Fresh
| N/A | Yesterday Was a Lie (2009) | "
James Kerwin's conceptually ambitious low-budget debut offers stunning black-and-white HD cinematography, a sultry jazz score and a refreshingly high-minded script, but feels hopelessly amateurish in the acting department." — Variety Posted Dec 17, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 27%
| Splinterheads (2009) | "
Attempts to compensate for its too-familiar romantic setup by defining its characters through idiosyncratic hobbies and traits." — Variety Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 22%
| The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009) | "
The film's style mirrors that of the original, which was already late to the Reservoir Dogs ripoff party and feels doubly dated now, with Duffy still relying on his old trick of cranking up the heavy metal and techno music to boost excitement." — Variety Posted Oct 29, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 90%
| The Messenger (2009) | "
The Messenger manages to be both practical and patriotic in the same breath, zeroing in on one of the most painful aspects of wartime." — Variety Posted Oct 26, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 87%
| The House of the Devil (2009) | "
Call it the best '80s babysitter-in-peril movie never made." — Variety Posted Oct 8, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 37%
| Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) | "
The Vampire's Assistant is too busy making impossible claims about just how spectacular its sequels will be to serve up a self-contained story with a satisfying finale." — Variety Posted Sep 28, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 16%
| Gentlemen Broncos (2009) | "
With no message beyond the superficial absurdity of it all, Hess is in a precarious position to be critiquing the intellect or artistry of anyone else." — Variety Posted Sep 28, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 85%
| Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009) | "
Eye-popping and mouth-watering in one, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs spins a 30-page children's book into a 90-minute all-you-can-laugh buffet." — Variety Posted Sep 17, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 86%
| Youth in Revolt (2010) | "
Cera and his gifted comic co-stars elevate the mediocre source material into a semi-iconic coming-of-age story." — Variety Posted Sep 14, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 62%
| Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009) | "
There are absolutely no surprises in store, plot-wise, though Perry's approach has always been to rework familiar narrative conventions in such a way as to reaffirm key values." — Variety Posted Sep 11, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 57%
| Mystery Team (2009) | "
Genuinely funny but amateurishly constructed." — Variety Posted Aug 26, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 9%
| Post Grad (2009) | "
As fiction characters go, Ryden seems as dull as they come, making it hard to muster much sympathy for her plight." — Variety Posted Aug 19, 2009 |
Fresh
| N/A | Miss Ohio (2009) | "
Pic unfolds not through a conventional series of scenes, but rather as a long, hypnotic montage, an intriguing artistic choice in this super-indie Dances With Films gem." — Variety Posted Jun 17, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 18%
| Dance Flick (2009) | "
The clumsy result is what the teen target aud might call a "dance fail."" — Variety Posted May 21, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 92%
| Drag Me To Hell (2009) | "
Scant of plot and barren of subtext, the pic is single-mindedly devoted to pushing the audience's buttons, and who better than Raimi to do the honors?" — Variety Posted May 20, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 24%
| Little Ashes (2009) | "
For much of its running time, Little Ashes wavers between the polite, stuffy style of a Masterpiece Theater production and the more pointed agenda of gay indie cinema." — Variety Posted May 8, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 18%
| Love 'N Dancing (2009) | "
Bland as its title, Love N' Dancing extends the cliches of the dance-and-romance genre -- so overplayed that it's targeted for a Wayans brothers spoof later this month -- to the world of West Coast Swing." — Variety Posted May 7, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 70%
| Alexander the Last (2009) | "
At a slight 72 minutes, the DIY director's latest bout of psychosexual titillation (which is being made available on-demand in conjunction with its SXSW fest premiere) feels undercooked." — Variety Posted Mar 11, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 29%
| Severed Ways (2009) | "
If only Stone's elliptical storytelling style were as lucid as his eye for the environment." — Variety Posted Mar 4, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 23%
| Jonas Brothers - The Concert Experience (2009) | "
At 76 minutes, the film is nearly twice as long as even the band’s most dedicated admirers might need, with weariness setting in around the 40-minute mark." — Variety Posted Feb 25, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 12%
| The Unborn (2009) | "
Before long, the connective tissue between scares starts to call attention to its own preposterousness." — Variety Posted Jan 9, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 60%
| Heckler (2008) | "
Addis and Kennedy have tapped into a rich subject here." — Variety Posted Nov 17, 2008 |
— | N/A | Lower Learning (2008) |
Click here to read article — Variety Posted Oct 18, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 67%
| Heaven on Earth (2008) | "
Chipping away at the Indian institution of arranged marriage one feature at a time, Deepa Mehta brings her latest taboo-challenging critique home to Canada with Heaven on Earth." — Variety Posted Oct 18, 2008 |
— | N/A | Mirageman (2008) |
Click here to read article — Variety Posted Oct 18, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 67%
| High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008) | "
[An] infectiously upbeat bigscreen extension of Disney Channel's runaway TV movie sensation." — Variety Posted Oct 18, 2008 |
Rotten
| Rotten 29%
| Morning Light (2008) | "
The film feels more like the ultimate scrapbook for the participants than the vicarious thrill the pair no doubt imagined for audiences." — Variety Posted Oct 14, 2008 |
Fresh
| Rotten 51%
| Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys (2008) | "
As usual, morality prevails: Faith and family are key virtues, while lust and greed are duly punished, though Perry is getting better at disguising his manipulation." — Variety Posted Sep 12, 2008 |
Rotten
| Rotten 13%
| The Women (2008) | "
English struggles trying to create the kind of feel-good experience that seems to come so naturally to femme helmers like Nancy Meyers and Nora Ephron." — Variety Posted Sep 9, 2008 |
Rotten
| Rotten 0%
| The House of Adam (2008) | "
Operating squarely in Afterschool Special territory, the helmer delivers yet another unremarkable addition to the growing list of low-end, gay-targeted pics whose box office depends on what auds will endure just to see a softcore, same-sex love scene." — Variety Posted Sep 5, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 66%
| Ping Pong Playa (2007) | "
A good, clean, fun comedy that uses a table tennis championship to crack inside jokes about Los Angeles' Chinese-American community." — Variety Posted Sep 3, 2008 |
Fresh
| Rotten 32%
| Fanboys (2009) | "
Above all else, Fanboys remains an enthusiastic attempt to pay tribute to the film that sparked countless fans' love for the movies." — Variety Posted Jul 28, 2008 |
Fresh
| Rotten 39%
| The Rocker (2008) | "
[A] well-crafted, feel-good satire." — Variety Posted Jul 23, 2008 |
Rotten
| Rotten 11%
| Garden Party (2008) | "
Their lives eventually intersect, but in more or less arbitrary ways." — Variety Posted Jul 22, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 64%
| Beautiful Losers (2008) | "
A celebration of Peter Pan-like spirits who felt the freedom to express themselves before anybody cared." — Variety Posted Jul 1, 2008 |
Rotten
| Rotten 17%
| National Lampoon's Homo Erectus (2008) | "
Primitive in all the wrong ways." — Variety Posted Jun 16, 2008 |
Rotten
| Rotten 8%
| Miss Conception (2008) | "
Miscast and miscalculated, Miss Conception hopes to collect on Hollywood's recent baby-on-board craze, delivering instead the least credible take on human pregnancy since Arnold Schwarzenegger gave birth in Junior." — Variety Posted Jun 4, 2008 |
Rotten
| Rotten 25%
| Jack & Jill vs. the World (2008) | "
Parise no doubt intends the pic's attention to the disease -- plus animal adoption and fair trade coffee -- to be socially enlightening, but it feels suspiciously like sympathy-mongering." — Variety Posted Apr 24, 2008 |
Rotten
| Rotten 47%
| Pathology (2008) | "
Like its characters, the pic is too clever for its own good, allowing the meticulously researched scenario to be undone by implausible behavior and gaping plot holes." — Variety Posted Apr 23, 2008 |
Rotten
| Rotten 33%
| Kiss the Bride (2008) | "
A breakout movie could be made from Lieberman's premise, but Cox and his TV-caliber cast simply aren't cut out for the challenge." — Variety Posted Apr 17, 2008 |
Rotten
| Rotten 37%
| Street Kings (2008) | "
Pic itself is similarly conflicted, glamorizing gunslinging while crying foul over unnecessary force." — Variety Posted Apr 3, 2008 |
Rotten
| Rotten 43%
| Hats Off (2008) | "
Despite intimate, prolonged access to her subject, director Jyll Johnstone seems to have missed the most interesting wrinkles of Weddell's story in favor of fuzzy life's-a-stage affirmations." — Variety Posted Mar 27, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 83%
| Nights and Weekends (2008) | "
there's poetry -- not to mention a fair dose of comedy -- in the mix." — Variety Posted Mar 20, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 94%
| Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008) | "
What begins as a poignant tribute to filmmaker Kurt Kuenne's dead best friend snowballs into a gut-wrenching true-crime story." — Variety Posted Mar 5, 2008 |
Rotten
| Rotten 0%
| Cover (2008) | "
Director Bill Duke aims for social awareness, but delivers second-rate melodrama instead." — Variety Posted Feb 26, 2008 |
Fresh
| Rotten 26%
| Step Up 2 the Streets (2008) | "
Step Up 2 features nearly as much dancing as it does dialogue, and that's a good thing, considering the after-school special quality of its obligatory emotional scenes." — Variety Posted Feb 13, 2008 |
Rotten
| Rotten 24%
| Adventures of Power (2009) | "
With its quirky costume and production design choices, self-indulgent pic gives Wes Anderson haters an easy new target." — Variety Posted Feb 1, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 71%
| Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert (2008) | "
Seems Disney has discovered yet another way to print money." — Variety Posted Jan 31, 2008 |
Fresh
| Fresh 77%
| Baghead (2008) | "
[A] clever insider's riff about life on the lo-fi end of the indie spectrum." — Variety Posted Jan 28, 2008 |
Fresh
| N/A | Puujee (2008) | "
Despite its rough production values (herky-jerky camerawork and clumsy onscreen narration), director Kazuya Yamada's footage offers a priceless portrait of this seldom seen, fast disappearing world." — Variety Posted Jan 28, 2008 |
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