Rotten C
| Rotten 18%
| Planet 51 (2009) | "
The animated sci-fi spoof Planet 51 makes you wonder if things might be more interesting on Planet 52." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 72%
| The Blind Side (2009) | "
Director John Lee Hancock defuses class resentment by making sure that everybody in the family is as adorable as possible..." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 90%
| The Messenger (2009) | "
The scenes are rendered by director Oren Moverman with an authenticity and realism that makes them as harrowing and heartrending as they deserve to be." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 29%
| The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) | "
New Moon, for at least an hour, is laughably silly and unfathomably dull." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh A-
| Fresh 91%
| Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire (2009) | "
With so many performers contributing so much solid work, it may be time to acknowledge that Daniels knows what he's doing. The guy can handle actors." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Fresh 69%
| (Untitled) (2009) | "
Right away, you wonder if the filmmakers are trying hard enough." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 37%
| 2012 (2009) | "
Emmerich, though, is not fundamentally a funny filmmaker. He's fundamentally cheesy, and there's always something flat and phony to those few scenes meant to give his movies some modicum of humanity." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Rotten C+
| Rotten 56%
| Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009) | "
There's some dazzling stuff here. But you get creepy, dead-eyed and inexpressive performances - even sympathetic characters end up looking like the ventriloquist's doll in that Anthony Hopkins movie." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 54%
| The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) | "
t's mostly about a chance to see Clooney in agreeable goofball mode. The movie is forgettable, but his demonstration of the psychic-warrior's "sparkly eyes" technique is destined for his appreciation reel." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Rotten C-
| Rotten 18%
| The Fourth Kind (2009) | "
Nome has seen more than its share of missing and dead people, who deserve better than this kind of hucksterism." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 83%
| Paranormal Activity (2009) | "
There's more going on here than simple scares." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Oct 29, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 48%
| Antichrist (2009) | "
On the whole, I'd rather be dragged to hell by Sam Raimi." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Oct 29, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 22%
| The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009) | "
All signs at the end of All Saints Day point to a Boondock Saints Three, and why not, in a world that makes room for Smokin' Aces 2, American Pie Presents Band Camp and Bring It On Again?" — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Oct 29, 2009 |
Rotten C+
| Rotten 20%
| Amelia (2009) | "
Glossy, stodgy and unfailingly conventional, Amelia sets out to inspire an audience but never feels inspired itself." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Rotten 48%
| Astro Boy (2009) | "
The movie never soars like Astro Boy, but it does rise above the lack of promise that prevails in the early scenes, which is a tough thing for any movie to do." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Fresh A-
| Fresh 94%
| An Education (2009) | "
The way one character bounces off another in An Education is endlessly interesting. No role, no matter how small, is thrown away." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 95%
| Good Hair (2009) | "
It's an inside look at an offbeat, under-examined corner of American life -- one of the things that documentaries do best, and Good Hair does it well." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 70%
| Where the Wild Things Are (2009) | "
Jonze takes great pains to make Wild Things a freewheeling, naive-primitive work." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 86%
| A Serious Man (2009) | "
The Coens rarely seem completely serious, but there is such art and erudition to their work (and always the visual presentation) that their movies acquire the weight of substance." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 84%
| Black Dynamite (2009) | "
Beneath the good-natured retro silliness of Black Dynamite is something smart and new." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 23%
| Law Abiding Citizen (2009) | "
Somebody has given Law Abiding Citizen a lethal injection of absurdity. Although I have to say, as ridiculous movies go, this one has its moments." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 72%
| The Boys Are Back (2009) | "
A restrained and surprisingly genuine-feeling work from Hicks, who gets the impassively handsome Owen to contribute one of his more expressive performances." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 12%
| Couples Retreat (2009) | "
Couples Retreat leaves a good cast stranded without a script, although the cast isn't in much of a position to complain." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 70%
| American Casino (2009) | "
It may be a little too Jack Webb for the masses, but there is value to its sober, just-the-facts approach." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 89%
| Zombieland (2009) | "
Brevity is the soul of wit, and in the zombie comedy it's the soul, the head and the headless body. The movie, at a scant and punchy 85 minutes, will be over before you've stopped laughing." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Rotten C+
| Rotten 56%
| The Invention of Lying (2009) | "
The problem with "Invention" is that it ultimately rests not on critiques of religion or evolution, but the nuts and bolts of romantic comedy." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Oct 1, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 82%
| Whip It (2009) | "
Barrymore's movie is as bubbly as she is, and its best feature is the atmosphere of all-girl camaraderie that she creates and captures." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Oct 1, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 28%
| Fame (2009) | "
The new Fame has the feel of diluted imitation -- slick, superficial, short on heart." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Sep 24, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 89%
| No Impact Man (2009) | "
We're a long way from algae-based biofuel, and until that day, maybe watching less crappy television and spending more times with your kids isn't such a bad idea." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Sep 24, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 83%
| Bright Star (2009) | "
I love the way Campion lets the camera rest on an image. Especially when the image is Aussie dish Cornish, who plays Keats' starry-eyed admirer. Has an actress ever been photographed so flatteringly and at such length?" — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Sep 24, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 45%
| Jennifer's Body (2009) | "
The movie fails in ... fundamental ways. Cody and director Karyn Kusama do a poor job of defining Jennifer's character in the early going, so it's hard to measure how she changes/devolves." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Rotten D
| Rotten 18%
| Love Happens (2009) | "
In defense of Love Happens, we can say only that it's not as hair-raising a combination of romance and grief as last year's Seven Pounds, although it's close." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 76%
| The Informant! (2009) | "
Soderbergh is infamous for his will to experiment, and his movie is a radical departure from genre convention..." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Sep 17, 2009 |
Rotten D
| Rotten 6%
| Whiteout (2009) | "
The screenplay is unusually lazy -- additional investigators (Gabriel Macht, purportedly a U.N. detective) appear literally out of nowhere, in the middle of nowhere." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Sep 17, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 63%
| Extract (2009) | "
Judge isn't much of an auteur (to say that his movies are clunky is charitable), but he's hard to beat for sheer, unpredictable orneriness." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Sep 3, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 86%
| Big Fan (2009) | "
The offbeat Big Fan stays poised on the edge of comedy and tragedy, and doesn't tip its hand until, well, the final gun." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Aug 27, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 76%
| Cold Souls (2009) | "
This new meta-movie does have its moments, after establishing its offbeat premise." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Aug 20, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 9%
| Post Grad (2009) | "
The movie then works vigorously to squander both talent and timeliness." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Aug 20, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 90%
| District 9 (2009) | "
You grow more and more impressed with the level of detail -- District 9 is a horrible place, but it starts to feel like a real horrible place, and the plight of its ugly inhabitants begins, against all odds, to earn our sympathy." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Aug 13, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 65%
| Adam (2009) | "
It's the kind of movie that lives or dies by its leads, and Adam benefits from Dancy's tricky work conveying Adam's specialized intelligence, and the warm, generous contribution of Byrne, just nominated for an Emmy for her work on FX's Damages." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 75%
| Julie & Julia (2009) | "
A smiley-face version of the The Hours that substitutes Julia Child for Virginia Woolf, food for suicide, jokes for despair, and startles us with its refreshing portrait of a good marriage." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Fresh 60%
| Paper Heart (2009) | "
The crockumentary crashes and burns in Paper Heart, built around comedian Charlyne Yi's purported search for true love." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 26%
| Shrink (2009) | "
It's almost farcical, and at some point, Judd Apatow is going to make one of these movies as a comedy, the way he skewered the musical biopic with Dewey Cox." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Jul 30, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 75%
| Humpday (2009) | "
I walked into Humpday expecting grainy, hand-held art, and an episode of the The Honeymooners broke out." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Jul 30, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 68%
| Funny People (2009) | "
[Apatow has] made another very funny movie, one that is crammed with jokes, and insight into the crafting of comedy." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Jul 30, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 95%
| In the Loop (2009) | "
In the Loop has nothing inventive to say about Iraq-war politics. In its better moments, it shows how careerism, power trips and office politics contribute to (or pollute) actual politics." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Jul 30, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 87%
| 500 Days of Summer (2009) | "
The rest of 500 Days sets up as a bit of a mystery, and we look for clues, even as their romance is fresh, for the hairline fractures that might eventually result in a compete break." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Jul 23, 2009 |
Rotten C+
| Rotten 31%
| The Answer Man (2009) | "
The movie's many parallels leave it feeling schematic when it isn't focused on Daniels and Graham, who have such good comic timing they overcome all flaws." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Jul 23, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Rotten 15%
| The Ugly Truth (2009) | "
The script is crude and obvious, but there is a good idea here -- inverting the classic Cyrano de Bergerac story with a gender switch." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Jul 23, 2009 |
Rotten D
| Rotten 24%
| G-Force (2009) | "
Do what you must to ensure that somebody else ferries your kids to this dud. Thank me later." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Jul 23, 2009 |
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