FilmStew.com
Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating
Title/Year
Author
1
Bruno (2009)
Cohen probably did not consciously echo The Magic Christian, but he would have done well to learn from it.
Posted Jul 13, 2009
2
500 Days of Summer (2009)
Fast, funny and absolutely delightful.
Posted Jan 28, 2009
3
Moon (2009)
Jones displays such a complete command of his narrative that it is hard to believe this is his first feature.
Posted Jan 22, 2009
4
Nights in Rodanthe (2008)
The major highlight is the awkward, out-of-step dialogue between Lane and Gere as their budding relationship morphs from wariness to friendliness to love.
Posted Sep 26, 2008
5
The Doorman (2008)
Despite the fact that The Doorman features dozens of cameos by real-life boldface names, the film itself is a mess.
Posted Sep 23, 2008
6
College (2008)
Personally, I wouldn't waste a $5 drink on this one, but I do understand that teen's irritation.
Posted Sep 12, 2008
7
Towelhead (2007)
Nearly a decade after the triumph of American Beauty, Ball has stumbled to the level of American Booty.
Posted Sep 10, 2008
8
Blindness (2008)
Ignore that wretched Riviera buzz, because Blindness is a haunting work and a wonderful distillation of José Saramago's novel.
Posted Sep 9, 2008
9
Death Race (2008)
The movie Death Race most resembles is not Death Race 2000 or even another action movie but rather a beloved 1994 prison drama.
Posted Aug 22, 2008
10
Hamlet 2 (2008)
Nowhere is the failure of this film more evident than in the much ballyhooed Elisabeth Shue subplot.
Posted Aug 21, 2008
11
Transsiberian (2008)
Nowadays, Kingsley is a bit like the English version of Morgan Freeman - an actor with a seemingly inherent reservoir of gravitas, yet no qualms about glossy paycheck gigs.
Posted Aug 15, 2008
12
Elegy (2008)
In the early scenes of the two lovers discovering each other's bodies and personal quirks, Coixet coaxes work from Kingsley and Cruz that is remarkably intimate.
Posted Aug 8, 2008
13
Swing Vote (2008)
Carroll turns Costner into her comic foil, effectively relegating the Oscar winner to giving a supporting-sidekick performance in his own film.
Posted Aug 1, 2008
14
Ironic, then, that 20th Century Fox's quiescent sales job may ultimately cost the film a suitable first-weekend box office splash.
Posted Jul 25, 2008
15
Mamma Mia! (2008)
It is not merely that Pierce Brosnan cannot sing; it is that he looks so uncomfortable doing it.
Posted Jul 21, 2008
16
Had Werner Herzog lived 500 years ago, he probably would have become a celebrated conquistador, mapping out brave new worlds.
Posted Jul 2, 2008
17
The Wackness (2008)
Kingsley's pot smoking puddle of regret is one of the few Big Apple personas to come close to Hoffman's bag of Ratso Rizzo tricks.
Posted Jun 30, 2008
18
Get Smart (2008)
The smartest thing about the movie is the way Alan Arkin and Terence Stamp inject a little bit of that 1960's spirit.
Posted Jun 20, 2008
19
Sex and the City (2008)
Opt for the much better (and much shorter) version made in 1959 starring Hope Lange, Diane Baker, Suzy Parker and Joan Crawford.
Posted May 30, 2008
20
War, Inc. (2008)
The filmic equivalent of a bleating, hot microphone - all crossed wires and misfunneled energy.
Posted May 27, 2008
21
The Fall (2006)
The best movie of the year so far by a wide mile.
Posted May 12, 2008
22
Speed Racer (2008)
All in all, I'm pretty sure Hunter S. Thompson had hallucinations like this.
Posted May 9, 2008
23
Hear and Now (2007)
It's the merging of filmmaker and daughter that makes this documentary and memoir so compelling and appealing to a mass audience.
Posted May 7, 2008
24
Noise (2007)
A much better strategy for alarm activist Bean would have been to give Robbins a microphone and make this as a trenchant documentary.
Posted May 6, 2008
25
Redbelt (2008)
The journey has its charms, but the destination calls to mind Peggy Lee's "Is That All There Is?"
Posted May 2, 2008
26
Mostly works because it's well cast, wildly written and full of good, old-fashioned comedic friction.
Posted Apr 28, 2008
27
The Auteur (2008)
There's no Hitchcock in The Auteur, which is surprising considering the second syllable of the Master of Suspense's surname.
Posted Apr 25, 2008
28
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
The phrase "good enough" applies, without any negative connotations that might unintentionally summon forth.
Posted Apr 18, 2008
29
Anamorph (2008)
A pale imitation of David Fincher's Seven.
Posted Apr 16, 2008
30
Captain Abu Raed (2007)
Writer-director Matalqa cites City Lights as one of his favorites, and to Chaplin there are two predominant connections in his film.
Posted Apr 10, 2008
31
Sex and Death 101 (2007)
A fun, sloppy treatment of a profound premise that, as a reunion project between Waters and Ryder, feels right.
Posted Apr 10, 2008
32
My Blueberry Nights (2007)
Right from the beginning, there's a discomforting sense of banality blanketing the film: the journey, the pie motif, the faith in "new beginnings."
Posted Apr 4, 2008
33
Run Fatboy Run (2007)
A fry-up of American, British and Irish comedy sensibilities that will have no trouble satisfying mainstream movie appetites.
Posted Apr 2, 2008
34
21 (2008)
Across the Universe star Jim Sturgess reaffirms himself as a sympathetic, highly likable screen presence.
Posted Apr 1, 2008
35
Stop-Loss (2008)
Much of Stop-Loss' first act feels like the cast of Hee-Haw auditioning for a Best Years of Our Lives remake.
Posted Mar 31, 2008
36
The Hammer (2007)
Succeeds in spite of itself.
Posted Mar 28, 2008
37
Young@Heart (2007)
The best film I've seen so far this year and easily one of my favorite documentaries ever.
Posted Mar 28, 2008
38
Hats Off (2008)
A wonderful continuation of Johnstone's previous age-is-but-a-number twilight documentaries Martha & Ethel and Throwing Curves.
Posted Mar 28, 2008
39
Priceless (2006)
Tautou positively sparkles as a crafty master of the French Riviera sexual-favors-for-financial-rewards shell game.
Posted Mar 27, 2008
40
Chapter 27 (2007)
Leto's performance is as great a physical, if not emotional, transformation as Charlize Theron's "hagging it up" for Monster.
Posted Mar 25, 2008
41
Funny Games (2008)
Posits that we humans are a persuadable lot, willing to accept almost anything in the name of entertainment.
Posted Mar 14, 2008
42
Penelope (2006)
The success of Juno has re-set the bar for whimsical tales of headstrong, intelligent young women grappling with life difficulties.
Posted Mar 6, 2008
43
Married Life (2008)
Cooper and Brosnan display more genuine chemistry than anything that passes for sparks between Cooper and kept woman McAdams.
Posted Mar 5, 2008
44
The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)
There will always be adults who want to catch up on the history lessons they slept or passed notes through during their younger years.
Posted Feb 29, 2008
45
Vantage Point (2008)
Jittery, Bourne-style-lite mayhem, with edits every one-half to one-third a second.
Posted Feb 22, 2008
46
Charlie Bartlett (2007)
Charlie's more unsavory activities spring from the same source tapped in Rock 'n' Roll High School by Clint Howard's Eaglebauer character.
Posted Feb 22, 2008
47
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
The character of Poppy is an entirely original female film protagonist, sort of a British working class version of Annie Hall.
Posted Feb 22, 2008
48
Be Kind Rewind (2008)
Gondry is the first director since School of Rock's Richard Linklater to fully capture Black's truculent charm and actually make it - charming.
Posted Feb 21, 2008
49
Beaufort (2008)
Announces to North American audiences a major new talent in the form of 39-year-old writer-director Joseph Cedar.
Posted Feb 20, 2008
50
Definitely, Maybe (2008)