|
| 1. |
|
01/09/09 |
Poor |
 "Gary Winick shows little of the knack for true emotional detail or rounded fable and none of the talent with performers that he displayed in 'Tadpole,' 'Charlotte's Web'..." |
| 2. |
|
01/09/09 |
Moderate |
 "...dramatizes the need to let God into marriage with a preachy style that operates like call-and-response." |
| 3. |
|
01/16/09 |
Very Good |
 "Tillman has imbued Biggie's story with emotions that bring home the full arc of a tumultuous, complicated life..." |
| 4. |
|
01/23/09 |
Moderate |
 "Where's the fantasy? Where's the fun? Instead of a romp with book characters coming alive, it's as flat as the pages it's drawn from." |
| 5. |
|
01/30/09 |
Weak |
 "...like a post-Sept. 11 throwback to the most primitive movie melodramas about innocents threatened with 'a fate worse than death.' " |
| 6. |
|
01/30/09 |
Poor |
 "In her tailored suits, Zellweger moves her rump with such an irritating, tick-tock regularity that she could have served as a metronome." |
| 7. |
|
02/06/09 |
Outstanding |
 "The combination of 3-D photography and puppet-animation - centered on actual figures designed by hand - creates a world that's dense, active and fluid: a sensory Jacuzzi." |
| 8. |
|
02/06/09 |
Poor |
 "Even the great Lily Tomlin can't muster a funny reaction to a Polish joke. It's an everything-including-the kitchen-sink comedy -- and the sink has rusty pipes." |
| 9. |
|
02/13/09 |
Weak |
 "...a writer files a piece at night, and within hours it's on the pages of a slick magazine. The problem with the film isn't conspicuous consumption. It's ostentatious idiocy." |
| 10. |
|
02/13/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...it's bracing to see a suspense film take its time with complications and bring gravity to almost every death. But the movie too often plods..." |
| 11. |
|
02/20/09 |
Moderate |
 "...a routine cheer film that earns some rah-rahs but is mostly blah blah." |
| 12. |
|
02/20/09 |
Excellent |
 "...the animated shorts have garnered more attention than live-action shorts in recent years... the dramatic slate is equally varied, enjoyable and invigorating." |
| 13. |
|
02/27/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...ambles along on a decent sprinkling of chuckles. The tide of in-jokes are funny whether you get them or not... the real humor lies in how they reflect a fraternal code." |
| 14. |
|
02/27/09 |
Outstanding |
 "Gweneth Paltrow proves superb as an unsettled and unsettling woman who doesn't overvalue her beauty and bemoans her shaky character." |
| 15. |
|
03/06/09 |
Weak |
 "Unwatchable.... lacks originality and vitality." |
| 16. |
|
03/06/09 |
Moderate |
 "...presents a fresh view of San Francisco in black and white... Yet it's pretty in all the wrong ways: pretty slight, pretty preachy and pretty affected." |
| 17. |
|
03/13/09 |
Very Good |
 "...one kids' movie that doesn't go all gooey with 'a sense of wonder' or all gaga with special effects. That's no small feat." |
| 18. |
|
03/13/09 |
Poor |
 "The movie means to be about how violence makes animals out of all of us, including the vengeful parents. Unfortunately, that also includes the audience." |
| 19. |
|
03/20/09 |
Very Good |
 "...a shrewd balancing act between organic and artificial laughs. Even when it swings low, it connects." |
| 20. |
|
03/20/09 |
Moderate |
 "...offers mumbo jumbo on an apocalyptic scale. It's a thick, lumpy stew of devices from the sci-fi/fantasy mainstream and the lunatic fringe." |
