Fresh B
| Fresh 93%
| The Wedding Song (2009) | "
Writer-director Karin Albou (who plays the mother of the Jewish bride) has a sensuous, intimate filmmaking style that overrides The Wedding Song's more precariously loaded plot parallels." Posted Oct 28, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 88%
| The House of the Devil (2009) | "
Writer-director Ti West's crisp, economical, satisfying little horror pic reclaims the pleasures of the kind of old-school formula that the jokey Scream franchise deconstructed into satire." Posted Oct 28, 2009 |
Rotten D-
| Rotten 13%
| Gentlemen Broncos (2009) | "
The audience may have bought the act in Napoleon Dynamite. But this time, the act bombs." Posted Oct 28, 2009 |
Rotten D+
| Rotten 37%
| Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) | "
Don't bother to take notes, because subplots go nowhere, and characters -- many played
by well-known actors -- barely get screen time." Posted Oct 21, 2009 |
Rotten C+
| Rotten 17%
| Amelia (2009) | "
Amelia is a frustratingly old-school, Hollywood-style, inspirational biopic about Amelia Earhart that doesn't trust a viewer's independent assessment of the famous woman pictured on the screen." Posted Oct 21, 2009 |
Fresh A-
| Fresh 69%
| (Untitled) (2009) | "
Adam Goldberg glowers effectively as a serious composer of maddeningly difficult music; the wonderful Marley Shelton glows with hilariously cool composure as a gallery owner who exhibits unendurable art pieces." Posted Oct 21, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Rotten 48%
| Ong Bak 2 (2009) | "
Don't look for continuity of storyline -- just enjoy the extravagant fight stunts, the restless camera work, and the sluicing rivers of blood and mud. (That's why you're here, right?)" Posted Oct 21, 2009 |
Fresh A
| Fresh 71%
| Where the Wild Things Are (2009) | "
Profoundly beautiful and affecting, Where the Wild Things Are is a breath-
taking act of artistic transubstantiation." Posted Oct 14, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 61%
| Peter and Vandy (2009) | "
Jess Weixler (Teeth) is particularly lovely as Vandy, even when the mild young woman has to endure her beloved's screaming criticism of her sandwich-making methods." Posted Oct 14, 2009 |
Fresh A-
| Fresh 100%
| The Maid (2009) | "
Catalina Saavedra conjures a performance of such unflinching intensity and naked bravery in The Maid that at times it's painful to watch." Posted Oct 14, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Rotten 42%
| New York, I Love You (2009) | "
These tales are as highly designed as fashion layouts. But they're as relaxing to thumb through as those NYT Magazine trend pieces..." Posted Oct 14, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 92%
| The Damned United (2009) | "
The great cast includes Timothy Spall as the assistant manager, Colm Meaney as Clough's nemesis, and Jim Broadbent as a sports exec who'd make George Steinbrenner nervous." Posted Oct 7, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 76%
| Afterschool (2009) | "
Anthony Campos (who was 24 when he made this jolting pic) captures the numbing psychic scramble that just might cause the YouTube generation to go morally haywire. Or become filmmakers." Posted Oct 7, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 89%
| Zombieland (2009) | "
Zombieland takes full advantage of both possibilities of the species as well as the current boom in zombiephilia." Posted Oct 1, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Rotten 55%
| The Invention of Lying (2009) | "
The truth? Ricky Gervais' jolting philosophical comedy The Invention of Lying is seriously subversive. What other rom-com would spend so much time making a convincing case that belief in an afterlife is a harmless load of bollocks?" Posted Sep 30, 2009 |
Rotten C+
| Fresh 82%
| Whip It (2009) | "
Whip It suggests what might have happened if Juno had gone to a high school as poky as Napoleon Dynamite's and decided that although her mother wanted her to be a beauty queen like Little Miss Sunshine, she'd rather just strap on roller skates." Posted Sep 30, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Rotten 38%
| Surrogates (2009) | "
There's fun robot stuff, some good philosophical ideas, and a brief, nutty Willis-Ving Rhames reunion 15 years after Pulp Fiction." Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 28%
| Fame (2009) | "
NYC high school students sing, dance, emote in acting classes, and otherwise insist that America's got talent, but this unnecessarily tepid, conservative remake of 1980's far more famous and affecting original Fame suggests otherwise." Posted Sep 25, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 72%
| The Boys Are Back (2009) | "
With those piercing eyes, Owen makes a lovely, soulful Joe, of course. But it's not the nice papa we want to understand here, it's the unapologetically naughty one." Posted Sep 23, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 66%
| Coco Before Chanel (2009) | "
Coco Before Chanel examines the influences that made Chanel so different — and so irreplaceable — the way an observant fashion student might deconstruct an haute couture garment to understand how it's built." Posted Sep 23, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 79%
| Disgrace (2009) | "
Newcomer Jessica Haines is transparent and heartbreaking as the prof's unorthodox daughter, a victim of violence as the old ways crumble." Posted Sep 23, 2009 |
Rotten D+
| Rotten 32%
| The Burning Plain (2009) | "
The scenery (prettily captured by There Will Be Blood cinematographer Robert Elswit) is littered with heavy symbolism (fire! rain! dead birds!); the performances are merely heavy." Posted Sep 23, 2009 |
Rotten D
| Rotten 17%
| Love Happens (2009) | "
Other stuff happens too, all of it strained and dull." Posted Sep 18, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 76%
| The Informant! (2009) | "
[Damon] -- who has quietly and steadily turned into a great Everyman actor -- is in nimble control as he reveals his character's deep crazies." Posted Sep 16, 2009 |
Fresh A-
| Fresh 83%
| Bright Star (2009) | "
Campion's big-sisterly encouragement of Cornish's lovely, openhearted performance -- and Whishaw's well-matched response -- results in a character instantly, intimately recognizable to anyone remembering her own first love." Posted Sep 16, 2009 |
— | Fresh 62%
| Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009) | "
After a summer of phony, pasty rom-coms, do this: See a movie where old-fashioned notions of love, faith, strength, and the possibility of redemption are taken seriously." Posted Sep 14, 2009 |
Rotten C+
| Rotten 6%
| Whiteout (2009) | "
Whiteout is a conventionally jam-packed, dutifully ludicrous action thriller." Posted Sep 10, 2009 |
Rotten C-
| Rotten 18%
| The Other Man (2009) | "
The Other Man is self-conscious, overproduced, overacted Euro-marital hoo-ha." Posted Sep 9, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Rotten 56%
| 9 (2009) | "
The expanded cast of creatures looks great, dressed and animated in the homespun style Acker calls ''stitchpunk.''" Posted Sep 9, 2009 |
Rotten D
| Rotten 6%
| All About Steve (2009) | "
Oops, sorry, we're not supposed to think of Mary as mentally ill, psychologically unbalanced, or any of those painful things, just full of gumption and sunny determination." Posted Sep 4, 2009 |
Fresh A-
| Fresh 88%
| Amreeka (2009) | "
The good humor, generosity, and love Dabis bestows on her characters in this assured first feature are uniquely hers -- the mark of a talent to watch" Posted Sep 2, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 86%
| Fifty Dead Men Walking (2009) | "
Jim Sturgess makes a believable cocky lad who signs on for the con; an oddly bewigged Ben Kingsley is fussier and too actorly as his handler." Posted Aug 26, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 76%
| Five Minutes of Heaven (2009) | "
It's an original movie idea that feels written for the stage, all the more so since so much of our attention is diverted to admiring how the actors act, in roles with a high degree of technical
difficulty." Posted Aug 26, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Fresh 71%
| My One and Only (2009) | "
Renée Zellweger plays to her strengths as an unsinkable Southern belle in the safe and breezy 1950s period piece My One and Only." Posted Aug 26, 2009 |
Rotten C
| Rotten 9%
| Post Grad (2009) | "
Alexis Bledel plays a Ms. Sunshine who's fresh out of college and unable to find work, and thus -- conveniently for the uninspired makers of this dismayingly conservative dramedy -- she's temporarily bunking back home" Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Rotten C+
| Rotten 46%
| Shorts (2009) | "
Can we wish for a fresher subplot than that of pleasure-deadened grown-ups who live their lives in a stupor of consumerism?" Posted Aug 21, 2009 |
Fresh A
| Fresh 91%
| Ponyo (2009) | "
Don't tell Walt Disney, but Hayao Miyazaki
really holds the keys to the magic kingdom." Posted Aug 12, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 80%
| Bandslam (2009) | "
There's enough of a strong filmmaking backbeat in Bandslam to carry the movie's light tune." Posted Aug 12, 2009 |
Rotten C+
| Rotten 26%
| The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009) | "
The comedy concept is solid... It's the execution that's out of alignment in The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard." Posted Aug 12, 2009 |
Fresh B
| Fresh 88%
| Inglourious Basterds (2009) | "
Austrian actor Christoph Waltz
triumphs, heroically, over Tarantino's brash, cine-drunk tall tale." Posted Aug 12, 2009 |
Fresh A
| Fresh 90%
| District 9 (2009) | "
District 9 proves that there's intelligent alien life in the movie universe this summer." Posted Aug 12, 2009 |
Fresh A-
| Fresh 76%
| Cold Souls (2009) | "
The inventiveness of Barthes' story is matched by a sense of visual fluidity that's especially striking in a first feature." Posted Aug 5, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 60%
| Paper Heart (2009) | "
This diverting riff is as much a spoof of film-school self-seriousness as it is a sincere art project, enhanced by Yi's great, homemade puppets." Posted Aug 5, 2009 |
Fresh B-
| Rotten 58%
| A Perfect Getaway (2009) | "
Who's been murdering newlyweds, turning a beachy paradise into a tropical hell shared by three pretty couples? You'll probably guess, but that doesn't take away from the slicked-up genre charms of this A Perfect Getaway." Posted Aug 5, 2009 |
Fresh A-
| Fresh 86%
| Lorna's Silence (2009) | "
From the outstanding Belgian filmmakers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne (Rosetta), here's another closely observed, sociologically astute, and amazingly naturalistic drama about moral compromise as a by-product of economic need." Posted Jul 29, 2009 |
Fresh A-
| Fresh 83%
| Thirst (2009) | "
A gaudy, daring, operatic, and bloody funny provocation of a melodrama from Park Chan-wook." Posted Jul 29, 2009 |
Rotten C-
| Fresh 68%
| Funny People (2009) | "
In his long, sobering story without a punchline, Judd Apatow confounds three crowds: traditional Sandler fans expecting goofy sweetness, Virgin/Knocked Up boosters hoping for raunchy fun, and connoisseurs of movies that know how to kill." Posted Jul 29, 2009 |
Fresh B+
| Fresh 86%
| Tony Manero (2009) | "
Larrain's (literally) dark, edgy movie is a precise artistic commentary on Augusto Pinochet's miserable regime, which was
under way while Travolta gyrated." Posted Jul 22, 2009 |
Fresh A-
| Fresh 95%
| In the Loop (2009) | "
Consider the movie an offspring of the great 1980s BBC screwball political comedy series Yes Minister. And consider it a welcome oasis of script literacy in a summer of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." Posted Jul 22, 2009 |
Fresh A-
| Fresh 83%
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) | "
The filmmakers have found a way to refresh our eyes and enhance our appreciation for this rich, amazing creation." Posted Jul 14, 2009 |
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