Tomato 3.5/5 |
Bottle Shock (2008) |
"In the same way Good Night And Good Luck sends you hurtling for whisky and a Malboro, and Sideways prompts a pining for pinot noir, Bottle Shock will have you craving a chilled glass of Californian chardonnay." |
Amy Harris |
Tomato 4/5 |
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) |
"A fun-tastic adventure that virtually guarantees enjoyment for the whole family." |
Ben McEachen |
Tomato 3/5 |
Body of Lies (2008) |
"By the end, Body Of Lies is revealed as just another big-budget movie designed to cash in on the real-enough Middle East conflicts. It's a gangster movie without cops and criminals." |
Des Partridge |
Tomato 3/5 |
Choke (2008) |
"Gregg, with his first directing job, has risen to the challenge, and adapted Choke without sacrificing anything and resulting in a less conventional film." |
Des Partridge |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Defiance (2008) |
"Zwick lets the amazing story of the Bielskis' achievement unfold in a conventional, even old-fashioned storytelling way, and even finds time for a spot of romance..." |
Des Partridge |
Tomato 3.5/5 |
Gomorrah (2009) |
"It is a challenging approach, and while there is suspense and action (including a spectacular car crash), there is frustration as a result of the regular cutting from one story to another." |
Des Partridge |
Splat 2/5 |
Love The Beast (2009) |
"It is diverting for a few minutes, but the enterprise really needs something more interesting than one man's relationship with his car." |
Des Partridge |
Splat 2.5/5 |
Notorious (2009) |
"While the script provides ample illustrations of Wallace's tough life, there is not enough focus on what set the recording star apart from his peers or why he became so incredibly popular so quickly." |
Des Partridge |
Tomato 3/5 |
Orphan (2009) |
"Enough jump-out-of-your-seat moments to make this nonetheless trashy, implausible thirller watchable." |
Des Partridge |
Tomato 4/4 |
Paris 36 (2008) |
"Some of the musical numbers are way too elaborate to have been presented in a suburban music hall, but if you want reality, this isn't the movie you're looking for." |
Des Partridge |
Tomato 3/5 |
Quiet Chaos (2009) |
"[Moretti delivers] a complex and complete performance..." |
Des Partridge |
Tomato 3/5 |
Red Cliff (2009) |
"The most beautiful Asian epic since Bernardo Bertolucci's Oscar triumph, The Last Emperor, 22 years ago." |
Des Partridge |
Splat 2.5/5 |
The Wackness (2008) |
"Levine's extended use of sepia-toned cinematography adds to the film's charmless look, matching the bleakness of the lives of most of the people he presents to the audience." |
Des Partridge |
Tomato 3/5 |
American Teen (2008) |
"Presents a neat and compact overview of youth under pressure to conform, perform and mature." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Splat 1/5 |
Babylon A.D. (2008) |
"If Kassovitz really believed he had a classic in the making, why didn't he take a stand and nix the casting of Diesel while he had the chance?" |
Leigh Paatsch |
Tomato 3/5 |
Bandslam (2009) |
"The suprise packet of the film is Vanessa hudgens, cast against type as the Goth-ish girlfriend." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Splat 2/5 |
Bride Wars (2009) |
"Eighty-eight minutes and 14 seconds of pure, unadulterated piffle." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Splat 2/5 |
Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) |
"Fisher is wonderful for much of this movie, despite some of the irksome material shoved her way." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Splat 2/5 |
Couples Retreat (2009) |
"Couples Retreat turns out to be a sloppy, choppy mess." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Tomato 3/5 |
Death Race (2008) |
"Petrolheads and gorehounds, this backfiring blast of cinematic carbon monoxide is your film of the year." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Tomato 4/5 |
Drag Me To Hell (2009) |
"A funny, inspired and genuinely thrilling horror movie [and] the best thing to happen to the genre in yonks." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Tomato 3.5/5 |
Every Little Step (2009) |
"This fascinating American made documentary tracks a disparate group of dancers trying out for a range of roles in a Broadway revival of the iconic stage musical A Chorus Line." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Tomato |
Fame (2009) |
"Hardly necessary, but highly enjoyable." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Splat 2/5 |
Fast & Furious (2009) |
"Early, pre-credit scenes are so meticulously choreographed and expertly edited that you just cannot wait for the real film to begin. However, minutes later, you can't help wishing the thing would just hurry up and finish." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Splat 1/4 |
Four Christmases (2008) |
"An imperfect storm of horrible writing, awkward casting and questionable taste gathers soon after the opening credits and dumps downpours of buzz-killing humour at depressingly regular intervals." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Tomato 3.5/5 |
Fragments (2009) |
"Each character's unique journey towards processing their shared horrific experience is handled with sensitivity and honesty." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Splat 1/5 |
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) |
"This ultra-violent, incoherent and utterly underwhelming action flick cost more than $200 million to produce." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Splat |
The Happening (2008) |
"The movie is a bummer, from beginning to end." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Splat |
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008) |
"Every aspect of the production is atrocious in the extreme.The writing is awful. The direction is bilious." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Splat 2/5 |
The House Bunny (2008) |
"If you left Legally Blonde and Revenge of the Nerds DVDs in a darkened room for long enough, something like House Bunny would eventually totter out." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Tomato 3/5 |
Igor (2008) |
"If you are the type that wishes filmmaker Tim Burton still put his name to funky animated monstrosities like The Nightmare Before Christmas, then Igor will fit the bill just nicely." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Splat 2/5 |
Mirrors (2008) |
"The unfeasibly large number of scenes where Sutherland must swap lines with the title characters makes the wait to get to the good stuff feel like an eternity." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Splat 1/5 |
My Best Friend's Girl (2008) |
"A film that truly bites." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Splat 2/5 |
My Blueberry Nights (2008) |
"A calorie-free snack masquerading as a substantial meal." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Tomato 3/5 |
Pride and Glory (2008) |
"Director and co-writer Gavin O'Connor is the son of a former New York policeman, and displays a strong grasp of the familial and fraternal ties that bind his characters together." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Tomato 3/5 |
Role Models (2008) |
"What Role Models does well is extract every last loose-moral laugh it can from its who-is-educating-who? scenario." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Splat 2.5/5 |
Sex Drive (2008) |
"At its very best, some sequences would be considered funny enough to warrant inclusion in the deleted scenes section of the Superbad DVD. At its very worst, think stale American Pie." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Tomato 3.5/5 |
The Tale of Despereaux (2008) |
"There are no cheesy pop-culture gags or similarly wacky wisecracks; the emphasis is purely on action and adventure, and it pays off wonderfully by the end." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Splat 2/5 |
The Ugly Truth (2009) |
"One of the uglier truths about The Ugly Truth is that its screenplay was co-written by three women who have really sold their gender down the river. Way to represent the cause, ladies." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Splat 2.5/5 |
The Uninvited (2009) |
"The good work done by the Guards earlier in the picture -- continual layering of one new level of mystique upon another -- is tainted by a sudden desperation to explain away everything with several clumsy flashbacks." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Tomato 3/5 |
Watchmen (2009) |
"For all of the ferocious flashes of brilliance achieved by wunderkind director Zack Snyder, there are almost as many fatal flaws." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Tomato 3/5 |
What Just Happened (2008) |
"In an era where old rope such as Fast & Furious can strangle the box office, any reminder of Hollywood's clueless cynicism is more than welcome." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Splat 2.5/5 |
Where the Wild Things Are (2009) |
"It's also too adult in its concerns to be fully understood by most children. And paradoxically, it's also too child-like in its construction to be appreciated by most adults." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Tomato 3/5 |
Whip It (2009) |
"Whip It is not the most original flick to come along this year, the knockabout (and knock 'em flat) way in which Barrymore captures the wired atmosphere of roller derby is genuinely irresistible." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Splat 2/5 |
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) |
"Fans of the many comic books in which Wolverine has featured will rue what has become of their favourite characters." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Tomato 3.5/5 |
Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) |
"The most dirty-minded date movie of all time." |
Leigh Paatsch |
Tomato |
Sex and the City - The Movie (2008) |
"The film is raw, sentimental and outrageously materialistic - just as a true fan would hope and expect it would be." |
Peta Hellard |
Tomato |
Star Trek (2009) |
"There is a good blend of character development and action in Star Trek which is why it will resonate so well with audiences." |
Stephen Fenech |
Splat 2/5 |
Angels & Demons (2009) |
"A fast-paced and serviceable thriller, dressed in second-hand religious mumbo jumbo, that relies on constant forward momentum to ensure its audience doesn't have time to stop and think about it too much." |
Vicky Roach |
Tomato 4/4 |
Beautiful Kate (2009) |
"Part outback mystery, part kitchen-sink drama, Beautiful Kate is a remarkably assured directorial debut from Ward, who has honed her craft on short films." |
Vicky Roach |
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