Fresh
| Fresh 71%
| Sherlock Holmes (2009) | "
If you can get over the idea of Sherlock Holmes as an action hero -- and if, indeed, you want to -- then there is something to enjoy about this flagrant makeover of fiction's first modern detective into a man of brawn as much as brain." — Variety Posted Dec 16, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 83%
| Avatar (2009) | "
The King of the World sets his sights on creating another world entirely in Avatar, and it's very much a place worth visiting." — Variety Posted Dec 10, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 37%
| Nine (2009) | "
Sophisticated, sexy and stylishly decked out, Rob Marshall's disciplined, tightly focused film impresses and amuses as it extravagantly renders the creative crisis of a middle-aged Italian director, circa 1965." — Variety Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 89%
| Crazy Heart (2009) | "
Playing a drunken, washed-up music legend reduced to playing small-town bowling alleys, Jeff Bridges is the whole show here as a cowboy-style crooner who wrestles with his demons in ways that easily engage an audience's sympathies." — Variety Posted Dec 3, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 76%
| Invictus (2009) | "
Inspirational on the face of it, Clint Eastwood's film has a predictable trajectory, but every scene brims with surprising details that accumulate into a rich fabric of history, cultural impressions and emotion." — Variety Posted Nov 29, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 93%
| Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) | "
The film achieves a feel that is at once coarse-grained and elegant, antiquated and the height of fashion." — Variety Posted Oct 14, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 94%
| An Education (2009) | "
An Education is a wonderful film." — Variety Posted Oct 6, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 87%
| A Serious Man (2009) | "
A Serious Man is the kind of picture you get to make after you've won an Oscar." — Variety Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 40%
| Surrogates (2009) | "
A film about robots that might find its biggest fans among Luddites, Surrogates is an intense and eerily plausible sci-fi thriller." — Variety Posted Sep 24, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 77%
| The Informant! (2009) | "
The pic showcases an excellent performance by a chubbed-out Matt Damon as a Midwestern executive who's so smart he's dumb." — Variety Posted Sep 9, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 89%
| Up in the Air (2009) | "
A slickly engaging piece of lightweight existentialism highlighted by winning turns from George Clooney and Vera Farmiga." — Variety Posted Sep 8, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 85%
| Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) | "
The film is offbeat, silly, disarming and loopy all at the same time, and viewers will decide to ride with that or just give up on it, according to mood and disposition." — Variety Posted Sep 3, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 57%
| 9 (2009) | "
In the end, the picture's impact derives mostly from its design and assured execution." — Variety Posted Aug 18, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 68%
| Funny People (2009) | "
Amusing and engaging yet lacking in snap and cohesion." — Variety Posted Jul 25, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 86%
| 500 Days of Summer (2009) | "
Boy gets girl and boy loses girl in convoluted, sometimes cloying but ultimately winning fashion in 500 Days of Summer." — Variety Posted Jul 16, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 83%
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) | "
Dazzlingly well made and perhaps deliberately less fanciful than the previous entries, this one is played in a mode closer to palpable life-or-death drama than any of the others and is quite effective as such." — Variety Posted Jul 6, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 90%
| Speed (1994) | "
Athough it hits any number of gaping credibility potholes on its careening journey around Los Angeles, Speed delivers the goods as a non-stop actioner that scarcely pauses to take a breath." — Variety Posted Jun 14, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 51%
| The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009) | "
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is an efficiently reworked version of a tense, ticking-clock suspense story." — Variety Posted Jun 8, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 64%
| The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) | "
The helmer has made a pretty good thing out of a very bad situation in "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus"." — Variety Posted May 22, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 87%
| The White Ribbon (2009) | "
Immaculately crafted in beautiful black-and-white and entirely absorbing through its longish running time." — Variety Posted May 22, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 88%
| Inglourious Basterds (2009) | "
By turns surprising, nutty, windy, audacious and a bit caught up in its own cleverness, the picture is a completely distinctive piece of American pop art with a strong Euro flavor that's new for the director." — Variety Posted May 20, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 50%
| Agora (2009) | "
The mother of all secular humanists fights a losing battle against freshly minted religious zealots in “Agora,” a visually imposing, high-minded epic." — Variety Posted May 18, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 84%
| Bright Star (2009) | "
Breaking through any period piece mustiness with piercing insight into the emotions and behavior of her characters." — Variety Posted May 15, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 94%
| Star Trek (2009) | "
Blasting onto the screen at warp speed and remaining there for two hours, the new and improved Star Trek will transport fans to sci-fi nirvana." — Variety Posted Apr 24, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 98%
| Up (2009) | "
[Up] could easily have been cloying, but instead proves disarming in its deep reserves of narrative imagination and surprise, as well as its poignant thematic balance of dreams deferred and dreams fulfilled." — Variety Posted Apr 23, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 85%
| Tyson (2009) | "
Although straightforward in format, the film capitalizes on an obviously intense connection between filmmaker and subject with psychological acuity and emotional power." — Variety Posted Apr 23, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 55%
| The Soloist (2009) | "
Neither rarefied art film nor widely accessible inspirational drama, The Soloist falls between the cracks both creatively and commercially." — Variety Posted Apr 17, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 88%
| X2: X-Men United (2003) | "
Bigger and more ambitious in every respect, from its action and visceral qualities to its themes." — Variety Posted Apr 15, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 84%
| State of Play (2009) | "
This efficient, admirably coherent thriller about reporters digging down to where politics and murder meet in Washington, D.C., has a wistful air about it as regards the fourth estate at a time when the profession is dangling by a thread." — Variety Posted Apr 14, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 82%
| One Hour Photo (2002) | "
This immaculately made first feature from noted musicvid and commercials director Mark Romanek provides Robin Williams with one of his creepiest, atypical roles, and the comic star responds with an unusually restrained performance..." — Variety Posted Mar 27, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 41%
| Dead Presidents (1995) | "
Dead Presidents may eventually box itself into a narrative dead end, but its muscular engagement of weighty themes and explosive situations makes it a powerful drama." — Variety Posted Mar 26, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 100%
| Husbands and Wives (1992) | "
In all respects, this is a full meal, as it deals with the things of life with intelligence, truthful drama and rueful humor." — Variety Posted Mar 23, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 33%
| Knowing (2009) | "
A not-bad supernatural-tinged sci-fier that has more on its mind than the run-of-the-mill effects-driven extravaganza." — Variety Posted Mar 19, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 88%
| Sin Nombre (2009) | "
A big new talent arrives on the scene with Sin nombre. Writer-director Cary Joji Fukunaga’s enthralling feature debut takes viewers into a shadow world inhabited by many but noticed by very few." — Variety Posted Mar 18, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 65%
| Duplicity (2009) | "
Smart, droll and dazzling to look at and listen to, writer-director Tony Gilroy's effervescent, intricately plotted puzzler proves in every way superior to his 2007 success Michael Clayton." — Variety Posted Mar 16, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 83%
| Two Lovers (2009) | "
An involving, ultimately touching romantic drama about a young man's struggle deciding between the two women in his life." — Variety Posted Feb 9, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 13%
| The Pink Panther 2 (2009) | "
Serves up enough goofy pranks and fractured wordplay to keep the series purring along." — Variety Posted Feb 6, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 83%
| There's Something About Mary (1998) | "
Crudely made, somewhat overlong and larded with plenty of things that don't work, pic stands as proof positive that a comedy can be far from perfect and still hit the bull's-eye if it delivers when it counts in its big scenes." — Variety Posted Feb 3, 2009 |
Fresh
| N/A | Thriller in Manilla (2009) | "
Unavoidably fascinating, especially for fight fans, due to the participation of Frazier and other survivors of the era." — Variety Posted Jan 30, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 98%
| Sense and Sensibility (1995) | "
Thompson's script manages the neat trick of preserving the necessary niceties and decorum of civilized behavior of the time while still cutting to the dramatic quick." — Variety Posted Jan 30, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 87%
| Big Fan (2009) | "
It's a small, peculiar film, one unlikely to appeal much to women, non-sports fans and mainstreamers, but its uncomfortable comic insights should win it a loyal following." — Variety Posted Jan 23, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 61%
| Marley & Me (2008) | "
This perky, episodic film is as broad and obvious as it could be, but delivers on its own terms thanks to sparky chemistry between its sunny blond stars, Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston, and the unabashed emotion-milking of the final reel." — Variety Posted Dec 22, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 81%
| Ocean's Eleven (2001) | "
A lark for everybody concerned, including the audience." — Variety Posted Dec 10, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 80%
| Gran Torino (2008) | "
The actor-director's second release of the season is his most stripped-down, unadorned picture in many a year." — Variety Posted Dec 5, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 96%
| Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) | "
Truly beguiling romantic comedy is one of the hardest things for a modern film to pull off, but a winning British team has done it in Four Weddings and a Funeral." — Variety Posted Dec 4, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 71%
| The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) | "
A richly satisfying serving of deep-dish Hollywood storytelling." — Variety Posted Nov 24, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 84%
| Liar Liar (1997) | "
Close to an ideal jumping-off point for Carrey, who spends the better part of an hour grotesquely physicalizing his scummy lawyer's struggle with being obliged to utter cold, hard facts." — Variety Posted Nov 21, 2008 |
Fresh
| Rotten 54%
| Australia (2008) | "
Embracing grand old-school melodrama while critiquing racist old-fashioned politics, Baz Luhrmann's grandiose Australia provides a luxurious bumpy ride." — Variety Posted Nov 20, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 87%
| Donnie Brasco (1997) | "
Although perhaps familiar in its outer trappings, Pacino's fine work is the key to the film succeeding to the extent that it does." — Variety Posted Nov 20, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 64%
| From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) | "
A deliriously trashy, exuberantly vulgar, lavishly appointed exploitation picture, this weird combo of road-kill movie and martial-arts vampire gorefest is made to order for the stimulation of teenage boys." — Variety Posted Nov 18, 2008 |
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