|
96%
|
WALL-E (2008)
|
"Never before have the world's most influential animators been as bold and forthright about their dark vision for humanity as in WALL-E, a potent environmental message wrapped up in an irresistibly cute romance between robots."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
17%
|
The Happening (2008)
|
"You know those meringue cookies that look so tempting on bakery shelves, the ones that evaporate moments after you pop them in your mouth and leave only the vaguest, unmemorable taste behind? That's The Happening."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
67%
|
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
|
"A sentimental mixture of thwarted romance, military conniving and brute-on-brute action at the end, as Hulk takes on spike-spined Abomination. If the movie's nowhere near as ambitious as the last Hulk, that's probably to the good."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
82%
|
Hors de Prix (Priceless) (2006)
|
"The comedy, which verges on farce from time to time, also has the smilingly cynical approach to romance that we identify with the French."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
50%
|
Then She Found Me (2007)
|
"Both role and movie fit [Hunt] as comfortable as a favorite bathrobe, and she wins us over long before the final tiny twist of the ending."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
87%
|
Kung Fu Panda (2008)
|
"Manic but hilarious Kung Fu Panda kicks its way onto the scene with irresistible force."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
37%
|
You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)
|
"True Sandler fans will want to know only where Zohan stands on the A.S. scale, with Happy Gilmore at the top and Little Nicky at the bottom. I'd put it closer to the latter than the former."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
59%
|
The Fall (2006)
|
"Gorgeous, inert and dull."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
45%
|
The Strangers (2008)
|
"Speedman remains comatose, though Tyler flickers fitfully to life. The mournful look on her face suggests she's remembering the days when she was given more psychologically complex scripts, such as Armageddon."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
50%
|
Sex and the City (2008)
|
"It was like attending a party where all the guests have known each other for years, exert no effort to make a newcomer feel at home and chatter endlessly -- yes, for two-and-a-half draggy hours -- about their romantic problems."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
73%
|
Son of Rambow (2007)
|
"It would be dishonest of me to say that it's more than an endearing, well-acted trifle with lovely intentions."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
24%
|
The Life Before Her Eyes (2007)
|
"Studio movies rarely depict Christians as fallible, thoughtful people who've been strengthened by faith but don't take it for granted."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
78%
|
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
|
"Both the good and bad remind us that the most special thing about Skull is the man wearing the fedora and the rakish grin. He has never worn out his welcome, and this valedictory -- it can be nothing else -- is a fitting one."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
67%
|
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)
|
"The magical creatures and sprawling battles have been beautifully produced and shot, and the thunderous final conflict shakes the Earth."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
39%
|
Speed Racer (2008)
|
"Speed Racer promises a hot, juicy cheeseburger but delivers only the cheese -- and on closer inspection, it's Cheese Whiz."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
93%
|
Iron Man (2008)
|
"It breaks no new ground, but it plows the old ground vigorously."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
53%
|
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)
|
"The film feels careless and calculated at once: careless in its assembly, calculated in an attempt to copy Castle. (But who could blame Hurwitz and Schlossberg? They have no other film credits.)"
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
63%
|
Baby Mama (2008)
|
"The material stays conventional and superficial, and writer-director Michael McCullers has a flair for cutting scenes before they plunge toward too-easy laughs. Yet it's the chemistry between the stars that makes the film stand out in a drab spring."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
56%
|
Flawless (2008)
|
"Banal or bogus."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
84%
|
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
|
"Forgetting Sarah Marshall, shorter than Knocked Up and more focused than Superbad, tops all other Apatow productions so far."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
67%
|
Snow Angels (2007)
|
"[Director] Green knows how to convey a mood visually and develop tension with his camera. He just doesn't give people enough interesting things to say or know when to shut them up."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
72%
|
Under the Same Moon (2008)
|
"[A] sentimental, sometimes manipulative but genuinely touching film."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
86%
|
Shine a Light (2008)
|
"Those of us who'd hoped Scorsese would make a film closer in spirit to No Direction Home, his Bob Dylan profile, will consider Light a wasted effort."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
51%
|
Nim's Island (2008)
|
"Can filmmakers no longer create true-to-life inspirational stories about people in extraordinary circumstances?"
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
52%
|
Leatherheads (2008)
|
"Writers Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly, who sold the first version of this debut script back in 1991, want to celebrate the innocence of those early days -- both pro football's and modern America's -- and the feeling that anything was possible back then."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
55%
|
Married Life (2008)
|
"The acting is well-done and well-balanced, and Peter Deming's cinematography -- part golden, part somber -- suggests the dark side of postwar prosperity, which Americans had begun to contemplate by 1949."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
65%
|
Stop-Loss (2008)
|
"Someone watching Stop-Loss with younger eyes might feel the heat of the main soldier's dilemma more than I did, but I couldn't help thinking director Kimberly Peirce was presenting us with abstract ideas in the forms of half-realized characters."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
100%
|
Taxi to the Dark Side (2007)
|
"'America -- when she is right, to be kept right. When she is wrong, to be put right.' If that's your idea of patriotism, take time out to see Taxi to the Dark Side."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
25%
|
Drillbit Taylor (2008)
|
"The script by Kristofor Brown and Seth Rogen and the direction by Steven Brill have a careless, never-gave-a-damn feel that's as insulting to viewers as the film is dull."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
79%
|
Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
|
"For the first time, Hollywood has made a whimsical, witty, feature-length version of Dr. Seuss that's neither overblown nor smutty nor emotionally hollow."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
79%
|
The Bank Job (2008)
|
"Statham fans weaned on the adrenaline flowing through The Transporter and Crank may feel short-changed, but the rest of us can appreciate the unassuming, old-fashioned craftsmanship of The Bank Job."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
96%
|
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)
|
"Just as Romanians got used to eating bones with little meat on them, they must also have gotten used to movies with very little dramatic meat."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
76%
|
Cidade dos Homens (City of Men) (2007)
|
"I wish I hadn't seen the masterpiece City of God before the current City of Men, which is a more conventional story in the same setting. Judged on its own merits, the latter film still makes a considerable emotional impact."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
53%
|
Penelope (2006)
|
"There are usually good reasons why a movie gets shelved for more than a year, however well-acted it may be and however well-meaning its message. Many are on view in Penelope."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
42%
|
The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)
|
"If you're indifferent to silly revisions of history and bad acting, you may enjoy The Other Boleyn Girl. I'm not, and I didn't."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
21%
|
Semi-Pro (2008)
|
"Semi-Pro is just Will Ferrell doing the same man-boy shtick he usually does."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
66%
|
Be Kind Rewind (2008)
|
"A genuinely original independent film, though one that requires patience and tolerance of the writer-director's style."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
35%
|
Vantage Point (2008)
|
"The setup is so riveting, the suspense so carefully prolonged, that I didn't mind when it unraveled into lunacy near the end."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
56%
|
Charlie Bartlett (2007)
|
"Mediocre writers ignore reality, opting for clumsy wish fulfillment and hoping we won't notice they make no sense. Sadly, Charlie Bartlett is an example of that school of non-thought."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
16%
|
Jumper (2008)
|
"You have to take everything for granted in Jumper, including the idea that Christensen and Rachel Bilson could show human emotions. These stone faces stand at the center of a story that's as flimsy as taffeta."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
70%
|
Definitely, Maybe (2008)
|
"The film definitely satisfies the need for an unthreatening, competently made romcom with a traditional template. But maybe that's not enough if you want to be surprised, refreshed or anything other than lazily charmed."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
58%
|
Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights - Hollywood to the Heartland (2008)
|
"This loosely enjoyable documentary doesn't offer deep insights into the minds of comedians."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
22%
|
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008)
|
"It's a cynical attempt to plunder your wallet with broad buffoonery you can see for free on TV."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
11%
|
Fool's Gold (2008)
|
"Of course it's bad. It was always going to be. But it's worse than necessary."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
66%
|
How She Move (2008)
|
"The characters and situations haven't changed much, but the energy level is high and the moral-that you can aspire to escape the old neighborhood without abandoning all that's good in it-is one we hear too seldom."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
89%
|
The Savages (2007)
|
"Two wry, sad, occasionally funny but always unflinching hours."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
91%
|
There Will Be Blood (2007)
|
"Day-Lewis tends to overpower the cast, especially in a scenery-chewing finale you'll find fascinating or unwatchable. (I loved it.)"
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
22%
|
Mad Money (2008)
|
"Everyone in the cast treads water, acting-wise -- there's nothing else to do -- except for Latifah, who brings passion to her work."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
77%
|
Cloverfield (2008)
|
"Cloverfield is a non-stop smashfest meant to be forgotten as soon as it's over, then repeated the following weekend for people eternally hungry for empty sensations. If you're too old for that, find yourself another film."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
|
86%
|
Starting Out in the Evening (2007)
|
"[Frank Langella] is a god of sorts to those who've followed his career for 30 years with an appreciation for subtle, forceful acting, and he's at the top of his game in Starting Out in the Evening."
|
Lawrence Toppman
|
75%
25%
68%
85%
46%
40%
