Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 29%
| Dear John (2010) | "
C’mon, it’s the millennium, it’s the electronic age, where soldiers everywhere fight with one finger on the trigger of their gun and the other on the send button of their cell phone." Posted Feb 5, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 86%
| I Killed My Mother (2010) | "
A coming-of-age tale as ferociously raw as its teller -- the very young Xavier Dolan." Posted Feb 5, 2010 |
Rotten 2/4
| N/A | The Body (2010) | "
Weighty political and philosophic issues may well be buried somewhere in this Body. But it would take an electron microscope to find them." Posted Feb 1, 2010 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 63%
| Bliss (2007) | "
his is just unabashed melodrama, complete with mustachioed villain and wicked stepmother and wronged heroine and rescuing hero, all tied up in a love story sweet enough to make Hollywood blush." Posted Jan 29, 2010 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 17%
| When in Rome (2010) | "
In the case of When in Rome, oh to do what the Romans used to do: Toss the bloody thing to the lions." Posted Jan 29, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 86%
| The White Ribbon (2009) | "
The film, even while drawing us into its creepy web, also disappoints." Posted Jan 15, 2010 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 36%
| The Lovely Bones (2009) | "
Some books should stay between their covers, and The Lovely Bones may well be one of them." Posted Jan 15, 2010 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 45%
| The Book of Eli (2010) | "
Really, it's just another prophet-in-the-wilderness tale -- not nearly as bad as those trailers would suggest, yet neither will your soul run any risk of enlightenment." Posted Jan 15, 2010 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 66%
| Daybreakers (2010) | "
Daybreakers is more fun than foreboding; it's fright-lite, yet that's par for the bloody course in these busy apocalyptic days." Posted Jan 8, 2010 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 71%
| Youth in Revolt (2010) | "
Cera may be trapped in his unchanging persona, but no more than this picture is walled in by its sitcom conventions." Posted Jan 8, 2010 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 58%
| It's Complicated (2009) | "
Meyers does her job pretty well. She's a clever contriver, adept at adding a patina of apparent relevance, even a veneer of feminism, to situations that are otherwise bogus and artificial." Posted Dec 24, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 82%
| Avatar (2009) | "
Big money, big risk, pretty big reward. That's been his consistent pattern, and it's high time to give credit where credit is overdue: James Cameron delivers." Posted Dec 18, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 83%
| A Single Man (2009) | "
Colin Firth isn't the only reason to see A Single Man, but he's certainly the best." Posted Dec 11, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 48%
| Everybody's Fine (2009) | "
If nothing else (and there ain't much else), Everybody's Fine does prove one thing: Even an actor with the gifts of Robert De Niro can't make bland interesting." Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 90%
| Up in the Air (2009) | "
Reitman possesses a flair for off-kilter scenarios, and he's in fine form again, taking his triangulated principals -- Ryan, Alex, Keener -- out of their comfort zones and into a more complicated geometry." Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 93%
| Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) | "
The tale may be Dahl's, but there's a whole new wag to it -- this is decidedly, weirdly and, at best, wonderfully a Wes Anderson movie." Posted Nov 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 85%
| Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) | "
Add director Werner Herzog to the mix, a guy who knows a thing or a hundred about obsessive protagonists, and we're in for quite the ride -- wild and weird and blackly comic." Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 23%
| Planet 51 (2009) | "
With nowhere to go except toward that incongruous moral, the story is getting thin on the ground, obliging director Jorge Blanco to pad with the usual plush stuffing -- bland action and busy edits." Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| N/A | Love & Savagery (2009) | "
The pair struggle to embody characters who tend to seem like scripted abstractions and clashing symbols. That is, they struggle until the climax, when something wonderful happens." Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 2/4
| N/A | Prom Night in Mississippi (2008) | "
Mainly the film is obliged to circle around the absent centre of the conflict, the dark heart of the very issue under scrutiny. Consequently, like a skinny boy in an oversized tux, it has to pad." Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 39%
| 2012 (2009) | "
As always in Emmerich's rollicking Armageddons, the cannon speaks with an expensive bang, while the fodder gets afforded nary a whimper." Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 55%
| Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009) | "
There's a lot of dark magic in this Dickensian Yuletide." Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| N/A | Inside Hana's Suitcase (2009) | "
What always feels genuine, movingly so, are the faces of the school children caught up in their account of the unforgotten past." Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 18%
| The Fourth Kind (2009) | "
The mission here is to demonstrate how, in this explosive age of dubious information, cynicism can be quickly trumped by gullibility." Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| N/A | Three Blind Mice (2009) | "
We've seen how they run. Now see if we care." Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 73%
| More Than a Game (2009) | "
Really, it's just an extension of the LeBron James brand, released to coincide with a book on the same subject and designed to explore the star's humble roots even while further buffing his galactic glitter." Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 78%
| Bronson (2009) | "
Bronson is one of those “based on a true story” dramatizations where the theatrically staged drama only gets in the way of the more interesting truth." Posted Oct 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 21%
| Amelia (2009) | "
Seldom has a bio's style clashed so deafeningly with its content." Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 14%
| Stan Helsing (2009) | "
How do you make fun of boredom without being boring? Well, that's a tall task requiring lots of smarts and even more artistry." Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 25%
| Law Abiding Citizen (2009) | "
This strikes me as narrative cheating, but you may play the critical game by more relaxed rules." Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 94%
| The Damned United (2009) | "
Like a skill player who just can't score, The Damned United is all dazzle and no finish and, ultimately, damned frustrating." Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| N/A | Haeundae (2009) | "
When all is screamed and done, disaster's mimicry is only competent at best." Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 11%
| Couples Retreat (2009) | "
There are also scenes, the disjointed kind that wander off aimlessly in the vague hope of finding a movie, not to mention a laugh." Posted Oct 9, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 81%
| Unmistaken Child (2009) | "
This documentary is only partly a story of the chosen one; mainly, and more intriguingly, it's a chronicle of the choosing one, of the nervous young monk charged with the job of leading the search party." Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 65%
| Coco Before Chanel (2009) | "
Director Anne Fontaine is at her strongest when she's aiding and abetting Chanel's all-seeing gaze." Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 89%
| Zombieland (2009) | "
At a brisk 80 minutes, the flick isn't a minute too short. Better yet, for those with a sweet fang for confections, it's far more charming than chilling and way more funny than frightening." Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 59%
| Delta (2008) | "
For all its lofty thematic intentions, this thing has precious little to say." Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 42%
| Jennifer's Body (2009) | "
Apparently, there's nothing like lean and hungry times to awaken the undead." Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 87%
| A Serious Man (2009) | "
That leaves us in limbo -- laughing yes, but also wondering what to make of a film so simultaneously engaging and disengaging." Posted Sep 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 76%
| The Road (2009) | "
The two principals are superb, and the direction is resonant in its very restraint." Posted Sep 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 83%
| Bright Star (2009) | "
[Star, Abbie] Cornish shines." Posted Sep 11, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 86%
| Lorna's Silence (2009) | "
Don't look for milk and kindness in the cinematic world of the Dardennes brothers." Posted Aug 27, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 48%
| Taking Woodstock (2009) | "
The script has a dubious source, taken from a memoir by Elliot Tiber that, based on this evidence, does nothing to scrape the rust off Woodstock's mythic cliché." Posted Aug 27, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 58%
| Died Young, Stayed Pretty (2009) | "
Yaghoobian proves she has a flair for the telling detail every bit as keen as her subjects'." Posted Aug 27, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 89%
| Inglourious Basterds (2009) | "
War reduced to pop entertainment should at least be easy to swallow, but this stuff keeps getting stuck in our craw. The trash that Tarantino used to elevate he now imitates." Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 93%
| In the Loop (2009) | "
The brainchild of British director Armando Iannucci, it takes on the politicians at their own dirty game, daring to fictionally embellish the tawdry facts, to out-spin the spin doctors." Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 37%
| The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) | "
Romance is robbed of its gamble, stripped of its suspense, shorn of its mystery, and deprived of an ending that feels earned." Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 90%
| District 9 (2009) | "
The fresh premise over, the stale action returns." Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 93%
| Sugar (2009) | "
The film's strength is reportorial, sensitively exploring a theme that has grown ever more prominent with the globalization of sport." Posted Apr 17, 2009 |
RSS Feeds
