Fresh
| Fresh 95%
| Herb & Dorothy (2009) | "
Herb and Dorothy, a documentary by Megumi Sasaki, grows on you just as its subjects do." Posted Jul 9, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 90%
| Soul Power (2009) | "
Soul Power is marvelous, and no wonder -- among the performers in this concert film are James Brown, B.B. King, Bill Withers, Miriam Makeba and Celia Cruz, all at the peak of their powers." Posted Jul 9, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 71%
| Bruno (2009) | "
It’s an exercise in offensiveness, an exploration of over-the-topness and a gleeful working of both sides of the street. What brings Brüno down, though, is sinful behavior. Mr. Baron Cohen commits the cardinal sin of unfunniness." Posted Jul 9, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 44%
| The Girl From Monaco (2009) | "
The film, having paraded itself fairly clumsily as a romantic comedy with psychological twists, turns absurdly serious on the treacherous roads that hug Monaco’s cliffs." Posted Jul 2, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 44%
| Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) | "
There’s a sense of ineptness in a script that constantly reaches, with only modest success, for amusing things that the mammoths and their friends can do." Posted Jul 2, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 66%
| Public Enemies (2009) | "
Our connections with Public Enemies remain abstract. The darkness and the distance kill the fun." Posted Jul 2, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 56%
| The Stoning of Soraya M. (2009) | "
The film, shot elegantly in color but with the dramatic feel of black and white, functions as a parable of power abused by the multitude. It takes a village to turn craven stupidity into fascist bestiality." Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 44%
| My Sister's Keeper (2009) | "
For all its awkward structure, the film is heartfelt and deeply affecting." Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 97%
| The Hurt Locker (2009) | "
A first-rate action thriller, a vivid evocation of urban warfare in Iraq, a penetrating study of heroism and a showcase for austere technique, terse writing and a trio of brilliant performances." Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 19%
| Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) | "
Compared to this sequel, the first Transformers, which was released two years ago, ranks right up there with Kant's Critique of Pure Reason." Posted Jun 24, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 61%
| Tetro (2009) | "
[An] extravagant, and eventually lurid, tale of a tortured family." Posted Jun 12, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 89%
| Moon (2009) | "
Mr. Rockwell gives a brilliant performance, the physical production is impressive and Moon made me think." Posted Jun 12, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 50%
| The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009) | "
Most of the film’s energy is generated by flamboyant cinematography and music-video cutting, and much of that energy is false." Posted Jun 12, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 43%
| Imagine That (2009) | "
Murphy rises to every occasion, not only with the crisp wit that has long been his hallmark, but with restraint and tenderness that serve him well." Posted Jun 12, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 94%
| 24 City (2009) | "
Mr. Jia is an artist, one of the most interesting filmmakers working anywhere in the world, and he made his film to bear witness to a way of life while witnesses could still be found." Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 28%
| Land of the Lost (2009) | "
This dramatically, thematically and artistically bankrupt comic fantasy cost something in the neighborhood of $100 million to make and isn’t worth the celluloid it’s printed on." Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 97%
| Up (2009) | "
The characterizations are fairly coarse cartoons, in contrast to the emotionally rich cartoons that have become Pixar's hallmark. They're more schematic than organic, and that applies to the plotting as well." Posted May 27, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 32%
| Terminator Salvation (2009) | "
The digital effects are mostly quite dazzling—not just the depictions of towering marauders...but a memorably scary sequence in which a little serpentine robot that’s been taken captive thrashes furiously to save its nonlife." Posted May 22, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 44%
| Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) | "
Marvel at the movie's cheerful idiocy, which seems definitive -- even though the summer season has just begun -- and at the efficiency with which the filmmakers have dumbed down a dumb premise of proven success." Posted May 22, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 46%
| Management (2009) | "
The plot is too sprawling for the structure. That's often the way with debut films: so many notions, so little time." Posted May 14, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 37%
| Angels & Demons (2009) | "
An odd kind of a slog that manages to keep you partially engaged, even at its most esoteric or absurd, despite an endlessly excitable choir and Hans Zimmer's pitiless score." Posted May 14, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 92%
| Revanche (2009) | "
The title means 'revenge', but that's a deliberate simplification; Mr. Spielmann's film is full of surprises and, in its distinctive way, full of life." Posted May 8, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 70%
| Rudo and Cursi (2009) | "
You'd never know this was a debut film. Unlike Rudo and Cursi, who don't know their left from their right, Mr. Cuarón directs with a hand that's as sure as it is deft." Posted May 8, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 95%
| Star Trek (2009) | "
Star Trek goes back to the legend's roots with a boldness that brings a fatigued franchise back to life." Posted May 8, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 33%
| The Limits of Control (2009) | "
Jim Jarmusch's Dada meander, shot by Christopher Doyle, is empty and excruciating -- that's really all you need to know." Posted Apr 30, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 67%
| The Merry Gentleman (2009) | "
The director's vision has dictated his acting choices, and that vision has been clouded by Ron Lazzaretti's sententious script." Posted Apr 30, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 36%
| X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) | "
The direction, by Gavin Hood is a case study in mismanagement: of anger, rage, demonic howls that grow into howlers, Olympian camera angles and, above all else, the mismanagement of an unusually personable star." Posted Apr 30, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 28%
| Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009) | "
A bizarre conflation of chick flick and A Christmas Carol." Posted Apr 30, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 86%
| Tyson (2009) | "
Think you've seen enough of Mike Tyson for a lifetime? Think you know as much about him as you want to? Think again, and see James Toback's terrific documentary Tyson." Posted Apr 24, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 55%
| The Soloist (2009) | "
Mr. Wright and his colleagues have made a movie with a spaciousness of its own, a brave willingness to explore such mysteries of the mind and heart as the torture that madness can inflict, and the rapture that music can confer. Bravo to all concerned." Posted Apr 24, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 97%
| The Song of Sparrows (2009) | "
A parable of corruption, catastrophe and eventual redemption. Mr. Majidi's tale wasn't meant to be timely, of course, but the shoe fits, and the film wears it well." Posted Apr 2, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 77%
| Valentino: the Last Emperor (2009) | "
Seldom has a film explored such exotica as Valentino's world -- the gowns, the galas, the villas, the private jets, the redundant pugs...with such a sense of momentous drama behind the glitz." Posted Apr 2, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 88%
| Adventureland (2009) | "
There's no shortage of felicitous lines or interesting performances, yet the movie, like the amusement park of its title, feels constructed from familiar parts." Posted Apr 2, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 76%
| Shall We Kiss? (2008) | "
Shall We Kiss? gives us storytelling as art. Emmanuel Mouret's romantic drama is expert, intricate, ineffably droll, ultimately provocative and entirely enchanting." Posted Mar 26, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 72%
| Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) | "
The biggest battle in Monsters vs. Aliens is banality vs. originality, and banality carries the day." Posted Mar 26, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 89%
| Sin Nombre (2009) | "
The scope is epic and the achievement, though solidly grounded in conventional storytelling, is a revelation." Posted Mar 19, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 66%
| Duplicity (2009) | "
Duplicity is betrayed by a surfeit of intricacy. Its ironic complexities tease the brain without pleasing the heart." Posted Mar 19, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 43%
| Race to Witch Mountain (2009) | "
Everything's a familiar plug-in from contemporary pop culture, every new development is brisk, bloodless and banal." Posted Mar 12, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 73%
| Sunshine Cleaning (2009) | "
Though the script has its share of contrivances -- maybe more than its share -- the director and her co-stars, Amy Adams and Emily Blunt, bring a steadfast sense of truth to the story of two sisters trying to jump-start their stuck lives and grow up." Posted Mar 12, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 89%
| Everlasting Moments (2009) | "
Watch closely, though, and you see that the filmmaker takes life in just as Maria does, with darting, piercing glances." Posted Mar 6, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 58%
| Phoebe In Wonderland (2009) | "
It's that kind of movie, full of therapeutic notions paraded as poetry and scenes that seem to carry explanatory labels." Posted Mar 6, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 64%
| Watchmen (2009) | "
The reverence is inert, the violence noxious, the mythology murky, the tone grandiose, the texture glutinous. It's an alternate version of The Incredibles minus the delight." Posted Mar 6, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 18%
| An American Affair (2009) | "
This is not, by any reasonable definition of the term, a professional film, even though several experienced and established actors have been inveigled to inhabit it" Posted Feb 27, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 12%
| Crossing Over (2009) | "
Crossing Over has its heart in umpteen places and its head stuffed with dramatic claptrap." Posted Feb 27, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 93%
| Must Read After My Death (2009) | "
Morgan Dews has fashioned his documentary with a historian's skill and an artist's eye." Posted Feb 19, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 59%
| Eleven Minutes (2009) | "
Like its subject, whose designs were partly inspired by hot-air balloons, this documentary, by Michael Selditch and Rob Tate, sometimes seems buoyant to the point of weightlessness. It can also be fawning, but it's far from hot air." Posted Feb 19, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 91%
| Gomorrah (2009) | "
The malignity can be oppressive -- this is a far cry from Fellini finding poignant uplift in the slums -- but the dramatic structure is complex, the details are instructive, and the sense of tragedy is momentous." Posted Feb 13, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 84%
| Two Lovers (2009) | "
This is an inspired performance by a superb actor in an elegantly grave romantic drama." Posted Feb 13, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 95%
| Under the Sea 3D (2009) | "
Under the Sea 3D is one of the best of the genre. If it doesn't serve oysters, per se, this submarine wonder offers marvels in abundance." Posted Feb 13, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 23%
| Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) | "
The production renders totally irrelevant all hopes for a well-made movie. It's one of those ragged, pandemonious studio comedies that hammers at plot points in every contrived scene." Posted Feb 13, 2009 |
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