Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 97%
| The Hurt Locker (2009) | "
[Kathryn] Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal...have made the first fictional feature about American soldiers in Iraq that doesn't fall apart, or preach to a choir, or turn into a position paper." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jul 9, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 10%
| I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009) | "
I Love You, Beth Cooper provides so few laughs I nearly wandered out of the theater midway to go look for some somewhere." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jul 9, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 71%
| Bruno (2009) | "
The problem with Bruno comes in mistaking blatancy for comic gold." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jul 9, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 44%
| The Girl From Monaco (2009) | "
This is a modest but expertly performed piece. And this summer, surrounded by lesser, louder, bigger and dumber diversions, it's especially welcome." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jul 3, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 44%
| Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) | "
Not bad, not good." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jul 1, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 66%
| Public Enemies (2009) | "
It's a fascinating bundle of contradictions--authentic in a million details, deeply romanticized in others. Cool, calm and collected, this is more love story than gangster picture." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jun 30, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 46%
| Whatever Works (2009) | "
Coming off last year's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the freshest Allen film in more than a decade, Whatever Works plays like a hoary old Broadway stage comedy yanked, reluctantly, into the present." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jun 25, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 44%
| My Sister's Keeper (2009) | "
You may cry at the film's designated crying times, approximately every 10 minutes, like the traffic and weather. Or you may not, and wonder instead why some high-gloss weepies treat their source material quite so shamelessly." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jun 25, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 19%
| Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) | "
The first, comparatively lucid Transformers was a headache, but I sort of enjoyed it....Revenge of the Fallen is more like listening to rocks in a clothes dryer for 2½ hours." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jun 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 97%
| Food, Inc. (2009) | "
If Wal-Mart, the Lucifer of multinational corporations in many liberal eyes, sees the fiscal sense in stocking an increasingly wide array of organic foodstuffs, consumer habits truly are changing." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jun 18, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 46%
| The Proposal (2009) | "
The problem is not the acting. The problem is what these actors are required to say and do." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jun 18, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 17%
| Year One (2009) | "
Ramis' challenge in Year One, which he wrote with Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, is to keep the vibe loose while delivering the laughs. They come in fits and starts." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jun 18, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 96%
| Tulpan (2008) | "
Quite extraordinary. Gently comic, ultimately stirring, the nomadic world Dvortsevoy chronicles pays loving attention to the lives of both humans and animals -- interdependent residents in a difficult, memorable part of the world." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jun 11, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 66%
| Away We Go (2009) | "
Glib and charming in roughly equal measure, the road-tripping "Away We Go" is worth seeing for Maya Rudolph, best known for being underutilized on "Saturday Night Live."" — Chicago Tribune Posted Jun 11, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 50%
| The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009) | "
Denzel Washington is that valuable paradox, the relatable supernova. [But] it's too bad the movie around him isn't better -- the '74 edition, propelled by David Shire's incredibly badass theme music, kicks the remake's behind all the way to Coney Island." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jun 11, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 73%
| Objectified (2009) | "
It gets you thinking." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Fresh 78%
| The Hangover (2009) | "
The movie smells like a hit, but honestly: Helms excepted, did it need to be quite so blandly cast, or quite so lamely raunchy?" — Chicago Tribune Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Rotten 0/4
| Rotten 8%
| What Goes Up (2009) | "
About as cruddy as a cruddy little indie can get, especially given a cast that should've known better." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 57%
| Sleep Dealer (2009) | "
Alex Rivera's overstuffed but intriguing feature debut, Sleep Dealer, takes a speculative leap into Tijuana's near future, imagining the next evolution of cheap labor." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 12%
| My Life in Ruins (2009) | "
My Life in Ruins will neither ruin nor change nor significantly impact your life." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 28%
| Land of the Lost (2009) | "
The movie is 90 minutes of bickering and blase under-reaction to outrageous events, interrupted by gross-out scraps such as Ferrell's run-in with an enormous mosquito, which ends with a tremendous amount of blood and guts." — Chicago Tribune Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 100%
| Sita Sings the Blues (2008) | "
Nina Paley's delicious Sita Sings the Blues finds solace in autobiography and an animated gold mine in the caverns of an ancient Sanskrit epic." — Chicago Tribune Posted May 29, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 93%
| Oblivion (2008) | "
Oblivion (El Olvido) throws its net across a considerable range of human behavior and bittersweet survival stories, and the result is a wise and beautiful documentary from Dutch filmmaker Heddy Honigmann." — Chicago Tribune Posted May 29, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 18%
| Next Day Air (2009) | "
Next Day Air is sort of bracing, though it isn't very good: Its total lack of dramatic and comic bearings, to say nothing of a point, keeps you wondering about the next fatality, in a half-interested way." — Chicago Tribune Posted May 29, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 46%
| Management (2009) | "
Padding disguised as a feature-length screenplay." — Chicago Tribune Posted May 29, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 92%
| Every Little Step (2009) | "
You can't judge A Chorus Line by its film version; it's one of the lousiest movie musicals ever. But you can assess the stage original's influence by the wonderful new documentary Every Little Step." — Chicago Tribune Posted May 29, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 37%
| Angels & Demons (2009) | "
At one point Hanks can be glimpsed gasping for air, mid-endless-sentence. Has there ever been a flatter movie character played by a more innately likable star?" — Chicago Tribune Posted May 29, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 76%
| Outrage (2009) | "
The film's pretty good about saying why so much in the culture encourages a political life in the closet, either tacitly or directly. But even The Advocate had a problem with calling it a brilliantly orchestrated conspiracy." — Chicago Tribune Posted May 29, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 93%
| Drag Me To Hell (2009) | "
This hellaciously effective B-movie comes with a handy moral tucked inside its scares, laughs and Raimi’s specialty, the scare/laugh hybrid. Moral: Be nice to people." — Chicago Tribune Posted May 29, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 73%
| Departures (2009) | "
It is, I'm afraid, unlikely to reflect much glory on the Oscar nomination process and the voters in general." — Chicago Tribune Posted May 29, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 97%
| Up (2009) | "
It feels nervy and adventurous and a little messy, the result of formidable creators and genuine wits working on an enormous budget, enormously well-spent." — Chicago Tribune Posted May 29, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 50%
| Easy Virtue (2009) | "
Elliott nearly turns the whole affair into a musical, with characters singing snatches of Coward and Cole Porter songs. But his sense of humor is extremely broad." — Chicago Tribune Posted May 29, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 93%
| Summer Hours (2009) | "
The texture and flow of Summer Hours, the supple quality of the acting, the fluid camerawork isolating this or that observer while life flows on and domestic crises ebb and flow -- it all comes together as formidably detailed and easy-breathing cra" — Chicago Tribune Posted May 22, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 44%
| Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) | "
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, is breezier than the first Museum, at least to me, which means in three years I'll be revising my opinion downward." — Chicago Tribune Posted May 22, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 95%
| Star Trek (2009) | "
The new Star Trek motion picture seeks to extend a lucrative brand with a young demographic. But it's a real movie -- breathlessly paced bordering on manic, but propulsively entertaining." — Chicago Tribune Posted May 7, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 80%
| Ballerina (2008) | "
Dance aficionados will be sent over the moon by this compelling documentary from director Bertrand Norman, chronicling what it takes to be a prima ballerina in the Mariinski Theatre." — Chicago Tribune Posted May 1, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 67%
| The Merry Gentleman (2009) | "
Even if this particular story has trouble coalescing, The Merry Gentleman serves as a calling card for (director Michael) Keaton's next one. I hope there is a next one." — Chicago Tribune Posted Apr 30, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 28%
| Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009) | "
Despite my McConaughey resistance I got more guilty chuckles from Ghosts of Girlfriends Past than Failure to Launch or Four Christmases." — Chicago Tribune Posted Apr 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 46%
| Battle for Terra (2009) | "
Why is the film almost good, which is to say, not bad but not more? Largely, I think, it's because screenwriter Evan Spiliotopoulos invents a lot of narrative complication of minimal interest to stretch out a short film to feature length." — Chicago Tribune Posted Apr 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 36%
| X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) | "
A chaotic headbanger, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is saved from pure flat-footed blockbuster franchise adequacy by six things, three of them on Hugh Jackman's left hand, three on his right." — Chicago Tribune Posted Apr 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 98%
| Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2009) | "
The new documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil succeeds every which way, as '80s metal nostalgia, as a twisted sort of reality-show attempt at a comeback, as an unexpectedly touching portrait of a friendship." — Chicago Tribune Posted Apr 24, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 15%
| The Informers (2009) | "
This one's a certifiable soul-sucker, dining out on its characters' venalities while wagging a finger at the horror, the horror." — Chicago Tribune Posted Apr 24, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 55%
| The Soloist (2009) | "
Backed by his newfound A-list stardom, Downey brings to the project a wry swagger -- crucial in an essentially reactive role. I wish, though, that "The Soloist" hadn't spent so much time dealing with Lopez's crises of conscience and career, even as they r" — Chicago Tribune Posted Apr 24, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 90%
| Hunger (2008) | "
It's a strength of this carefully composed, almost obsessively controlled picture that it has no interest in the conventional biographical focus on a subject." — Chicago Tribune Posted Apr 17, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 86%
| Sugar (2004) | "
can't imagine a baseball fan%u2014or a moviegoer%u2014who wouldn't respond on some level to the new film "Sugar," a rich and moving reminder of the way professional sports aspirations can shape someone's destiny in the real world, as opposed to the mytho" — Chicago Tribune Posted Apr 17, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 85%
| State of Play (2009) | "
The kind of acting Crowe does here won't win awards and doesn't scream for attention. Yet it serves the thriller conventions as well as the old-warrior-journalist cliches in style." — Chicago Tribune Posted Apr 17, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 56%
| 17 Again (2009) | "
Zac Efron, looking cool, is movie enough for the makers of 17 Again, a halfhearted fantasy that stars Efron in a role cryogenically frozen around the time of C. Thomas Howell's '80s heyday." — Chicago Tribune Posted Apr 17, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 71%
| The Secrets (2008) | "
Director Nesher has a way of reducing each confrontation to its two-dimensional essence, and he’s not helped by a swampy, sentimental musical score." — Chicago Tribune Posted Apr 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 76%
| Shall We Kiss? (2008) | "
The film’s very slight (pick your comparison: bonbon, souffle, sorbet) but it has a way of lingering a while after you see it." — Chicago Tribune Posted Apr 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 92%
| The Black Balloon (2008) | "
At its sharpest Elissa Down’s feature directorial debut is guided by intense, rough-edged emotional swings that feel authentically alive, even when the script settles for tidiness." — Chicago Tribune Posted Apr 10, 2009 |
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