|
1/10
|
32%
|
I Am Number Four (2011) |
"
I Am Number Four's CGI sequences are murky and dark, its performances negligible, its script genuinely inept. There is, I should note, a puppy, which arguably keeps the film this side of completely unbearable, but just barely."
—
NPR
Posted Feb 18, 2011
|
|
2/10
|
14%
|
The Love Guru (2008) |
"
Planning on seeing it? You may well recoil from sports comedies, Bollywood musicals, self-help spiritualists, puns — even characters with beards — for the foreseeable future."
—
NPR.org
Posted Jun 19, 2008
|
|
5
|
47%
|
Anonymous (2011) |
"
As silly as most of this is, Anonymous is undeniably a handsome picture. The costumes are gorgeous, with enough velvet and brocade to make everybody seem downright upholstered."
—
NPR
Posted Oct 28, 2011
|
|
|
51%
|
Bee Movie (2007) |
"
Personally, I think I liked "nothing" better."
—
NPR.org
Posted Oct 18, 2008
|
|
|
57%
|
Transformers (2007) |
"
For the bot-neutral rest of us, two-and-a-half hours of mostly incoherent special effects may be a bit much."
—
NPR.org
Posted Oct 18, 2008
|
|
|
73%
|
V for Vendetta (2006) |
"
By the movie's midpoint, the Wachowski brothers' screenplay has gotten so bogged down in back story that it takes 40 minutes for director James McTiegue to get back to the explosions that his 16-year-old target audience assumes will solve everything."
—
NPR.org
Posted Oct 18, 2008
|
|
|
70%
|
I Am Legend (2007) |
"
When they do, banging their heads against plate glass as movie zombies always do, I started needing something else to think about."
—
NPR.org
Posted Oct 18, 2008
|
|
|
41%
|
Shrek the Third (2007) |
"
Apart from some modestly amusing princess shtick and a pleasantly slapsticky opening, there's no real reason for anyone over the age of 11 to see this one."
—
NPR.org
Posted Oct 18, 2008
|
|
|
63%
|
Spider-Man 3 (2007) |
"
At 141 minutes, this supe-opera is seriously overextended, with four distinct subplots and way too much hand-wringing over things like the heroine's singing career."
—
NPR.org
Posted Oct 18, 2008
|
|
3/10
|
16%
|
An American Affair (2009) |
"
If you can get past the exploitation-of-minors thing, there's a tawdry exuberance to moments like the one in which the twerp and his overage girlfriend drunkenly splash paint on each other."
—
NPR.org
Posted Feb 26, 2009
|
|
3/10
|
21%
|
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) |
"
Dunno about the Earth, but time certainly stands still for a goodly portion of Scott Derrickson's expensively produced but utterly boneheaded remake."
—
NPR.org
Posted Dec 11, 2008
|
|
3/10
|
25%
|
Four Christmases (2008) |
"
Gordon's stars are charmless, his script cheerless, and his sterling supporting cast can't seem to figure out what they've been brought on board to do."
—
NPR
Posted Dec 2, 2008
|
|
3/10
|
45%
|
The Strangers (2008) |
"
A sadistic, unmotivated home-invasion flick."
—
NPR.org
Posted Jun 2, 2008
|
|
3.5/10
|
28%
|
New In Town (2009) |
"
Broad accents, broader slapstick and a willful shrinking from anything remotely original. ... Also much condescension, toward both the characters and the audience."
—
NPR.org
Posted Jan 30, 2009
|
|
4/10
|
21%
|
Amelia (2009) |
"
Swank's resemblance to Earhart is uncanny, but the result is verisimilitude without engagement %u2014 a risk-taker's story told entirely without narrative risk, and a movie that consequently never takes flight."
—
NPR
Posted Oct 22, 2009
|
|
4/10
|
37%
|
Angels & Demons (2009) |
"
Presumably in response to criticism that The Da Vinci Code was static and talky, director Ron Howard has made Angels & Demons frantic %u2014 and, well, talky"
—
NPR
Posted May 15, 2009
|
|
4/10
|
65%
|
Watchmen (2009) |
"
The moviemakers are too busy digitizing ice castles on Mars to bother with much in the way of meta-commentary. Or, for that matter, with personalities."
—
NPR
Posted Mar 5, 2009
|
|
4/10
|
63%
|
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas) (2008) |
"
The faux-naive point of view probably worked better in the novel; the literalness of film renders certain of the story's conceits ... overly precious."
—
NPR.org
Posted Nov 7, 2008
|
|
4/10
|
50%
|
Breakfast with Scot (2007) |
"
All the filmmakers are really after is a heartwarming little object lesson. ... [But] they perch their tidy little dramedy somewhere between sitcom and Movie of the Week."
—
NPR
Posted Oct 10, 2008
|
|
4/10
|
37%
|
You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008) |
"
More annoying than the crassness, really, is the directorial sloppiness — which results in a virtually mirthless first half-hour."
—
NPR.org
Posted Jun 5, 2008
|
|
4.5/10
|
28%
|
Clash of the Titans (2010) |
"
The remake out this weekend largely does away with the stately Titans stuff, in favor of more clashing."
—
NPR
Posted Apr 2, 2010
|
|
4.5/10
|
66%
|
The Blind Side (2009) |
"
Director John Lee Hancock's only aiming for a crowd pleaser, and by not challenging the established playbook for inspirational sports dramas, he's no doubt got one."
—
NPR
Posted Nov 19, 2009
|
|
4.5/10
|
65%
|
Is Anybody There? (2009) |
"
At once predictable and implausible; so overplotted and overpopulated that the question isn't so much Is Anybody There? as "Why on earth are so many bodies here?""
—
NPR
Posted Apr 16, 2009
|
|
4.5/10
|
37%
|
The Other End of the Line (2008) |
"
It's not fair to ask that a romantic comedy be entirely realistic — but some level of plausibility would make the jokes go down easier, as would a touch of delicacy in the writing."
—
NPR.org
Posted Oct 30, 2008
|
|
4.5/10
|
26%
|
Eagle Eye (2008) |
"
It means to say something about anti-terrorism surveillance and civil liberties, but if you asked me what Eagle Eye is about, I'd have to say it's about as dumb as can be."
—
NPR.org
Posted Sep 25, 2008
|
|
4.5/10
|
19%
|
Righteous Kill (2008) |
"
A slack, morally ambiguous, decidedly sub-'Dexter' serial-killer-cop story."
—
NPR.org
Posted Sep 12, 2008
|
|
4.9/10
|
37%
|
X-Men Origins - Wolverine (2009) |
"
Those movies where people get sent to an island somewhere, then discover that everyone's a clone, or a reactor is melting down? Imagine all of that happening at once, only everybody is indestructible."
—
NPR.org
Posted May 1, 2009
|
|
5/10
|
51%
|
Easy Virtue (2009) |
"
There's supposed to be some distance between the main character and the family she marries into — but that distance probably shouldn't include acting styles."
—
NPR
Posted May 28, 2009
|
|
5/10
|
72%
|
The Great Buck Howard (2009) |
"
Any synopsis of The Great Buck Howard is going to make it sound more than a little like My Favorite Year. ... But that film had a compellingly poignant center."
—
NPR
Posted Mar 20, 2009
|
|
5/10
|
70%
|
Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh (2009) |
"
Grossman has a robust story to tell, and she's found remarkable World War II footage to help her tell it."
—
NPR
Posted Jan 30, 2009
|
|
5/10
|
61%
|
Valkyrie (2008) |
"
What you miss in both Defiance and Valkyrie is inner conflict. Their protagonists have not an instant of self-doubt. They're figures in historical pageants, not characters in a drama."
—
NPR
Posted Dec 29, 2008
|
|
5/10
|
56%
|
The Tale of Despereaux (2008) |
"
The Tale Of Despereaux may be a little slow for the very youngest kids — though the messages it imparts are certainly ones you'll want them to hear."
—
NPR
Posted Dec 18, 2008
|
|
5/10
|
33%
|
Morning Light (2008) |
"
Mostly the film is more appealing for its scenery, which is as breathtakingly blue as you'd expect, than for its drama."
—
NPR.org
Posted Oct 17, 2008
|
|
5/10
|
71%
|
American Teen (2008) |
"
At what point does the filming of kids behaving immaturely become an invasion of privacy, even if parents signed consent forms?"
—
NPR.org
Posted Jul 24, 2008
|
|
5/10
|
54%
|
Mamma Mia! (2008) |
"
Would be more persuasive if you felt any real chemistry between Streep and Brosnan. But how could you? They've been singing ABBA songs at each other for two hours."
—
NPR.org
Posted Jul 17, 2008
|
|
5/10
|
18%
|
The Happening (2008) |
"
If what audiences are looking for is a thrill ride, or even a pervasive eeriness, The Happening's just not happening."
—
NPR.org
Posted Jun 13, 2008
|
|
5.5/10
|
72%
|
Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) |
"
Directors Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon push so hard for three-dimensionality that they basically have their animators putting sightlines before storylines."
—
NPR
Posted Mar 27, 2009
|
|
5.5/10
|
34%
|
Miracle at St. Anna (2008) |
"
Some themes are familiar, others freshly provocative. But nearly all get scattered as screenwriter James McBride lets the story drift off in six directions at once."
—
NPR
Posted Sep 25, 2008
|
|
5.5/10
|
36%
|
The Lucky Ones (2008) |
"
Director Neil Burger keeps things light, and the actors are more than engaging. ... But there's something centrally pat and predictable about the coincidence-laden story."
—
NPR
Posted Sep 25, 2008
|
|
5.5/10
|
48%
|
Towelhead (2007) |
"
Ball has found an insinuating, perversely smooth tone in his script, but his less-adept direction inadvertently adds dissonance."
—
NPR.org
Posted Sep 12, 2008
|
|
5.5/10
|
50%
|
Sex and the City (2008) |
"
This celebration with Carrie & Co. — very much television writ large — seems precisely the Sex and the City reunion the show's fans had hoped for."
—
NPR.org
Posted Jun 2, 2008
|
|
6/10
|
77%
|
In A Better World (2011) |
"
There's sufficient craft that you go along with the twists, even as director Susanne Bier is wrapping things up with a neatly tied bow. But in a better world, In a Better World would be a better movie."
—
NPR
Posted Apr 1, 2011
|
|
6/10
|
83%
|
Potiche (2011) |
"
Catherine Deneuve radiates enough intelligence on-screen to be no one's idea of a mere trophy wife, but she makes a brave stab at playing one in Francois Ozon's brightly hued boulevard comedy."
—
NPR
Posted Mar 25, 2011
|
|
6/10
|
46%
|
Hereafter (2010) |
"
It's as if everyone involved in the film figured they could keep Hereafter from turning ghost-story hokey by making it grounded, beautiful and matter-of-fact. And it sort of works."
—
NPR
Posted Oct 15, 2010
|
|
6/10
|
49%
|
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) |
"
Director David Slade keeps the action brisk and the time-killing attractive ... All of which should be like a freshly opened vein for fans."
—
NPR
Posted Jun 30, 2010
|
|
6/10
|
78%
|
Behind The Burly Q (2010) |
"
It all makes for a graciously subdued trip down the burlesque runway...in a documentary that audiences will likely be expecting to concentrate more on other parts of the body."
—
NPR
Posted Apr 23, 2010
|
|
6/10
|
57%
|
Defiance (2009) |
"
It's an inspiring story, if one that doesn't need quite as much poetic inspiration as Ed Zwick's movie insists on giving it."
—
NPR
Posted Dec 29, 2008
|
|
6/10
|
78%
|
Doubt (2008) |
"
Doubt cast a long moral shadow on Broadway, but seems blunter on screen. Shanley's fussy directorial notions are less nuanced than the religious and moral arguments he's given his characters."
—
NPR
Posted Dec 11, 2008
|
|
6/10
|
59%
|
W. (2008) |
"
We're awfully close to the real events in W., still feeling the effects of this presidency. ... So the concentration on personality flaws feels a little off-point somehow — insufficient, almost frivolous."
—
NPR.org
Posted Oct 17, 2008
|
|
6/10
|
42%
|
Blindness (2008) |
"
The descent into barbarism — hallways fouled by human waste, cruelty 'round every corner — is both the device and the point ..."
—
NPR.org
Posted Oct 3, 2008
|
62%
——
97%
