Tomato |
Adoration (2009) |
"If Egoyan's elliptical narrative flirts with pretentiousness, the director nonetheless encases his action in an affecting mood of regret and longing." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
Alien Trespass (2009) |
"Merely coasts along limply, lacking ribald tongue-in-cheek humor as well as the unironic self-seriousness that epitomized its spiritual predecessors." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
The Brothers Bloom (2009) |
"Infinitely pleased with its derivative, fanciful writerly convolutions." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato |
Drag Me To Hell (2009) |
"A delirious haunted house carnival ride." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
Eldorado (2008) |
"What ultimately prevents Eldorado from generating any serious comedic energy is absurdity ... that feels unduly strained and limp." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
Eleven Minutes (2009) |
"A severely limited affair, one whose appeal will likely be relegated to those already familiar with McCarroll's prior escapades." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
Fanboys (2009) |
"Merely an extended high-five to those already in the Skywalker-adoring club." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
Ghostbusters 2 (1989) |
"Effectively slimed everyone's fond memories of the original." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
Gigantic (2008) |
"A borderline insufferable trifle that dispenses quirkiness with its every gesture and breath." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
Guest of Cindy Sherman (2009) |
"Absorbing yet lacking." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato |
Jerichow (2009) |
"By protracting his set-up, Petzold ... achieves and maintains an effective level of intrigue." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato |
Lifeforce (1985) |
"Frequently outlandish and far from profound, it's nonetheless a box-office bomb that, like its horror-maestro director, deserved quite a bit better." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
The Limits of Control (2009) |
"Plods along with a self-seriousness that borders on parody." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
Lymelife (2009) |
"Authenticity is drowned out by an overarching don't-judge-a-book-by-its-cover message that long ago lost its luster." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
Medicine for Melancholy (2009) |
"Concluding on a fittingly less-than-happy note, the promising but uneven film knows what it wants to say, if not, ultimately, exactly how to say it." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato |
Must Read After My Death (2009) |
"Intimately, poetically evokes the banal tragedies of one family's 1960s Hartford, CT life." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
Outrage (2009) |
"By letting others do the heavy lifting, the filmmaker comes off as more than a little reticent, a quality in tune with the overall tone of his latest." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
Reunion (2009) |
"A Big Chill-ish enterprise whose serious intentions aren't enough to compensate for the two-dimensionality of its stock archetypes." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
Rudo and Cursi (2009) |
"A flagrantly contrived piece of Hollywood-style hokum masquerading as serious drama." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato |
Serbis (2009) |
"A scraggly, messy, often aimless, and yet consistently amusing and engaging work of black comedy-cum-social-realism." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
Sherman's Way (2009) |
"Charts the contrived awakenings of two caricatures." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
Sleep Dealer (2009) |
"Culminates in an unconvincing finale whose hopefulness seems not only fanciful but, when viewed on the story's own terms, woefully short-sighted." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
The Song of Sparrows (2009) |
"It's a homily about the ethically and spiritually corrupting influence of the city, and of that milieu's capitalist ethos, straight out of an Industrial Revolution-era sermon." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato |
Star Trek (2009) |
"A largely thrilling surprise, its blend of humor, romance and action so kinetically orchestrated that calling out its shortcomings feels like excessive carping." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato |
State of Play (2009) |
"Achieves suitably swift momentum, the twists and turns coming fast enough to keep one distracted from the obvious, telegraphed denouement lying in wait." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato |
Sugar (2009) |
"The filmmakers' confidently modest helming ... allows events to feel, if not fresh, then at least real." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
Tequila Sunrise (1988) |
"A project with the ingredients for greatness that nonetheless came out half-baked." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
Terminator Salvation (2009) |
"Strives for bleak gravity with misguided fervor." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato |
Tokyo! (2009) |
"In this surprisingly rich anthology, it's not merely location that proves the primary connective tissue, but a sense of individuals struggling to cope with detachment." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
The Trouble with Romance (2009) |
"A Cinemax skin flick without the skin." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato |
Two Lovers (2009) |
"Focuses so intently on character details and setting that the gradual development and resolution of the plot seems not rote but fervent, prickly, alive." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
Tyson (2009) |
"Ultimately proves too subjective to truly get at the heart and mind-frame of its iconic subject." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato |
An Unlikely Weapon (2009) |
"Though Morgan's non-fiction techniques are only serviceably straightforward, the director engagingly makes clear that Adams' most renowned image haunted him but did not, ultimately, define his work." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato |
Up (2009) |
"Exudes a wit and wisdom that elevates it to the animated adventure apex." |
Nick Schager |
Splat |
We Pedal Uphill (2009) |
"This collage ... all too frequently succumbs to moralistic clichés, and never coheres into a rousing, affecting whole." |
Nick Schager |
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