Fresh A
| Fresh 87%
| The White Ribbon (2009) | "
Evocative and suspenseful, it's both a masterful recreation of a past age and a remarkable rumination on the constants of human frailty and societal brutality." Posted Dec 31, 2009 |
Rotten C-
| Rotten 50%
| Antichrist (2009) | "
Very hard to watch, and in the end it's doubtful it's worth the effort. But it has moments you won't forget, however much you may want to." Posted Dec 31, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 40%
| The Lovely Bones (2009) | "
A fussy, artificial piece of work drained of emotion and humanity by extravagant effects and directorial flamboyance." Posted Dec 23, 2009 |
Rotten C-
| Rotten 49%
| It's Complicated (2009) | "
Not much more than an American version of a bad French bedroom farce...it's a depressing commentary on the state of American comedy that one as crass and clumsy as this will probably be called sophisticated." Posted Dec 23, 2009 |
Rotten C-
| Fresh 71%
| Sherlock Holmes (2009) | "
Precisely the sort of mindlessly revved-up, high-octane thing one expects from Guy Ritchie...a desecration rather than an updating." Posted Dec 23, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 83%
| Broken Embraces (2009) | "
A homage to past masters like Hitchcock and Sirk, done up in irresistible Almodovar style...as a directorial love-letter to films and filmmaking, it's an absolute winner." Posted Dec 23, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Rotten 37%
| Nine (2009) | "
Part homage, part recreation, part innovation--but, happily, mostly engaging...[there's] a good deal to enjoy here." Posted Dec 23, 2009 |
Rotten C-
| Rotten 22%
| Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009) | "
Isn't much worse than the original, but unfortunately it's no better." Posted Dec 22, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 74%
| The Young Victoria (2009) | "
It works as an old-fashioned wallow in nineteenth-century British royal romance and parliamentary infighting." Posted Dec 17, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Fresh 83%
| Avatar (2009) | "
The technical wizardry is at the service of a recycled plot and a script rife with cardboard characters...and dialogue that sounds as though it had been lifted from the pages of a third-rate comic book." Posted Dec 17, 2009 |
Rotten C-
| Rotten 14%
| Did You Hear About the Morgans? (2009) | "
Might have been called Witless Protection, if that title hadn't already been taken (damn you, Larry the Cable Guy!)." Posted Dec 17, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 89%
| Crazy Heart (2009) | "
An utterly familiar but mostly satisfying character study of a man rescued from the brink of self-destruction, attuned to the rhythm of an eye-catching star performance." Posted Dec 15, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 82%
| A Single Man (2009) | "
Surprisingly moving...the style constantly threatens to overwhelm the substance, but winds up contributing to it instead." Posted Dec 10, 2009 |
Rotten C+
| Fresh 76%
| Invictus (2009) | "
Formulaically uplifting. More hagiography than biography, it winds up an inspirational tale told in an uninspired way." Posted Dec 10, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 83%
| The Princess and the Frog (2009) | "
A pleasant but undistinguished addition to the Disney animated canon,...an agreeable throwback to a type of animation one doesn't see much of anymore." Posted Dec 8, 2009 |
Rotten C-
| Rotten 50%
| Armored (2009) | "
The heist goes awry, but not as badly as the movie." Posted Dec 5, 2009 |
Rotten C+
| Rotten 57%
| Brothers (2009) | "
Those...who've seen the Danish original can't help but feel that some of the power and depth have been lost in translation." Posted Dec 5, 2009 |
Rotten C-
| Rotten 46%
| Everybody's Fine (2009) | "
As obvious and contrived as the original...[with] Robert De Niro in one of the 'regular guy' roles he occasionally takes on--only to prove that he isn't suited to them." Posted Dec 3, 2009 |
Fresh A-
| Fresh 89%
| Up in the Air (2009) | "
Smart, sexy, funny and poignant...flies high on the old-fashioned virtues of intelligence, wit and cleverness--with a dollop of seriousness added to the mix." Posted Dec 3, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 83%
| Me and Orson Welles (2009) | "
An agreeable divertissement, easy to take--and equally easy to forget." Posted Nov 28, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 31%
| Ninja Assassin (2009) | "
No prize, [but] at least it barrels ahead without trying to humanize its comic-book characters or deliver a ludicrous V for Vendetta-style political message." Posted Nov 24, 2009 |
Rotten D-
| Rotten 6%
| Old Dogs (2009) | "
[A] sorry mess, a mangy, flea-bitten comedy of Daddy Day Care caliber." Posted Nov 24, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 88%
| Red Cliff (2009) | "
A magnificent achievement...both fascinating and fun--so good, in fact, that after watching this cut you just might to search out the director's original 280-minute version." Posted Nov 24, 2009 |
Rotten D
| Fresh 72%
| The Road (2009) | "
A grim, tedious slog that goes nowhere emotionally [and] never manages to be either viscerally affecting or intellectually insightful." Posted Nov 24, 2009 |
Rotten D
| Rotten 28%
| The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) | "
A lugubrious Harlequin romance with fangs and paws instead of bosoms and bodices." Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 85%
| Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) | "
Outrageously enjoyable...turns the genre conventions on their head to often uproarious effect." Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Rotten D+
| Rotten 23%
| Planet 51 (2009) | "
A movie so flat and derivative that it seems to have been cobbled together from other, better pictures." Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 72%
| The Blind Side (2009) | "
If you're looking for an uplifting sports story, this one, familiar as it is, manages a winning score." Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 90%
| The Messenger (2009) | "
One of the most powerful and moving films about the human cost of the Afghan-Iraq war and about those of war in general to appear in years." Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh A-
| Fresh 93%
| Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) | "
A toon that puts nearly every non-Pixar one of recent years to shame. In this case, the titular adjective is well chosen." Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Rotten D-
| Rotten 22%
| The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009) | "
Trash--grubby and nonsensical, with lame dialogue, wretched overacting and clumsily staged action sequences." Posted Nov 16, 2009 |
Rotten F
| Rotten 16%
| Gentlemen Broncos (2009) | "
Excruciating...its awfulness is so profound that it actually takes on a perverse fascination." Posted Nov 16, 2009 |
Rotten D+
| Rotten 39%
| 2012 (2009) | "
The amount of inanity exceeds the quantity of the special effects...and the movie is filled to the brim with them." Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Fresh A-
| Fresh 92%
| Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire (2009) | "
A grim, uncompromising--and revelatory--film. It's an incredibly difficult picture to watch. But its toughness brings equally incredible rewards." Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 60%
| Pirate Radio (2009) | "
Lacks the edge it might have had, [but] as a genial, old-fashioned comedy about the spirit of the sixties, it's enjoyable enough." Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 88%
| Skin (2009) | "
A powerful fact-based parable illustrating exactly how irrational and cruel racial bigotry is." Posted Nov 7, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 44%
| The Box (2009) | "
While visually arresting and peculiar enough to hold your interest, in the end it proves to be pretty empty inside." Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 53%
| The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) | "
Offers just a few moderately amusing moments, and by and large proves curiously flat, despite all the talent on the screen." Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Rotten F
| Rotten 18%
| The Fourth Kind (2009) | "
If you're gullible enough to accept the backstory given here, you're probably the sort of person who'll take Criswell's assurances that Plan 9 from Outer Space is based on sworn testimony at face value." Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 55%
| Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009) | "
Clear evidence of the limitations of the performance-capture method of animation and of the excesses it invites...there's more of artifice than art in it." Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 86%
| Flame & Citron (2008) | "
A suspenseful, often riverting drama of World War II resistance that combines old-fashioned virtues of craft and style with a more modern sense of nuance and complexity." Posted Oct 31, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 94%
| An Education (2009) | "
Takes what's essentially a soap-operatic plot and spins it into something very like cinematic gold...instructive about how a very familiar story can be given new vibrancy by filmmakers and actors working at peak form." Posted Oct 27, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 69%
| (Untitled) (2009) | "
The rare picture nowadays that takes satiric aim at the pomposity of the world of high art and hits the target, even if the blows are more often than not only glancing ones." Posted Oct 24, 2009 |
Rotten D+
| Rotten 37%
| Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) | "
All winded wind-up and no dazzling follow-through. Hogwart's wizards have absolutely nothing to fear from this bunch of sad second-raters." Posted Oct 24, 2009 |
Rotten F
| Rotten 45%
| Saw VI (2009) | "
The tawdry use of important real-life social issues in the service of what amounts to nothing more than another exercise in malignant sadism makes this picture even worse than earlier episodes." Posted Oct 24, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 47%
| Ong Bak 2 (2009) | "
Not really a sequel but more a misguided prequelish follow-up...obviously enjoyed a much larger budget than its titular predecessor, but it's nowhere near as much fun." Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 48%
| Astro Boy (2009) | "
Decked out in snazzy computer-generated animation, but comes across as more rote than exhilarating." Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Rotten C-
| Rotten 21%
| Amelia (2009) | "
Comes off more like a museum exhibit than a vital drama...Amelia never takes flight, but it certainly crashes." Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 94%
| The Damned United (2009) | "
Even if you're not a soccer fan you should respond to...another expert mining of historical record by Peter Morgan [that's] not so much a sports movie as a character study." Posted Oct 21, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 92%
| Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg (2009) | "
Stylistically unpretentious but highly informative and enjoyable documentary [on] one of radio's great stars and a television pioneer." Posted Oct 21, 2009 |
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