District 9 (2009)

Action/Adventure Rated R

“I’m still excited about the potential of District 9. The problem is, I’ve already seen it.

Ponyo (2009)

Family Rated G

“…something like Finding Nemo and The Little Mermaid – if Nemo and Ariel had gotten together to ingest some new variety of aquatic shrooms.

Tell No One (2006)

Thriller Rated R

There are twists upon twists upon twists in this French thriller – perhaps one or two twists too many. Hitchcock and (more country appropriate) Henri Georges-Clouzot are both evoked in this tale of a pediatrician (Francois Cluzet) who is struggling to recover from his wife’s murder years earlier. When new evidence is found, he is

Role Models (2008)

Comedy Rated R

Paul Rudd is the reason to see this raunchy, fairly smart dumb comedy from writer-director David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer, The Ten). He plays a misanthropic energy-drink salesman so hilariously bitter about the state of the world – and his pathetic place in it – he turns self-hatred into a sardonic art form. After

Public Enemies (2009)

Drama Rated R

“There is a lot to discuss concerning Public Enemies … but the elephant in the theater is that the movie looks like crud.

Bruno (2009)

Comedy Rated R

“Cohen holds up another mirror to American society, and if anything we’ve only gotten uglier since Borat. Or maybe we’re just uglier when it comes to homosexuality.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

Action/Adventure Rated PG

Like most of the other screen adaptations of the fantasy series by J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is an unwieldy thing, with too much wizardry for its running time. Yet also like its predecessors, this sixth installment has stunning production design and a strong cast, both of which make up for its

Princess and the Frog, The (2009)

Family Rated G

“…means to tap into nostalgia for the studio’s traditionally animated musicals of the 1990s, but it may have picked the wrong year to do so.

2012 (2009)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

“The world will end not with a whimper, but a bang – and another bang, and another bang, and another…

Whatever Works (2009)

Comedy Rated PG-13

Can we finally identify Woody Allen’s insistence on reusing the older man/younger woman storyline as pathological? It’s central once again in Whatever Works. The decision isn’t maddening because of its offensiveness or lack of creativity (though both gall), but in this case because it squanders a golden acting opportunity for Larry David. David plays Boris