Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 85%
| Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) | "
Cage, who usually goes gonzo with gusto, underplays this monster. That spoils the fun." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Dec 30, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 49%
| It's Complicated (2009) | "
The empowerment message is obvious, the strain of trying to be “hip” and edgy in the script shows. But Meyers sets the table for funny people to deliver laughs." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Dec 23, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 37%
| Nine (2009) | "
How can a movie starring six Academy Award-winning actors be such a bore?" — Orlando Sentinel Posted Dec 23, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 71%
| Sherlock Holmes (2009) | "
This is not your great grandfather’s Sherlock Holmes." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Dec 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 74%
| The Young Victoria (2009) | "
You don’t have to be a royalist to be moved by beautifully staged coronation and wedding moments, and composer Ilan Eshkeri scores such scenes with music so thrilling you’ll feel you’ve got a front-row seat to the real thing." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Dec 23, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 22%
| Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009) | "
Whatever slim charms there were in the nostalgic, musically cute and slapstick-friendly first film of chipmunk mania are squished right out of The Squeakquel like so much rodent roadkill." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Dec 23, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 14%
| Did You Hear About the Morgans? (2009) | "
Lawrence’s recycled observations of the virtues of rural life, his struggles to find something funny about local “types” (an unworldly doctor and his naïve-nitwit nurse), his “grizzly encounter” scene, are painful to watch." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Dec 16, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 83%
| Avatar (2009) | "
As visionary tour guide, Cameron has no equal. Predictable story, clichéd dialogue and logical lapses aside, he’s still the man we want leading us into his Pandora’s box." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Dec 16, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 83%
| The Princess and the Frog (2009) | "
Disney’s The Princess and the Frog is an instant classic and one of the year’s best films." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Dec 11, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 89%
| Up in the Air (2009) | "
Jason Reitman’s dry, moving “comedy,” based on the Walter Kirn novel, is a sly indictment of Corporate America, Marketing America and Frequent Flying America." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Dec 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 88%
| Red Cliff (2009) | "
Flaws and all, you can’t watch a frame of it without feeling that it has been generations since Hollywood tackled anything on this scale." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Dec 10, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 76%
| Invictus (2009) | "
Eastwood, returning to race as a theme, has made a timely film about a nation of many races rallying around a leader who understands symbolism." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Dec 10, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 50%
| Armored (2009) | "
Over-familiar and industrial, a factory film made because a recycled script, minimal budget, a location, a grab-bag cast and some armored trucks were available." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 0%
| Transylmania (2009) | "
One laugh -- Vampires, stuffed in their coffins on a horse-drawn wagon, whining to the driver -- "Are ve DERE yet?"" — Orlando Sentinel Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 46%
| Everybody's Fine (2009) | "
A tolerably sober alternative to holiday froth at the mutliplex." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Dec 2, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 57%
| Brothers (2009) | "
As predicable and cloying as Brothers sometimes is, the cast is fascinating, young actors now possessing the dramatic heft to pull something like this off." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Dec 2, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 22%
| The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009) | "
The plot is an afterthought, the performances given with a wink and a clip-emptying flourish." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Nov 29, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 6%
| 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 31%
| 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 28%
| 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 92%
| 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 72%
| 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 94%
| 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
| Fresh 60%
| 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 39%
| 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 53%
| 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 92%
| 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 87%
| 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 (2010) | "
Scattered as it sometimes seems, Good Hair is a real eye-opener..." — Orlando Sentinel Posted Oct 21, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 37%
| 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 21%
| 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 73%
| 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 89%
| 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 87%
| 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 57%
| 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 83%
| 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 26%
| 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 40%
| 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 |
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