Rotten 5/10
| Fresh 72%
| The Road (2009) | "
For all the desperation and tragedy, then, the film offers a kind of heroism, set against a frankly grim but also frequently poetic backdrop." — PopMatters Posted Dec 8, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 85%
| Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) | "
Thisbad lieutenant's pain is less punishment than righteous realignment, a reflection of the nutty, debased, and utterly chaotic world around him. He's not deviant. He's the new normal." — PopMatters Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 82%
| Broken Embraces (2009) | "
Broken Embraces remains fixed on the ways that men seek control of the not-so-elusive Lena." — PopMatters Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 23%
| Planet 51 (2009) | "
Glar and his friends are more or less all-purpose protestors, showing up on sidewalks with placards announcing, "We're really upset!" over nothing specific. And that makes them about as amiable and as bland as everyone else on Planet 51." — PopMatters Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 31%
| Ninja Assassin (2009) | "
All the bloody splatting and fast editing mean that it doesn't matter what's real or not real in Ninja Assassin." — PopMatters Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 72%
| The Blind Side (2009) | "
The pile-on of big emotional moments, accompanied by big music, is overwhelming. This is a movie demanding to be loved." — PopMatters Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 28%
| The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) | "
As she ponders her future, Bella is less aware than you are that she has very similar effects on the monster boy rivals for her affection -- glowing eyes, rising tempers, pronounced teeth, ungodly strength, usually demonstrated on others of their ilk or f" — PopMatters Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 96%
| Big River Man (2009) | "
Whether you understand Borut's patchy storytelling to be artful or actually bewildered, the film goes along for the ride." — PopMatters Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 50%
| Kassim the Dream (2009) | "
A former child soldier in Uganda, the boxer Kassim continues to wrestle with the effects of the violence he witnessed and committed." — PopMatters Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 46%
| Everybody's Fine (2009) | "
Frank's essential irony -- his inability to communicate on top of his presumption that he communicates well -- is italicized repeatedly in Everybody's Fine." — PopMatters Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 57%
| Brothers (2009) | "
All the men in Afghanistan -- native and invasive -- are struggling to survive, to make order of rocky chaos." — PopMatters Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 89%
| Up in the Air (2009) | "
As these lessons all come together, the film's floaty, cool affect starts to come down to earth, the points and plot turning more conventional." — PopMatters Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 37%
| Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) | "
Not a thing in this movie is subtle, from its cheesy special effects to its by-the-numbers storyline to its cardboard cutout characters." — PopMatters Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 83%
| Whip It (2009) | "
What Whip It does make clear is that all girls are expected to perform, whether expectations are embodied by parents or audiences." — PopMatters Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 89%
| Zombieland (2009) | "
Zombieland does well enough in its early minutes, then picks up a little unexpected speed when Columbus meets another "noncannibal survivor" (played by a perfect Woody Harrelson)." — PopMatters Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 65%
| Coco Before Chanel (2009) | "
Coco Before Chanel cannot get out from under the romantic fabrications and excesses that ostensibly annoyed its subject." — PopMatters Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 94%
| An Education (2009) | "
If the story of Jenny's inevitably hard lesson is standard, An Education comes up with a few moments that give pause." — PopMatters Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 21%
| Amelia (2009) | "
Amelia provides only a cursory look at Earhart's commercialization, more a way to delineate her marriage troubles than investigate her self-image or her treatment as a pop star." — PopMatters Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 73%
| Where the Wild Things Are (2009) | "
Feelings of loss and frustration, acted out so loudly, raucously, and repeatedly, are at the center of Where the Wild Things Are." — PopMatters Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 60%
| Pirate Radio (2009) | "
Pirate Radio leaves out any mention of the usual historical and cultural background, say, sex as a potential means of mixing races and classes." — PopMatters Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 93%
| Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) | "
Intergenerational dilemmas -- how to be foxes, to be individuals and also parts of communities -- form the complicated heart of Fantastic Mr. Fox." — PopMatters Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 63%
| Loot (2009) | "
A treasure hunter who has travelled far and wide looking for long-lost fortunes, Lance Larson's questing serves as point of departure for the beguiling documentary, Loot." — PopMatters Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 95%
| The Maid (2009) | "
Full of tension, the first scene in The Maid (La Nana) sets up Raquel's grim and limited world." — PopMatters Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 80%
| Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009) | "
As much as This Is It recalls Jackson's genius, it perpetuates the exploitation that shaped his life." — PopMatters Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 82%
| Paranormal Activity (2009) | "
The titular and sometimes distressing activity in Paranormal Activity serves as a mostly banal metaphor for the couples relationship." — Nitrate Online Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 24%
| Law Abiding Citizen (2009) | "
Jamie Foxx's Nick mostly repeats the part played by Denzel Washington in Ricochet, the superior first incarnation of Law Abiding Citizen." — Nitrate Online Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 12%
| Couples Retreat (2009) | "
It's some kind of trick when a film can make Jason Bateman look unsubtle." — Nitrate Online Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 95%
| La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet (2009) | "
Work is at the center of Frederick Wiseman's absorbing documentary, La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet." — Nitrate Online Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 18%
| The Fourth Kind (2009) | "
Where is Fox Mulder when you need him?" — PopMatters Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 54%
| The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) | "
Setting up easy targets, The Men Who Stare at Goats seems less clever than behind the times." — PopMatters Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 92%
| Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire (2009) | "
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire is concerned with lasting effects of poverty -- on individuals and especially, on communities." — PopMatters Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 39%
| 2012 (2009) | "
As the action becomes less fabulous and more repetitive over 2012's 150 minutes, the philosophical debate ratchets up." — PopMatters Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 77%
| The Good Soldier (2009) | "
The familiar format helps to underscore what's extraordinary about these stories, the fear and indignity felt by the soldiers." — PopMatters Posted Nov 19, 2009 |
Fresh 9/10
| Fresh 86%
| Lorna's Silence (2009) | "
Even as the camera follows Lorna, it never quite keeps up, though it's unclear whether she's eluding your interpretation or her own." — PopMatters Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Rotten 4/10
| Fresh 60%
| Paper Heart (2009) | "
Paper Heart is increasingly focused on the tension between Cera and Yi's supposedly real romance and the camera's imposition of structure and self-consciousness." — PopMatters Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 6/10
| Rotten 58%
| A Perfect Getaway (2009) | "
The home video sets up A Perfect Getaway's frank understanding of itself as formula." — PopMatters Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 5/10
| Fresh 75%
| Julie & Julia (2009) | "
Julia Child's letters home are vivacious, illustrating her generosity and wit, her resolve and sense of humor." — PopMatters Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Rotten 1/10
| Rotten 26%
| The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009) | "
The Goods' vulgarity is not new or clever or even comically shocking. It is, instead, prosaic and repetitive." — PopMatters Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Rotten 3/10
| Rotten 38%
| The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) | "
The question of her own "free will" niggles at the edges of Clare's experience throughout the movie named for her." — PopMatters Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Fresh 6/10
| Fresh 80%
| Bandslam (2009) | "
Knowing that you know the drill, Bandslam leaves out most too-explanatory details, and lets the kids be kidlike rather than movie-kidlike." — PopMatters Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Rotten 5/10
| Fresh 90%
| District 9 (2009) | "
In District 9, racism provides the white guy with a very special growth experience." — PopMatters Posted Aug 14, 2009 |
Rotten 4/10
| Rotten 26%
| Shrink (2009) | "
As all of Shrink's seemingly disparate stories begin to fall too cleverly into each other, it's easy to be distracted by some fine performances." — PopMatters Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 14%
| The Ugly Truth (2009) | "
Concerns about truth and untruth can't mean much in a movie called The Ugly Truth." — PopMatters Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 24%
| G-Force (2009) | "
G-Force's dedication to egregious stereotypes is hackneyed and indefensible: this is how racism lives on." — PopMatters Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
Rotten 5/10
| Rotten 55%
| Orphan (2009) | "
It's not a bad idea for a horror movie, that the seeming victims are not innocent and their complicated past weighs on their present." — PopMatters Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
Rotten 4/10
| Rotten 43%
| Fragments (2009) | "
Even as it makes a show of complexity Fragments seems determined to pull together its various story strands." — PopMatters Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
Fresh 7/10
| Fresh 93%
| Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2009) | "
Russell Mulcahy and other artists look back fondly on Australian exploitation films for Not Quite Hollywood, sometimes wondering just how they were able to get away with it." — PopMatters Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
Fresh 8/10
| Fresh 96%
| The Cove (2009) | "
In between the exciting sequences of the team setting up equipment and being nearly captured, The Cove includes interviews with persuasive sea life experts and not-so-convincing local Japanese authorities." — PopMatters Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
Fresh 7/10
| Fresh 86%
| Flame & Citron (2008) | "
Throughout this compelling film, the assassins want to believe they're doing righteous work: they're fighting Nazi occupation forces, after all." — PopMatters Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
Fresh 6/10
| Fresh 82%
| Thirst (2009) | "
Full of ache and desire, Tae-ju seems the ultimate embodiment of the title of Park Chan-wook's new film, Thirst (Bakjwi)." — PopMatters Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
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