|
1/5
|
48%
|
Antichrist (2009) |
"
This thoroughly pretentious offering is more childish and terrible than enfant terrible. The most startling - and boring - film you'll see this year."
—
Total Film
Posted Jul 24, 2009
|
|
|
95%
|
Mother (Madeo) (2010) |
"
Mother is competent, no more, no less."
—
Total Film
Posted May 17, 2009
|
|
|
47%
|
Spring Fever (Chun feng chen zui de ye wan) (2010) |
"
Some of it hits home, raw and emotional. Other sequences (a karaoke scene, moony shots of Nanjing) thrum with a tender melancholy. Most of it, though, is boring, nonsensical and off-puttingly convinced of its own worth."
—
Total Film
Posted May 15, 2009
|
|
|
3%
|
Down to You (2000) |
"
[Director Kris Isacsson] tries to bring a little enterprise to the inevitable scenes of bickering and moody silence, but by now the vitalising tactics seem out of place."
—
Sight and Sound
Posted Dec 2, 2002
|
|
|
57%
|
Deep Blue Sea (1999) |
"
A soggy effort."
—
Sight and Sound
Posted Mar 5, 2002
|
|
|
6%
|
Universal Soldier - The Return (1999) |
"
A disappointing entry to the sci-fi / action-movie canon."
—
Sight and Sound
Posted Mar 5, 2002
|
|
2/5
|
44%
|
Bad Teacher (2011) |
"
Twenty minutes in, you'll begin to feel like you're in detention."
—
Total Film
Posted Jun 1, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
39%
|
A Serbian Film (2011) |
"
More camp than corrosive, A Serbian Film is hard to take seriously."
—
Total Film
Posted Dec 13, 2010
|
|
2/5
|
25%
|
Friday the 13th (2009) |
"
He runs, he stumbles... Jason's newest beginning is satisfyingly sick but far too slick, Nispel jettisoning grubby, home-movie visuals - and with them all tension - in favour of really lustrous leaves. Disappointing."
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 13, 2009
|
|
2/5
|
35%
|
Southland Tales (2007) |
"
Southland Tales finally emerges as an admirably bold dud. Trying to sum up EVERYTHING that's wrong in the world in one kaleidoscopic go, it's messy, misshapen and curiously muffled. Seems the world does end with a whimper after all."
—
Total Film
Posted Dec 7, 2007
|
|
2/5
|
66%
|
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) |
"
Relentlessly grim but in a phony, Hollywood kinda way."
—
Total Film
Posted Jan 14, 2007
|
|
3/5
|
51%
|
Contraband (2012) |
"
Don't expect glamorous outlaws, sunny locales and exotic masterplans - this low-key thriller lifts the rusted lid off an all-too-real world of despairing criminality."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 5, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
41%
|
Straw Dogs (2011) |
"
Rod Lurie's remake transposes the action from cloudy Cornwall to sticky Mississippi but keeps the meat of the story intact, along with the violence."
—
Total Film
Posted Nov 4, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
70%
|
Footloose (2011) |
"
Star-crossed lovers Wormald and Julianne Hough can't match Bacon and Lori Singer, but over-30s will tap feet and the Glee crowd will mime along."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 12, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
47%
|
Mother's Day (2012) |
"
Mother's Day holds effective sequences, ramming home its (recycled) message: the animal lurks in us all."
—
Total Film
Posted Jun 7, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
86%
|
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) |
"
It's gross but will it gross? Burton and Depp's cannibal musical is an especially acquired taste - Oliver! reimagined by Eli Roth. Brave, brutal... ballads?"
—
Total Film
Posted May 27, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
29%
|
Survival of the Dead (2010) |
"
Fans of Zombieland, Dead Snow and the 28... Later films will likely wonder why the Don of the Dead doesn't stick to stroking his cat. Old-school horrorheads, meanwhile, will find enough here to rejoice that George is still playing with dead things."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 16, 2010
|
|
3/5
|
75%
|
The Road (2009) |
"
Isolation, desolation and the odd skirmish: this is Hillcoat's apocalypse, not Hollywood's, but it lacks McCarthy's power."
—
Total Film
Posted Jan 8, 2010
|
|
3/5
|
93%
|
Drag Me to Hell (2009) |
"
Gaudy, ghoulish, this particular creepshow plugs into the EC Comics of the '50s, laughing uproariously in the face of death. Forgettable, but groovy while it lasts."
—
Total Film
Posted May 29, 2009
|
|
3/5
|
70%
|
The Science of Sleep (2006) |
"
Mischievous and magical, Gondry's bizarro movie offers visual pearl after visual pearl but no string to tie them together. Oů est Kaufman?"
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 14, 2007
|
|
|
97%
|
A Prophet (Un prophete) (2010) |
"
A Prophet is a compelling, forceful drama."
—
Total Film
Posted May 18, 2009
|
|
|
82%
|
Bright Star (2009) |
"
Bright Star does nothing new (if it wasn't based of fact, it would be accused of adhering too closely to formula) but it does it very well, displaying real craft and benefiting from terrific performances."
—
Total Film
Posted May 17, 2009
|
|
|
49%
|
Taking Woodstock (2009) |
"
The biggest surprise of all - it's actually pretty average, at least by Lee's own impeccable standards."
—
Total Film
Posted May 16, 2009
|
|
|
71%
|
Tetro (2009) |
"
Forcefully acted and sumptuously shot in gleaming black and white, it is an artistic picture that occasionally - nay, frequently - strains too hard for credibility, as Coppola's script shoots for nothing less than tragedy."
—
Total Film
Posted May 16, 2009
|
|
|
98%
|
Up (2009) |
"
Up, as ever, is all about the characters. And the observations of human (and animal) behaviour. And the exquisitely timed physical comedy."
—
Total Film
Posted May 13, 2009
|
|
|
83%
|
JCVD (Van Dammage) (2008) |
"
Directed with pace and a little too much surface gloss by Mabrouk El Mechri, JCVD works less as a suspense thriller and more as a treatise on celebrity, a confessional for its star."
—
Total Film
Posted Jan 30, 2009
|
|
4/5
|
94%
|
Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey (2011) |
"
Underdogs, dreams, imagination, artistry, unashamed emotion... it's the cinematic equivalent of a big red hug."
—
Total Film
Posted Apr 16, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
90%
|
The Cabin in the Woods (2012) |
"
A super-entertaining, super-slick love/hate letter to horror with a final 20 minutes that's stunningly bonkers."
—
Total Film
Posted Apr 9, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
76%
|
Tiny Furniture (2010) |
"
Playing like a mumblecore The Graduate set in the affected milieu of the Tribeca art crowd, Tiny Furniture announces Dunham as a talent to watch..."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 21, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
96%
|
The Kid with a Bike (2012) |
"
Good enough to survive evoking Bicycle Thieves and The 400 Blows, this small story contains universal truths, told with irresistible force."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 12, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
44%
|
J. Edgar (2011) |
"
A handsome, ambitious period drama full of modern-day parallels."
—
Total Film
Posted Jan 9, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
87%
|
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) |
"
Changed ending aside, Fincher's take is as faithful as it is fearless. And Mara rocks."
—
Total Film
Posted Dec 13, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
75%
|
The Woman (2011) |
"
McKee's oblique storytelling and Sean Spillane's mournful music add unusual textures to an otherwise savage attack on patriarchy."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 30, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
81%
|
The Skin I Live In (2011) |
"
Almodóvar joins PT Anderson, Aronofsky, von Trier and Scorsese as the latest big-name director to dip a toe into horror. There won't be blood, but the head wounds are vicious."
—
Total Film
Posted Aug 9, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
87%
|
Black Swan (2010) |
"
The most toxic, rapturous, melodramatic, operatic movie about a mentally disintegrating ballerina you'll see all year... And featuring some of the best dance sequences ever."
—
Total Film
Posted Dec 30, 2010
|
|
4/5
|
94%
|
The Town (2010) |
"
While The Town glories in genre tropes it also dumps any overt stylings or clipped, staccato dialogue, instead keeping the action alive and lithe. Keeping it real."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 23, 2010
|
|
4/5
|
86%
|
The House of the Devil (2009) |
"
Like Paranormal Activity and Let The Right One In, Ti West's shocker favours old-school tropes - plot, character, suggestion and suspense - over gorno extravagance. Seems like the Devil has great taste in films too."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 16, 2010
|
|
4/5
|
32%
|
The Lovely Bones (2009) |
"
Lovely Bones is a touching, at times distressing film. It deals with loss, grief, rage, familial breakdown and love, most of all love. But it's also energetic and entertaining."
—
Total Film
Posted Nov 24, 2009
|
|
4/5
|
88%
|
An American Werewolf in London (1981) |
"
Still scary, violent and very, very funny."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 30, 2009
|
|
4/5
|
70%
|
The Firm (2009) |
"
A fresh angle on a mini-classic. It's about '80s football violence, yes, but it's also about today's gang culture. And friendship and family. Nick Love shoots... and scores."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 11, 2009
|
|
4/5
|
68%
|
Funny People (2009) |
"
A comedy-drama full of beauty and ugliness, profundity and profanity. Eventually loses its way but, for at least 100 minutes, it's some sort of masterpiece."
—
Total Film
Posted Aug 29, 2009
|
|
4/5
|
94%
|
Sugar (2008) |
"
Sugar is a human story told with immense skill, right down to the deft transitions and the soft fuzz of the electronic score."
—
Total Film
Posted Jun 5, 2009
|
|
4/5
|
72%
|
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) |
"
Life, death and a love that burns bright and brief as a firefly... Only Fincher could lighten up and still turn in a film obsessed with transience, with mortality. Flecked with flaws, Button nonetheless stands as a monument to its maker's talent."
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 5, 2009
|
|
4/5
|
68%
|
Pineapple Express (2008) |
"
The Freaks And Geeks boys prove that weedy action men are where it's at. Pineapple Express sometimes zones out but mostly blows minds and inspires some delirious giggles. Like the titular grass, really."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 12, 2008
|
|
4/5
|
91%
|
Silent Night (2006) |
"
The sound of silence... Indulging in few words and even fewer edits, Carlos Reygadas lets his luminous images do the talking as he ponders the human condition and more. Some viewers will cry with boredom; true believers will shed tears of pain and joy."
—
Total Film
Posted Dec 7, 2007
|
|
4/5
|
68%
|
Disturbia (2007) |
"
The teen support cast are vacuous and director DJ Caruso strays a little too far into Grand Guignol territory for the over-extended climax, but Disturbia's otherwise bang on the money: $80m at the US box-office was no fluke."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 14, 2007
|
|
4/5
|
89%
|
Zodiac (2007) |
"
Lucid and forceful, Zodiac is sensational in the right way."
—
Total Film
Posted Aug 8, 2007
|
|
5/5
|
100%
|
Körkarlen (Korkarlen) (The Phantom Carriage) (Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness) (1920) |
"
Using superimposition and double-exposure to bring the rickety wagon and its wretched occupants to ghostly life, The Phantom Carriage balances visual poetry with emotional violence."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 26, 2011
|
|
5/5
|
74%
|
Kill List (2012) |
"
British horror has rarely hit these heights since the mid-'70s."
—
Total Film
Posted Jul 20, 2011
|
|
5/5
|
82%
|
Super 8 (2011) |
"
Super 8 doesn't possess the top-to-bottom greatness of the films it's modelled on but, in shooting for the stars, leaves 90% of modern blockbusters in the gutter."
—
Total Film
Posted May 31, 2011
|
67%
——
98%
