Tomato 4/6 |
Australia (2008) |
"A very loud, crazily colourful and delightfully strings-free romp -- fun while it lasted and fondly recalled, but not, alas, the big love we yearned for." |
Angus Fontaine |
Tomato 3/5 |
Adventureland (2009) |
"Mottola hasn't concocted the funniest summer comedy ever, but he may have given us one of the wisest." |
Ben Kenisberg |
Tomato 4/5 |
Public Enemies (2009) |
"Like Dillinger, Mann and his jangly camera live for the moment. If Public Enemies doesn't cut it as history or mythologising, it succeeds staggeringly well as a series of set pieces." |
Ben Kenisberg |
Splat 2/6 |
Seven Pounds (2008) |
"Even by the standards of gotcha flicks, Seven Pounds seems especially somnolent and pretentious." |
Ben Kenisberg |
Tomato 4/5 |
Bruno (2009) |
"It's essential - but hardly comfortable - viewing. You'll watch most of it through splayed fingers, and at times you'll need a spare hand to pick your jaw up off the cinema floor." |
Dan Rookwood |
Tomato 4/6 |
The Reader (2008) |
"Its issues are infinite and moveable. It's a bold and challenging work." |
Dave Calhoun |
Splat |
Burn After Reading (2008) |
"Burn After Reading is a disposable lark, and it's treated by the filmmakers as such; Forget After Seeing would be a far more honest title." |
David Fear |
Tomato 4/6 |
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) |
"For a melodrama concerned with emotional pain, this fairy tale favours formal trickery over human connection to a fault." |
David Fear |
Splat 2/6 |
Towelhead (2008) |
"It makes sense that the scenes are pitched between icky and titillating, but the lack of delicacy reduces everything to stock sordidness." |
David Fear |
Tomato 4/6 |
W. (2008) |
"Endeavours this even-handed and entertaining shouldn't be "misunderestimated."" |
David Fear |
Tomato 5/6 |
Doubt (2008) |
"Tense and teasingly ambiguous..." |
David Jenkins |
Tomato 3/6 |
Inkheart (2009) |
"It's a familiar tale, but one told with gusto, wit and visual flare..." |
David Jenkins |
Tomato 4/6 |
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008) |
"This writer can't remember witnessing a harder-hitting kids' movie denouement than the one that closes this microcosm of middle-class German family life in WWII." |
Derek Adams |
Tomato 3/5 |
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) |
"The Toy Story-esque plot could be written on the femur of dormouse and some scenes still lean towards inanity. But, in the main, this is a funnier and more coherent slice of kids' entertainment." |
Derek Adams |
Tomato 5/5 |
Che, Part One (2008) |
"It's not a Hollywood-style movie - it demands patience and proper attention - but it's a great movie, and rewards magnificently." |
Geoff Andrew |
Tomato 4/5 |
Taking Woodstock (2009) |
"It does at least come across as a portrait of an era that's affectionate, authentic and pleasingly adult in its tone and concerns." |
Geoff Andrew |
Tomato 4/6 |
Tulpan (2008) |
"A deliciously light touch characterises this dry, deadpan comedy set in the stark and sparsely inhabited steppes of Kazakhstan." |
Geoff Andrews |
Tomato 3/5 |
Ponyo (2009) |
"See this film if you're looking to immerse yourself in a sense of delight over the simple wonders of a child's world." |
Gregory Moore |
Tomato 5/6 |
Star Trek (2009) |
"Whether you have seen every Star Trek episode and film, or none at all, you should get out and see this, because it isn't just a great Star Trek movie: it's a great movie full stop." |
Gregory Moore |
Splat 2/5 |
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) |
"You like 'splosions and special effects? Hey, you got 'em. But for anyone over the age of 12, this hardly makes up for lead-footed plotting or the fact these metal machines can't even stay consistent within their own mythology." |
Gregory Moore |
Tomato 3/6 |
Frozen River (2008) |
"The points Hunt wants to make may not be profound (desperate people do desperate things; morality takes a backseat, but not forever), but Leo makes them seem fresh." |
Hank Sartin |
Splat 3/6 |
Knowing (2009) |
"The film's final third [is] a mélange of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Christian eschatology that will make you wish the film had ended 15 minutes sooner." |
Hank Sartin |
Splat 3/6 |
Big Stan (2007) |
"Whether you love him or hate him, your opinion of Rob Schneider will remain unchanged by the end." |
Jonathon Valenzuela |
Tomato |
District 9 (2009) |
"Neill Blomkamp's career-making debut film District 9 mixes alien contact with apartheid politics, deftly creating one of the best sci-fi films in recent memory." |
Jonathon Valenzuela |
Splat 3/6 |
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) |
"Newbies to the series will perhaps enjoy the relentless explosions and CGI action of X-Men Origins: Wolverine but as a prequel to the X-Men films -- and as an adaptation of the comics -- it fails dismally." |
Jonathon Valenzuela |
Tomato 5/6 |
Fugitive Pieces (2008) |
"Nuanced, scrupulous and powerful..." |
Joshua Land |
Tomato 5/6 |
American Teen (2008) |
"The movie has a rare, geeky generosity -- a braces-laden, acne-scared adorableness -- that sets it apart from the current crop of glamorised gossip girls or reality-TV phonies." |
Joshua Rothkopf |
Splat |
Fired Up (2009) |
"U-G-L-Y." |
Joshua Rothkopf |
Splat 1/5 |
Land of the Lost (2009) |
"Lost is putting it mildly." |
Joshua Rothkopf |
Splat 2/5 |
Sunshine Cleaning (2009) |
"Best to take a page from Rose's métier and bleach this one fully out of sight and mind." |
Keith Uhlich |
Tomato 3/6 |
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009) |
"Quirky supporting characters enliven this by-the-numbers romcom." |
Lisa Varano |
Tomato 3/5 |
Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) |
"Capitalism: A Love Story is, like Moore's previous movies, manipulative and moving, funny and impassioned, uplifting and infuriating." |
Michelle Lamont |
Tomato 3/5 |
500 Days of Summer (2009) |
"It offers us the kind of friendship that comes with a brilliant soundtrack, a story with a solid mixture of fantasy and truth, and the bolstering sort of hopefulness that we might, by accident, fall into a version of its world someday." |
Millie Stein |
Splat 2/5 |
The Girlfriend Experience (2009) |
"It's ... hard not to wonder if a skilled actress would have been better equipped to play Christine instead of a famous porn star -- but reality seems to be the directive in Soderbergh's film, no matter how bland that reality might be." |
Millie Stein |
Tomato 4/5 |
The Limits of Control (2009) |
"While some will find Jarmusch's tale (if one can call the dialogue-poor film a tale) pretentious, others will adore its artistic sensibilities." |
Millie Stein |
Splat 2/5 |
Beautiful Kate (2009) |
"Rachel Ward's directorial debut is well acted and handsomely shot by Andrew Commis, but it goes nowhere." |
Nick Dent |
Splat 3/6 |
Before the Rains (2008) |
"Has the moral overtones of an EM Forster story, but is curiously lacking in emotional force." |
Nick Dent |
Tomato 3/5 |
Cheri (2009) |
"Remember Boyle and MacDonald's names: you'll be hearing them a lot when awards season comes around." |
Nick Dent |
Tomato 5/6 |
Every Little Step (2009) |
"We're left with a deep sense of admiration for those who are prepared to face rejection routinely in pursuit of a dream." |
Nick Dent |
Tomato 5/5 |
The French Kissers (2009) |
"French cinema has a new coming-of-age classic to go alongside Au Revoir les Enfants and The 400 Blows." |
Nick Dent |
Tomato 3/5 |
Gomorrah (2009) |
"The result, while admirable, is curiously flat and unengaging." |
Nick Dent |
Tomato 4/5 |
Mao's Last Dancer (2009) |
"Bruce Beresford delivers one of his best films in the story of Chinese ballet star Li Cunxin." |
Nick Dent |
Splat 3/6 |
Revolutionary Road (2008) |
"While the theme of 'what are you doing with your life?' resonates, it's not much fun to watch, in spite of splendid performances from all concerned." |
Nick Dent |
Tomato 4/5 |
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008) |
"While not apologising for his disgusting behaviour, the film puts Polanski's actions in the context of a turbulent life." |
Nick Dent |
Tomato 5/6 |
Slumdog Millionaire (2008) |
"This is Boyle's best since Trainspotting." |
Nick Dent |
Tomato 4/6 |
Summer Hours (2009) |
"A beautifully understated movie about family ties and the sadness and nostalgia that objects can evoke." |
Nick Dent |
Tomato 4/6 |
Valkyrie (2008) |
"X-Men fans may disagree, but this is Singer's best work since The Usual Suspects." |
Nick Dent |
Tomato 4/6 |
Watchmen (2009) |
"Although Zack Snyder's Watchmen is as lovingly detailed a facsimile as there's ever been of a graphic novel, there's still something lacking." |
Nick Dent |
Tomato 4/6 |
Wendy and Lucy (2008) |
"[Williams] doesn't have to say much to convey the deep wells of hurt that Wendy's carrying around, and they're all the more poignant for remaining unspoken." |
Nick Dent |
Tomato 5/6 |
The Wrestler (2008) |
"Randy's climactic thank you to the fans who have stood by him sounds eerily like an Oscar speech; expect a reprise at the actual ceremony in February." |
Nick Dent |
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