Rotten
| N/A | The Hand of Fatima (2009) | "
All the slapdash animation, stock footage, fake Robert narration, and cred-boosting testimonials here (Yoko Ono, Donovan, Genesis P. Orridge) offer less insight than father Palmer's own book-turned-doc Deep Blues." Village Voice Posted Nov 10, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 60%
| The Good Soldier (2009) | "
Potent and wisely straightforward." Village Voice Posted Nov 10, 2009 |
N/A | Fresh 88%
| The House of the Devil (2009) | "
Noonan and I spoke about his dramatic workshops, being naturally creepy, why he never reads the whole script, and anecdotal remembrances of working with Michael Cimino." GreenCine Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
N/A | Fresh 100%
| The Red Shoes (1948) | "
Martin Scorsese: Over the years, I began to realize it had more to do with wanting to create something artistically, and that drive." GreenCine Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 67%
| Turning Green (2009) | "
Turning Green is, if nothing else, the world’s loneliest teen sex comedy." L.A. Weekly Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 14%
| Labor Day (2009) | "
The film never finds drama, focus or any greater purpose other than some dubious horn-blowing about the SEIU being singularly responsible for electing President Obama." Time Out New York Posted Oct 28, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 14%
| Looking for Palladin (2009) | "
We’ve seen enough movies to know Joshua will stop being a jerk after he learns the true meaning of Christmas, but it’s almost impossible to disparage such genuine warmth." Time Out New York Posted Oct 28, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 17%
| How To Seduce Difficult Women (2009) | "
This shapeless series of unfunny vignettes (interspersed with pointless street interviews) deserves to be slapped hard." Time Out New York Posted Oct 28, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 21%
| The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009) | "
Duffy is still chasing his perfect slide-and-shoot, except now with more self-satisfied posturing, awkward pop-culture referencing, casual homophobia and racism, and the most vulgar co-opting of religious iconography this side of Dan Brown." Village Voice Posted Oct 27, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 37%
| Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) | "
The vampire trend continues, but the only authentic bloodsuckers in Cirque du Freak are its producers and studio execs." Village Voice Posted Oct 20, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 58%
| Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution (2009) | "
Food Beware doesn't even work as cinematic spinach since the nutritional value of its case is as light as a rice cake." Village Voice Posted Oct 14, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 57%
| Trucker (2009) | "
There may as well be a road sign announcing Diane's transformation from reckless loner to diligent mother, but it's a smooth ride thanks to Monaghan, and an impressive ensemble." Village Voice Posted Oct 6, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 61%
| Peter and Vandy (2009) | "
DiPietro's screenplay is emotionally myopic. His sharpest written exchanges -- and there aren't many -- get buried under his inexplicable need to embrace the non-linear conceit." Village Voice Posted Oct 6, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| N/A | Where is Where? (2009) | "
Finnish visual artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila’s experimental narrative truly pushes forward the possibilities of split-screen cinema." Time Out New York Posted Sep 30, 2009 |
Fresh
| N/A | Paradise (2008) | "
Steadily maintaining momentum and a meditative mood without narration or editorialization is itself a feat, but more vitally, Paradise appreciates and shares the curious mysteries in the seemingly banal." Village Voice Posted Sep 23, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 35%
| Blind Date (2009) | "
It's overly faithful to the original and to Van Gogh's preferred three-camera setup." Village Voice Posted Sep 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 71%
| Fuel (2009) | "
It’s a slickly enjoyable production (if unfocused and bloated), and his bullet-point tips are persuasive; but dude, there are better ways to humanize these issues than crying on camera." Time Out New York Posted Sep 16, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 23%
| Sorority Row (2009) | "
It’s yet another ’80s slasher remake, so you know the drill...er, the tire iron pimped out with blades." Time Out New York Posted Sep 16, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 79%
| Disgrace (2009) | "
A frustrating film full of overplayed men-as-dogs metaphors, it’s only watchable for Malkovich, who could probably read a social studies exam and still be commanding." Time Out New York Posted Sep 16, 2009 |
| N/A | Evangalion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2009) |
Click here to read article Village Voice Posted Sep 16, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 32%
| The Burning Plain (2009) | "
The Burning Plain marks Arriaga's behind-the-camera debut, and his obviousness is staggering." Village Voice Posted Sep 15, 2009 |
Fresh
| N/A | Evangalion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone (2007) | "
This is mighty perplexing nerd kibble, its highfalutin' philosophical and psychological banter way too outlandish to seriously engage. Yet as a visceral experience, it's entrancing." Village Voice Posted Sep 15, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 0%
| Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009) | "
Any amateur magician can successfully yank the tablecloth away, but it’s only impressive if there’s something of value on the table." Time Out New York Posted Sep 9, 2009 |
Rotten
| N/A | Sandstorm (2009) | "
At best, it's a perfunctory narrative, complete with title cards that clunkily hit the same bullet points that might appear on one of those rally fliers." Village Voice Posted Sep 9, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 89%
| No Impact Man (2009) | "
How much can we possibly glean from a guy whose idealism can be measured with a calendar?" Village Voice Posted Sep 8, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 83%
| Gogol Bordello Non-Stop (2009) | "
It's an exhilarating document." Village Voice Posted Sep 8, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 30%
| Play the Game (2009) | "
This Lifetime-ready comedy is hardly provocative -- let alone perceptive, funny, or fresh." Village Voice Posted Aug 25, 2009 |
Rotten
| Fresh 86%
| Fifty Dead Men Walking (2009) | "
Proves how easy it is to shamelessly bilk audiences of their empathy with an "inspired by true events" credit." Village Voice Posted Aug 18, 2009 |
Fresh
| Rotten 46%
| Shorts (2009) | "
A cute and mildly clever fantasy." Village Voice Posted Aug 18, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 91%
| Ponyo (2009) | "
What held in the animator’s previous films as eccentrically multifaceted dream logic comes off for once as a series of non sequiturs -- but really, why complain while sucking on an Everlasting Gobstopper of eye candy?" Time Out New York Posted Aug 12, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 73%
| Loren Cass (2009) | "
A starkly lyrical portrait of angry, disaffected teens in the racially tense wake of the actual 1996 St. Petersburg, Florida, riots." Village Voice Posted Jul 21, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 33%
| Weather Girl (2009) | "
[A] humdrum but marketable comedy, starring a handful of humdrum but marketable faces from the small screen." L.A. Weekly Posted Jul 9, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 20%
| Blood: The Last Vampire (2009) | "
Unexciting, incoherent, lamely acted, and carelessly written." Village Voice Posted Jul 8, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 81%
| Lake Tahoe (2009) | "
Coming down from the Saturday sugar rush of his 2006 comedy Duck Season, Mexican auteur Fernando Eimbcke's lovely, Yucatán-set dramedy drifts by on a similar deadpan wave of static vignettes and lingering pauses that must be 10 months pregnant." Village Voice Posted Jul 8, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 88%
| Lion's Den (2009) | "
Once the film devolves into a drag-down fight for custody with Julia's mother, only Gusman's nuance saves us from a script that seems geared more toward screeching overacting." Village Voice Posted Jul 1, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 36%
| Local Color (2009) | "
How is it that a film about the love of art can make art seem so detestable?" Village Voice Posted Jun 24, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 78%
| The End of the Line (2009) | "
The End of the Line is a free-form splash of jaw-dropping graphs, impressively accredited talking heads, and sumptuously shot portraits of natural beauty and decay, overdramatically scored to symphonic and other intense musical attacks." Village Voice Posted Jun 16, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 20%
| The Narrows (2009) | "
Serviceably enjoyable, like cold pizza but little more." Village Voice Posted Jun 16, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 96%
| Herb & Dorothy (2009) | "
Former journalist Megumi Sasaki's warmhearted celebration of these adorable do-gooders cements their significance to the art world and introduces them to the rest of us." Village Voice Posted Jun 3, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 18%
| Dance Flick (2009) | "
Yes, it's rated PG-13, except it's also inappropriate for anyone over 13." Village Voice Posted May 27, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 33%
| Offshore (2009) | "
Michigan-based filmmaker Diane Cheklich's insipid, cheapjack dramedy -- about a flagging company's decision to outsource -- isn't potent enough to even be called a lukewarm-button movie." Village Voice Posted May 27, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 79%
| Milton Glaser: To Inform & Delight (2009) | "
It's a pleasant, largely anecdotal portrait." Village Voice Posted May 19, 2009 |
Rotten
| Rotten 18%
| The Big Shot-Caller (2009) | "
You have to wonder about a debut this self-involved: What's left for the second film?" Village Voice Posted May 13, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 84%
| World's Greatest Dad (2009) | "
Sleeping Dogs Lie -- a/k/a "the dog blowjob rom-com" -- planted the seed (OK, wrong choice of words) that Goldthwait wrings tender humanity from disturbing premises, but his scandalously entertaining new satire proves a darker, funnier success." Village Voice Posted May 12, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 96%
| Somers Town (2009) | "
Thomas Turgoose reunites with writer-director Shane Meadows in this shaggy, endlessly charming dramedy set in working-class London, wistfully shot in black-and-white... Witty and warmhearted, it's a feel-good movie that never seems forced." Village Voice Posted May 12, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 77%
| Humpday (2009) | "
Hilariously perceptive." Village Voice Posted May 12, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 68%
| Tetro (2009) | "
Francis Ford Coppola returns to form with his richest, most enrapturing film since Apocalypse Now. The black-and-white cinematography alone is as intoxicating as a bottle of the director's finest red." Village Voice Posted May 12, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 73%
| Objectified (2009) | "
A slickly entertaining and thorough enough curiosity about the form, function, context, inspiration, and evolution of industrial design." Village Voice Posted May 5, 2009 |
Fresh
| Fresh 83%
| The Window (2008) | "
As his staff prepares for his son's arrival and the piano tuner fills the hacienda with splintered notes, the limited stimulus sparks Antonio's memories, his final hours playing out like delicate, melancholic poetry." Village Voice Posted May 5, 2009 |
Fresh
| N/A | Home (2008) | "
Using cinema as self-therapy might be a selfish way to treat audiences, but Harden and Scheel's chemistry makes the mother-daughter dynamic universal." Village Voice Posted Apr 30, 2009 |