Tomato 2.5/4 |
Adam (2009) |
"Dancy's eye-opening performance reveals he's a bona-fide acting talent, capable of carrying a movie without ever playing to your affections." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Splat 2/4 |
Adoration (2009) |
"After a promising start, this ambitious but ultimately clunky and unwieldy movie dissolves into a pile of ideas in dire need of dramatization." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Tomato 3/4 |
Adventureland (2009) |
"The real challenge for Adventureland -- a sweet, surprisingly tender romantic comedy set at a Pittsburgh amusement park -- is to confound expectations." |
Connie Ogle |
Tomato 3/4 |
Afghan Star (2009) |
"Afghan Star reveals that the Afghan people strongly crave to make up for years lost to Taliban repression and catch up with the 21st century." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Afterschool (2009) |
"The fact that this is a film of few words only adds to its hypnotic, relentless pull." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Splat 0/4 |
All About Steve (2009) |
"One is tempted to feel bad for the usually likable Bullock -- who looks fantastic here, we must note -- but she's one of the film's producers, so she can't be too ashamed of herself. I am embarrassed for her, however." |
Connie Ogle |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Amelia (2009) |
"Its portrayal of Earhart's drive and fearlessness never really gets to the heart of this bold, driven individual or explains why she needed so badly to break beyond Earth's boundaries." |
Connie Ogle |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
An Education (2009) |
"An Education argues that life -- and the human heart -- are far too complicated merely to be studied. They need to be experienced." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Splat 2/4 |
Angels & Demons (2009) |
"The result is dizzying enough to make you think you're entertained, although the moment you stop to think about Angels & Demons for even a second, the movie becomes ridiculous and preposterous enough to be laughed off the screen." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Tomato |
Antichrist (2009) |
"Von Trier, never exactly an optimist, has never been this gloomy and pessimistic. Antichrist is the feel-bad movie of the year." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Tomato 3/4 |
Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2009) |
"A winning and surprisingly moving documentary about -- wait for it -- a struggling Canadian heavy metal band that apparently influenced a generation of hard-rockers including Metallica, Anthrax and Guns N' Roses." |
Cary Darling |
Tomato 3/4 |
At Second Glance: Social Club Buena Vista (2009) |
"What Moller finds is a forgotten place in a neglected neighborhood, where nostalgia and dreams of the future are buried by carelessness about the past, a lack of resources and diminished hopes." |
Jordan Levin |
Splat |
Avatar (2009) |
"The genre elements are all there: What critically wounds Avatar is Cameron's inability to write better characters." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Splat 0/4 |
An American Carol (2008) |
"I can't imagine anyone -- Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, red-state or blue-state, earthling or E.T. -- finding An American Carol anything other than 'not funny.' And idiotic. And demeaning. And aggressively, persistently crummy." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Tomato 3/4 |
American Teen (2008) |
"American Teen finds the truth in the trite and the cliched: It's a wonderful look at why growing up is so hard to do." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Tomato 3/4 |
Appaloosa (2008) |
"Appaloosa takes the traditional notion of a lone lawman fighting injustice and turns it successfully on its head." |
Connie Ogle |
Splat 2/4 |
Australia (2008) |
"Australia is being marketed as the kind of old-fashioned romantic epic Hollywood rarely makes anymore, and after you've sat through it, you'll be thankful they don't." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Tomato 3/4 |
Across the Universe (2007) |
"Across the Universe can't achieve the transcendence and exhilaration musicals strive for, but it often generates a singular kind of magic you've never experienced before." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Tomato 3/4 |
After The Wedding (2007) |
"After the Wedding ends up feeling far weightier than it first appears, with its plot contrivances and unlikely coincidences generating such a messy range of emotions, they end up feeling a lot like real life." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Tomato 3/4 |
Alice's House (2007) |
"First-time director Chico Teixeira, an accomplished maker of documentaries in Brazil, brings a similar nonfiction feel to this melodramatic milieu, which is kick-started when Alice contemplates having an affair of her own with a former sweetheart." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Splat 2/4 |
Alpha Dog (2007) |
"As successful as the unlikely casting of Timberlake turns out to be, some of Cassavetes' other choices are disastrous." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
American Gangster (2007) |
"What American Gangster does have -- what makes it such a commanding, exhilarating movie -- is a consummate love and understanding of story." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Tomato 3/4 |
Angel-A (2007) |
"This lighter-than-air bauble proves a pleasurable diversion indeed -- as long as that heart beating inside your chest has at least a mild propensity for the romantic. Bring a date." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Tomato 3/4 |
Arctic Tale (2007) |
"Make no mistake, Arctic Tale is a stunning film, full of all the astonishing, even breathtaking nature photography we've come to expect from the folks at National Geographic." |
Peter Debruge |
Splat 2/4 |
Arthur and the Invisibles (2007) |
"Directed by Luc Besson, this inventive family movie sets up the most delightful premise, then squanders it on the kind of yawn-inducing CG adventure you might expect from one of those long, plot-heavy cut scenes that slow down video games." |
Peter Debruge |
Tomato 4/4 |
Atonement (2007) |
"The interpretation is so painstaking and moving that almost every moment delivers a shuddering jolt to the head and the heart." |
Connie Ogle |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Away From Her (2007) |
"As this intimate, beautifully observed film unfolds, you realize that the story's themes are relevant no matter what age you happen to be." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Splat 2.5/4 |
A Scanner Darkly (2006) |
"As plentiful as its ideas are, A Scanner Darkly often feels hollow, and more than a little monotonous, because Linklater has not quite succeeded in overcoming the aggressively uncinematic nature of Dick's novel." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Splat 2/4 |
Accepted (2006) |
"The hijinks in Accepted are as wild as a sixth-grade prom." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Al Franken: God Spoke (2006) |
"Whether one agrees with his point of view or not, it's a message worth hearing." |
Marta Barber |
Splat 1/4 |
All The King's Men (2006) |
"It's the kind of picture that is so eager to celebrate its self-importance and social significance, it suffocates under its own seriousness." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Splat 1.5/4 |
American Dreamz (2006) |
"Most of American Dreamz has a curiously dated, been-there feel: It's a redundant comedy, like hearing the same tired joke for the 100th time." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Splat 1/4 |
Annapolis (2006) |
"If Annapolis is not the worst movie to date of this still-young year, it is certainly the most hackneyed, as well as the most depressing." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
The Ant Bully (2006) |
"... The Ant Bully is just a great ride, but all that moralizing diminishes the fun of feeling ant-sized yourself and being immersed in Lucas's incredible adventures." |
Peter Debruge |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Apocalypto (2006) |
"Gibson may have ravaged his career, but he has also created an extraordinary world we've never seen and leaves us with a glimpse of the hard future to come." |
Connie Ogle |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Art School Confidential (2006) |
"The movie wants to skewer the vapidity of the faddish art world and those who long to break into it, but the film is angrier than it is humorous, and it is ultimately overcome by its own bile." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Tomato 3/4 |
ATL (2006) |
"Buoyed by a superlative soundtrack, ATL plays a familiar song about growing up, but hits notes that sound brand new." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Splat 2/4 |
Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl in 3-D (2005) |
"It's pretty clear that all those terrific ideas could use a little discipline and maturity before they ever amount to a truly great movie." |
Peter Debruge |
Splat 2/4 |
The Amityville Horror (2005) |
"Moviegoers are more cynical now than they were in 1979, and most will laugh off the moments meant to be tense. You can't really blame them." |
Connie Ogle |
Tomato 3/4 |
Apres Vous (2005) |
"As the character gains confidence, Garcia tones down the tics and actually makes Louis likable." |
Connie Ogle |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Aristocrats (2005) |
"The joke itself is not very funny: It's the delivery, the invention and grossness each comedian brings to it that makes it funny." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Splat 2/4 |
Ask the Dust (2005) |
"Fante would never approve, governed as he was by a crushing fear of phoniness." |
Peter Debruge |
Tomato 3/4 |
Assault on Precinct 13 (2005) |
"The sort of remake that inspires faith in second chances." |
Connie Ogle |
Tomato 3/4 |
Asylum (2005) |
"The film, with its uniformly terrific cast, stern Gothic overtones and steady but measured pacing, is a crisp, old-fashioned delight, eschewing cheap tricks for repeated tiny pricks of unease that work up to a continuous gnawing dread." |
Connie Ogle |
Tomato 3/4 |
After Midnight (2004) |
"A girl, a boy and a few days among reels of film: For a cinema lover it is heaven in celluloid." |
Marta Barber |
Splat 2.5/4 |
After the Sunset (2004) |
"A feature-length travel destination video about how your next Bahamas getaway will leave you feeling like a millionaire." |
Peter Debruge |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
The Agronomist (2004) |
"Reminds us of previous events in the country's history, as told by a Haitian who impresses us as someone honestly looking for nothing more than peace." |
Marta Barber |
Splat 1/4 |
The Alamo (2004) |
"A crushing bore." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Alexander (2004) |
"Often skates dangerously close to camp (less forgiving viewers will find the movie hysterical), but the director's daringness to play things so boldly has a grand appeal of its own." |
Rene Rodriguez |
Tomato 3/4 |
Alfie (2004) |
"Alfie is such smooth, crisp entertainment, you barely even notice it has nothing new to say." |
Rene Rodriguez |
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