Tomato 3/4 |
Adventureland (2009) |
"As a universal tale of the post-adolescent experience, Adventureland is knowledgeable and wise, virtually every bone in its body an honest one." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Aliens in the Attic (2009) |
"Aliens in the Attic is inoffensively mediocre, bereft of subtext and depth but too playful to get terribly bent out of shape about its shortcomings. It could have been a whole lot better, but it also could have been a great deal worse." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat .5/4 |
All About Steve (2009) |
"When Mary tearfully confesses that she wears her red boots because they make her toes "feel like ten friends on a camping trip," the viewer doesn't know whether to explode in laughter or die from the osmosis of Sandra Bullock's own humiliation." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3/4 |
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2009) |
"One of the more memorable teen-oriented horror movies of the last few years. As much a comment on the objectification of women as it is a grimy, violent, enthralling slasher pic." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Amelia (2009) |
"Overly glorifies its human subject, cautious to get its hands dirty and dig beneath the surface of Earhart's public life. And yet, even so, Hilary Swank is a joy to watch." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3/4 |
An Education (2009) |
"A resonant coming-of-age story, at once tough and delicate, that signifies how much times have changed in the proceeding fifty years, and, in other ways, how much they have stayed the same." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Angels & Demons (2009) |
"Languid, over-bloated, preachy and too reliant on coincidence. Sometimes comes off as a pushy lecture produced and directed by Kirk Cameron." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Antichrist (2009) |
"A fairy tale gone fatalistically wrong, the stark opposite of happily ever after. Impresses with its sheer dauntless, sobering nerve." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Astro Boy (2009) |
"A morbidly insensitive insult." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Avatar (2009) |
"Take away the snazzy technology and what is left? Precious little. From a writing and storytelling standpoint, Avatar is a considerable failure, not even worth a fraction of its built-in hype." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Away We Go (2009) |
"A road movie made up of what feels like a half-dozen exquisitely realized short films, Away We Go sends the viewer out smiling." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat .5/4 |
An American Carol (2008) |
"While it is the liberals of America who receive the brunt of abuse, it is the conservatives, portrayed as hypocritical, narrow-minded hicks and heathens, that unintentionally look like fools." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
American Teen (2008) |
"If American Teen isn't a particularly deep documentary, it is an entertaining one." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Another Gay Sequel (2008) |
"A more slapdash affair than its predecessor, but writer-director Todd Stephens has retained enough sunshine, sweetness, and bravely go-for-broke showmanship to keep things moving at an amiable pace." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Appaloosa (2008) |
"These days, westerns are a dying breed, uncommonly found in multiplexes. Appaloosa is the latest reason why." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1/4 |
April Fool's Day (2008) |
"Exceedingly stupid and convoluted, leading to a big 'huh?' ending. April Fool's, indeed." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Australia (2008) |
"A technical triumph in search of a heart that feels real." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Across the Universe (2007) |
"An ambitious failure, but a failure nonetheless. For a film celebrating life and love, Across the Universe ironically and unforgivably leaves the viewer feeling cold." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) |
"Scares are few and far between. Suspense is in short supply. As for the battle sequences pitting the slimy aliens against the metal-geared predator, they are plentiful but forgettable, nondescript freneticism shot in murky lighting." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Alpha Dog (2007) |
"Alpha Dog isn't a total wash, but it is unfocused, overstuffed and routine." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) |
"Children may laugh at the broad humor, but what's lurking underneath the comedy is dark and disheartening." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
American Gangster (2007) |
"Strictly paint-by-numbers filmmaking any way you slice it, and not even the individually riveting performances from Washington and Crowe can save it." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theatres (2007) |
"If nothing else, it can lay claim to being the only film in memory that had me in tears of hysterical laughter before the studio logos came up." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat .5/4 |
Are We Done Yet? (2007) |
"Grammatically incorrect though it is, Are We Done Yet? is precisely what audiences will be pleading by the ten-minute mark." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) |
"One of the most cinematically assured works of the year. Blows most tried-and-true westerns out of the water." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1.5/4 |
The Astronaut Farmer (2007) |
"A well-meaning but insufferably corny yarn." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Atonement (2007) |
"Profundity is never achieved because the would-be encompassing love story at its center isn't given enough time to build and breathe." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
August Rush (2007) |
"Slight, uneven and not very memorable. Just as the viewer's heart is intended to soar, mine was left lukewarm and wishing that it cared more." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Awake (2007) |
"So screechingly obvious by the 15-minute mark that all the viewer is left to do for the remainder of the running time is wait around for the slow-witted machinations of the script to catch up." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
A Scanner Darkly (2006) |
"So preachy in its anti-drug stance that it might as well have had the financial support of D.A.R.E. during its production." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Accepted (2006) |
"A vanilla version of a raunchy romp just a few 's'-words away from Disneyfication." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Akeelah and the Bee (2006) |
"A winning and suitably uplifting way to spend a couple hours." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 0/4 |
Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker (2006) |
"Boring, empty, anticlimactic, uninspired and bankrupt of humanity." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 0/4 |
All The King's Men (2006) |
"The disastrously hollow All the King's Men forgoes entertainment in favor of trying to cause death by way of crushing boredom." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1/4 |
American Dreamz (2006) |
"A toxic love letter to hate." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 0.5/4 |
An American Haunting (2006) |
"Boggles the mind with how many things it gets wrong." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Annapolis (2006) |
"Stacked with unoriginal plot elements hot off the assembly line, yet still manages to present said story with conviction, tough rings of truth, and a rooting attentiveness." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
The Ant Bully (2006) |
"Pleasant, but not dynamic, it's old-fashioned feel and narrative deficiencies bound to leave most audiences cold." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 2/4 |
Apocalypto (2006) |
"By the end, there's nothing to grab onto except spare limbs and innards." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Aquamarine (2006) |
"Gentle-hearted and surprisingly sweet." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 3/4 |
Aurora Borealis (2006) |
"Has a relaxed and understated tone that blindsides the viewer at key moments with its dramatic potency." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl in 3-D (2005) |
"Has a rushed, thrown-together feel to it made all the more glaring by cheesy 3-D that is ugly and doesn't work in any way, shape or form." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Aeon Flux (2005) |
"The waste of talent and money thrown into this cheesy, haphazard production should be a criminal offense the world over." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat .5/4 |
Alone in the Dark (2005) |
"This is jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring, 'I-can't- believe-someone- made-this-crap' badness we're dealing with." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1.5/4 |
The Amityville Horror (2005) |
"Why bother ratcheting up suspense with unseen forces and horrors of the psyche when you can just show actors in makeup instructed to look spooooooky?" |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Are We There Yet? (2005) |
"Damn that Satchel Paige bobblehead doll and double-damn director Brian Levant for thinking it was a good idea." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
The Aristocrats (2005) |
"The most in-depth study of a single joke that has likely ever been attempted on film." |
Dustin Putman |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Assault on Precinct 13 (2005) |
"Graphically violent and merciless...refreshingly unpretentious in its goal to entertain and put a jolt in any non-squeamish viewer sick to death of cookie-cutter genre movies." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat 1.5/4 |
After the Sunset (2004) |
"A long slog through a pretty sea of thankless twaddle." |
Dustin Putman |
Splat .5/4 |
Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London (2004) |
"A junky, creatively bankrupt rush job of a sequel that has no connection to the original outside of the title character." |
Dustin Putman |
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