Tomato |
A Scanner Darkly (2006) |
"Wondrously attractive, all the more so for the avoidance (with one or two exceptions) of extrovert Waking Life-style set-pieces." |
Ben Walters |
Splat |
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) |
"At heart it's a terribly anguished expression of rejection, loneliness and love. If only it knew when to stop." |
|
Tomato |
Ace in the Hole (1951) |
"As a diatribe against all that is worst in human nature, it has moments dipped in pure vitriol." |
|
Splat 1/6 |
Across the Universe (2007) |
Click here to see the review. |
Melissa Anderson |
Tomato 4/5 |
Act of God (2009) |
"The approach matches up with the metaphysical aspects astonishingly well; the force of such ambient explorations hits you, surprisingly like a bolt out of the blue." |
David Fear |
Splat 2/5 |
Adam (2009) |
"It’s hogwash of the highest order, a romanticized take on disability that sees it both as God-gifted higher calling and seductive precoital bling." |
Keith Uhlich |
Splat 2/6 |
Adam Resurrected (2008) |
"The director’s absent conviction fails to make the film’s absurdities tragic, and instead comes close to rendering its tragedies absurd." |
Mark Holcomb |
Splat 2/6 |
Adam's Apples (2007) |
"Adam’s Apples strives for black comedy, but winds up being neither funny nor spiritually enlightening." |
Tom Beer |
Splat |
The Addams Family (1991) |
"Ooky the Addamses may be, subversive they ain't; it plays like a paean to the nuclear family." |
|
Tomato |
Addams Family Values (1993) |
"As sequels go, this is passable: no more coherent than the episodic first instalment, but with enough sick humour to satisfy the mildly depraved." |
|
Tomato 3/5 |
Adela (2009) |
"Alix knows how to frame a shot to emphasize his character’s ever-shifting emotional states, but there’s something missing, an elemental sense of space that would better complement the heroine’s figure-in-a-landscape distress." |
Keith Uhlich |
Splat 2/6 |
Adoration (2009) |
"The time-jumping narrative and self-consciously somnambulant mood undermine the writer-director’s zeitgeist-inspired thesis." |
Keith Uhlich |
Tomato 4/6 |
Adventureland (2009) |
"Mottola hasn’t concocted the funniest summer comedy ever, but he may have given us one of the wisest." |
Ben Kenigsberg |
Tomato |
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) |
"Richter's comic genre hybrid comes complete with its own mythology, and team of established superheroes, and is curiously appealing." |
|
Tomato 3/5 |
Adventures of Power (2009) |
"Forgive the film its Napoleon Dynamite overquirk; a loving god is watching all, genuflected to on bedroom-wall posters and seen in the film’s final five minutes -- and if you’re not a Rush fan, this is not your movie." |
Joshua Rothkopf |
- |
Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl in 3-D (2005) |
Click here to see the review. |
Dave Calhoun |
- |
Aeon Flux (2005) |
Click here to see the review. |
|
Tomato 3/5 |
Afghan Star (2009) |
"Though the who-will-win? structure both allows a too-brief peek into the quartet’s backgrounds and generates tension, the answer almost seems superfluous. The phenomenon itself is the real star." |
David Fear |
- |
After Innocence (2005) |
Click here to see the review. |
Geoff Andrew |
- |
After Midnight (2004) |
Click here to see the review. |
Wally Hammond |
- |
After the Apocalypse (2004) |
Click here to see the review. |
Trevor Johnston |
Splat 3/6 |
After The Wedding (2007) |
"Bier’s insistence on adding even more melodramatics into the mix feels like a mistake." |
David Fear |
Splat 1/5 |
Afterschool (2009) |
"If you’ve ever balked at drifty solitude or video meta-hell in the films of Gus Van Sant or Michael Haneke, this pale imitation will drive you batty." |
Nicolas Rapold |
Tomato 4/6 |
Air Guitar Nation (2007) |
"Air Guitar Nation does a fine job of bottling prelapsarian exuberance." |
Joshua Rothkopf |
Tomato 5/6 |
Alexander Nevsky (1938) |
"The movie is strident, yes, but when it soars, it can’t be touched." |
Joshua Rothkopf |
Tomato 5/6 |
Alexandra (2008) |
"To laud [Alexander] Sokurov’s latest film for being accessible is faint praise, as if the fact that you don’t need a Ph.D. in Russian history to watch it constitutes its worthiness." |
David Fear |
Tomato 4/6 |
Alice Neel (2007) |
"The effect is spirited rather than incriminating and, bolstered by Jonah Rapino’s contemplative score, as piercingly detailed as one of Alice’s mesmerizing portraits." |
Mark Holcomb |
Tomato 4/6 |
Alice's House (2007) |
"The capable cast, director’s documentarian past and ambient soundtrack heighten the film’s real-life sensibility, perfectly capturing the working-class life of a São Paulo family." |
Monika Fabian |
Tomato 6/6 |
Alien (1979) |
"The limited strengths of its staple sci-fi horrors always derived from either the offhand organic/ Freudian resonances of its design or the purely (brilliantly) manipulative editing and pacing of its above-average shock quota." |
Keith Uhlich |
Splat 2/6 |
Alien Trespass (2009) |
"All that’s missing from this would-be spoof are laughs." |
Hank Sartin |
Tomato |
Aliens (1986) |
"This sequel dares to build slowly, allowing Weaver to develop a multi-dimensional character even as it ups the ante by fetishising the Marines' hi-tech hardware and spawning legions of aliens." |
|
Splat 2/5 |
Aliens in the Attic (2009) |
"Jenkins is a bit too McDreamy to play the geeky underdog, and adult viewers will be nostalgic for the chubby, bucktoothed and truly dorky cast of The Goonies." |
Shauna Cagan |
Tomato |
All About Eve (1950) |
"Her display as Margo Channing shows Davis at the top of her game, not only for the acid-tongued egotism and bristling paranoia about the effects of the passing years, but for the moving realisation of the emotional toll exacted by her glittering career." |
Trevor Johnston |
Splat 47/100 |
All About Lily Chou-Chou (2002) |
"For all its impressive craftsmanship, and despite an overbearing series of third-act crescendos, Lily Chou-Chou never really builds up a head of emotional steam." |
Mike D'Angelo |
Splat 1/5 |
All About Steve (2009) |
"A talented director might have made Bullock seem like a comic genius, but Phil Traill has no control over tone, leaving the audience unsure whether to laugh or cry." |
Hank Sartin |
Tomato 4/6 |
All In This Tea (2008) |
"Despite its omissions, the movie is as quietly gaga as its human protagonist and as gently stimulating as its agricultural one." |
Mark Holcomb |
Tomato 62/100 |
All or Nothing (2002) |
"If every artist's misfires were this strong, life would be almost too wonderful to bear." |
Mike D'Angelo |
Tomato 4/6 |
Allah Made Me Funny (2008) |
"Stand-up with a point? How simple the sound." |
Steve Heisler |
Tomato 4/6 |
Allegro (2005) |
"Although the film, much like its protagonist and his piano playing, lacks a certain passion, its stylistic structure and execution are coolly flawless." |
Raven Snook |
Tomato 4/6 |
Alone With Her (2007) |
"Even a conventional, albeit cynical, ending can’t ruin such effective mood-making." |
Joshua Rothkopf |
Splat 0/6 |
Alpha Dog (2007) |
"The worst movie of the year." |
Melissa Anderson |
Splat 3/6 |
The Alphabet Killer (2008) |
"[Eliza Dushku's] commitment to the material is worthier than the cheesy ghost effects of decomposing children that the filmmakers felt the need to add." |
Joshua Rothkopf |
Splat 1/6 |
Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) |
"This curdled live action–computer animation combo seems phoned-in in every respect..." |
Ben Kenigsberg |
Tomato 5/6 |
Amarcord (1974) |
"This collection of vignettes loosely based on the director’s adolescence in Rimini feels as if its creator is vividly recalling every fleeting sensation of his early life." |
David Fear |
Splat 2/6 |
Amazing Grace (2007) |
"It’s neither amazing nor graceful." |
David Fear |
Splat 3/6 |
The Amazing Truth about Queen Raquela (2008) |
"Raquela’s travel sequences are poorly structured, and detract from the film’s most satisfying moments." |
Melissa Anderson |
Splat 2/5 |
Amelia (2009) |
"Told in final-flight flashback (naturally) with cumulus cloud scene wipes (of course!), Earhart’s life is reduced to a series of solemnized wide-screen tableaux populated by locale-specific extras acting as starstruck filler." |
Keith Uhlich |
Splat 2/6 |
America The Beautiful (2008) |
"There’s nothing new in Roberts’s film about skinny models, eating disorders, plastic surgery and toxic cosmetics." |
Anna King |
Splat 1/6 |
An American Affair (2009) |
"Stuck in William Olsson’s awkward melding of coming-of-age tale and political conspiracy thriller, Mol tries her best to make something of a role that’s half siren and half mourning mommy." |
Alison Willmore |
Tomato 4/6 |
American Cannibal - The Documentary (2006) |
"To the film’s credit, it’s finally a whistle-blower on unsafe shooting practices, not unsafe dining habits." |
Joshua Rothkopf |