Fresh
| Fresh 64%
| The Lovely Bones (2009) | "
When else has the obscenity of child murder been the cause of such gravity and grace?" — TIME Magazine Posted Nov 24, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 37%
| 2012 (2009) | "
Any sentient viewer will be able to predict every lumpy twist of this ludicrous, fitfully enjoyable movie." — TIME Magazine Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 89%
| The Grifters (1990) | "
Best to savor The Grifters for its handsome design -- the picture looks as clean as a Hockney landscape -- and its juicy performances." — TIME Magazine Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 18%
| The Fourth Kind (2009) | "
You'd do better downloading an old Art Bell show -- say, the one about the guy who put an alien in his freezer -- than investigating this evidence of subnormal activity." — TIME Magazine Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 80%
| Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009) | "
It proves that, at the end, he was still a thriller. Fans and doubters alike can look at the gentle, driven singer-dancer at the center of this up-close document and say admiringly, This was him." — TIME Magazine Posted Oct 28, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 48%
| Astro Boy (2009) | "
The animation style is supple and assured. And if the audience includes any precocious kids like Toby, they'll be diverted by references to Isaac Asimov and Immanuel Kant." — TIME Magazine Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 83%
| Paranormal Activity (2009) | "
Beyond the viral ingenuity of the marketing, what's cool about PA is that it's not just a fun thrill ride; it's an instructive artistic experience." — TIME Magazine Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 82%
| Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) | "
This luscious film restores the creature's nobility and gives him peace." — TIME Magazine Posted Oct 20, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 25%
| Law Abiding Citizen (2009) | "
Butler has the showier part, but his impersonation of the tragic hero is undercut by his weird resemblance to Soupy Sales." — TIME Magazine Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 75%
| Intolerable Cruelty (2003) | "
Here's an anomaly: a comedy about smart people." — TIME Magazine Posted Oct 13, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 97%
| Blood Simple (1984) | "
Watch this film, and these film makers, closely. Neither will disappoint." — TIME Magazine Posted Oct 13, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 94%
| An Education (2009) | "
Mulligan is the film's headline, pulse and revelation. In its blithely subversive way, her starmaking performance is a co-conspirator with the movie. Both of them win you over with smart talk and pretty feelings, then kick you in the heart." — TIME Magazine Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 85%
| Swingers (1996) | "
Four guys hang out, kid one another, get into scuffles and flash their gonadal searchlight for available women. Yikes, haven't there been enough variations on the multiple-buddy movie? Actually, no." — TIME Magazine Posted Oct 4, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 89%
| Zombieland (2009) | "
This isn't just a good zombie comedy. It's a damn fine movie, period. And that's high praise, coming from a vampire guy." — TIME Magazine Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 87%
| A Serious Man (2009) | "
To absorb God's body blows, this disquieting, haunting movie says, is to be fully alive. To do otherwise could kill you." — TIME Magazine Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 77%
| The Informant! (2009) | "
The Informant! says that people who do good or ill have complex motives for their actions, and that not everyone is knowable, instantly or ever." — TIME Magazine Posted Sep 15, 2009 |
— | Fresh 93%
| Up in the Air (2009) | "
A movie about a guy who fires people, released at a time when at least a tenth of the work force is out of work, is utterly nervy. And wonderful." — TIME Magazine Posted Sep 14, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 88%
| Inglourious Basterds (2009) | "
Many Tarantino movies are female revenge fantasies, in which strong women plot the deaths of men who wronged them. In Shosanna and Bridget, the writer-director has fashioned two of his steeliest, most principled femmes fatales." — TIME Magazine Posted Aug 20, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 91%
| True Romance (1993) | "
If shoot-'em-up, gobble-'em-down movies like The Fugitive and Jurassic Park are rated PG-13 these days, what does an R-rated action adventure look like? Like True Romance: violent to a fault, glam to the max." — TIME Magazine Posted Aug 16, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 38%
| The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) | "
For viewers aching for a romantic drama that leaves them emotionally, honorably exhausted, this could prove a total immersion in star-crossed love, if not perfect synchronicity." — TIME Magazine Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 90%
| District 9 (2009) | "
If you're looking for the late-summer special-effects action fantasy with big franchise potential, forget about G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. (You already forgot? Fine.) Instead, proceed directly to District 9." — TIME Magazine Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 91%
| Ponyo (2009) | "
When you see Ponyo -- and you must -- be prepared for a movie that doesn't abide by Hollywood rules. This is a tale for children (yes, of all ages) who are ready to be coaxed into another world through simple words and luscious pictures." — TIME Magazine Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 36%
| G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) | "
The only collateral damage is in the audience, where, as you sit through the movie, you can feel your IQ drop minute by minute." — TIME Magazine Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 68%
| Funny People (2009) | "
It's as if, halfway through, you went out for popcorn and mistakenly returned to an auditorium showing a different picture. And that second movie ends immolating itself." — TIME Magazine Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 14%
| The Ugly Truth (2009) | "
In its wan attempt to be raunchy, the picture fails where Judd Apatow has usually succeeded; written by three women, this is a girl's mistaken idea of an R-rated comedy." — TIME Magazine Posted Jul 23, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 87%
| 500 Days of Summer (2009) | "
I guess maybe I'm not Tom but Summer. I like your looks, and heaven knows I appreciate the energy you put into wooing me, but I don't want us to be a couple." — TIME Magazine Posted Jul 17, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 83%
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) | "
With Half-Blood Prince, again we have a stalwart, satisfying visualization of the Rowling cosmos." — TIME Magazine Posted Jul 13, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 67%
| Public Enemies (2009) | "
All this docudrama grit allows for precious little dramatic juice." — TIME Magazine Posted Jun 30, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 83%
| Cry-Baby (1990) | "
Waters' hole card is Johnny Depp, the winsome tough from TV's 21 Jump Street, who radiates big- screen grace and swagger as Cry-Baby -- no easy trick, since he is guying his own image." — TIME Magazine Posted Jun 20, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 90%
| What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) | "
Suggests that the true heroes are those people who day by day must tend to misfits, and do so with love, tenacity and a determination not to go terminally sour in the process." — TIME Magazine Posted Jun 19, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 46%
| Forces of Nature (1999) | "
DreamWorks' first reprehensible fiasco." — TIME Magazine Posted Jun 14, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 68%
| Tetro (2009) | "
The movie plays not like an old man's film but like a promising, frustrating student effort." — TIME Magazine Posted Jun 12, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 78%
| The Hangover (2009) | "
This is a bromance so primitive it's practically Bro-Magnon." — TIME Magazine Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 92%
| Drag Me To Hell (2009) | "
Inspired by the tone of B-movie scare epics of the '50s, they've made a slick, mostly predictable homage-pastiche that itself rates about a B-." — TIME Magazine Posted May 29, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 100%
| The Terminator (1984) | "
As for Schwarzenegger, he nicely fleshes out the convention of a soulless gun for hire. With his choppy hair, cryptic shades and state-of-the-'80s leather ensemble, he looks like the Incredible Hulk gone punk." — TIME Magazine Posted May 18, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 97%
| Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) | "
A humongous, visionary parable that intermittently enthralls and ultimately disappoints. T2 is half of a terrific movie -- the wrong half." — TIME Magazine Posted May 18, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 80%
| Empire of the Sun (1987) | "
Spielberg has dreamed of flying before, and this time he earns his wings." — TIME Magazine Posted May 17, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 36%
| Angels & Demons (2009) | "
As transparent as this device is, Angels has elemental satisfactions in its blend of movie genre that could appeal to wide segments of the audience." — TIME Magazine Posted May 14, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 98%
| Up (2009) | "
Extending the patented Pixar mix of humor and heart, Up is the studio's most deeply emotional and affecting work." — TIME Magazine Posted May 8, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 92%
| Star Trek: First Contact (1996) | "
First Contact is no grab bag of camp gewgaws; it stands proud and apart, accessible even to the Trek-deficient. This old Star, it seems, has a lot of life in it." — TIME Magazine Posted May 3, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 36%
| X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) | "
Wolverine doesn't rise above the level of familiar competence." — TIME Magazine Posted May 1, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 98%
| Do the Right Thing (1989) | "
Lee cagily provides a litmus test for racial attitudes in 1989, but he does so by destroying the integrity of his characters, black and white." — TIME Magazine Posted Apr 24, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 84%
| State of Play (2009) | "
For a handy compare-and-contrast, check out the small- and big-screen versions of State of Play. You'll see the difference between a vital work of popular art and a patched-up retread." — TIME Magazine Posted Apr 17, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 50%
| Observe and Report (2009) | "
Beyond the weirdness, if you can get there, is a quick portrait of trailer-park America pursuing its urges by any means necessary." — TIME Magazine Posted Apr 9, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 98%
| The Hurt Locker (2009) | "
The Hurt Locker is a near-perfect movie about men in war, men at work. Through sturdy imagery and violent action, it says that even Hell needs heroes." — TIME Magazine Posted Apr 3, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 28%
| Fast & Furious (2009) | "
Boiled down to its essentials, F&F is four pretty swell auto-race video games encased in the bloated carcass of a script, by Chris Morgan, that must have been researched in the Archive of Movie Cliches." — TIME Magazine Posted Apr 3, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 84%
| Pi (1997) | "
Aronofsky, who has parlayed this movie's Sundance success into two Hollywood deals, is that rare indie filmmaker who doesn't want to make hip romantic sitcoms. He's a genuine experimenter with a spooky visual style." — TIME Magazine Posted Mar 29, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 96%
| Missing (1982) | "
A story that could have made for a brisk jeremiad on 60 Minutes is stretched to 122 minutes of heroes fuming and villains purring their oleaginous apologies. Spacek and Lemmon, an appealing sweet-and-sour combo, sink in the swamp of good intentions." — TIME Magazine Posted Mar 29, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 72%
| Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) | "
The DreamWorkers can be satisfied with having produced another crowd-pleasing, expert-babysitting vaudeville turn." — TIME Magazine Posted Mar 26, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 82%
| I Love You, Man (2009) | "
The picture is worth catching for the delicate and toxic nuances of Rudd's performance." — TIME Magazine Posted Mar 20, 2009 |
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