Tomato 4/5 |
21 (2008) |
"The movie introduces a world and sells it extremely well. It does a good job of explaining the rules of the card-counting scam, and the actual blackjack scenes are quite exciting" |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4.5/5 |
500 Days of Summer (2009) |
"Probably the most honest thing in the film is the breakup scenes feel like REAL breakups, much more than they resemble the contrived obstacles to love in most romantic comedies." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4/5 |
An Education (2009) |
""An Education" is worth seeing, mostly for its superb period detail and the strong performance at its center." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4.5/5 |
Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2009) |
"The film is very funny at times, especially in its use of early '80s archival footage; the comedy of Anvil's hair, outfits, and lyrics from the '80s are worth the price of admission alone." |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 2/5 |
Australia (2008) |
"Luhrmann... apparently decided this time to make about five movies at once, as Australia fluctuates wildly among many genres and many more different tones. And it's long. So, so long." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4.5/5 |
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) |
"a bizarre amalgam of source material, director and star that's just nutso enough to work" |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 1/5 |
Big Fan (2009) |
"I could imagine a very good movie being made about rabid, angry football fans in New York and Philadelphia... but Big Fan just plain doesn't work, mostly because it doesn't understand the world it inhabits." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4/5 |
Bigger, Stronger, Faster* (2008) |
""It's hard to dislike any movie that begins with footage of Hulk Hogan defeating the Iron Sheik in 1984, although knowing how closely Vince McMahon guards the WWE's tape library, I don't know how Bell got permission to use the footage in the film."" |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4/5 |
The Blind Side (2009) |
"Yes, it is one of the more tired genres around, and no, it's not as good as the book. But "The Blind Side," is a nice surprise- a heartfelt drama that tells an amazing story remarkably well." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4/5 |
Body of Lies (2008) |
"Body of Lies is the movie Syriana and The Kingdom wanted to be." |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 2/5 |
Bruno (2009) |
"The film's weakness is obvious: it has exactly one trick up its sleeve, and merely repeats that trick over and over for its entire 87-minute running time" |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 2.5/5 |
Cadillac Records (2008) |
"An entertaining but frustrating film. There are some good performances, and some great music, but the movie is too jumbled and confused to reach the heights to which it aspires." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4/5 |
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) |
""In the two battle scenes, we always have an exact sense of what an old film professor of mine called the "axis of action." We know who is where, and why, and where things stand" |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 1/5 |
Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) |
"Shopaholic's biggest problem is that it wants to have it both ways. It wants to luxuriate in expensive clothes and shoes and other princess-fantasy accoutrements while at the same time posing as a heavy-handed brief against debt, shallowness and financial" |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 2/5 |
Couples Retreat (2009) |
"A patchwork collection of derivative gags and relationship drama that seems leftover from old 'thirtysomething' episodes." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 5/5 |
The Dark Knight (2008) |
"Batman and Robin it ain't; it's hard to believe "The Dark Knight" and Joel Schumacher's infamous camp extravaganza even came from the same universe, let alone the same franchise." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 3/5 |
Defiance (2008) |
"It's an imperfect film - slow-moving and without much narrative momentum - but it tells an inspiring story, and when it gets going, it's quite rousing." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4/5 |
Definitely, Maybe (2008) |
"Despite repeatedly falling for three of the most beautiful women in the movies, Reynolds winds up largely miserable" |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 2/5 |
Doubt (2008) |
"More than any other movie I can think of in the past few years, 'Doubt' was conceived of, and produced, for the sole purpose of winning Oscars. That's why it exists, and no, that's not a compliment." |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 2/5 |
Drag Me To Hell (2009) |
"Drag Me to Hell can't quite live up to the Evil Dead movies, mostly because it never finds a consistent tone. Not to mention, its background mythology is both totally ridiculous and almost impossible to understand." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4.5/5 |
Duplicity (2009) |
"It's a complex and at times hard-to-follow script, but it leaves no loose ends and makes perfect sense in the end. Even the ending is a legitimate surprise" |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4/5 |
Elegy (2008) |
"It's a dark, dark film, and not a fun night out at the movies by any means, but... the filmmakers have clearly done a good job with material from a major author whose work is difficult to adapt." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4/5 |
Extract (2009) |
"As with virtually all of Judge's work, Extract is based on the idea that most people are total, blithering idiots. It's all very off-beat, but a top-flight comedic cast makes it work" |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 1/5 |
Fame (2009) |
"a totally unoriginal and unnecessary remake that runs far, far away from anything edgy, controversial or interesting." |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 2/5 |
Fast & Furious (2009) |
""As silly as it is derivative, with quite a bit of unintentional comedy, but the action scenes deliver, and car fetishists will find much to love."" |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 5/5 |
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) |
"[The film] works, first and foremost because of Segel, who knocks it out of the park in both his first starring role and first produced screenplay." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4/5 |
Funny People (2009) |
"The film does a lot of things that Apatow's previous work did... but is almost ruined by a too-long running time and a third act that seems to drag on forever." |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 2/5 |
Get Smart (2008) |
""Get Smart" largely sinks because it's an "action comedy" in which neither the action nor the comedy particularly works." |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 2/5 |
Ghost Town (2008) |
"Ghost Town stars one of the world's premier comedic talents in his first starring movie role, but misuses him to an alarming degree." |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 1/5 |
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009) |
"A mediocre comedy that wants desperately to be "Anchorman" on a used-car lot, but can't measure up, mostly because it's so lacking in laughs" |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 3/5 |
Hamlet 2 (2008) |
"Hamlet 2 has a lot on its mind, not all of it good. You can tell everyone involved here knows what they're doing... it's just that they have too many balls in the air and can't effectively juggle them at once." |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 1/5 |
Hancock (2008) |
"It's a pointless, plodding and just plain ugly effort which fails on just about every level." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4.5/5 |
The Hangover (2009) |
"The best bachelor party movie since, well, "Bachelor Party"" |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4/5 |
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008) |
"Those wishing to defend the honor of the red states will find much to dislike here, starting with the depiction of Southerners as rednecks and Klansmen" |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 3/5 |
He's Just Not That Into You (2009) |
"It's far from a revolutionary film, but it's still quite enjoyable, thanks to an attractive cast and some funny moments." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4.5/5 |
The Hurt Locker (2009) |
"What makes Hurt Locker truly great is that it's most interested in telling us an honest story about these soldiers and this war, without servicing any type of political agenda." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 3.5/5 |
The Incredible Hulk (2008) |
"Strange a project as it is, "The Incredible Hulk" actually counts as something of a success." |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 2.5/5 |
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) |
"The pace is a bit lethargic, and the film also suffers from the usual Spielberg Achilles' heel of many, many false endings." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4/5 |
The Informant! (2009) |
"It may be slow at times and structured sort of oddly, but The Informant! is one of the year's true originals, and Soderbergh's best film since the first Ocean's" |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 2/5 |
Inglourious Basterds (2009) |
"Why is Basterds such a colossal disappointment? It's mostly because Tarantino indulges all of his worst impulses as a filmmaker and ignores what he does best." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 3/5 |
The International (2009) |
"The film goes off to a sort of sluggish start, and its ending just goes on and on. But in the middle is one of the most astonishingly awesome action sequences in recent cinematic history." |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 2/5 |
The Invention of Lying (2009) |
"The film has two very, very good ideas, but doesn't fit them together well; while its laughs are only sporadic, and the romantic subplot falls generally flat." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4/5 |
Iron Man (2008) |
""Iron Man"'s true revelation is leading man Robert Downey, Jr., who may not be giving the greatest superhero performance ever, but is certainly the best actor to ever portray a superhero." |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 1/5 |
Jumper (2008) |
""Jumper" is a plodding, action-less mess, in which we'd only be interested if we could comprehend what the heck was going on." |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 1.5/5 |
Leatherheads (2008) |
""Leatherheads" fails because it has trouble balancing its many plots, and because it has nothing remotely interesting to say about any of them." |
Stephen Silver |
Tomato 4.5/5 |
Man On Wire (2008) |
"Are these people inspiring, talented stars, pursuing a difficult and dangerous athletic feat, or are there they disturbed nuts with a death wish? The film doesn't judge and doesn't take sides." |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 1.5/5 |
Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009) |
"A deeply creepy and disturbing exercise, in which we're exposed to footage that was likely never meant to see the light of day, featuring a performer who at the time was, literally, days away from death." |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 2/5 |
Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) |
"The 3-D effects look great, no doubt, but the film ultimately falls victim to a contrived, unoriginal plot that just shows once again how far behind Disney/Pixar, DreamWorks Animation is." |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 1.5/5 |
Never Back Down (2008) |
"While both [this movie and "Karate Kid"] are unintentionally hilarious, the difference is no one will remember "Never Back Down" in two weeks, let alone 20 years." |
Stephen Silver |
Splat 0/4 |
New in Town (2009) |
"All it does is mine stereotypes about the small-town Upper Midwest that were starting to get cliched when "The Music Man" was first staged in 1957." |
Stephen Silver |
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