Fresh 4/5
| Rotten 22%
| Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009) | "
The film never tries too hard to be cool, features adorable rodents in fetching knitwear, and includes helium-voiced chipmunks shaking their tushes as they cover Beyonce songs. Just great." — Daily Telegraph Posted Dec 18, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 8%
| St. Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold () | "
The piratical-treasure story is totally hokum, but it’s all peppy, whiz-bang stuff livened up no end by Talulah Riley’s fetching turn as Head Girl." — Daily Telegraph Posted Dec 18, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 83%
| Avatar (2009) | "
It’s an achievement to make 3D look as good as it does here, but that counts for little if the characters are all in 1D. The film is a triumph of effects over affect." — Daily Telegraph Posted Dec 18, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 73%
| Where the Wild Things Are (2009) | "
Loud, narcotised, emotionally stunted, it’s so eager to avoid the horrors of mainstream commodity culture that it concocts a defensive version of pre-adulthood." — Daily Telegraph Posted Dec 11, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 23%
| Planet 51 (2009) | "
It could have added up to something. Alas, any excitement is submerged by the relentless barrage of trite sci-fi allusions and nudge-nudge gags aimed solely at adults." — Daily Telegraph Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 24%
| Law Abiding Citizen (2009) | "
The motto of Law Abiding Citizen, endlessly repeated by Shelton, is that everyone must account for their actions. Does that apply to the people who made and star in this truly dire film?" — Daily Telegraph Posted Nov 27, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 82%
| Paranormal Activity (2009) | "
A conceptually tight and very efficient updating of the classic haunted-house genre." — Daily Telegraph Posted Nov 27, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 77%
| The Informant! (2009) | "
The Informant! is far from negligible, but it’s undoubtedly second-tier Soderbergh." — Daily Telegraph Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 87%
| A Serious Man (2009) | "
A Serious Man, whether by accident or design, feels like a scratchier, more personal, less goofy version of the Coens’ aesthetic than they’ve revealed before. Here’s hoping their films get even more truculent in the future." — Daily Telegraph Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 97%
| Tulpan (2008) | "
A gorgeously-shot and often-funny story... An absolute treat." — Daily Telegraph Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 21%
| Amelia (2009) | "
If you’re the kind of person who deplores the modern vogue for debunking historical figures, and who welcomes the opportunity to indulge in heroic feats and lush landscapes... then this is the film for you." — Daily Telegraph Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 94%
| An Education (2009) | "
A delightful, resonant film, a great advertisement for Scherfig’s self-effacing, but socially probing, directorial style, and a beguiling introduction to Mulligan." — Daily Telegraph Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 93%
| Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) | "
A dazzlingly imaginative and poetically inflected comic caper that offers the tantalizing possibility that Anderson’s best work, far from being a distant memory, is still to come." — Daily Telegraph Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 94%
| Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee (2009) | "
A warm and improvised comedy that will appeal to anyone with a penchant for jokes about Beth Ditto." — Daily Telegraph Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 97%
| The Beaches of Agnes (2009) | "
Tender, truthful, happy-making: The Beaches of Agnes is a wonderful film by a wonderful woman." — Daily Telegraph Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 57%
| The Invention of Lying (2009) | "
Gervais is threatening to turn into Woody Allen: a director who clogs his films with famous faces and whose plots revolve around pretty women realizing how wonderful he is." — Daily Telegraph Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Rotten 0/5
| Rotten 30%
| Gamer (2009) | "
Can I get back the ninety minutes of my life that I squandered sitting through this miasmic upchuck of techno sludge? What was the story again?" — Daily Telegraph Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 75%
| Julie & Julia (2009) | "
It’s refreshing to see male performers being towered over by female leads. It’s even more refreshing to watch a film that exults in the pleasures of uxoriousness." — Daily Telegraph Posted Sep 11, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 93%
| Mesrine: Part 2 - Public Enemy #1 (2009) | "
This rambunctious and violent gangster drama more than sustains its lengthy running time, and makes one wonder why the Gallic gun-toter isn’t better known internationally." — Daily Telegraph Posted Aug 29, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 97%
| The Hurt Locker (2009) | "
A super-sharp, nerve-shredding thriller that reveals more about the realities of contemporary military conflict than most documentaries." — Daily Telegraph Posted Aug 29, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 28%
| The Final Destination (2009) | "
This series used to be a guilty pleasure, but I think Death may have delighted us long enough." — Daily Telegraph Posted Aug 29, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 38%
| The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) | "
It wants desperately to engage our hearts, but for long stretches will leave most of us scratching our heads." — Daily Telegraph Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 95%
| Mid-August Lunch (2009) | "
Elegantly shot, and with a terrific tango-infused score, this is a quiet gem." — Daily Telegraph Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 100%
| The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) | "
What makes the film so lovable and still so gladsomely alive today is how closely it hews to Demy’s distinctive, celebratory vision of life." — Daily Telegraph Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 58%
| A Perfect Getaway (2009) | "
A delightful example of a horror film that for the most part chugs along merrily, pressing all the modern-day fright-fest buttons, sustaining a just-so sense of gravitas." — Daily Telegraph Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 80%
| Yes Men Fix the World (2009) | "
This documentary is ragged and a little self-regarding. The stunts veer towards heavy-handed." — Daily Telegraph Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 14%
| The Ugly Truth (2009) | "
A romantic comedy with a glacier where its heart should be." — Daily Telegraph Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 92%
| Home (2009) | "
Sometimes eerie, at other times playful and witty, it explores themes of modernity and primitivism without ever being heavy-handed. And as a portrait of a family under siege, it’s as unsettling as it is sensual." — Daily Telegraph Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 51%
| The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009) | "
The 2009 version, perhaps like New York itself, is flashier and far less gritty. The camerawork is busier, the effects are expensive, the colours louder. The soundtrack, a bastard mix of rocky techno and crude drum 'n' bass, recalls a car ad from 1996." — Daily Telegraph Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 29%
| Mad, Sad and Bad (2009) | "
The dialogue struggles to find the midpoint between naturalism and sit-com-style banter. But Luthra possesses a contrary sensibility that makes me curious to see what he comes up with next." — Daily Telegraph Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 96%
| Burma VJ (2009) | "
The footage, smuggled to Norway via Thailand, is raw and compelling. The story of how it was sneaked out is worthy of the best thrillers." — Daily Telegraph Posted Jul 17, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 91%
| Cloud 9 (2009) | "
A quiet, insinuating film of rare emotional power and dramatic force that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind." — Daily Telegraph Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 67%
| Bruno (2009) | "
But oh my, puerile and ragged as it is, and to some extent because it’s so ragged and puerile, I doubt if a more screamadelically hilarious film will be released in 2009." — Daily Telegraph Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 60%
| Am I Black Enough For You () | "
The film succeeds in making us want to check out the singer’s back catalogue." — Daily Telegraph Posted Jul 3, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 66%
| Public Enemies (2009) | "
What's dismaying about Public Enemies, over and beyond the unintelligibility of much of the dialogue and the sliminess of its digital sheen, is that it has no sense of why it's been made." — Daily Telegraph Posted Jul 3, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 47%
| My Sister's Keeper (2009) | "
My Sister’s Keeper, like all tearjerkers, works as a ritual as much as it does art." — Daily Telegraph Posted Jun 26, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 83%
| Telstar: The Joe Meek Story (2009) | "
The Meek they present is closer to being a character in Little Britain than the mysterious, proto-avant-garde sonic scientist revered by legions of contemporary electronic musicians. A little more weirdness would have been very welcome." — Daily Telegraph Posted Jun 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 91%
| Katyn (2007) | "
Katyn is a solemn, troubling film that makes necessary demands on its audience." — Daily Telegraph Posted Jun 19, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 76%
| The End of the Line (2009) | "
The film, with its dramatic soundtrack and mood of high intensity, feels like a political broadcast. But it’s a persuasive and very important one." — Daily Telegraph Posted Jun 12, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 32%
| Terminator Salvation (2009) | "
It’s a catastrophically bad movie whose aggressive dullness and dumbness can best be reproduced by picking up a brick and slamming it against one’s forehead for two hours." — Daily Telegraph Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 100%
| This Sporting Life (1963) | "
I’m tempted to see it as one of the strongest films of that period, every frame of which pulsates with drama, class confusion and erotic force." — Daily Telegraph Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 79%
| Sleep Furiously (2008) | "
Sleep furiously is a film whose lower-case title is in perfect keeping with the understated but tremulous mood it manages, with rare skill, to create and to maintain." — Daily Telegraph Posted May 29, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 64%
| The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) | "
It's a hyper-active, endlessly mutating cavalcade of colour, noise and surrealistic eccentricity." — Daily Telegraph Posted May 29, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 92%
| Drag Me To Hell (2009) | "
Undemanding fun." — Daily Telegraph Posted May 28, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 49%
| Taking Woodstock (2009) | "
It's a sunny-side-up account of the famous hippy festival in upstate New York, timed to coincide with its fortieth anniversary this year, that unashamedly plays up its comedy and youthful idealism." — Daily Telegraph Posted May 22, 2009 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 88%
| The White Ribbon (2009) | "
With The White Ribbon, [Haneke] has out-done himself and produced the best film of his career, a tightly-wound, fully-fleshed and thoroughly mesmerising drama." — Daily Telegraph Posted May 22, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 100%
| Tales from the Golden Age (2009) | "
This is the rare portmanteau that’s more than the sum of its parts." — Daily Telegraph Posted May 21, 2009 |
Rotten 3/5
| Fresh 88%
| Inglourious Basterds (2009) | "
It’s a film that’s only interested in film, a masterclass in gorgeously-constructed self-pastiche. Tarantino desperately needs an editor willing to trim his indulgences." — Daily Telegraph Posted May 20, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 88%
| Looking for Eric (2009) | "
This is endearing, crowd-pleasing fare." — Daily Telegraph Posted May 18, 2009 |
Fresh 5/5
| Rotten 50%
| Antichrist (2009) | "
This is cinema at its most extreme and mind-boggling." — Daily Telegraph Posted May 18, 2009 |
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