Maclean's Magazine
Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating
Title/Year
Author
1
Bruno (2009)
What's most consistently brilliant about the film is Baron Cohen's acting. He never breaks character for a second.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
2
Public Enemies (2009)
Yes, this is a gangster movie worth seeing, and it should be seen on the big screen.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
3
500 Days of Summer (2009)
I found much to like in (500) Days of Summer, not the least of which is its emotional candour.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
4
The Proposal (2009)
5
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)
Hauling their luxurious backstories like matching trailers, hero and villain face off with what seems like contractual symmetry.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
6
Okuribito (Departures) (2009)
The encoffination ritual has a subtlety and grace that's lacking in Takita's direction, which lays down the narrative with slow, heavy brushstrokes of lacquered whimsy.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
7
Away We Go (2009)
I began to realize why I'd been resisting the film all along, in spite of its dogged charm. None of the places the couple visit seems remotely real.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
8
The Hangover (2009)
The movie, in the end, feels as as shabby as the unfulfilled lives that, we assume, these men will resume once the fun and games are over.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
9
Up (2009)
With Up, Disney/Pixar continues to set the bar for animated features.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
10
State of Play (2009)
11
Üç Maymun (Three Monkeys) (2008)
It's a strong story, with a slow but inexorable momentum. Ceylan has marshalled a quartet of superb performances.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
12
The Soloist (2009)
13
Hunger (2009)
Director Steve McQueen finds beauty in the squalor. And to his credit, he doesn't sermonize or take sides.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
14
Observe and Report (2009)
My resistance to embrace this film-even though I like the idea of a subversive, satirical anti-Paul Blart mall cop comedy-is that I had trouble believing it.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
15
Fanboys (2008)
The momentum is lost.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
16
Adventureland (2009)
It's the opposite of the Hollywood dream that you never let go.In this case the big, gaudy ambition turn out to be empty and pointless.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
17
RiP: A Remix Manifesto (2009)
Rip is a dazzling frontal assault on how corporate culture is using copyright law to muzzle freedom of expression.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
18
Gomorrah (Gomorra) (2008)
It's been a while since I first saw this brutal slice of social realism in Cannes. And it left an indelible impression, if not an urgent desire to see it again.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
19
Crossing Over (2009)
20
One Week (2008)
21
Lost Song (2008)
It's lovingly crafted.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
22
As a poetic tale of an outrageous artist-as-a-young-boy, It's Not Me, I Swear is also reminiscent of Léolo, the wonderful 1992 film by the late Jean-Claude Lauzon.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
23
Stone of Destiny (2008)
To call it a pleasant, watchable picture is to damn it with the faint praise that it seems to solicit.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
24
Che (2008)
I'm afraid to count myself as one of those curmudgeonly critics who was underwhelmed by its folksy period charm.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
25
The Necessities of Life (2008)
The story, scripted by Bernard Émond, is so spare, and its world is so bleak, that Ungalaaq's performance seems to take place in a void.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
26
The International (2009)
As for the direction, Tykwer seems more enamoured with architecture than with his actors.
Posted Jan 2, 2018
27
The Class (2008)
It is intensely vital.
Posted Dec 29, 2017
28
Last Chance Harvey (2009)
Maybe I'm damning with faint praise, but these are two actors I don't mind wasting time with.
Posted Dec 29, 2017
29
Defiance (2009)
30
Twilight (2008)
Without descending into camp, Pattinson undercuts earnest intensity with a deft, self-conscious wit.
Posted Dec 29, 2017
31
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
As an example of failure, and delusion, it's fascinating but ultimately frustrating.
Posted Dec 29, 2017
32
I've Loved You So Long (2008)
The reason to see I've Loved You So Long is quite simple: Kristin Scott Thomas.
Posted Dec 29, 2017
33
JCVD (Van Dammage) (2008)
Van Damme performs two virtuoso sequences in JCVD, each filmed in one extended uncut shot.
Posted Dec 29, 2017
34
Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)
Even though I saw it barely two months ago, it has gone right out of my head.
Posted Dec 29, 2017
35
What Just Happened? (2008)
The satire lacks the bite of The Player.
Posted Dec 29, 2017
36
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
37
Passchendaele (2008)
Passchendaele remains an impressive piece of work, a movie worth seeing and discussing as much for its flaws as its merits.
Posted Dec 26, 2017
38
Battle in Seattle (2008)
The movie's dramatic devices are schematic, but in the end there's something strangely moving about Battle in Seattle.
Posted Dec 26, 2017
39
W. (2008)
Like Bush's presidency, it seems lost: it lacks direction. W. could very well stand for why?
Posted Dec 26, 2017
40
Body of Lies (2008)
The film's veracity is undermined by its compulsive use of glib soundbites. Not to mention an over-wound plot that begs disbelief.
Posted Dec 26, 2017
41
Cooper's Camera (2008)
It inherits its zany satirical style from SCTV 's Great White North and Kids in the Hall, but it goes to gross-out extremes that seem unprecedented.
Posted Dec 26, 2017
42
Appaloosa (2008)
Really, it's like watching three amigos passing the time of day in New Mexico while waiting for a call from Cronenberg.
Posted Dec 26, 2017
43
Ghost Town (2008)
Gervais does his utmost to imprint his signature on a movie that doesn't really belong to him. His improvised dialogue vaults high above director David Koepp's script.
Posted Dec 26, 2017
44
Rachel Getting Married (2008)
The movie is one of the freshest, most original pictures to come out of Hollywood in a long time.
Posted Dec 15, 2017
45
Choke (2008)
Choke bites off more than it can chew. . . Choke's story is too hard to swallow . . . Choke is indigestible . . . Enough already! Gag me with a spoon.
Posted Dec 15, 2017
46
Miracle at St. Anna (2008)
It's too long, and its worthy efforts at period authenticity are undermined by a shaggy script that spells out its message with all the subtlety of military propaganda.
Posted Dec 15, 2017
47
Tell No One doesn't just keep you guessing; it keeps you on edge from start to finish.
Posted Dec 15, 2017
48
The Lucky Ones (2008)
It feels like it secretly wants to be a Iraq vet version [ of Y tu Mama Tambien] but is afraid to go there.
Posted Dec 15, 2017
49
You'd expect something better from Robert B. Weide.
Posted Dec 15, 2017
50
Religulous (2008)
As Bill Maher demolishes one soft target after another, his smugness wears thin.
Posted Dec 15, 2017