|
22%
|
Planet 51 (2009)
|
"Doesn't belong anywhere near the best animated picture race, but you can do a lot worse when looking for a family flick to pass the time."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
42%
|
Jennifer's Body (2009)
|
"This movie thrives on its intended level of Scream-style horror comedy, blazes through its running time and had me laughing throughout."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
88%
|
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
|
"By far the best World War II film I've ever seen."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
92%
|
Ponyo (2009)
|
"His twisted version of Finding Nemo meets Splash, the movie won't go down as one of his best, but it's still better than 90 percent of animation out there."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
87%
|
500 Days of Summer (2009)
|
"It's a movie that makes me wish I were still a film critic so I could beg tens of thousands of readers to see it rather just the few who will read this post."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
37%
|
Angels & Demons (2009)
|
"Heavier on demons than angels."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
98%
|
Up (2009)
|
"A Pixar pinnacle. That may seem like outlandish praise, given the animation studio's sterling tax record. But when was the last time you walked out of a Pixar movie simply giddy, as if you were high on computer-animated pixels?"
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
73%
|
Rudo y Cursi (2009)
|
"The actors' chemistry lifts what might have been an average sports melodrama to something near special."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
37%
|
Gigantic (2009)
|
"Happy would be sad if you didn't want to see her story. And you wouldn't like a Manic Pixie Dream Girl when she's angry."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
95%
|
Star Trek (2009)
|
"For the first time in 15 years, Star Trek actually matters."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
32%
|
Fanboys (2008)
|
"What if the movie sucks?"
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
38%
|
X-Men Origins - Wolverine (2009)
|
"Whoever pirated X-Men Origins: Wolverine got a punishment that fit the crime."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
13%
|
The Informers (2009)
|
"An aimless mess. But at least the mess is sexy and exciting."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
89%
|
Sin Nombre (2009)
|
"Imagine City of God without the zippy camerawork or Slumdog Millionaire without the millionaire and you get the feel of Sin Nombre."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
56%
|
The Soloist (2009)
|
"A duet, with two master performers collaborating in absorbing harmony."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
78%
|
12 (2007)
|
"Mikhalkov is probably a little too successful at re-creating the feeling of being trapped at a seemingly never-ending meeting."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
55%
|
17 Again (2009)
|
"Turns out there's more to Zac Efron than the grinning, vacant marionette from the High School Musical series."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
88%
|
The Black Balloon (2008)
|
"The outlines are broad and obvious, and Thomas such a bore, that The Black Balloon loses air."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
51%
|
Observe and Report (2009)
|
"If you would have told me that Kevin James and Seth Rogen would basically make the same movie and both would have come out the same, I wouldn't have believed you."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
72%
|
The Great Buck Howard (2009)
|
"Malkovich expertly starts the relationship between his character and the audience on several wrong feet before winning us over."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
88%
|
Adventureland (2009)
|
"The thunder that follows the Superbad lightning."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
82%
|
Two Lovers (2008)
|
"If this is it for Joaquin Phoenix's film career, at least he's going out the right way."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
72%
|
Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)
|
"I liked it more than anything Pixar has made the last five years."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
83%
|
I Love You, Man (2009)
|
"I sort of like you, man.."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
——
|
Beisbol: The Latin Game (2007)
|
"A spirited, enchanting baseball doc."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
5%
|
Miss March (2009)
|
"They've got enough solid material for a half-hour sitcom, including two great, oh-so-politically incorrect lines worthy of integrating into the annals of pop culture, but that does not a feature film make."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
97%
|
The Class (2008)
|
"The hard-hitting film makes most other school-based films resemble child's play, as careers and futures of both the teacher and student hang in the balance, in the uncaring hands of an indifferent system."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
85%
|
Wendy and Lucy (2008)
|
"Here's one movie that will make you want to go home and hug your dog."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
64%
|
Watchmen (2009)
|
"Tends to play like the SportsCenter version of the big game. It's got all the highlights but little of the tension and atmosphere that give those moments impact."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
66%
|
Che: Part One (The Argentine) (2009)
|
"It's a fight with your bladder and attention span worth waging."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
68%
|
Were the World Mine (2008)
|
"All teen comedies would be this divine were the world Gustafson's."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
12%
|
Pink Panther 2 (2009)
|
"I laughed once, at an unexpected gag, involving a ricocheting bullet, that was a nice play on an old gunfighting cliche. The rest of the film was a slow-bleeding gut shot."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
96%
|
Waltz with Bashir (2008)
|
"It's pretty much 90 minutes of pain. But also there's no budging from your seat."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
89%
|
Coraline (2009)
|
"The 3-D in Coraline is so low-key that I forgot it was there for much of the film. But maybe that's less a knock on the visuals than it is a compliment to the movie's ability to pull me into its zany world."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
81%
|
Azur et Asmar (Azur and Asmar: The Princes' Quest) (2006)
|
"The film is full of out-there artistic decisions that don't quite pay off, it makes you feel like you're taking medicine without a spoonful of sugar."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
71%
|
The Midnight Meat Train (2008)
|
"Goes full speed on ultra-gory rails before slamming to an abrupt stop."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
28%
|
New In Town (2009)
|
"It's a given dis one is more fer da ladies than da fellas, and some of da dialogue is pretnear hard da swallow."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
98%
|
The Wrestler (2008)
|
"It was almost worth the malaise of watching Mickey Rourke squander years of potential just so he could make his grand comeback."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
52%
|
Yonkers Joe (2009)
|
"The typecast actor breaks out of his comfort zone."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
33%
|
Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)
|
"Producer Adam Sandler must have though so little of the film that he didn't even see it fit for a Rob Schneider cameo."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
83%
|
JCVD (Van Dammage) (2008)
|
"You could hit up the DVD value bin and stage yourself a Lionheart and Kickboxer marathon to see the man the way he'd want to be remembered. Or at least the way I'd like to remember him."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
57%
|
Defiance (2009)
|
"Zwick thrives on these sorts of historical action flicks, and he pumps the adrenal glands throughout."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
68%
|
Revolutionary Road (2008)
|
"This cracked social mirror the director holds up to society is no pretty sight. Although it's impossible to turn away."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
80%
|
Gran Torino (2009)
|
"Just like Walt's Gran Torino, Eastwood's engine is still purring as well as it did in '72."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
10%
|
Bride Wars (2009)
|
"As romantic as the dollar dance and as funny as the quips from a hokey wedding DJ."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
61%
|
The Reader (2008)
|
"Profound but too dyslexic for its own good."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
62%
|
Valkyrie (2008)
|
"Bryan Singer has managed a new, unexpected feat %u2014 he's learned to make boring movies."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
88%
|
I've Loved You So Long (2008)
|
"Makes the most out of dead air and empty spaces."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
92%
|
Frost/Nixon (2008)
|
"Truly shines as a bare-bones filmmaking exercise."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
|
78%
|
Doubt (2008)
|
"A melodrama that changes the rules in an effort to seem fresh. But at its heart it's still a boo-here, hiss-there formula romp."
|
Phil Villarreal
|
72%
78%
62%
52%
26%
4%
