Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 8%
| Old Dogs (2009) | "
Trashing Old Dogs is a bit like kicking a puppy. But here goes." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Nov 23, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 28%
| Ninja Assassin (2009) | "
There’s more to making sword-and-splatter work than just shiny blades and blood. It’s got to have an edge, and the one on Ninja Assassin is dull as a butter knife." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Nov 23, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 30%
| The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) | "
That flip tone -- the gags and one-liners -- get us past the longing, the depression, the sulking, the almost comically swooning moments." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Nov 18, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 65%
| Coco Before Chanel (2009) | "
A movie that is tres chic even if it sometimes resembles those corsets Coco banished, a little stiff and confining." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Nov 18, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 91%
| Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire (2009) | "
Director Lee Daniels takes us on a journey -- letting us look down our noses at this misshapen lump of a girl with contempt and pity. But Sidibe plays shadings of strength underneath that eventually win our grudging respect." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Nov 18, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 73%
| The Blind Side (2009) | "
The movie’s a pretty conventional feel-good sports drama in many ways. But Bullock and Aaron give it heart that transcends the genre." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Nov 18, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 93%
| The Damned United (2009) | "
The Damned United is a most entertaining study in obsession wrapped in a traditional sports movie." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Nov 11, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 59%
| Pirate Radio (2009) | "
It was cut by over half an hour for American release and still plays long. But thanks to that fairy-dusting of Curtis charm, I wouldn’t cut a frame of it. It skips by like a much-loved old LP." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Nov 11, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 38%
| 2012 (2009) | "
Are we meant to applaud when skyscrapers topple and ships capsize, with tiny digital faceless bodies plummeting into the void? You make the disaster this real and it’s not entertaining or chilling." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Nov 11, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 54%
| The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) | "
It’s broad and yet realistic, silly and yet never exhuberantly goofy." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 55%
| Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009) | "
By Fezziwig, that story still works and tugs at the heart. It would even if each ghost's visit weren't scored with overly-suitable Christmas carols." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 93%
| Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg (2009) | "
Yoo-Hoo suggests that, yes, Berg broke new ground and, no, she shouldn't be forgotten. But it doesn't explain why she endured, or why she is so forgotten today." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Nov 4, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 80%
| Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009) | "
It's a bouncy, engaging, slightly revealing and at times downright moving portrait of Jackson, sweating to his own oldies at 50, prepping a "comeback" he never got to make." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Oct 28, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 45%
| Saw VI (2009) | "
This script, by Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, has a more lyrical bent, and a more satiric bite, than any of the other Saw sequels." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Oct 28, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 86%
| A Serious Man (2009) | "
Their most inside joke ever, it leaves you with a lot to chew on, if not a lot to enjoy." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Oct 21, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 94%
| Good Hair (2009) | "
Scattered as it sometimes seems, Good Hair is a real eye-opener..." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Oct 21, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 38%
| Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) | "
The movie's big drawback is that it isn't silly enough." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Oct 21, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 20%
| Amelia (2009) | "
Amelia earns a pass, corny as it sometimes is. The lady earned her wings, and Swank, especially, more than does right by both the woman and the legend." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Oct 21, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 11%
| The Stepfather (2009) | "
That last stormy night of violence should be the shocker. Giving away his ruthlessness in earlier killings robs the movie of it its payoff as it saps the climax of much of its power." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Oct 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 73%
| More Than a Game (2009) | "
There is dazzling basketball here and an interesting father-son relationship (Coach Dru Joyce was father of the shortest player on the team)." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Oct 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 72%
| The Boys Are Back (2009) | "
Owen, not chasing Julia Roberts or anyone else for a change, is pleasant enough making this 100-minute argument for unconventional parenting." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Oct 14, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 70%
| Where the Wild Things Are (2009) | "
As a children's film, it's a bore. And as a grand film enterprise, Where the Wild Things Are skirts the line between folly and fiasco." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Oct 14, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 18%
| The Other Man (2009) | "
Neeson, in particular, has to rumble through the movie behaving in a way consistent with the ending and comes off as far over the top in the process." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Oct 7, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 92%
| Séraphine (2008) | "
Yolande Moreau plays the industrious but touched washerwoman-turned-painter Séraphine de Senlis with an open-faced conviction that is almost unnerving in its intensity." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Oct 7, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 12%
| Couples Retreat (2009) | "
Couples, a sputtering if sporadically amusing misfire, packed a lot of actors off to a pretty location and gave them nothing funny or deep to do." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Oct 7, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 88%
| Amreeka (2009) | "
The immigrant experience gets a fresh, post- 9/11 Palestinian spin in Amreeka, a film that has all the familiar ingredients but is such a well-acted, winning re-combination of those that we see them with fresh eyes." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Rotten 56%
| The Invention of Lying (2009) | "
[A] droll, witty and thoughtful comedy about the thing that really makes the world go round." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Oct 1, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 75%
| Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) | "
Capitalism is alternately moving and disheartening, energizing and enervating." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 30, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 82%
| Whip It (2009) | "
This is Juno meets Slap Shot, a well-directed, well-cast romp that doesn't quite transcend its worn formula but is still the best girl-powered sports film since Bend it Like Beckham." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 30, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 89%
| Zombieland (2009) | "
Zombieland is the funniest zombie movie since Shawn of the Dead, funnier even than Fido! This is a 28 Days Later played for laughs -- lots of them, endless jokes, one-liners and sight gags." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 30, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 75%
| Cold Souls (2009) | "
It's comical, yes, but glum and brooding, too, a wintry waltz through acting, underground commerce and metaphysics." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 27%
| Pandorum (2009) | "
It's a tight, minimalist Alien-esque "something is loose and hunting people on our space ship" picture that is as claustrophobic as you'd expect, if not quite as paranoid as you might hope." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 39%
| Surrogates (2009) | "
For all the inspirations, the pieces of better stories that this tale was concocted from, Surrogates never manages to be anything more than a poor substitute for the real thing." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 28%
| Fame (2009) | "
This Fame is a film without the guts to show Idolized America that, as Debbie Allen so memorably said way back when, "Fame costs, and right here's where you start paying."" — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 24, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 22%
| I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell (2009) | "
I have no idea if they serve beer in hell. But I have some notion of what might be playing at the Hades AMC 20. It's I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, probably on a double bill with All About Steve." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 83%
| Paranormal Activity (2009) | "
This is more fun than most studio horror films that drop into theaters most weekends. Is it scarier? Only occasionally." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 23, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 77%
| It Might Get Loud (2009) | "
Rock fans and Guitar Heroes in the making will get a charge out of visiting where the happy accidents that put guitars into each man's hand happened. And the playing isn't bad, either. Loud. But good." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 23, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 84%
| The September Issue (2009) | "
Coddington, at least, gives us an appreciation of the talent seeing to it that the grandest fashion magazine of them all still sells the dream of glamour with style." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 23, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 83%
| Bright Star (2009) | "
Bright Star is literate, romantic and high-minded." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 23, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 50%
| Broken Hill (2009) | "
It's a picture with the ambitions of a Billy Elliot but the execution of an August Rush." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 23, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 89%
| O'Horten (2009) | "
It's a film whose pleasures come slowly, as we, like the title character, discover the joys he's missed. Best of all, we, like Odd the Norwegian bachelor, figure out it is never too late to start living." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 23, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 45%
| Jennifer's Body (2009) | "
Clever one-liners don't cover the cruelty here. Jennifer is shallow. The movie about her is, too." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Rotten 3/5
| Fresh 76%
| The Informant! (2009) | "
If only The Informant! was as giddy as its exclamation-point title, as jaunty as its corporate Muzak soundtrack -- or even as funny as its TV commercials." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 16, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 18%
| Love Happens (2009) | "
Love Happens is a comedy in mourning, a romance so sad that even Jennifer Aniston at her most engaging can't save it." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 16, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 85%
| Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009) | "
A delicious farce and a backhanded slap at America the Obese, it may be the funniest animated film of the year." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 16, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 6%
| Whiteout (2009) | "
For all its frozen blood, assaults with ice axes and killer weather, Whiteout turns out to be only a pale imitation of the thriller it might have been." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 11, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 23%
| Sorority Row (2009) | "
It's all cheese, but at least this cheese, for the most part, doesn't stink." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 11, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 62%
| Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009) | "
By shoving half a dozen songs -- gospel, funk and soul -- into the film, Perry shows he still hasn't mastered pace and learned to sacrifice scenes to make his movies faster and smoother." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 11, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 82%
| Thirst (2009) | "
Thirst is a grim antidote to the sanitized, pale young things of Twilight, Supernatural and True Blood." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 9, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 56%
| 9 (2009) | "
A perfect example of a thin idea stuffed and stuffed with filler until it loses much of its charm." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Sep 8, 2009 |
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