|
| 1. |
|
01/08/09 |
Weak |
 "David S. Goyer, who wrote the 'Blade' series and co-wrote 'The Dark Knight,' makes things laughably more complicated than they needed to be." |
| 2. |
|
01/08/09 |
Poor |
 "...tosses out stereotypes about female materialism and cattiness with all the giddy gusto of a newly married woman flinging the bouquet at her single girlfriends." |
| 3. |
|
01/15/09 |
Poor |
 "...there are, of course, plenty of obligatory adolescent sight gags to go along with the man-child hero fantasies, all of them flatly staged and observed..." |
| 4. |
|
01/15/09 |
Moderate |
 "Kids might be entertained by the canine antics.... But even serious dog lovers among adults in the audience -- and that includes yours truly -- will be severely bored." |
| 5. |
|
01/15/09 |
Very Good |
 "...transcends gangster-flick cliches because of the outsized talents of the artist and the actor who portrays him." |
| 6. |
|
01/22/09 |
Weak |
 "The mythology here is mind-bogglingly dense and, often, illogical. Maybe it worked better on the page; on the screen, it feels like an onslaught." |
| 7. |
|
01/29/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "It's a whole lot of nonsense and bluster that will, of course, end well... Mindless? Sure. But at least it's mindlessly entertaining -- and, blissfully, brief." |
| 8. |
|
01/29/09 |
Poor |
 "...soggy... chock full of stereotypically folksy folks... All the women like scrapbooking and all the men like ice fishing. All of them." |
| 9. |
|
02/05/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...visually dazzling, but strangely joyless.... the darkness that permeates definitely calls to mind Burton's trademark twisted sensibility.... But there's no lightness..." |
| 10. |
|
02/05/09 |
Poor |
 "At the end of their journey, Eric wonders aloud about 'Phantom Menace,' 'What if the movie sucks?' Here's a hint: It does. And it's not the only one." |
| 11. |
|
02/05/09 |
Weak |
 "Reprising the Peter Sellers role as France's supreme imbecile Inspector Clouseau, Martin again does nothing more than a passable parody of a French accent." |
| 12. |
|
02/05/09 |
Moderate |
 "...a hit-and-miss mix of reality and romance.... feels like episodic television rather than a cohesive whole." |
| 13. |
|
02/12/09 |
Good (Not Great) |
 "...seems intentionally devoid of any sort of driving arc... It's more like a somber, subtly observed series of moments which conclude with a resigned shrug." |
| 14. |
|
02/12/09 |
Outstanding |
 "...you'll find yourself dazzled... The photography is so intimate and the details are so tangible, they'll make you repeatedly wonder: How'd they get that shot?" |
| 15. |
|
02/12/09 |
Weak |
 "...there really is no appropriate moment for a shrill onslaught that perpetuates the worst stereotypes about female materialism..." |
| 16. |
|
02/12/09 |
Very Good |
 "...equal parts globe-trotting thriller and architecture porn, as perfectly crystallized by its mind-blowing central set piece: a seemingly endless shootout at the Guggenheim Museum." |
| 17. |
|
02/19/09 |
Moderate |
 "...rude and crude... What's surprising, though, is that within the premise lies a streak of giddy humor that makes the whole endeavor more tolerable than it ought to be." |
| 18. |
|
02/19/09 |
Moderate |
 "...co-directors Michael Selditch and Rob Tate have too much reverence for Jay McCarroll as an artist and as a larger-than-life persona.... The film is only skin deep." |
| 19. |
|
02/26/09 |
Weak |
 "...mostly, the movie upholds the adage that if it's too loud, you're too old. Then again, if you're bothering to read this, you're probably too old anyway." |
| 20. |
|
02/26/09 |
Very Good |
 "...upends everything you think you know about the mob, and mob movies.... a movie that's so defiantly minimalist, you'd think it was a documentary." |
