|
36%
|
21 (2008)
|
"In its desperation to deliver an action-packed suspense set piece of an ending, 21 asks the audience to suspend all disbelief, and basically begs to be laughed at."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
8%
|
10,000 B.C. (2008)
|
"Roland Emmerich has a remarkable talent for draining all the life out of interesting stories."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
77%
|
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)
|
"It's not the cinema of the century, but it's delicious and it melts in your mouth."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
53%
|
Penelope (2006)
|
"This out-of-nowhere wonder charms from the first frame to the last, and joins Charlie Bartlett on the list of early-2008 films that are both wholesome and intelligent."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
21%
|
Semi-Pro (2008)
|
"I am sick to death of the clueless, arrogant buffoon that Will Ferrell has made his stock-in-trade, and desperate to see the talented comic do something -- anything -- else."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
42%
|
The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)
|
"It's a straightforward, unpretentious joy, and one of the most purely enjoyable films I've seen in some time."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
66%
|
Be Kind Rewind (2008)
|
"Alternately so whacked out as to be inaccessible, and so sweet and naïve as to be irresistible."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
35%
|
Vantage Point (2008)
|
"It's easy to pick apart an action movie. It's much harder to produce one this clever, fast-paced and involving."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
56%
|
Charlie Bartlett (2007)
|
"Charlie Bartlett is rated R but is perfect, even salutary for young teens and older tweens. It's sincere, unabashedly positive, smart and funny -- a supernaturally rare combination."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
16%
|
Jumper (2008)
|
"[Christensen's] utter vacancy is a bane on Jumper, an otherwise serviceable sci-fi thriller that would have benefited from a compelling center."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
80%
|
The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
|
"After lovingly setting up the intricate relationships among its characters Spiderwick loses itself in the action and pretty special effects, only recovering in time to do a rushed, pat wrap-up."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
70%
|
Definitely, Maybe (2008)
|
"Definitely, Maybe is what happens when someone decides to make a romantic comedy, then sits down and thinks about it for a while before setting out to write."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
22%
|
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008)
|
"Each year, I happily endure much at the movies that most people are smart enough to avoid, and I am telling you that watching Lawrence here is a punishment."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
16%
|
Untraceable (2008)
|
"Untraceable's knee-jerk moralizing is reprehensible and stupid."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
37%
|
Rambo (Rambo IV) (2008)
|
"At its best when it considers the shell of a man its hero has become; the ways that war and violence have become a part of his being, and what that has done to him."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
46%
|
Cassandra's Dream (2007)
|
"If Cassandra's Dream doesn't have the heft of Match Point, mostly due to an ending that tries too hard, I'd argue that it's a much more human film."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
41%
|
27 Dresses (2008)
|
"You won't miss much if you choose to let 27 Dresses come and go this month -- except perhaps the unassuming starring debut of a comedienne who, I suspect, will soon become a Hollywood powerhouse."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
77%
|
Cloverfield (2008)
|
"It's a hell of a visceral experience -- but it's a purely visceral experience, apparently to the point of causing some viewers to vomit. Unless you're one of those unfortunate few, you'll soon forget the details."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
42%
|
Chakushin Ari (One Missed Call) (2003)
|
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
0%
|
One Missed Call (2008)
|
"For a film like One Missed Call to be frightening or good would have required far more art and intelligence than this shoddy little production could possibly muster."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
78%
|
The Great Debaters (2007)
|
"It goes down easy, has some great scenes, and knows how to tug on the heartstrings. But unlike its characters, it settles for less."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
40%
|
The Bucket List (2007)
|
"Contrives the sappiest plot scenario imaginable and proceeds to ornament it with obscene hysterics."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
74%
|
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (2007)
|
"a small, personal film spruced up with a touch of the marketable. 'Lovely' is the best word to describe it."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
35%
|
National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)
|
"A clearinghouse for Things You Wouldn't Expect to See A-List Actors Say With a Straight Face."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
74%
|
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)
|
"I'm glad the artform that Zucker-Abahams-Zucker brought us in the 1980's survives. It's gotten raunchier, meaner, maybe rougher, but it lives on."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
86%
|
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
|
"The sub-par singing detracts from the film, as it must. Then again, the whole point is that Tim Burton is smart enough not to make Sweeney Todd about the songs."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
70%
|
I Am Legend (2007)
|
"Good enough that the mistakes it makes are genuinely frustrating rather than feeling par for the course."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
26%
|
Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007)
|
"By far the funniest thing about this painful, if not quite insufferable, family comedy from Fox is its bold stance against merchandising and tie-in marketing."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
42%
|
The Golden Compass (2007)
|
"The problem is not that The Golden Compass has been stripped of its rabble-rousing anti-Christian content, though it surely has been. The problem is that the rest of it has been sterilized too."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
83%
|
Atonement (2007)
|
"Positively demands a second viewing."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
16%
|
Revolver (2005)
|
"Even the legion of Ritchie fans hooked on the kineticism and casual violence of Snatch will surely turn on the man after seeing Revolver. He has added an insufferable pretense to his usual smugness."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
37%
|
August Rush (2007)
|
"Far from the year's worst film, but it might be the year's biggest debacle -- it's hugely, ostentatiously bad."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
71%
|
Beowulf (2007)
|
"This isn't your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother's Beowulf."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
26%
|
Lions for Lambs (2007)
|
"Jesus Christ, Redford, if you wanted to make a feature-length cinematic editorial, why didn't you just go balls-out and have done with it?"
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
66%
|
Wristcutters - A Love Story (2007)
|
"There are problems here, but they're of the good-natured variety -- the flaws of a smart film that aims high."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
33%
|
Martian Child (2007)
|
"Part of the reason it works is that the film at least tries to make the Kid something other than a face you'd see on a cereal box."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
80%
|
American Gangster (2007)
|
"Its politics could have muddled and distracted, but instead the presence of a point of view staved off biopic boredom."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
47%
|
Rendition (2007)
|
"A good film that's at its best when it's not talking so much."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
57%
|
We Own the Night (2007)
|
"So meticulous, observant and generous in the details, that I was almost saddened to see the story start up in earnest and inevitably limit the film's scope."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
81%
|
Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
|
"What's interesting is the way that what begins as a joke -- the denizens of Lars' sleepy northern town being forced to treat Bianca as a human being -- ends up at the heart of the film."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
29%
|
The Heartbreak Kid (2007)
|
"Presents a hollow shell of the Farrelly Brothers I know."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
90%
|
Michael Clayton (2007)
|
"Unlikely and eerily realistic at the same time."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
51%
|
The Kingdom (2007)
|
"A surprisingly nuanced exploration of the sincere desire held by many in this country to make the US the good guy around the globe -- the white knight superpower."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
36%
|
Sydney White (2007)
|
"Sydney White has a concept and a title, but beyond that it draws a blank."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
43%
|
The Brave One (2007)
|
"Jordan's most interesting film since The Butcher Boy."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
88%
|
3:10 to Yuma (2007)
|
"Breathtakingly exciting and incredibly moving, this -- far and away James Mangold's finest work -- is nothing less than a revolution. It makes the old not so much new but real again, vital and relevant."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
82%
|
Into the Wild (2007)
|
"The reason it's so troubling, even disturbing, is that notwithstanding the protagonist's profound goodness, the film insists on consequences for his narcissism, his naivete, his -- yes -- stupidity."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
89%
|
The Savages (2007)
|
"Tamara Jenkins' sophomore outing is sharp, clear-eyed, uncondescending; a non-stop, non-guilty pleasure."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
33%
|
Rails & Ties (2007)
|
"To describe the plot is to parody the film. Though impeccably acted and directed with a solemn, professional gloss, it sinks under the weight of its absurdity."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
|
94%
|
Juno (2007)
|
"I hope this one makes a few careers."
|
Eugene Novikov
|
72%
21%
63%
85%
46%
40%
