Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 86%
| Bruno (2009) | "
Brüno is like Milk, but with a talking penis." Slant Magazine Posted Jun 28, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 64%
| Public Enemies (2009) | "
Public Enemies fizzles at the moment of detonation." Slant Magazine Posted Jun 28, 2009 |
Rotten .5/4
| Rotten 20%
| Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) | "
No giant robots urinate on humans in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." Slant Magazine Posted Jun 23, 2009 |
Fresh A-
| Fresh 95%
| The Hurt Locker (2009) | "
Harrowing and horrifying, The Hurt Locker delivers the visceral, heart-in-throat action goods, and in doing so, gets at more truths about Iraq than its preachy ... brethren." Lessons of Darkness Posted Jun 22, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 55%
| The Stoning of Soraya M. (2009) | "
The Stoning of Soraya M. functions as a message-movie slasher film." Slant Magazine Posted Jun 22, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 45%
| Whatever Works (2009) | "
Does little except reinforce the notion that Allen's creative well has long since run dry." Cinematical Posted Jun 22, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 61%
| Surveillance (2009) | "
A nasty little slice of backwater depravity." Cinematical Posted Jun 19, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 17%
| Year One (2009) | "
Year One is a slapdash film in desperate need of more authoritative stewardship." Slant Magazine Posted Jun 18, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| N/A | Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia (2009) | "
Even those with a soft spot for The Dancing Outlaw will likely have a hard time warming up to The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia." Slant Magazine Posted Jun 17, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 66%
| Dead Snow (2009) | "
Unevenly replicates Sam Raimi's whirligig blend of terror and comedy." Lessons of Darkness Posted Jun 16, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 46%
| The Proposal (2009) | "
Humor and romance are interspersed so predictably it's as if screenwriter Pete Chairelli were working from a rom-com checklist." Slant Magazine Posted Jun 15, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 60%
| Tetro (2009) | "
The director's triumphant return to form." Cinematical Posted Jun 11, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 56%
| Blood: The Last Vampire (2000) | "
Comes across as a prologue teaser for a yet-to-be-established franchise." Lessons of Darkness Posted Jun 11, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| N/A | Cropsey (2009) | "
Exploitatively reprints the legend of murderous Staten Island 'pied piper' Andre Rand ad nauseam in Cropsey." Slant Magazine Posted Jun 10, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 50%
| The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009) | "
Are Tony Scott's films actually directed by Google Earth?" Slant Magazine Posted Jun 9, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 60%
| BLAST! (2008) | "
Paul Devlin's documentary portrays its central locale as merely an interesting, uniquely situated outpost." Slant Magazine Posted Jun 9, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 88%
| Moon (2009) | "
An assured, mesmerizing tale of intergalactic loneliness, self-inquiry, and man's innate, enduring hunger for life." Slant Magazine Posted Jun 8, 2009 |
Rotten C+
| Fresh 82%
| I Love You, Man (2009) | "
Ends up feeling like a tossed-off Judd Apatow photocopy." Lessons of Darkness Posted Jun 8, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 28%
| Land of the Lost (2009) | "
Land of the Lost is halfway toward amusing, which means it's just as close to awful." Slant Magazine Posted Jun 3, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 35%
| Tennessee (2009) | "
Serving merely formulaic find-yourself melodrama, the film coasts along lackadaisically." Slant Magazine Posted Jun 1, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 78%
| The Hangover (2009) | "
Director Phillips wrings his scenario for consistent semi-dark humor, letting his odd-couple leads go for broke and wielding mystery as a comedic spur that keeps the proceedings from dragging." Slant Magazine Posted Jun 1, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 65%
| Away We Go (2009) | "
A road-trip comedy in equal measures bittersweet and hopeful, Mendes's latest boasts few of his stuffy aesthetic trademarks." Slant Magazine Posted Jun 1, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 93%
| Drag Me To Hell (2009) | "
A delirious haunted house carnival ride." The Screengrab Posted May 26, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 97%
| Up (2009) | "
Exudes a wit and wisdom that elevates it to the animated adventure apex." The Screengrab Posted May 26, 2009 |
Rotten .5/4
| Rotten 8%
| What Goes Up (2009) | "
What Goes Up's point that Americans create icons to fulfill their own screwy needs is made through contrived and nonsensical plotting." Slant Magazine Posted May 25, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 82%
| Pontypool (2009) | "
Pontypool at least manages to amuse (a spur-of-the-moment on-air obituary is priceless) as well as consistently intrigue, right up to a bizarro post-credits epilogue that seems beamed in from Sin City." Slant Magazine Posted May 25, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 44%
| Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) | "
It falls flat trying to muster up any mirth or suspense as it barrels from one set piece to the next." Slant Magazine Posted May 21, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 32%
| Terminator Salvation (2009) | "
Strives for bleak gravity with misguided fervor." The Screengrab Posted May 21, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Rotten 58%
| The Girlfriend Experience (2009) | "
All the world's a financial transaction just waiting to be negotiated in The Girlfriend Experience, a handsome, frosty, rather one-note time capsule from October 2008." Slant Magazine Posted May 17, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 47%
| Management (2009) | "
The weirdness employed by Stephen Belber's amorous fairy tale is of a decidedly limp, half-hearted sort." Cinematical Posted May 16, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 37%
| Angels & Demons (2009) | "
If the story isn't nearly as ridiculous as Da Vinci's, director Ron Howard still impeccably maintains the series's turgid mediocrity." Slant Magazine Posted May 14, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 83%
| Jerichow (2009) | "
By protracting his set-up, Petzold ... achieves and maintains an effective level of intrigue." The Screengrab Posted May 13, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 63%
| The Brothers Bloom (2009) | "
Infinitely pleased with its derivative, fanciful writerly convolutions." The Screengrab Posted May 12, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 87%
| O'Horten (2009) | "
Oh, O'Horten, how wincingly affected you are." Slant Magazine Posted May 11, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 76%
| Outrage (2009) | "
By letting others do the heavy lifting, the filmmaker comes off as more than a little reticent, a quality in tune with the overall tone of his latest." The Screengrab Posted May 8, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 95%
| Star Trek (2009) | "
A largely thrilling surprise, its blend of humor, romance and action so kinetically orchestrated that calling out its shortcomings feels like excessive carping." The Screengrab Posted May 6, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 70%
| Rudo and Cursi (2009) | "
A flagrantly contrived piece of Hollywood-style hokum masquerading as serious drama." The Screengrab Posted May 6, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 75%
| Adoration (2009) | "
If Egoyan's elliptical narrative flirts with pretentiousness, the director nonetheless encases his action in an affecting mood of regret and longing." The Screengrab Posted May 4, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 68%
| Julia (2009) | "
Zonca's story is an unruly beast, lurching this way and that like a biker hopped up on mescaline and paint thinner, its unpredictable rowdiness in sync with its out-of-control protagonist." Slant Magazine Posted May 3, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| N/A | Vegas: Based on a True Story (2008) | "
The film's scenario unavoidably devolves into a treatise that, though timely, feels a tad too on the nose." Slant Magazine Posted May 3, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 40%
| Soul Power (2009) | "
The sporadic appearances by Ali hopelessly unbalance the proceedings, his fiercely outspoken interviews providing the only morsels of substance." Slant Magazine Posted May 3, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 70%
| Love The Beast (2009) | "
Through narration, interviews, and cinematographic fawning over their chassis, classic American cars are celebrated for their imperfect character, which makes them seem vibrantly alive." Slant Magazine Posted May 3, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| N/A | House of the Devil (2009) | "
Yet another of this year's homage-facsimiles, The House of the Devil forgoes campy self-awareness in favor of reverential faithfulness--and in doing so, implicitly critiques contemporary horror cinema." Slant Magazine Posted May 3, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 80%
| Black Dynamite (2009) | "
Generally humorless and pointless, devoid as the film is of any commentary on the genre to which it's paying loving tribute." Slant Magazine Posted May 3, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 37%
| X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) | "
With the exception of an adequate helicopter attack, the action is perfunctory and forgettable, albeit no more so than the script's range of cliches" Slant Magazine Posted Apr 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 28%
| Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009) | "
The plot's eventual denigration of the single life and endorsement of soul mates and happily-ever-afters is predictably rote." Slant Magazine Posted Apr 28, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 64%
| Eldorado (2008) | "
What ultimately prevents Eldorado from generating any serious comedic energy is absurdity ... that feels unduly strained and limp." The Screengrab Posted Apr 28, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 46%
| Battle for Terra (2009) | "
A bizarre, preachy pro-peace animated adventure." Slant Magazine Posted Apr 27, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 33%
| The Limits of Control (2009) | "
Plods along with a self-seriousness that borders on parody." The Screengrab Posted Apr 27, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 18%
| Obsessed (2009) | "
Director Shill doesn't get fancy building tension from his nonsensical male-anxiety mayhem, allowing Knowles's beguiling fierceness and Larter's sexualized cunning to carry much of the prurient load." Slant Magazine Posted Apr 24, 2009 |