ROTTEN TOMATOES: Adam Fendelman

ADAM FENDELMAN

Agrees with the Tomatometer 78% of the time.

Critics' Group: Chicago Film Critics Association

Total Reviews: 194

Location: Chicago

MOVIE REVIEWS ONLY

Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date (default)

Rotten 2.5/5	Rotten 22%	The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009)	" "There's not a bigger '**** you!' from Hollywood than when they say: 'Eh, we're not going to release this film,'" "The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day" star Sean Patrick Flanery said in an interview." Posted Dec 8, 2009
Fresh 4/5	Fresh 90%	Up in the Air (2009)	" Director Jason Reitman is becoming like a fine wine. And in Up in the Air, he has managed to pour a likely Oscar contender on prescient subject matter while continuing to display his directorial range." Posted Dec 5, 2009
Rotten 2.5/5.0	Rotten 28%	The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)	" New Moon knows what it is, what it isn't and how to quench fans. It can't say the same, though, for outsiders." Posted Nov 20, 2009
Fresh 4/5	Fresh 80%	Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009)	" Even a rhythmless zombie will be able to siphon Michael Jackson's prowess now. And this time, this is it. If you thought the king of pop wouldn't deliver on his latest bout of 50 sold-out worldwide concerts, think again." Posted Oct 28, 2009
Fresh 4/5	Fresh 73%	Where the Wild Things Are (2009)	" *Interview: From the looks of things, you'd think Where the Wild Things Are* director Spike Jonze is more than just Max Records' director. You'd think Jonze was his 12-year-old star's father, too.**" Posted Oct 16, 2009
Fresh 4/5	Fresh 87%	A Serious Man (2009)	" A Serious Man isn't the story of Joel and Ethan Coen's lives. But you might not know it. While the brothers continue to turn their films into Hollywood gold, this 1967-set black comedy is among the more personal projects in their repertoire." Posted Oct 11, 2009
Rotten 1.5/5	Rotten 44%	Jennifer's Body (2009)	" Jennifer's Body is a tragic desecration of mammoth talent that'll serve as an arresting step back in the buoyant career of Oscar-winning Juno scribe Diablo Cody. Plus it needed a sexpot who could act, too, and Megan Fox can't." Posted Sep 17, 2009
Fresh 4/5	Fresh 88%	Inglourious Basterds (2009)	" 'I've had no issues in working with the Weinsteins. They're ma boyz!,' Tarantino exclaimed in our Chicago interview both with anticipated media training but also with genuine indebtedness to the brotherly duo. 'They're coming back in a big way.'" Posted Aug 20, 2009
Fresh 3.5/5	Fresh 80%	Bandslam (2009)	" Lisa Kudrow interview: Following her 'Friends' fame, you now get the sense that she's splitting her time between TV work, various films and perhaps most important mothering. Work on 'Bandslam' is now much like real life for her." Posted Aug 13, 2009
Fresh 4/5	Fresh 66%	Public Enemies (2009)	" Despite some minor strikes and overlooking a yawn of a performance by Christian Bale, Public Enemies indeed stars two decisive characters among 2009's best so far: Johnny Depp and the meticulously recreated environment that is Chicago itself." Posted Jul 1, 2009
Fresh 3.5/5	Fresh 78%	The Hangover (2009)	" By the end of the film, these guys are our pals." Posted Jun 5, 2009
Fresh 4.5/5	Fresh 98%	Up (2009)	" A symphonic balance of captivating silence and clever dialogue, belly-laugh humor and tear-in-the-eye despair, fast-paced action scenes and scenes slowed for their precious detail, Up orchestrates its talent into one truly unforgettable piece." Posted May 28, 2009
Rotten 2/5	Rotten 44%	Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)	" The plot of this film feels like a garage sale jigsaw puzzle: its pieces out of order, warped and shoved into places they don't go with a few extra pieces thrown into the box." Posted May 22, 2009
Fresh 3/5	Rotten 27%	Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009)	" This is the cinematic blending of two familiar formulas: the 'love, lose and then love again' framework of most romantic comedies with the idea of transforming ghosts from the classic A Christmas Carol." Posted Apr 30, 2009
Fresh 2.5/5	Rotten 32%	Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)	" Interview: While Alfred Hitchcock and more recently M. Night Shyamalan have teetered between whether or not to write roles for themselves into their own scripts, there's no tottering for Underworld character writer Kevin Grevioux." Posted Jan 24, 2009
Fresh 4/5	Fresh 71%	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)	" It turns out that skipping a 'blowout' garage sale she was planning paid off for up-and-coming actress Taraji P. Henson after all, she told HollywoodChicago.com in a Chicago interview after netting her Benjamin Button role." Posted Dec 24, 2008
Fresh 4/5	Fresh 98%	The Wrestler (2008)	" 'That became a big reason why I wanted to make the film: the forgotten talent of Mickey Rourke,' director Darren Aronofsky said in an interview with HollywoodChicago.com. 'No one had gotten to see him be sympathetic and lovable in a role for a while.'" Posted Dec 23, 2008
Fresh 4/5	Fresh 78%	Doubt (2008)	" Adapted from the 2005 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play, Doubt makes for a great story and magnificent on-screen performance, but not the full cinematic experience that separates a stage production from a moving-picture show." Posted Dec 11, 2008
Fresh 4.0/5.0	Fresh 94%	Milk (2008)	" *Just as Tom Hanks put a face to AIDS in 1993's Philadelphia, Sean Penn has now put a face to gay rights as Harvey Milk in the new Gus Van Sant true-story film Milk.*" Posted Nov 27, 2008
Rotten 2.5/5	Rotten 54%	Australia (2008)	" Baz Luhrmann's Australia is a sweeping, grand epic in the tradition of Gone With the Wind that gets away from its talented director, the writers he worked with and the team he hired to film his passion project." Posted Nov 26, 2008
Fresh 4/5	Rotten 54%	What Just Happened (2008)	" Proving that truth is stranger than fiction, this farcical narrative delves into how egos essentially run Hollywood and how those egos are largely attached to dysfunctional human beings." Posted Oct 17, 2008
Fresh 3/5	Rotten 37%	How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008)	" "Megan Fox is mind-bogglingly beautiful. When she walks into a room, you almost have to look away," Simon Pegg said with a laugh in an interview with HollywoodChicago.com on his new film How to Lose Friends & Alienate People." Posted Oct 3, 2008
Rotten 2.5/5	Rotten 35%	The Lucky Ones (2008)	" In this interview, The Lucky Ones director Neil Burger speaks about understanding the modern soldier, his surprising casting choice of anti-war activist Tim Robbins as a veteran and why he relates the story while the Iraq conflict continues." Posted Sep 30, 2008
Fresh 4.5/5	Rotten 54%	Choke (2008)	" Standing and pacing during our interview, Sam Rockwell made a hilarious theatrical moment out of his frustration while lighting a cigarette. He talked about his latest characterization, which is a challenging performance channeling an Oedipal personality." Posted Sep 26, 2008
Fresh 4/5	Rotten 47%	Lakeview Terrace (2008)	" Already an important and controversial American playwright, Neil LaBute is looking to make the same individual mark as a director in films. His most recent effort is an incisive and poignant meditation on race, class and gender relations in America." Posted Sep 22, 2008
Rotten 2/5	Rotten 20%	Righteous Kill (2008)	" Al Pacino and Robert De Niro seem to make this schlock palatable, but for everyone thinking Righteous Kill is going to be the next Heat, you're going to be left burnt. It's more like a bad episode of Law & Order." Posted Sep 12, 2008
Rotten 2.5/5	Fresh 63%	Hamlet 2 (2008)	" Hamlet 2 star Steve Coogan told HollywoodChicago.com: "It did make me nervous to play Jesus. I wondered whether the director was just trying to be provocative to annoy Christians or if it was just funny."" Posted Aug 26, 2008
Rotten 2/5	Rotten 43%	Death Race (2008)	" The unfortunately simple message of Death Race merely says we're living in a time and place where financial corruption can allow us to prostitute ourselves to charge $250 to watch one guy violently off another for our viewing pleasure." Posted Aug 22, 2008
Rotten 2/5	Rotten 39%	The Rocker (2008)	" Rainn Wilson said in an interview on The Rocker: 'There is something about a drummer. They're not cerebral. I have a tendency to be more cerebral and reserved. But he's a big puppy dog. It was lot of fun to plunge into that character.'"" Posted Aug 19, 2008
Fresh 4.5/5	Fresh 100%	Man On Wire (2008)	" The story that looks back at the incident plays like a great caper film. The operation to get into the tower and string the wire was a combination of ingenuity, planning and exquisite timing since the top of the building was still a construction site." Posted Aug 18, 2008
Rotten 2.5/5	Rotten 19%	The Clone Wars (2008)	" The inaugural animated Star Wars feels and looks every bit as introductory as a foundational attempt could be. The animated format, though, actually manages to dial down the dreadful acting and makes it more tolerable than the human format." Posted Aug 15, 2008
Fresh 4/5	Fresh 82%	Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)	" While legendary filmmaker Woody Allen can't always be equated with sheer genius and is more accurately described as a hit-or-miss proposition, this sorely undermarketed film serves as unquestionable retribution for his recently questionable work." Posted Aug 15, 2008
Fresh 4/5	Fresh 88%	Frozen River (2008)	" In this interview, Frozen River star Melissa Leo from the TV show Homicide discusses why she channeled John Wayne for this role and how she captures the desperation and strength of a woman with everything to lose." Posted Aug 14, 2008
Fresh 4/5	Fresh 82%	Tropic Thunder (2008)	" While Tropic Thunder is an offensively complicated picture that certainly has figured out to whirl about a laugh around every corner, so does its complication sometimes force the story to tug about in many different directions." Posted Aug 13, 2008
Fresh 3.5/5	Fresh 68%	Pineapple Express (2008)	" *If god had a vajoojoo, Judd Apatow and company think it'd taste something like smoking Pineapple Express. There's no question this is ultimately a stoner film, but the ultimate stoner film? Sorta.*" Posted Aug 7, 2008
Fresh 4/5	Fresh 77%	Baghead (2008)	" In this interview, filmmakers Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass talk about the road to their first distributed feature, the process of their filmmaking and the meaning of the term mumblecore." Posted Aug 6, 2008
Fresh 3/5	Fresh 71%	American Teen (2008)	" *There's an old saying about show business being "high school with money". In the new documentary American Teen, there's an expressed feeling that high school is show business without a safety net.*" Posted Aug 5, 2008
Rotten 2/5	Rotten 13%	The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)	" This threequel is so hackneyed that even star Brendan Fraser wasn't enough to sell audiences on a third return. Even Jet Li couldn't save the day." Posted Aug 1, 2008
Rotten 2.5/5	Fresh 68%	CSNY D�j� Vu (2008)	" The problem isn't what it's communicating. It's the awkward structure and tendency toward redundancy. The film's a hodgepodge of songs, old footage and stories of the Iraq War that just doesn't come together with any sense of narrative cohesiveness." Posted Jul 29, 2008
Fresh 3.5/5	Fresh 64%	Brideshead Revisited (2008)	" The celebrated Evelyn Waugh novel and 1981 BBC miniseries Brideshead Revisited have put the unusually titled story into cultural consciousness. The adapted miniseries brought the characters to life and cemented the epic journey of class awareness." Posted Jul 29, 2008
Rotten 2.5/5	Rotten 32%	The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008)	" Series creator Chris Carter not only has penned an even more anemic script than his 1998 film but also manages to serve even less justice to a distinctly original TV series that has catered to people's fantasies and curiosities everywhere." Posted Jul 24, 2008
Fresh 4.5/5	Fresh 75%	The Last Mistress (2008)	" The cynicism and fire of the film all emerges from the heat of Asia Argento. In giving a truly fearless performance as the title character, she uses her body and audacity to tweak the upper-class society that can't take their eyes off her." Posted Jul 21, 2008
Fresh 4/5	Rotten 37%	Space Chimps (2008)	" The beauty of this rather conventional, kiddy adventure is that it revels in not taking anything seriously. The script is peppered with stupid physical comedy, silly puns and dry witticisms on the concepts of space and monkeys." Posted Jul 20, 2008
Fresh 3/5	Rotten 53%	Mamma Mia! (2008)	" While it'd be embellishment to say you'd have the time of your life, any dancing queen or an admirer of seeing Pierce Brosnan croon a tune instead of trigger James Bond destruction can at least have some of the time of your 108 minutes." Posted Jul 18, 2008
Fresh 5/5	Fresh 94%	The Dark Knight (2008)	" With only three short words comprising the film's enigmatic title, it also boasts three epic claims to fame: the role of a lifetime for the late Heath Ledger, one of the best films of 2008 and one of the greatest superhero films of all time." Posted Jul 18, 2008
Fresh 3.5/5	Fresh 93%	Tell No One (2008)	" "More twists than a barrel of pretzels"? Take that barrel and put it through the zigzag of a taffy-pulling machine and those results might be able to straighten out the labyrinth of circumstances in Tell No One." Posted Jul 14, 2008
Rotten 2.5/5	Rotten 19%	Meet Dave (2008)	" *The subplot in Meet Dave* is too complicated for a film of this type. It drags the entire story down with it. However, this did give the screenwriters an excuse to camp up the situation.**" Posted Jul 14, 2008
Fresh 3/5	Fresh 61%	Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)	" Journey to the Center of the Earth isn't so much an adaptation of the book but a very weak narrative film that uses action sequences from the book to make for cool, 3-D effects." Posted Jul 13, 2008
Fresh 3/5	Fresh 69%	The Wackness (2008)	" "I let Ben Kingsley do whatever the [bleep] he wanted (laughter)," director Jonathan Levine said in this interview. "He is very, very smart. As a relatively new director, it was incumbent upon me to just say: 'What do you need?'"" Posted Jul 11, 2008
Rotten 2.5/5	Fresh 87%	Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)	" In Hellboy II, director Guillermo del Toro delivers the Hollywood filet mignon we've come to expect wrapped nicely in all the special-effects bacon we've come to desire but without the heart we've come to demand." Posted Jul 11, 2008

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5/5	The Band's VisitOffsite
4.5/5	OnceOffsite
4/5	Son of RambowOffsite
4.0/5.0	MilkOffsite
3.5/5	Standard Operating ProcedureOffsite
3/5	The Darjeeling LimitedOffsite
2.5/5	AustraliaOffsite
2.5/5.0	CJ7Offsite
2/5	Lust, CautionOffsite
1.5/5	Alvin and the ChipmunksOffsite
1/5	The Final SeasonOffsite
0.5/5	PostalOffsite
.5/5	SleepwalkingOffsite

0.5/5	PostalOffsite
.5/5	SleepwalkingOffsite
1/5	DealOffsite
1/5	One Missed CallOffsite
1/5	The Final SeasonOffsite
1/5	Sydney WhiteOffsite
1/5	Death SentenceOffsite
1/5	Resident Evil: ExtinctionOffsite

ADAM FENDELMAN

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