Rotten C+
| Rotten 55%
| 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 56%
| 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 17%
| 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 84%
| 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 21%
| 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 93%
| 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 85%
| 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 68%
| 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 55%
| 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 85%
| 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 77%
| 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 23%
| 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 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 83%
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) | "
Watson and Radcliffe have learned from Grint a knack for light comedy, which Half-Blood Prince deploys in subplots about their romantic difficulties." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Jul 14, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 67%
| Brüno (2009) | "
Not all of the jokes are complex, or smug. Some follow the pure, simple slapstick route to the belly laugh, and there are enough of those to please many Cohen fans." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
Rotten D
| Rotten 14%
| I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009) | "
Almost diabolically unfunny." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 98%
| The Hurt Locker (2009) | "
The Hurt Locker shows there's more than one kind of solder fighting the war, more than one kind of story to tell." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 89%
| Moon (2009) | "
It invites us to think about the logical extension of industrial policies that turn human life into a commodity, and it has a narrative inventiveness that makes sly commentary on its place in the sci-fi movie continuum." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Jul 2, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 45%
| Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) | "
I never thought I'd get tired of watching Scrat, but Ice Age 3 proved me wrong." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Jun 30, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 67%
| Public Enemies (2009) | "
Director Michael Mann is a stylish, brooding perfectionist who makes movies about men who are stylish, brooding perfectionists." — Philadelphia Daily News Posted Jun 30, 2009 |
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