
"It’s the Cloverfield hype campaign -- not the dissatisfying, unimpressive film itself -- that is the work of art." |
Armond White |
Splat |
Cloverfield (2008) |
"Too bad the movie is a less-than-satisfying experiment with contrived fake documentary aesthetics." |
Eric Kohn |
Tomato |
Colma: The Musical (2007) |
"H.P. Mendoza’s clever melodies and pointedly constructed rhymes rescue the movie from the detriments of its tired plot and unfocused pace." |
Eric Kohn |
Tomato |
Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) |
"Australian director P.J. Hogan is one of the most original contemporary comic filmmakers -- better than the chick-flick genre ever had." |
Armond White |
Tomato |
Confessions of a Superhero (2007) |
"Confessions doesn’t condescend or mock its subjects because they’re such natural entertainers that no audience pandering is necessary." |
Eric Kohn |
Tomato |
Coraline (2009) |
"An animated film that might be too good for children. It arrives in time to expose the atrocious Wall-E." |
Armond White |
Tomato |
The Cove (2009) |
"Documentaries don't get more compelling than The Cove, a film that plays out more like a thriller than environmental advocacy." |
David Berke |
Splat |
Crazy Love (2007) |
"Crazy Love is tabloid journalism at its most base and vulgar, with the same moral bankruptcy as the media outlets that turned this tragedy into grotesque copy in the first place." |
James Hudson |
Splat |
Crossing Over (2009) |
"This focus on uneasy spiritual and political transformation runs into thematic banality. Although more than a set of patchwork, Crash-like homilies, Crossing Over is almost as didactic." |
Armond White |
Splat |
Crude (2009) |
"When well-meaning Trudie Styler, founder of Rainforest Foundation (and Sting’s wife), comes on, even Farjardo’s convictions and Berlinger’s early scenes about native culture and ancestry get swept up amidst hubristic hubbub." |
Armond White |
Splat |
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) |
"Indifferent to [F. Scott] Fitzgerald’s ideas about society and ambition, Fincher falls back on Hollywood cliché -- reworking both Titanic and Forrest Gump." |
Armond White |
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