Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 82%
| Invictus (2009) | "
Clint Eastwood's films are often termed "classical," a term that, with regard to Invictus, also suggests something close to stale." — Slant Magazine Posted Dec 6, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| N/A | The Slammin' Salmon (2009) | "
The film isn't any uglier than its antecedents, but it is more lethargic." — Slant Magazine Posted Dec 6, 2009 |
Rotten D
| Rotten 46%
| Everybody's Fine (2009) | "
Begins as merely intolerable and ends up borderline-reprehensible." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| N/A | Lake Tahoe (2008) | "
Eimbcke's Jarmusch-ian comedy is laced with something stronger." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 75%
| Loren Cass (2009) | "
An oppressive sense of brutality, loneliness and ennui remains visceral." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Dec 4, 2009 |
Rotten C+
| Fresh 89%
| Up in the Air (2009) | "
Pleasant enough in the moment but maintains considerable distance from actually plumbing the raw emotions of its central subject." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Dec 2, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Fresh 67%
| The Last Station (2009) | "
Michael Hoffman’s biopic of Leo Tolstoy’s final year filters its historical drama through a turgid coming-of-age experience." — Time Out New York Posted Dec 2, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 50%
| Until the Light Takes Us (2009) | "
It not only crucially fails to address the cultural forces that might have spawned the country's prime musical export but it also neglects to include more than cursory snippets of the tunes themselves." — Slant Magazine Posted Nov 30, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 84%
| The Princess and the Frog (2009) | "
It's the socio-cultural suggestions of this storytelling choice that's ultimately most troublesome." — Slant Magazine Posted Nov 25, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 21%
| Planet 51 (2009) | "
It’s just an excuse for classic-cinema shout-outs and roller-coaster-like commotion." — Time Out New York Posted Nov 25, 2009 |
Rotten .5/4
| Rotten 5%
| Old Dogs (2009) | "
So wretched that it should be unceremoniously put down." — Slant Magazine Posted Nov 24, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 72%
| The Road (2009) | "
A cinematic adaptation at once faithful and superior to its source material." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Nov 20, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 85%
| Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) | "
May not result in a coherent whole but nonetheless delivers bursts of random, inspired madness." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Nov 16, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 25%
| Staten Island (2009) | "
Staten Island has the stench of meat left on the counter for too long." — Slant Magazine Posted Nov 15, 2009 |
Rotten 2.5/4
| Fresh 87%
| Red Cliff (2009) | "
The film's shortcomings have less to do with Woo's orchestration of his ambitious tale and more to do with the Frankenstein hatchet job enacted against it." — Slant Magazine Posted Nov 15, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 57%
| Fix (2008) | "
Ruspoli's scenic cross-section L.A. travelogue conveys a strong sense of milieu even as his wannabe-Strung aesthetics reveal the project's underlying style-over-substance concerns." — Slant Magazine Posted Nov 15, 2009 |
Rotten D
| Rotten 38%
| 2012 (2009) | "
The defining entrant in, and the nadir of, the disaster porn genre." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 87%
| A Serious Man (2009) | "
Isn't drawn in one-to-one cause-effect lines, its obliqueness lending suspense and interpretative depth to the Job-like suffering of Larry." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Rotten C+
| Fresh 89%
| The White Ribbon (2009) | "
Another of the Funny Games auteur's unpersuasively rigid portraits of man's venality." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Nov 12, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 92%
| Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) | "
Anderson prizes the funny over the profound to an extent that keeps the proceedings a tad too light and jovial to register as anything more than a lightweight aside to his more acute, earnest work." — Slant Magazine Posted Nov 9, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Fresh 83%
| Paranormal Activity (2009) | "
The same old thing dressed up in very slightly different clothes." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Nov 9, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 91%
| The Messenger (2009) | "
Moverman's scripting is subdued and emotionally authentic." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Nov 9, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 60%
| Pirate Radio (2009) | "
Writer-director Richard Curtis is about as rock n' roll as the average great-grandmother, so it's no surprise that Pirate Radio, his ode to the irrepressible spirit of '60s classic rock, has all the electricity of a knitted sweater." — Slant Magazine Posted Nov 8, 2009 |
Rotten C+
| Fresh 88%
| Adventureland (2009) | "
Content to occupy that middle ground where insights are authentic but far from revelatory and comedy is more amiable than riotous." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Nov 6, 2009 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 46%
| The Box (2009) | "
Though his narrative's morality-play suspense and Bernard Herrmann-esque score recall Hitchcock, Kelly seems to have selected the '70s so that he can fully channel early-years Steven Spielberg." — Slant Magazine Posted Nov 5, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 55%
| Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009) | "
A clear step in the right direction for Zemeckis and his pet techno-project, the film nonetheless ultimately sabotages itself by prizing the hectic over the heartfelt." — Slant Magazine Posted Nov 3, 2009 |
Rotten .5/4
| Rotten 27%
| Splinterheads (2009) | "
Despite positioning itself as a Napoleon Dynamite-style comedy about a spazzy social retard, Splinterheads seems to have misplaced most of its jokes." — Slant Magazine Posted Nov 1, 2009 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 80%
| Collapse (2009) | "
Smith's subject Michael Ruppert never registers as much more than an eloquent but largely untrustworthy quack." — Slant Magazine Posted Nov 1, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Fresh 94%
| An Education (2009) | "
A teen-targeted public service announcement." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Oct 28, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Fresh 91%
| Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire (2009) | "
Daniels and screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher pile tribulations onto their protagonist not to inform but merely to exploit." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Oct 28, 2009 |
Rotten C+
| Rotten 24%
| Law Abiding Citizen (2009) | "
So blatantly nonsensical that the action quickly tips over into campiness." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Oct 26, 2009 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 87%
| Skin (2009) | "
A true-life tale of prejudice that hinges on a unique anomaly." — Slant Magazine Posted Oct 25, 2009 |
Rotten .5/4
| Rotten 13%
| Labor Day (2009) | "
A promotional film best suited for broadcast in an office lobby." — Slant Magazine Posted Oct 25, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 21%
| The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009) | "
The true abiding love affair here remains between Duffy and QT." — Slant Magazine Posted Oct 25, 2009 |
Rotten 1.0/4.0
| Rotten 45%
| Saw VI (2009) | "
Saw VI plays like the last gasp for relevance of a heavy-metal series that has not only gone regurgitation-rusty but seems lacking much of a will to live." — Slant Magazine Posted Oct 24, 2009 |
Rotten C-
| Rotten 16%
| The Boondock Saints (1999) | "
[A] dim-witted, aesthetically clunky Tarantino clone." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Oct 23, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 20%
| Amelia (2009) | "
Amelia attempts the yeoman's task of recounting a tale about which it has virtually nothing to say." — Slant Magazine Posted Oct 22, 2009 |
Fresh 3/5
| Rotten 48%
| Astro Boy (2009) | "
In its best moments, the film exudes an almost Miyazakian love of flight, notably during the hero’s maiden soar through the clouds." — Time Out New York Posted Oct 21, 2009 |
Rotten 2/5
| Rotten 37%
| Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) | "
At the very least, such triteness will dredge up a desire to keep the Weitz family -- brother Chris was responsible for the leaden Golden Compass debacle -- away from the first chapters of big-budget franchises." — Time Out New York Posted Oct 21, 2009 |
Rotten 1/5
| Rotten 26%
| Motherhood (2009) | "
A portrait of parenthood that’s apt to turn one into an ardent advocate of contraception, Motherhood portrays such shrill, mopey and all-around unpleasant adults that it’s hard to believe any of them found procreative partners." — Time Out New York Posted Oct 21, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 84%
| Happiness (1998) | "
Exhibits an almost pitch-perfect balance between condescension and compassion." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Oct 20, 2009 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 11%
| The Stepfather (2009) | "
a shabby substitute for its original." — Slant Magazine Posted Oct 16, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 71%
| Where the Wild Things Are (2009) | "
A mature, striking exploration of the way that kids feel." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Oct 14, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 50%
| Antichrist (2009) | "
Only sporadically feels like an effort interested in grappling with the miserable fallout from tragedy." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Oct 14, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 39%
| Surrogates (2009) | "
Has all the get-up-and-go of a dead battery." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Oct 14, 2009 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 12%
| Couples Retreat (2009) | "
Ultimately comes off as merely an excuse for stars to take a vacation on the studio's%u2014and moviegoing public's%u2014dime." — Slant Magazine Posted Oct 7, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Fresh 60%
| Wild Grass (2009) | "
Never congeal[s] into an emotionally coherent or compelling whole." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Oct 7, 2009 |
Rotten C-
| Fresh 69%
| Flanders (2006) | "
[A] stilted, affected term-paper treatise on the human condition." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Oct 7, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Fresh 68%
| Humanité (1999) | "
Feels like an overly deliberate meta-Bressonian prank." — Lessons of Darkness Posted Oct 7, 2009 |
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