Fresh 4.5/5
| Fresh 89%
| Crazy Heart (2009) | "
There's nothing about the essential content of this film that's artificial." — Cinema Signals Posted Jan 1, 2010 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 83%
| Avatar (2009) | "
Cameron shows us that in a sci-fi world, creative dimensions are what you devise and, with his skilled and sensual avatars, he has made something to thrill and captivate us--whether its another billion-dollar take or not." — Cinema Signals Posted Dec 29, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 70%
| Sherlock Holmes (2009) | "
Downey's a joy but, personally, I'll take more Arthur Conan Doyle and less Guy Ritchie." — Cinema Signals Posted Dec 29, 2009 |
Rotten 3/5
| Rotten 49%
| It's Complicated (2009) | "
There are some giggles here, but most of them are coming from Streep as she goes through her litany of coy indecisiveness ending with the desired reaction." — Cinema Signals Posted Dec 25, 2009 |
Fresh 5/5
| N/A | Millénium - Le Film (2009) | "
Lisbeth Salander is, to me, one of the most intriguing characters in mystery literature. Who would have the wiry build, the right look, the martial arts? Noomi Rapace does all that, with a mercurial beauty that fulfills the image precisely." — Cinema Signals Posted Dec 19, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/5
| Fresh 63%
| Extract (2009) | "
Bateman, from his extensive TV background, seems perfectly at home with this material, which should have gone directly to DVD. I would've hated to pay theater price." — Cinema Signals Posted Dec 17, 2009 |
Rotten 3/5
| Fresh 89%
| Up in the Air (2009) | "
An unromantic comedy with a social content on the side in order to provide the ballast of "importance."" — Cinema Signals Posted Dec 17, 2009 |
Rotten 3/5
| Rotten 57%
| Brothers (2009) | "
The male leads come across a bit too much as rising to the demands of their roles, not so much being the living essence of their characters." — Cinema Signals Posted Dec 12, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 40%
| The Lovely Bones (2009) | "
As for the excess of Jackson's creative predisposition, heaven help us." — Cinema Signals Posted Dec 11, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 24%
| G-Force (2009) | "
The voice actors are accomplished but the fussy story is strictly for the tykes and teens, even if the writers work in a sexy tease in gopher fur, that tramp." — Cinema Signals Posted Dec 10, 2009 |
Fresh 4.5/5
| Fresh 92%
| Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire (2009) | "
Powerfully conveys parental evil without overstating the message. At the end, the victim's eyes are dry. Ours are the ones that are wet." — Cinema Signals Posted Dec 7, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 94%
| An Education (2009) | "
Scherfig transmits lessons of morality and irony in a well cast and produced ensemble piece." — Cinema Signals Posted Dec 3, 2009 |
Fresh 4.5/5
| Fresh 80%
| In Search of Mozart (2006) | "
wisely keeps us anchored (and fascinated) with the human side of his subject" — Filmcritic.com Posted Dec 2, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 44%
| Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) | "
No stone is left unturned." — Cinema Signals Posted Nov 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 18%
| Downloading Nancy (2008) | "
Tortuous, painful, confusing, contrived. It's enough to put the viewer on the couch." — Cinema Signals Posted Nov 26, 2009 |
Rotten 3/5
| Fresh 90%
| The Messenger (2009) | "
This character piece may be for the arthouse, but the artistry has a gaping wound, large enough to allow credulity to seep out." — Cinema Signals Posted Nov 17, 2009 |
Rotten 3.5/5
| Fresh 73%
| Where the Wild Things Are (2009) | "
The emotionality that is aspired to doesn't rise to the occasion and leaves you as deprived of dramatic nourishment as the poor boy who went to bed without his supper." — Cinema Signals Posted Nov 15, 2009 |
Fresh 4.5/5
| Fresh 80%
| Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009) | "
Now, when I see and hear the fan worship, I don't silently cringe. Never again. I nod my head in affirmation." — Cinema Signals Posted Nov 15, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 72%
| The Road (2009) | "
Despite the carps, a receptiveness to this material will pay off in tension and suspense, pushing you off The Road in a state of emotional exhaustion." — Cinema Signals Posted Nov 13, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 60%
| Pirate Radio (2009) | "
Though it gets a bit stuffy belowdecks at times, the soundtrack, and the comedic package of oddball humanity that keeps its vibe going, remain buoyant." — Cinema Signals Posted Nov 9, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 67%
| Bruno (2009) | "
There are more consequences of his situations than there are laughs derived from them. Not everyone around here is a Howard Stern." — Cinema Signals Posted Nov 7, 2009 |
Rotten 3/5
| Rotten 18%
| The Fourth Kind (2009) | "
Such originality as Osunsanmi's usually wins me over, but his artificial realism here leaves me cold--like taking a stroll on a Nome sidewalk, in winter, without a parka." — Cinema Signals Posted Nov 4, 2009 |
Fresh 4.5/5
| Fresh 85%
| Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) | "
There's much to be said for a movie that portrays as much imperfection as life itself and, clearly, Herzog and company have a ball in creating it for us." — Cinema Signals Posted Nov 3, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/5
| N/A | Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead (2009) | "
Would be nothing without the squishy sound track." — Cinema Signals Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Rotten 42%
| Turning Green (2009) | "
It's clear that Mr. Hutton enjoyed every minute of doing gruff, gross thugishness and boorish simplicity." — Cinema Signals Posted Oct 20, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 98%
| Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2009) | "
Two musical wannabes in a perpetual reach for the brass ring. But where it will lead remains unanswered by anything more than what they've always had in great quantity. Hope." — Cinema Signals Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Rotten 3/5
| N/A | Buddenbrooks (2008) | "
Isn't likely to achieve a widening of American interest in German cinema any more than it realizes its literary pedigree." — Cinema Signals Posted Oct 2, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 94%
| The Damned United (2009) | "
A sports bad boy - well acted and photographed. I'll give it that." — Cinema Signals Posted Sep 30, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Rotten 40%
| Surrogates (2009) | "
This play between the plastic and the organic asks if perfect safety is worth sitting in the womb of virtual reality for the rest of your life." — Cinema Signals Posted Sep 28, 2009 |
Rotten 3/5
| Fresh 87%
| A Serious Man (2009) | "
The bemusements of family turmoil, ambition in academia, three rabbis and one lawyer, and the universality of self-absorption demonstrate that the Coen's love of satire is intact, but with a guy to whom you're too unattached for a warm hug." — Cinema Signals Posted Sep 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Fresh 90%
| Iron Monkey (1993) | "
Woo-ping is as unembarrassed by the hokiness of his narrative as he is by that of his unending combat enactments, which you can accept as intentional stylistic exaggerations." — Cinema Signals Posted Sep 22, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 50%
| Observe and Report (2009) | "
If this were an audition reel and I was the head of a studio I'd call security to make sure this guy Seth Rogen and his writer-director Jody Hill never got near enough to my office to cast a shadow on it." — Cinema Signals Posted Sep 22, 2009 |
Rotten 3/5
| Fresh 84%
| Bright Star (2009) | "
Whatever else it is--a romantic biopic without compromise--it is also, and for me, mostly, a celebration of the huge talent that is Abbie Cornish." — Cinema Signals Posted Sep 19, 2009 |
Fresh 4.5/5
| Fresh 77%
| The Informant! (2009) | "
The lighter side of an unstable participant throwing a monkey wrench into the illicit gears of corporate power. It's a just-right tone that matches Damon's pitch-perfect one." — Cinema Signals Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| N/A | Zatoichi (2003) | "
Three-frame cuts of the action from multiple camera angles, hose-spurted blood and superimposed wounds do what they can in their primitive way to get you past the problem of improbability." — Cinema Signals Posted Sep 17, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 91%
| In Search Of Beethoven (2009) | "
Reminds us that the person who wrote the Fifth and Ninth Symphonies wasn't residing on a plane somewhere beyond our gravity field." — Cinema Signals Posted Sep 16, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 6%
| Whiteout (2009) | "
The mystery grows thick while the ice on which the story elements struggle to survive melts away." — Cinema Signals Posted Sep 11, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| Fresh 60%
| Off Jackson Avenue (2009) | "
Count me in for this filmmaker's next offering. I detect a burgeoning talent here." — Filmcritic.com Posted Aug 31, 2009 |
Fresh 4.5/5
| Fresh 88%
| Inglourious Basterds (2009) | "
Satire and sanctimony -- Tarantino rules." — Cinema Signals Posted Aug 24, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| N/A | American Son (2009) | "
Meticulously crafted, low-budget, excellently performed character piece that resonates with integrity as it shows us one more example of what an American son looks like." — Cinema Signals Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Fresh 67%
| Young & Restless In China (2008) | "
We see a lot of ambition and cell phone connectivity, but little style or drama to set this apart as a superior documentary" — Filmcritic.com Posted Aug 19, 2009 |
Fresh 5/5
| Fresh 90%
| District 9 (2009) | "
A superb realization of satire, irony, humor and the horrific, with a kick in the guts to human nature and the technical challenges of sci-fi action and destruction." — Cinema Signals Posted Aug 19, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Fresh 66%
| Public Enemies (2009) | "
The popular reaction to what the defiant anti-hero came to represent in depression-era America made it almost criminal to call him one." — Cinema Signals Posted Aug 19, 2009 |
Fresh 4/5
| Rotten 38%
| The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) | "
I can be patient with a little romantic squishiness after such an engagingly written bounce around time with these two." — Cinema Signals Posted Aug 13, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 12%
| The Tiger's Tail (2006) | "
Amateurish technical contrivance isn't this awkward, retro failure's only deficiency." — Cinema Signals Posted Aug 6, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 55%
| The Soloist (2009) | "
Fine as a series of columns in the Los Angeles Times but a misfit as a movie." — Cinema Signals Posted Jul 29, 2009 |
Rotten 3/5
| Fresh 86%
| 500 Days of Summer (2009) | "
I feel for Tom, I commiserate with him for his tragedy but, for me, 300 days of Summer would have been more than sufficient." — Cinema Signals Posted Jul 24, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/5
| Rotten 26%
| Shrink (2009) | "
A tart drama that probes and exposes shadowy entrails of the glamor capital but illuminating depth is not its most therapeutic effect." — Cinema Signals Posted Jul 23, 2009 |
Fresh 3.5/5
| N/A | Stock Shock (2009) | "
If this film doesn't affect your approach to the market, can I interest you in a really promising gold mining stock?" — Cinema Signals Posted Jul 22, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 33%
| Knowing (2009) | "
Excessive finale aside, its novel concept makes for a mental and action package worth seeing." — Cinema Signals Posted Jul 22, 2009 |
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