Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 24%
| Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (2009) | "
Even if it were not filmed in the dreariest TV-movie style by the debuting Jodie Markell, this romantic melodrama set in 1920s Mississippi seems almost like a self-parody of Williams' earlier work." Posted Dec 30, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 65%
| The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) | "
Not up to the very best work of either Gilliam or Ledger, but it's a surprisingly satisfying coda to the latter's all-too-brief career." Posted Dec 24, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 50%
| It's Complicated (2009) | "
Yes, it coulda had more laughs, but in the spirit of seasonal good cheer, let me predict that the best-chocolate-croissant-making montage in Hollywood history is going to help this one clean up at the box office." Posted Dec 24, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 38%
| Nine (2009) | "
The jaw-droppingly awful Nine is the worst Broadway-to- Hollywood transfer since The Producers -- the cinematic equivalent of that movie's show "Springtime for Hitler."" Posted Dec 22, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 83%
| Avatar (2009) | "
It’s rarely less than absorbing and never boring over its nearly three-hour length." Posted Dec 16, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 82%
| A Single Man (2009) | "
Colin Firth finally leaves Mr. Darcy behind -- and will likely net an Oscar nomination -- with his deeply moving, career-redefining performance as a '60s gay man struggling with death and isolation in A Single Man." Posted Dec 11, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 76%
| Invictus (2009) | "
Depicts an unlikely intersection of sports and leadership in ways that manage to be inspiring and insightful without ever becoming schmaltzy or preachy." Posted Dec 11, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 68%
| The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009) | "
Miller never really fleshes out all of these colorful characters in her emotionally facile script, leaving the heavy lifting to the actors. Fortunately for The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Wright is more than up to the challenge." Posted Nov 29, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 83%
| The Princess and the Frog (2009) | "
Disney Animation is back doing what it does best -- musical romantic adventure with magic -- after 10 years of unfortunate forays into barnyard humor and science fiction (see the same directors’ Treasure Planet or, better yet, don’t.)" Posted Nov 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 83%
| Me and Orson Welles (2009) | "
One of the best pictures about the stage in recent memory." Posted Nov 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 82%
| Broken Embraces (2009) | "
Penelope Cruz is a treat for the eyes, and so is her latest film, Pedro Almodovar’s sizzlingly sexy film noir Broken Embraces, a love letter to the magical power of movies to mend broken hearts." Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 72%
| The Blind Side (2009) | "
What makes The Blind Side a Thanksgiving treat is director Hancock's subtle touch and admirable refusal to yield to sports movie clichés, something he did previously with The Rookie and Remember the Titans." Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 58%
| Mammoth (2009) | "
Any semblance of subtlety was unfortunately lost in translation." Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 28%
| The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) | "
Director Chris Weitz proves that The Golden Compass was no fluke: He really is a non-master of action." Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 87%
| Four Seasons Lodge (2009) | "
[Director Andrew Jacob's] pitch-perfect film provides an affectionate look at a brave, disappearing subculture." Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Rotten 0/4
| Rotten 21%
| Oh My God (2009) | "
Hearing snoring from behind me at a screening the other day, I looked around and noticed four people had dozed off during the prettily photographed, boring vanity project that is Oh My God?" Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 55%
| Uncertainty (2009) | "
Excellent New York City location shooting and the ever-reliable Joseph Gordon-Levitt can't salvage this gimmicky, overlong thriller from Scott McGehee and David Siegel..." Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 93%
| Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) | "
Fantastic Mr. Fox is a retro marvel that should delight today's audience." Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 39%
| 2012 (2009) | "
Only a movie critic without a sense of humor would question whether you could really drive a limo straight through a collapsing skyscraper...or whether the Dalai Lama really owns a pickup truck." Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 77%
| That Evening Sun (2009) | "
Holbrook shines in a rare film-starring role as Abner Meechum, roughly a Southern version of the character Clint Eastwood played in Gran Torino." Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 44%
| The Box (2009) | "
After a slightly promising start, this great-looking but ultimately deeply confusing and unscary sci-fi/horror opus turns into a quite boring rehash of M. Night Shyamalan's post-Signs films." Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 92%
| Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire (2009) | "
Believe the hype." Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten 0/4
| Rotten 17%
| How To Seduce Difficult Women (2009) | "
Essentially another tone-deaf update of Love, American Style." Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 16%
| Gentlemen Broncos (2009) | "
It tests your patience even at 90 minutes." Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Fresh 80%
| Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009) | "
I feel fairly confident that a perfectionist like Jackson would never want to be remembered by a shoddy piece of exploitation like This Is It." Posted Oct 28, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 21%
| Amelia (2009) | "
The film discreetly tiptoes around rumors of Earhart's reputed bisexuality ("Maybe at one time," she says) and her relationship with aviation pioneer Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor impersonating a department-store dummy)." Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 25%
| Motherhood (2009) | "
If Carrie Bradshaw ever trades her Manolos for sneakers and starts blogging about raising children, I pray she wouldn't be as tiresome as the heroine of Katherine Dieckmann's insufferable comedy Motherhood." Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 82%
| Paranormal Activity (2009) | "
Like legendary producer Val Lewton in the '40s, director Oren Peli, who shot Paranormal in seven days in his own home, understands that what's most frightening is what you don't see but merely suggested." Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 73%
| Where the Wild Things Are (2009) | "
Some very good books were just never meant to be turned into movies. Sadly, you can now add Maurice Sendak’s 1963 classic Where the Wild Things Are to that list." Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 41%
| New York, I Love You (2009) | "
Yknow a collection of Gotham-themed shorts by international directors is in serious trouble when the most entertaining segment is directed by Hollywood uber-hack Brett Ratner." Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh 2/4
| Fresh 82%
| Black Dynamite (2009) | "
A cheerfully affectionate if fit fully amusing spoof of '70s blaxpoitation movies, Scott Sanders' Black Dynamite painstakingly nails the cheesy look, music and martial arts moves of the originals." Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Rotten 0/4
| Rotten 12%
| Couples Retreat (2009) | "
Like most of Universal's offerings this year, you have to wonder exactly who (besides masochists) they thought would actually want to see Couples Retreat in a theater." Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 94%
| Good Hair (2010) | "
I've never been much of a Chris Rock fan, but I was riveted by the on-screen interviews he conducts with celebrities like Nia Long and Al Sharpton, as well as regular folk, to explore African-American women's very complicated relationship with their hair." Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 34%
| St. Trinian's (2009) | "
Bad in ways that are almost endearing..." Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 61%
| Peter and Vandy (2009) | "
Despite two very ap pealing leads in Jason Ritter and Jess Weixler, Jay DiPietro's bittersweet romantic comedy Peter and Vandy is yet another graduate of Sundance's Class of '09 that doesn't live up to its initial promise." Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 24%
| Adventures of Power (2009) | "
So would-be hip it hurts, Adventures of Power is barely watchable, despite the presence of such pros as Michael McKean and Jane Lynch." Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 83%
| Whip It (2009) | "
Girls just wanna have fun -- and boy, do they as rough 'n' ready roller derby players -- in Whip It, Drew Barrymore's exuberant and totally winning directing debut." Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 87%
| A Serious Man (2009) | "
A Serious Man may not have the starry casts of the Coens' more recent films, but it has plenty of heart and soul. It's a movie mitzvah." Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 70%
| Chelsea on the Rocks (2009) | "
Chelsea on the Rocks rambles a bit, but it's a real slice of New York history that includes everything from Ethan Hawke recounting a hilarious story about Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller at the hotel to footage of the 9/11 attacks..." Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 35%
| Blind Date (2009) | "
A remake of a film by murdered Dutch director Theo van Gogh, it fails to captivate despite -- or perhaps because of -- the frantic acting efforts of Tucci and the normally reliable Patricia Clarkson." Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 72%
| The Boys Are Back (2009) | "
The Boys Are Back is not a perfect movie -- but you can't do much better than Owen, who beautifully plays against his darkly brooding persona." Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 27%
| Fame (2009) | "
A desperate, cynical -- and most likely unsuccessful -- attempt by a dying studio to stave off oblivion by jumping on the High School Musical bandwagon, exploiting one of its legacy titles in ways that dishonor the original." Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 77%
| The Informant! (2009) | "
The Informant! is more amusing than laugh-out-loud hilarious, but is never boring." Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 57%
| 9 (2009) | "
It signals the arrival of Shane Acker as an audacious new talent to watch." Posted Sep 9, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 28%
| Play the Game (2009) | "
While Fienberg's direction is no great shakes, the film showcases its veteran cast." Posted Aug 28, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 49%
| Taking Woodstock (2009) | "
Taking Woodstock achieves an amazing feat: It turns the fabled music festival, a key cultural moment of the late 20th century, into an exceedingly lame, heavily clichéd, thumb-sucking bore." Posted Aug 26, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 85%
| World's Greatest Dad (2009) | "
At 99 minutes, World's Greatest Dad is a tad too long, and takes its sweet time to get to the point. But its twisted heart is in the right place." Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 100%
| Passing Strange (2010) | "
Spike Lee's Passing Strange: The Movie is basically canned musical theater, but this is one Tony-winning Broadway show that's well worth preserving and seeing." Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 88%
| Inglourious Basterds (2009) | "
Quentin Tarantino's extremely witty revenge fantasy Inglourious Basterds may be the most fun you'll have at the movies this summer." Posted Aug 20, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 88%
| Inglourious Basterds (2009) | "
Not your grandfather's or (father's) World War II epic, Quentin Tarantino's extremely witty revenge fantasy Inglourious Basterds may be the most fun you'll have at the movies this summer." Posted Aug 20, 2009 |
RSS Feeds