Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 50%
| It's Complicated (2009) | "
[Meyers has] given us her thinnest slice of comic relationship angst yet, proving, I guess, that you actually can be too thin." — Los Angeles Times Posted Dec 28, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 22%
| Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009) | "
Thomas brings a light campy touch as she did in 1995's The Brady Bunch Movie." — Los Angeles Times Posted Dec 22, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 14%
| Did You Hear About the Morgans? (2009) | "
Grant has never been less charming and Parker never less fashionable or more grating than they are as Paul and Meryl Morgan." — Los Angeles Times Posted Dec 18, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/5
| Rotten 37%
| Nine (2009) | "
Perhaps Zero would have been a better name." — Los Angeles Times Posted Dec 17, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 74%
| The Young Victoria (2009) | "
What filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée has done in this delicious historical romance is capture that hot blush of pure emotion that comes before kisses, sex, heartbreak and the rest can dilute it." — Los Angeles Times Posted Dec 17, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 83%
| Broken Embraces (2009) | "
The writer-director is up to his old tricks, creating an onion of an experience -- a movie within a movie within a movie, irony in each layer, poignancy that stings and whimsy that bites." — Los Angeles Times Posted Dec 11, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 82%
| A Single Man (2009) | "
We're always looking for those performances that truly define an actor, where we can sit back and simply watch the talent soar. For Colin Firth, A Single Man is that film." — Los Angeles Times Posted Dec 11, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 28%
| Serious Moonlight (2009) | "
Serious Moonlight has its flaws, but then what marriage doesn't?" — Los Angeles Times Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 57%
| Brothers (2009) | "
Sheridan seems as conflicted as the Cahills about their virtues and failings." — Los Angeles Times Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 83%
| The Princess and the Frog (2009) | "
The dialogue is fresh-prince clever, the themes are ageless, the rhythms are riotous and the return to a primal animation style is beautifully executed." — Los Angeles Times Posted Nov 24, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 83%
| Me and Orson Welles (2009) | "
As in life, the presence of Welles never fails to overtake things and McKay's command of the subject is so Welles-ian that when he's in a scene everyone else fades a little. And neither [Linklater] nor the film ever quite recover from that." — Los Angeles Times Posted Nov 24, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 90%
| The Messenger (2009) | "
Foster leaves you hoping that Will finds his way home." — Los Angeles Times Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 85%
| Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) | "
Cold-blooded reptiles are lurking everywhere in the slick new noir Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, with snakes, iguanas, gators and especially Nicolas Cage at their slithering and cynical best." — Los Angeles Times Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 72%
| The Blind Side (2009) | "
If Frank Capra was still around, director John Lee Hancock might have had to fight him for the job." — Los Angeles Times Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 55%
| The Little Traitor (2007) | "
A lyrical yet emotionally spare film about the unexpected casualties of war." — Los Angeles Times Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 60%
| Pirate Radio (2009) | "
Pirate Radio, the new rock-saturated comedy that proves life really is better when it's set to a '60s soundtrack, is, to borrow from the Stones, "a gas! gas! gas!"" — Los Angeles Times Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 91%
| Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire (2009) | "
One that you hope will not be dismissed as too difficult, because it should not be missed." — Los Angeles Times Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 44%
| The Box (2009) | "
Have you ever actually tried watching paint dry? A sloth walk? Grass grow? You can have all the thrills with none of the chills courtesy of The Box, the painfully sluggish new sci-fi morality play from Donnie Darko creator Richard Kelly." — Los Angeles Times Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 55%
| Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009) | "
By the time A Christmas Carol finishes piling its many shiny presents with their many bells and whistles under the tree, there's no room left for tears for Tiny Tim. Bah humbug indeed." — Los Angeles Times Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 88%
| Skin (2009) | "
In a day when it's difficult to say something new about the racial divide, Sandy's story has a poignant power as it underscores just how deeply the fissures run even when it's all in the family." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 37%
| Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) | "
Unfortunately Weitz can't quite get a handle on what the film should be, despite teaming up with the talented Brian Helgeland on the script." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 21%
| Amelia (2009) | "
History can weigh heavily on a filmmaker, and that is what happens with Amelia, a disappointing rendering of the remarkable life of Amelia Earhart." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Rotten 56%
| Trucker (2009) | "
There are so many wonderfully unconventional things to like about this tiny independent film, Monaghan's earthy and uncompromising performance chief among them, its depth surprising you at every turn." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/5
| Rotten 9%
| Opa! (2009) | "
Everything is flat except for the island's picturesque mountains, but you can look at those for only so long." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 41%
| New York, I Love You (2009) | "
Even the more predictable prove pleasurable." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| N/A | The Korean Wedding Chest (2009) | "
It is a rare chance to see the stunning, quiet work of Ottinger, whose films tell us only what we need to know. Nothing more, nothing less." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 12, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 67%
| Bliss (2007) | "
While the story is a dark and difficult one, the players in this morality tale are bathed in light and lost within breathtaking landscapes thanks to director of photography Mirsad Herovic." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 82%
| Paranormal Activity (2009) | "
Peli works at mining the unknown, the unknowable, like a minimalist, using small moments and virtually no special effects exceedingly well." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 94%
| Good Hair (2010) | "
An amusing, poignant and surprisingly candid look at the topic with a disarming Rock coaxing answers and opinions from an eclectic cross section of African Americans." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 57%
| The Invention of Lying (2009) | "
[It] does have its moments -- most of them courtesy of Gervais and his very specific brand of self-deprecating, always equivocating comedy -- just not nearly enough of them." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 82%
| Paranormal Activity (2009) | "
Peli works at mining the unknown, the unknowable, like a minimalist, using small moments and virtually no special effects exceedingly well." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 83%
| Whip It (2009) | "
For the most part, the 34-year-old Barrymore, with much of her life spent in front of the camera and more than a few impressive producing credits already in the bank, proves steady on her feet, able to handle curves and straightaways with equal grace." — Los Angeles Times Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 83%
| We Live in Public (2009) | "
If anything, the film is a reflection of the Web zeitgeist, where observation comes easily but insight is rare. What saves the documentary from becoming a complete frustration is the sheer, stunning prescience of Harris." — Los Angeles Times Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 72%
| The Boys Are Back (2009) | "
The Boys Are Back is a bit like the parenting it portrays -- at times there is pain, mistakes will be made, but if you can get beyond that, there is pleasure to be found." — Los Angeles Times Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 89%
| No Impact Man (2009) | "
Finally an environmental advocacy film for those of us who have the best of intentions but a weakness for Peet's espressos, takeout dinners and an occasional Marc Jacobs sale, to say nothing of a dependence on toilet paper..." — Los Angeles Times Posted Sep 10, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 63%
| Extract (2009) | "
While Extract is mildly amusing and a slice of a mostly working-class world that doesn't make it into comedy that much anymore, it's not completely convincing as a movie." — Los Angeles Times Posted Sep 3, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 49%
| Taking Woodstock (2009) | "
It's a frustrating complication of a movie with a sprawling story and grand ambitions -- and some truly grand acting -- that stumbles almost as often as it soars. Bummer." — Los Angeles Times Posted Aug 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 70%
| My One and Only (2009) | "
Just when you think nothing will break the summer heat, in blows a cool breeze." — Los Angeles Times Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 45%
| Shorts (2009) | "
Yes, I realize this is a kids' movie, but that's no excuse for short-circuiting creativity." — Los Angeles Times Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 38%
| The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) | "
Yet where there should be heat, a cold wind blows." — Los Angeles Times Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 90%
| District 9 (2009) | "
In a good summer, there's usually a movie that will come out of nowhere and completely wow us. This is a good summer, and that movie is District 9." — Los Angeles Times Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 78%
| It Might Get Loud (2009) | "
The film culminates as the three finally come together on an empty soundstage in Hollywood for a conversation and a raucous jam session that is remarkable for its intimacy and its passion." — Los Angeles Times Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 36%
| G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) | "
Basically, the Joes are not bad, it's just that they could have been much better with a little less conversation, a little more action." — Los Angeles Times Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 43%
| Fragments (2009) | "
The grand statement it wants to make plays shallow instead of deep, leaving the film too weak-kneed to carry the weight of its broken world." — Los Angeles Times Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 60%
| Paper Heart (2009) | "
Paper Heart manages to work the meta mostly magically thanks to the sensibility brought by Yi, whose stand-up persona blends a childlike naiveté with an almost perpetual state of shy embarrassment." — Los Angeles Times Posted Aug 7, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 82%
| Thirst (2009) | "
Park has created a rumination on morality and mortality that is not at all deadly, but funny and profound and at times intensely erotic." — Los Angeles Times Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 88%
| The English Surgeon (2009) | "
Like Marsh, the filmmaker has taken a sort of triage approach to telling the tale, with near-perfect pacing as he moves between Marsh, the patients, and Marsh's wonderful Ukrainian colleague, neurosurgeon Igor Kurilets." — Los Angeles Times Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 68%
| Funny People (2009) | "
Sandler and Rogen and the rest are left to wander aimlessly, with tedious comedy gigs, an even more tedious faux sitcom and relatively vapid relationships masquerading as a plot." — Los Angeles Times Posted Jul 31, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 79%
| An Unlikely Weapon (2009) | "
A picture of a complex mind with a gift for capturing humanity and inhumanity with heartbreaking force." — Los Angeles Times Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 67%
| Bruno (2009) | "
Baron Cohen's instincts for outrage are spot on. It's not insight we need at all right now, but a very sharp bonk on the head." — Los Angeles Times Posted Jul 10, 2009 |
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