Rotten 5/10
| Fresh 70%
| Sherlock Holmes (2009) | "
More indebted to Ritchie's particular brand of stylistically exhausting action-adventure than to Conan Doyle's elegant prose and intensely intellectual anti-hero." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Jan 1, 2010 |
Fresh 9/10
| Fresh 98%
| Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2009) | "
One of the most uplifting and inspirational movies of the year." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 31, 2009 |
Rotten 3/10
| Fresh 82%
| A Single Man (2009) | "
Exactly the worst case scenario of what pops into your head when you hear the phrase "movie directed by a men's fashion designer and gay icon"." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 29, 2009 |
Rotten 5/10
| Rotten 37%
| Nine (2009) | "
Marshall's staging of the musical numbers - traditionally an important component of the musical - is altogether limp when it is not inane." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 28, 2009 |
Rotten 3/10
| Rotten 40%
| The Lovely Bones (2009) | "
[Peter] Jackson's directorial abilities have failed him entirely." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 25, 2009 |
Fresh 9/10
| Fresh 67%
| Police, Adjective (2009) | "
A commentary on human idiocy that frequently hits notes as a hilarious as anything in any farce, although it doubtlessly takes a coal-black soul like mine to laugh." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 24, 2009 |
Fresh 7/10
| Fresh 89%
| Crazy Heart (2009) | "
A simple, rough around the edges character study, buoyed up by some pretty fine performances - despite what you may have heard, there are more people in the cast than just Jeff Bridges." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 24, 2009 |
Rotten 4/10
| Fresh 89%
| Up in the Air (2009) | "
Treats the wracking terror of living in today's economy as the pretext for the kind of "vapid man finds redemption" story that was old hat when sound cinema was still a gimmick." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 23, 2009 |
Fresh 6/10
| Fresh 92%
| Presumed Innocent (1990) | "
No masterpiece, but it has a certain snappiness to it that is entertaining, at least." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 23, 2009 |
Fresh 6/10
| Fresh 74%
| The Young Victoria (2009) | "
Could certainly be a whole lot worse, and this is something I clung to as no uncertain comfort during the film's 104 minute running time that feels a good deal longer." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 22, 2009 |
Fresh 9/10
| Fresh 67%
| The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) | "
Not, maybe, the most rigorous of Christmas Carol adaptations, although it is a lot more faithful than one would perhaps have expected... at any rate a great Muppet film." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 22, 2009 |
Fresh 8/10
| Fresh 82%
| Broken Embraces (2009) | "
For the first time since the 1990s, I think that the director has put together a film without quite understanding why it is urgent for him to do so." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 21, 2009 |
Fresh 8/10
| Fresh 83%
| Avatar (2009) | "
It stops being a story at all and is instead just a sheer, unmitigated visual and auditory experience, two hours and forty minutes of being exposed to a brand new world." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 18, 2009 |
Fresh 7/10
| Fresh 83%
| Titanic (1997) | "
Exactly what it says on the label: a deliciously overwrought melodramatic love story, capped off with one of the greatest special effects achievements of the 1990s." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 18, 2009 |
Fresh 6/10
| Fresh 68%
| True Lies (1994) | "
Far be it from me to say that True Lies isn't a fun lark of an action-comedy, but it could stand to be a lot more fun and a lot more larking." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 17, 2009 |
Rotten 5/10
| Fresh 83%
| Me and Orson Welles (2009) | "
Zac Efron and Claire Danes evince all the charisma and erotic charge of a wet sock making love to a waterbug hopped up on caffeine." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 16, 2009 |
Fresh 8/10
| Fresh 97%
| Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) | "
It's just not as good a film as The Terminator, despite soundly surpassing it in a few areas." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 16, 2009 |
Fresh 8/10
| Fresh 76%
| Invictus (2009) | "
A pretty darn satisfying but undemanding story about politics, sports, and men doing their jobs as best they can." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 15, 2009 |
Fresh 7/10
| Fresh 85%
| The Abyss (1989) | "
One need not be a Cameron acolyte to recognise that The Abyss has aged better than some of the films that outshone it back in the day." — Film Threat Posted Dec 14, 2009 |
Fresh 7/10
| Fresh 63%
| Scrooged (1988) | "
A meaningful Christmas Carol this is not, but a perfectly entertaining yuletide comedy this certainly is." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 13, 2009 |
Fresh 8/10
| Fresh 83%
| The Princess and the Frog (2009) | "
A perfectly satisfying entry in the long history of Disney feature animation, one that will in due course join the ranks of the middle-tier classics if not the legends." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 12, 2009 |
Fresh 9/10
| Fresh 100%
| Aliens (1986) | "
Proved that James Cameron has a mind for directing action movies considerably more nuanced and plot-driven than just "find ways to blow things up"." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 11, 2009 |
Fresh 6/10
| Rotten 55%
| Home on the Range (2004) | "
Freed from the tyranny of dimensionality and realism, the animators indulged in one of the most goofy, silly, cartoony projects made at Disney in years." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 11, 2009 |
Rotten 5/10
| Rotten 38%
| Brother Bear (2003) | "
If "the CEO wants to sell teddy bears" isn't going to inspire writers to do their best work, what on Earth possibly could?" — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 10, 2009 |
Rotten 4/10
| Fresh 69%
| Treasure Planet (2002) | "
Like stepping forth, in an explosion of colors, weird body shapes and bad comedy, into somebody else's migraine." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 10, 2009 |
Fresh 8/10
| Fresh 85%
| Lilo & Stitch (2002) | "
It is the sweetest Disney movie of its generation; but the lengthy beginning and somewhat shorter climax drag it down at the worst possible points." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 9, 2009 |
Fresh 6/10
| Fresh 72%
| The Blind Side (2009) | "
What saves the movie, insofar as it is saved, is the absolute commitment of the filmmakers... all of whom either don't notice or don't care how very pwecious their scenario is." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 7, 2009 |
Rotten 4/10
| Rotten 46%
| Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) | "
It is difficult to say whether its greatest failure is in its story, its characters, or its animation." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 7, 2009 |
Rotten 6/10
| Fresh 69%
| Scrooge (1970) | "
[Finney is] the only element of this production that is really up to much good... the film lacks energy or dramatic thrust." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 6, 2009 |
Fresh 8/10
| Fresh 85%
| The Emperor's New Groove (2000) | "
[The] lightest and wackiest of all Disney features." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 6, 2009 |
Fresh 10/10
| Fresh 100%
| The Terminator (1984) | "
I remain perpetually amazed by how magnificently Cameron keeps the tension up... there is not a single moment that isn't operating at 100%." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 6, 2009 |
Fresh 6/10
| Fresh 82%
| Fantasia 2000 (1999) | "
A lightweight affair... Despite some momentary flashes of brilliance, this is no successor to the great Fantasia." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 5, 2009 |
Fresh 9/10
| Fresh 85%
| Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) | "
Cage and Herzog click together better than just about any first-time actor & director combination in recent memory." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh 8/10
| Fresh 88%
| Tarzan (1999) | "
The most legitimately touching Disney feature of the 1990s." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh 7/10
| Fresh 72%
| The Road (2009) | "
One of the grimmest end-of-the-world movies in recent memory." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 3, 2009 |
Fresh 7/10
| Fresh 86%
| Mulan (1998) | "
What is chiefly impressive is that the appropriation of Chinese iconography in a film that was plainly made by Western animators feels ultimately so natural and successful." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 3, 2009 |
Fresh 8/10
| Fresh 93%
| Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) | "
It's given new life to a filmmaker who'd been getting a bit too ossified in his style and tics." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 2, 2009 |
Fresh 7/10
| Fresh 83%
| Hercules (1997) | "
The most flat-out childish film of the Disney Renaissance: this is both its great triumph and ultimately the reason that it's so hard to care about it all that much." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 2, 2009 |
Rotten 3/10
| Rotten 8%
| Piranha 2: The Spawning (1982) | "
The piranha attack scenes are handled with minimal grace, giving us plenty of nice, long looks at just how fake the props are." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 1, 2009 |
Fresh 8/10
| Fresh 73%
| The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) | "
If not for some hopelessly incompetent and wasted attempts to lighten the mood... it might well be able to compete with Beauty and the Beast as the best film of the Disney Renaissance." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Dec 1, 2009 |
Rotten 5/10
| Rotten 55%
| Pocahontas (1995) | "
The film of the Disney Renaissance likeliest to elicit a shudder of dismay from all but the most maniacal Disney buffs." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Nov 30, 2009 |
Fresh 9/10
| Fresh 83%
| A Christmas Carol (1951) | "
If I dare to say it, a more dramatically successful work than Dickens's novella." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Nov 29, 2009 |
Fresh 6/10
| Fresh 92%
| The Lion King (1994) | "
The animation is extraordinarily beautiful, and more technically accomplished than any other film of the Disney Renaissance... [but] the drama and characters are terribly lacking." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Nov 29, 2009 |
Fresh 8/10
| Fresh 92%
| Aladdin (1992) | "
It's awfully close to being a great story, but it keeps having to settle for pretty darn good." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Nov 27, 2009 |
Fresh 10/10
| Fresh 93%
| Beauty and the Beast (1991) | "
This isn't merely the best of the princess features; it's very close to being the best Disney movie of them all." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Nov 27, 2009 |
Fresh 7/10
| Fresh 62%
| The Rescuers Down Under (1990) | "
There's only the one thing it does flat-out wrong: this otherwise delightful adventure-comedy has a completely meandering, aimless story." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Nov 26, 2009 |
Fresh 9/10
| Fresh 90%
| The Little Mermaid (1989) | "
The long-awaited proof that Disney animation could, in fact, return almost the quality and beauty of its Golden Age." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Nov 25, 2009 |
Fresh 8/10
| Rotten 44%
| All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) | "
Don Bluth's second outright triumph; a film whose burial in the last 20 years is nothing short of a crime." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Nov 24, 2009 |
Rotten 4/10
| Rotten 42%
| Oliver and Company (1988) | "
Quite insipid and wretchedly unengaging." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Nov 24, 2009 |
Rotten 6/10
| Fresh 71%
| The Land Before Time (1988) | "
What charmed me when I first saw it as a six-year-old in theaters now strikes me as rather middling, indifferent storytelling and character development." — Antagony & Ecstasy Posted Nov 24, 2009 |
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