Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 40%
| The Lovely Bones (2009) | "
Jackson takes a more scenic route. It looks like a New Zealand tourist poster animated with CGI and touched up with borrowings from Dali and Magritte." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Dec 25, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 84%
| Bright Star (2009) | "
Jane Campion's film is as lyrical as you might expect but it's also enlivened with a bracing air of irreverence." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Dec 17, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Fresh 82%
| Paranormal Activity (2009) | "
When the object of the hype turns out to be as lame as this film, the whole exercise becomes just another Hollywood con job." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Dec 7, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 73%
| Where the Wild Things Are (2009) | "
Imagination is the real star of Sendak's classic and Jonze and his co-writer, Dave Eggers, have expanded on its brief text to spin a story in which the tough and the tender smoothly coalesce." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Dec 3, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 75%
| Cold Souls (2009) | "
The result is a deliciously deadpan piece of absurdism with some unexpectedly poignant touches." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Nov 26, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/5
| Rotten 28%
| The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) | "
There is one thing to be said about the way Weitz handles time travel. He can make two hours and 10 minutes seem like a thousand years." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Nov 18, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 72%
| The Boys Are Back (2009) | "
There's a lot to like about the film. Hicks makes evocative use of the Fleurieu Peninsula's hills and coastline to impart some magic to Joe's attempts to turn life with his sons in to a Boys' Own adventure." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Nov 9, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 38%
| The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) | "
While the script could have done more to exploit Bana's sense of humour, it does profit from his directness. There are no false heroics." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 78%
| It Might Get Loud (2009) | "
For once a film's tagline strikes the right note. ''It might not affect the way you play guitar, but it will change how you listen.''" — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Oct 29, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 6%
| All About Steve (2009) | "
The taint of desperation lies so heavily on the entire exercise." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Oct 21, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 28%
| The Final Destination (2009) | "
The film showers you with gore while dumping a motor engine in your lap and poking you in the eye with a burnt stick." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Oct 15, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 75%
| Julie & Julia (2009) | "
As food movies go -- and they've become a genre of their own -- this one may be a little too rich but it's full of delights." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 86%
| Stone Bros. (2009) | "
While the ebullient burst of rough-and-ready slapstick which delivers the message is far from a comic masterstroke, it does produce a rousing finish to this shambolic but irrepressibly good-natured film." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Sep 24, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 77%
| Valentino: the Last Emperor (2009) | "
Matt Tyrnauer's documentary about the venerable Italian fashion designer, Valentino, has been billed as a love story, and so it is." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Sep 16, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 68%
| Funny People (2009) | "
Despite its flaws, this film has a beguiling candour and reflectiveness which is new for Apatow and Sandler." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Sep 9, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 64%
| Charlie & Boots (2009) | "
A road movie that offers a series of simple but singular pleasures, most of which stem from the way in which Charlie and Boots begin to relax in one another's company." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Sep 3, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 91%
| Ponyo (2009) | "
It's one of Miyazaki's funniest and most intimate films so far, partly because of the engaging matter-of-factness with which he marries the extravagantly fantastic with the comforting realities of everyday life." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Aug 26, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 90%
| District 9 (2009) | "
Copley's wild-eyed performance as the luckless Wikus has a lot going for it. The fact that he's so ridiculous -- and so dogged -- adds to the pathos, for it's patently clear Blomkamp has no taste for easy endings." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 84%
| The September Issue (2009) | "
It is complemented by the kind of candour makers of documentaries dream about." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Aug 19, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 14%
| The Ugly Truth (2009) | "
Heigl is said to have fallen out with Apatow since the making of Knocked Up. Maybe she should reconnect with him." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 80%
| Bandslam (2009) | "
It's all pretty predictable yet despite the occasional lapses into cuteness, it has a lot more going for it than the standard teen movie." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 94%
| Beautiful Kate (2009) | "
Ward's tough-minded and uniquely Australian version of Southern Gothic does reward your perseverance by at last making you care." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Aug 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 63%
| Mes Amis, Mes Amours () | "
With My Friends, My Loves, the French are making an excursion into Richard Curtis country." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 39%
| The Limits of Control (2009) | "
Jarmusch has decided to make a film composed of things he likes for a variety of reasons, few of which have anything to do with the art of telling a story." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Jul 24, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 10%
| My Life in Ruins (2009) | "
Petrie, who handled slapstick with ease in Miss Congeniality, has lost his timing with this one. There's none of the blithely nonsensical spirit that infuses the atmosphere when actors are enjoying themselves." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Jul 24, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 50%
| The Fox and the Child (2008) | "
The result is Nature seen through the eyes of a solitary and fanciful child with Jacquet intensifying the theatricality of it all by playing around with scale, amplifying every sound and raising the wildlife count." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Jul 17, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 91%
| Every Little Step (2009) | "
All the dancers who move towards the final cut are so good that the line between success and failure seems cruelly arbitrary and the disappointment of those who don't make it is acute. But nobody's giving up." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Jul 9, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 67%
| Bruno (2009) | "
Bruno is not nearly as ambitious as Borat, where Cohen's talent to outrage ranged far and wide. He's no longer a saboteur. He's become part of the machinery." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Jul 8, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 45%
| Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) | "
And that overriding air of cuteness is a problem that seems destined to get worse in the sequels which will surely follow. Battle fatigue has definitely set in." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Jul 2, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 65%
| Coco Before Chanel (2009) | "
The film is best viewed as a beguiling fairytale about a woman who loved fashion while despising the concept of the fashion victim." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Jun 24, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 84%
| Disgrace (2009) | "
For all the care and perceptiveness that's gone into this impressive adaptation, Malkovich's essential iciness means the tragedy eludes us." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Jun 21, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 72%
| Sunshine Cleaning (2009) | "
It's worthwhile just for Adams and Blunt, a partnership made in movie heaven." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Jun 19, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 43%
| The Proposal (2009) | "
In the end, nothing can compensate for the fact that Bullock has been so diligent in ridding herself of any trace of niceness that she looks as if she's regretting the whole thing. Boredom doesn't suit her and a romcom without charm just doesn't rate." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Jun 19, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 66%
| Is Anybody There? (2009) | "
Even when dealing with the supernatural, Caine is never less than a realist. Yet you can still see the boy in him. And in Milner, you can certainly see the man Edward will become." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Jun 12, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 75%
| Shall We Kiss? (2008) | "
[The] polite inquiry [of the title] pretty well sums up the tone of this featherweight ensemble comedy about French people falling in and out of love." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Jun 12, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 83%
| Two Lovers (2009) | "
Keeps a grip on you." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Jun 5, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 84%
| State of Play (2009) | "
It's really a story about the romance of newspapers and a good one — part of a tradition that goes all the way back to Ben Hecht and The Front Page. It may also mark the genre's end." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted May 31, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 44%
| Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) | "
All up it's Levy's best work so far and while I realise that's faint praise, it's far from being damning." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted May 24, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 76%
| Quiet Chaos (2009) | "
It's subtle stuff with an appealing lack of contrivance and there is something very natural about its resolution." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted May 22, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 36%
| Angels & Demons (2009) | "
It's a noisy ride and what you're looking at is pure hokum but for non-believers like me, there's more fun to be had from this express tour of Brown's obsessions than there was in The Da Vinci Code's ponderous progress." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted May 17, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 87%
| The Baader Meinhof Complex (2009) | "
You want to know more and Eichinger's script isn't even going to try to enlighten you. The action surges on to the next act of destruction, where Edel's uninflected style works much more effectively." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted May 15, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Rotten 56%
| Defiance (2008) | "
Schreiber and Craig make a well-matched pair of bulls. Schreiber's volatility is a nice foil to the taciturn intelligence that makes Craig such a great Bond." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted May 8, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 100%
| Samson and Delilah (2009) | "
A tender film, and an honest one, but it's tough going." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted May 8, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 40%
| Tenderness (2008) | "
Cormier himself called Tenderness a tough book written in "a minor key" and perhaps Polson was inspired by the description. But if so, he doesn't come close." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted May 1, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Rotten 36%
| X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) | "
It's fun and, for a film possessed of its scale, ambition and extravagantly loopy plotlines, it's refreshingly unpretentious." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted May 1, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 23%
| Fired Up (2009) | "
It's very tame, and that's a quality no mindless movie can afford." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Apr 23, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 43%
| Camino (2009) | "
It's a courageous piece of work but it's so thoroughly steeped in old-fashioned melodrama that it makes you squirm." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Apr 17, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 74%
| Elegy (2008) | "
Coixet has blunted the impact of the novel's ending just as she has softened Roth's misanthropic depiction of Kepesh and, as a result, she's taken flak for being over-polite. I didn't care." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Apr 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 39%
| Inkheart (2009) | "
The message is so muddied by the film's dizzying changes in pitch and tone that a lot of young readers aren't going to know what to think." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Apr 10, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Rotten 54%
| The Boat That Rocked (2009) | "
The film itself is not irritating, although it's so relentlessly cheery that it could have been." — Sydney Morning Herald Posted Apr 10, 2009 |
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