Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 50%
| It's Complicated (2009) | "
Writer-director Meyers, who's devoted much of her career to midlife American arousal, is so thoroughly fixated on exploring the “issues” that she loses her sense of fun." — Houston Chronicle Posted Dec 28, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 83%
| Broken Embraces (2009) | "
It all adds up to an entertaining mash of suspense and melodrama." — Houston Chronicle Posted Dec 28, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 50%
| It's Complicated (2009) | "
A movie that's one-third hilarious is better than no thirds at all, but look at the cast: Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. Doesn't that promise a somewhat larger fraction of laughs?" — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Dec 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 83%
| Avatar (2009) | "
The most-hyped movie of the year just about merits it." — Houston Chronicle Posted Dec 18, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 83%
| The Princess and the Frog (2009) | "
It's nice to know that the studio behind Cinderella can still cast a spell in two dimensions." — Houston Chronicle Posted Dec 11, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 89%
| Up in the Air (2009) | "
Once again, Reitman the screenwriter gives Reitman the director an excuse to ponder the spaces between us and the ties that bind. Or don't." — Houston Chronicle Posted Dec 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 80%
| Yes Men Fix the World (2009) | "
Beyond question, the results are overstated, outrageous and wildly, scatologically juvenile. But they're also a hoot to watch." — Houston Chronicle Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 93%
| Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) | "
Anderson injects such charm and wit, such personality and nostalgia -- evident in the old-school animation, storybook settings and pitch-perfect use of Burl Ives -- that it's easy to forgive his self-conscious touches." — Houston Chronicle Posted Nov 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 72%
| The Road (2009) | "
My, but it's been a fine year for Armageddon." — Houston Chronicle Posted Nov 25, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 23%
| Planet 51 (2009) | "
The movie as a whole isn't exactly ground-breaking, and some of the humor tanks. But it has enough action, laughs and candy-hued visuals to satisfy the target audience without plunging grown-ups into despair." — Houston Chronicle Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 91%
| Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire (2009) | "
What a triumph of a film." — Houston Chronicle Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 18%
| The Fourth Kind (2009) | "
Ultimately, the film's narrative segments are far too glossy and over-stylized, larded with ponderous scoring, obvious melodrama and split-screen visuals that offset the "reenactments" with the "real."" — Houston Chronicle Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 55%
| Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009) | "
Zemeckis' film preserves much of Dickens' original dialogue and detail while amplifying the utter ethereal strangeness of the ghosts." — Houston Chronicle Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 41%
| New York, I Love You (2009) | "
It's a bit too arty, and a bit too cute, but it charms and cajoles with the pluck of a native New Yorker." — Houston Chronicle Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 80%
| Yes Men Fix the World (2009) | "
Beyond question, the results are overstated, outrageous and wildly juvenile. But they're also a hoot to watch." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 48%
| Astro Boy (2009) | "
Awesome. Truly." — Houston Chronicle Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 24%
| Law Abiding Citizen (2009) | "
Vigilante movies hold a firm place in cinematic history, but for them to work, the vigilante needs to be a sympathetic anti-hero." — Houston Chronicle Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 12%
| Couples Retreat (2009) | "
A marriage-renewal comedy with a decent cast, a few good ideas and no clear grasp on what to do with them." — Houston Chronicle Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 83%
| Whip It (2009) | "
Love may be too strong a word, for me. But I'm deeply in like with Whip It." — Houston Chronicle Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 75%
| Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) | "
Smart-alecky and simplistic? Yeah. And primo Moore." — Houston Chronicle Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 18%
| The Other Man (2009) | "
The result is B-grade cheese. The only genuine mystery, for me, is why such a fine cast signed on for such a witless movie." — Houston Chronicle Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 84%
| Bright Star (2009) | "
Greig Fraser's cool cinematography offsets the heat in Campion's ecstatically literate screenplay, which quotes Keats' handiwork all the way through the end credits. It sounds like music." — Houston Chronicle Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 84%
| The September Issue (2009) | "
[Cutler] worms his way into subcultures without judgment or probing, preferring to let group dynamics speak for themselves." — Houston Chronicle Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 77%
| The Informant! (2009) | "
Few directors other than Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino can make films with the same geek joy -- the same love of cinematic history -- as Steven Soderbergh." — Houston Chronicle Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Fresh 85%
| Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009) | "
It takes an iron stomach to watch this stuff and not feel nauseated." — Houston Chronicle Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 84%
| Bright Star (2009) | "
Every frame of this exquisite period romance features an attention to detail, a passion for literature and an intense, fully clothed, pre-Victorian sexiness that suggest a director in something close to rapture." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 6%
| Whiteout (2009) | "
The film is all panicky zooms and badly staged action dotted with random forensic gross-outs. And, just for the fun of it, an amputation scene." — Houston Chronicle Posted Sep 11, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 63%
| Extract (2009) | "
There are some priceless character turns." — Houston Chronicle Posted Sep 4, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 85%
| World's Greatest Dad (2009) | "
There's more going on here than the age-old struggle between maturity and its surly teen antithesis." — Houston Chronicle Posted Sep 4, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 6%
| All About Steve (2009) | "
There's no footing in reality. Nothing about it feels authentic." — Houston Chronicle Posted Sep 4, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 6%
| All About Steve (2009) | "
There's no footing in reality. Nothing about it feels authentic: not the blathering Mary, not the lifeless secondary characters, not the bromide-happy dialogue or the plot that twists less often than it spasms." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Sep 4, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 63%
| Extract (2009) | "
Extract isn't an instant classic, but it bumps along agreeably, its humor culled from serial bad decisions, mock-romantic discontent and lots of spirited overacting ripe with good intentions." — San Francisco Chronicle Posted Sep 4, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 9%
| Post Grad (2009) | "
I would like to take this occasion to lodge a complaint. There is no valid reason, none in the observable universe, why mainstream romantic comedies must adhere to the same script." — Houston Chronicle Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 65%
| Adam (2009) | "
Sure, it's complicated, but isn't that always true of romance? And doesn't it blow the hinges off the universe -- every single time?" — Houston Chronicle Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 45%
| Shorts (2009) | "
My fourth-grader giggled maniacally. The 9-year-old in me did, too." — Houston Chronicle Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 90%
| District 9 (2009) | "
Every now and then, a film comes along that both defies and compels description." — Houston Chronicle Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 80%
| Bandslam (2009) | "
The movie has a few good tunes and some charming comic dash, at least at first." — Houston Chronicle Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 96%
| The Cove (2009) | "
Psihoyos and his team got the footage they were after -- thanks to meticulous planning, lots of furtive sneaking around and the judicious placement of underwater microphones and cameras disguised as rocks." — Houston Chronicle Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 79%
| Humpday (2009) | "
Humpday succeeds by grounding its risqu premise in the awkwardness and humor of real people trying their damnedest to communicate. A lot." — Houston Chronicle Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 26%
| Shrink (2009) | "
Some of the humor is delicious. And there are a few fine moments of truth and pathos, most of them addressing a subset of grief often ignored on film." — Houston Chronicle Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 14%
| The Ugly Truth (2009) | "
The ugly truth about The Ugly Truth is the fact that -- funny though it is -- it could have been a whole lot funnier." — Houston Chronicle Posted Jul 24, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 24%
| G-Force (2009) | "
A lot of resources went into making G-Force -- a lot of talent, a lot of money, a lot of marketing -- and it doesn't have much to show for it, not even some half-way imaginative 3-D gimmickry." — Houston Chronicle Posted Jul 24, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 83%
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) | "
So many actors shine in so many ways: Carter hisses deliciously, Broadbent sucks up beautifully. Watson shudders with frustration and heartbreak, Felton shudders with anger and fear." — Houston Chronicle Posted Jul 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Rotten 54%
| The Stoning of Soraya M. (2009) | "
The whole movie marches to that same, sad rhythm of unalterable horror, illuminated by Joel Ransoms brutal and beautiful cinematography. The sum is difficult to watch." — Houston Chronicle Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 96%
| Food, Inc. (2009) | "
A mind-boggling, heart-rending, stomach-churning expose on the food industry." — Houston Chronicle Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 20%
| Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) | "
A well-oiled, loudly revving summer action vehicle that does all thats required, and then some." — Houston Chronicle Posted Jun 24, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 43%
| The Proposal (2009) | "
It isnt a film with a lot of big guffaws, but I smiled through most of it." — Houston Chronicle Posted Jun 19, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 38%
| Imagine That (2009) | "
Imagine That has a few nagging problems, none of which is Eddie Murphys fault." — Houston Chronicle Posted Jun 12, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 25%
| Land of the Lost (2009) | "
It all amounts to a certain brand of comedy -- something closer to long-form Dada than conventional humor." — Houston Chronicle Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 10%
| My Life in Ruins (2009) | "
Half the time I wanted everyone to shut up so I could hear the tour guide lecture on the Temple of Hephaestus, or wherever. Then I wanted them to shut up so I could sleep." — Houston Chronicle Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
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