Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 88%
| Red Cliff (2009) | "
What remains is still plenty rousing, especially to moviegoers eager to see Woo regain his footing after an increasingly dismal series of outings in Hollywood." — Toronto Star Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 31%
| Ninja Assassin (2009) | "
Thanks to the movie's dire script, flat performances and excessively slick, tricked-out fight scenes, it gets increasingly hard to care about anything that goes on here, even when it happens to be visible without the use of night-vision goggles." — Toronto Star Posted Nov 25, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 22%
| I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell (2009) | "
Even the least discerning fans of lowbrow comedy will need to start digging in order to reach the level achieved by this American indie comedy about three Texan friends on a pre-wedding bender." — Toronto Star Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 81%
| The Horse Boy (2009) | "
The Horse Boy succeeds both as a provocative inquiry into the mysteries of autism and as a true-life adventure tale." — Toronto Star Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| N/A | Inside Hana's Suitcase (2009) | "
Mixing documentary and dramatic elements to consistently intelligent effect, Inside Hana's Suitcase is also uncommonly beautiful, thanks to the cinematography by Horst Zeidler and the richly textured musical score by Alexina Louie and Alex Pauk." — Toronto Star Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 48%
| Astro Boy (2009) | "
Lacklustre design and rudimentary storytelling sink Astro Boy below the level of the recent hits of Pixar and DreamWorks." — Toronto Star Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 37%
| Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) | "
The film can't decide whether it's an earnest fantasy flick or a quirky horror comedy, or whether it's meant for kids or adults -- no wonder it appears to have two titles." — Toronto Star Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 34%
| St. Trinian's (2009) | "
The result is too competent to be a travesty and too ordinary to be interesting." — Toronto Star Posted Oct 19, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 92%
| Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg (2009) | "
History has been unfair to Berg, a fact that filmmaker Aviva Kempner hopes to correct with this illuminating documentary." — Toronto Star Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 96%
| Crude (2009) | "
Berlinger provides a bracing and intelligent look at how such battles are (and perhaps must be) fought in a world that's hardly lacking when it comes to tales of injustice." — Toronto Star Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 66%
| Dead Snow (2009) | "
It's almost endearing how little Wirkola disguises his thefts from the gore-fests of Raimi, Peter Jackson and George A. Romero." — Toronto Star Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 57%
| The Invention of Lying (2009) | "
A promising premise about the machinations of the sole liar in a world without deception sputters out way too soon." — eye WEEKLY
SHORT REVIEW Posted Sep 17, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 30%
| Gamer (2009) | "
Bodies and buildings blow up but this is carnage of the most lacklustre sort, with any momentum petering out long before it's "game over."" — Toronto Star Posted Sep 8, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| N/A | You Might As Well Live (2009) | "
No recent Canadian movie so richly deserves a dedicated cult of admirers as You Might As Well Live." — Toronto Star Posted Aug 28, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| N/A | Black (2009) | "
An appealingly rough-and-ready contemporary variation on Shaft in Africa." — Toronto Star Posted Aug 28, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 80%
| Bandslam (2009) | "
Bandslam consistently exceeds current teen-flick standards thanks to its snarky humour, its strong musical sequences and its ability to convey the excitement the characters feel both about performing and forming new friendships." — Toronto Star Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 57%
| Died Young, Stayed Pretty (2009) | "
Though Died Young Stayed Pretty could have used some serious streamlining, it still succeeds as a showcase for some of this decade's most arresting examples of graphic design." — Toronto Star Posted Aug 12, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 60%
| Paper Heart (2009) | "
Only intermittently engaging and too timid to be satisfactorily funny or insightful." — Toronto Star Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 75%
| Cold Souls (2009) | "
A sombre slice of surrealism, Cold Souls is a welcome opportunity for America's most agony-prone actor to do what he does best: suffer." — Toronto Star Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 58%
| A Perfect Getaway (2009) | "
What is surprising about this effective little thriller is how cleverly writer-director David Twohy toys with the conventions of the genre as they exist today." — Toronto Star Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 14%
| The Ugly Truth (2009) | "
Opposites attract, but you'll really wish they hadn't by the time The Ugly Truth is through." — Toronto Star Posted Jul 24, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 55%
| Surveillance (2009) | "
Pullman's striking performance here is undermined by Lynch's overreliance on those same grisly shock tactics, as well as a script that fails to capitalize on a promising premise and then swiftly collapses upon the revelation of a not-so-shocking twist." — Toronto Star Posted Jul 24, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 76%
| The End of the Line (2009) | "
It's hard not to feel that the vital information in The End of the Line may have been more effectively relayed by Clover's original book or by a movie whose methods were less pedantic and pedestrian." — Toronto Star Posted Jul 17, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 83%
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) | "
All this makes for glum viewing at times, though two fiery set pieces -- the Death Eaters’ attack on the Weasley homestead and Harry and Dumbledore’s creepy cave excursion -- have as much bravura as anything in the series to date." — eye WEEKLY Posted Jul 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 77%
| Valentino: the Last Emperor (2009) | "
There's only one monarch mentioned in the title of Valentino: The Last Emperor. But Matt Tyrnauer's breezy and entertaining look inside the world of high fashion is very much a two-man show." — Toronto Star Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 15%
| I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009) | "
With its painfully awkward shifts between pat sentimentality, hackneyed teen-movie tropes and parent-baiting raunchiness, there's little to love about I Love You, Beth Cooper." — Toronto Star Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 67%
| Bruno (2009) | "
Brüno's greatest outrages here will still elicit howls and shrieks, as well they should. But our fabulous Austrian friend is no comedy revolutionary, only a cruel and silly stereotype in leopard-print underwear." — Toronto Star Posted Jul 9, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 53%
| Empty Nest (2009) | "
Burman's fifth feature is too slight and uneven to fully satisfy, even though it does have much of the same wit and insight as Lost Embrace and Family Law, two previous films that earned the director many comparisons to Woody Allen." — Toronto Star Posted Jul 3, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| N/A | Gooby (2009) | "
Its lack of a compelling storyline and overreliance on so-so slapstick will limit its appeal to easily distracted preschoolers." — Toronto Star Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 92%
| Tokyo Sonata (2009) | "
A skilful and continually surprising drama, Tokyo Sonata depicts the gradual deterioration of an ordinary Japanese family after its breadwinner loses his job owing to corporate downsizing." — Toronto Star Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 96%
| Food, Inc. (2009) | "
An invaluable primer, Food, Inc. covers a wide array of factors and concerns without becoming excessively polemical or deadeningly earnest." — Toronto Star Posted Jun 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 75%
| Tokyo! (2009) | "
Paris, New York and even Toronto have all gotten their due in a recent wave of city-centric omnibus films that let world-renowned auteurs run wild in their streets. Yet none of these yielded anything as strange or as idiosyncratic as Tokyo!" — Toronto Star Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 88%
| The English Surgeon (2009) | "
A British neurosurgeon's personal humanitarian mission is the subject of this compelling, moving and often surprising documentary." — Toronto Star Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| N/A | Let Him Be (2009) | "
Increasingly played-out as a format for low-budget filmmakers, the mock-doc style creates more limitations than opportunities and Tim's supposedly candid footage of the would-be Lennon often feels awkwardly staged." — Toronto Star Posted May 29, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| N/A | The Queen and I (2009) | "
It's a quiet testament to the ways that human connection can trump ideological differences." — Toronto Star Posted May 15, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| N/A | Adrift in Tokyo (2009) | "
It takes a while to get to its destination, but the journey is a memorable one thanks to the film's charmingly odd sensibility and the affable rapport between our two travelers." — Toronto Star Posted May 1, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| N/A | Only (2009) | "
A Before Sunrise for the Jonas Brothers demographic, Only is a sweet, subtle and perceptive movie about a fleeting connection between two lonely adolescents." — Toronto Star Posted Apr 24, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 62%
| Crank High Voltage (2009) | "
Tasteless, trashy and totally over the top, Crank: High Voltage might also be one of the year's most inventive movies. Sometimes, nothing exceeds like excess." — Toronto Star Posted Apr 20, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 75%
| Shall We Kiss? (2008) | "
While it's hardly novel to see the lives of lovers thrown into disarray by a series of misunderstandings, missed signals and well-intentioned lies, Shall We Kiss? carries it all off with a rare degree of sophistication and wit." — Toronto Star Posted Apr 10, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 79%
| 12 (2007) | "
After weathering the characters' windbaggery for nearly three hours, it's hard not to feel like Mikhalkov's done the same to viewers of 12." — Toronto Star Posted Mar 20, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 100%
| Life of Reilly (2007) | "
...the man’s sense of stagecraft and storytelling prowess are undeniable." — eye WEEKLY Posted Mar 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 73%
| Fear(s) of the Dark (2008) | "
This French-made chiller proves just how scary a pitch-black theatre can be." — Toronto Star Posted Mar 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 23%
| Jonas Brothers - The Concert Experience (2009) | "
Love them or loathe them, it's the Jonas Brothers' moment -- you might as well enjoy it." — Toronto Star Posted Feb 27, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 23%
| Fired Up (2009) | "
Sloppy but moderately amusing." — Toronto Star Posted Feb 20, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 25%
| Friday the 13th (2009) | "
Faithfully adhering to the precepts of the slasher flick, it might even seem honourable if it weren't so disreputable." — Toronto Star Posted Feb 13, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| N/A | Nurse.Fighter.Boy (2009) | "
Strong performances and striking cinematography help this first film by Toronto's Charles Officer move with more grace than its heavy-going storyline would have normally allowed." — Toronto Star Posted Feb 6, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 32%
| Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009) | "
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is as unnecessary as it is uninvolving. Only fans desperate to learn how the whole vampire-werewolf conflict began are likely to get anything out of this viewing experience." — Toronto Star Posted Jan 26, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 55%
| My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009) | "
The trouble is that after that first gouged eyeball, there's not a whole lot further to go. Novelty value being a rapidly diminishing thing, the technology demands an escalation in intensity and inventiveness that the movie doesn't deliver." — Toronto Star Posted Jan 20, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 86%
| Rumba (2008) | "
A near-silent Belgian farce about a married pair of competitive Latin dancers whose lives go badly but amusingly awry, Rumba features plenty of fancy footwork." — Toronto Star Posted Jan 16, 2009 |
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