movie review

Stories 721 - 740 | << Prev   Next >>

Paper Heart Is Beguiling, Enigmatic
 Paper Heart Is 
 Beguiling, Enigmatic 
movie review
Aug 7, 2009 3:02 PM CDT

Paper Heart Is Beguiling, Enigmatic

'Quasi-documentary' blends fact, fiction

(Newser) - One's enjoyment of Paper Heart, a hard-to-pin-down fictional love story wrapped inside a real-life documentary about love, “will hinge almost entirely” on how the viewer feels about writer and star Charlyne Yi, writes Jeannette Catsoulis in the New York Times. Yi and co-star Michael Cera have been linked romantically...

Overwrought G.I. Joe 'Everything You Could Want'

(Newser) - Most critics—who didn't have access to advance screenings, normally a huge red flag—agree that G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra isn’t anything but a popcorn flick. For some, that’s enough. For others, not so much.
  • "It’s all put together with such verve and
...

Giamatti Hot in Cold Souls
 Giamatti Hot in Cold Souls 
movie review
Aug 7, 2009 10:04 AM CDT

Giamatti Hot in Cold Souls

Soul-searching film leaves critics mixed

(Newser) - Paul Giamatti—who plays an actor named...Paul Giamatti—wows critics in Cold Souls, but some say the comedy as a whole, in which a man has his soul removed, leaves something to be desired.
  • "Cold Souls has its flaws, and it threatens to sag into a Paul-like morbidity,
...

Julie & Julia Tasty Despite One Cook Too Many

(Newser) - Dual biopic Julie & Julia would have been a lot better if it had focused solely on Julia Child, say critics, but Meryl Streep's performance as the famous chef more than compensates for the second, weaker storyline about a blogger who tackles Child's recipes.
  • Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: 
...

Apatow's Funny People: Insightful, Smug, Too Long

(Newser) - Judd Apatow doesn't dispense entirely with his raunchy humor in Funny People, but his venture into more serious themes meets mixed success with critics. Most, however, love Adam Sandler as a gravely ill comedian confronting the emptiness of his life.
  • Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: "Apatow scores by crafting the
...

Critics Shrink From Adopting Orphan
 Critics Shrink From 
 Adopting Orphan 
movie review
Jul 24, 2009 2:33 PM CDT

Critics Shrink From Adopting Orphan

Critics mixed on scary-kid horror film

(Newser) - Critics are divided over Orphan, a horror flick about an adopted child who makes scary things happen:
  • “Actors have to eat like the rest of us, if evidently not as much, but you still have to wonder how the independent-film mainstays Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard ended up wading
...

G-Force Spins Its Wheel
 G-Force Spins Its Wheel 
Movie Review
Jul 24, 2009 12:13 PM CDT

G-Force Spins Its Wheel

(Newser) - If their mission was to please critics, the adorable spies of G-Force have failed. Here's what the critics saying:
  • Director Hoyt Yeatman should be ashamed, writes Ty Burr in the Boston Globe. “If you can’t squeeze a decent movie out of talking 3-D superagent guinea pigs, you may
...

In the Loop Is Bloody Good Fun
 In the Loop Is Bloody Good Fun
movie review
Jul 24, 2009 11:18 AM CDT

In the Loop Is Bloody Good Fun

British political satire tells of path to war

(Newser) - In the Loop is a blistering, satirical tale of unsavory characters in the British and American governments pushing their nations to war in the Middle East.
  • “While In the Loop is a highly disciplined inquiry into a very serious subject, it is also, line by filthy line, scene by
...

Ugly Truth Is Pretty Bad
 Ugly Truth Is Pretty Bad 
MOVIE REVIEW
Jul 24, 2009 7:20 AM CDT

Ugly Truth Is Pretty Bad

(Newser) - Battle-of-the-sexes comedy Ugly Truth combines the worst aspects of male-friendly gross-out comedies with the worst aspects of female-friendly romantic comedies and the results aren't pretty, say unimpressed critics.
  • Refer Guzmán, Newsday: The movie "does a disservice to both genders. Its crass sex jokes feel like chum for mentally
...

Critics In Love With (500) Days
 Critics In Love With (500) Days  
Movie Review
Jul 17, 2009 10:29 AM CDT

Critics In Love With (500) Days

(Newser) - Critics are head over heels for (500) Days of Summer, a boy-meets-girl flick that shakes things up by telling the story out of order. Here’s what they’re saying:  
  • The movie “turns the genre on its empty head and sees relationships for what they are—a bruising
...

Potter Still Making Magic
 Potter Still Making Magic 
NEW RELEASE
Jul 14, 2009 7:59 AM CDT

Potter Still Making Magic

Sixth installment is one of the best in the series

(Newser) - Our sixth cinematic trip to Hogwarts holds onto the magic with stunning visuals, great acting, and a maturing storyline:
  • Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is “spellbinding, even though it is more grounded in reality and less fanciful than previous installments,” writes Claudia Puig in USA Today. “
...

Critics Hate You, Beth Cooper
 Critics Hate You, Beth Cooper 
Movie review
Jul 10, 2009 2:15 PM CDT

Critics Hate You, Beth Cooper

Nothing standout about this recycled comedy

(Newser) - No one seems to love Beth Cooper: The teen comedy about a nerd in love with a popular girl is nothing new, critics say:
  • “I Love You, Beth Cooper is not a remake—it just feels like one,” writes Mark Olsen in the Los Angeles Times. It’s
...

Humpday Gets Bromance Right
  Humpday Gets Bromance Right 
movie review
Jul 10, 2009 10:12 AM CDT

Humpday Gets Bromance Right

Winning film 'makes you squirm and think'

(Newser) - Critics are applauding Humpday, a bromance about two old friends reunited who decide to make an “art” film in which they’ll sleep together—a plan that makes for no end of awkwardness.
  • “To guys everywhere: Humpday has your number,” writes Stephen Holden in the New York
...

Bruno : Prepare to Cringe, Laugh
 Bruno: 
 Prepare to Cringe, Laugh 
MOVIE REVIEW
Jul 10, 2009 8:24 AM CDT

Bruno: Prepare to Cringe, Laugh

(Newser) - Critics generally give solid marks to Sasha Baron Cohen's cringe-inducing Bruno. It may not outrank Borat, but Cohen remains the master of crude, cruel laughs and uncomfortable insights.
  • Nathan Rabin, Onion AV Club: "Cohen no longer has freshness and novelty on his side, but he’s retained the power
...

Ice Age Sequel Not So Hot
 Ice Age Sequel Not So Hot 
Movie review
Jul 1, 2009 11:14 AM CDT

Ice Age Sequel Not So Hot

But animated sequel has a few redeeming moments

(Newser) - If you need an air-conditioned snooze on the busy holiday weekend, the third Ice Age film may be the answer. Still, it has its moments:
  • Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs frequently feels “so glacial that it's a wonder Ray Romano's Manny the mammoth doesn't freeze in his tracks,
...

Sister's Keeper a 'Shameless Weepy'
 Sister's Keeper 
 a 'Shameless 
 Weepy' 
MOVIE REVIEW
Jun 26, 2009 8:53 AM CDT

Sister's Keeper a 'Shameless Weepy'

Melodrama about teen cancer patient carries out sustained assault on tear ducts

(Newser) - Cancer melodrama My Sister's Keeper makes every effort possible to tug at the heartstrings, say critics, leaving some people touched and others feeling like they've been run through an industrial tear-extraction machine.
  • AO Scott, New York Times: Keeper "takes on a very tough subject," and has "two
...

Transformers 2: 'Dazzling,' 'Scrap Metal'
 Transformers 2: 
 'Dazzling,' 'Scrap Metal' 
movie review
Jun 24, 2009 12:43 PM CDT

Transformers 2: 'Dazzling,' 'Scrap Metal'

Bigger, longer, dumber sequel is less than meets the eye

(Newser) - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen doesn't skimp on the special effects, say critics, but it lacks the clever touches of its predecessor and the mammoth 2.5 hour running time is likely to give all but the biggest fans metal fatigue.
  • Joe Lozito, Big Picture Big Sound: "This robot-on-robot
...

The Proposal a Charming Clich&eacute;
 The Proposal a  
 Charming Cliché 
movie review
Jun 19, 2009 12:02 PM CDT

The Proposal a Charming Cliché

Bullock, Reynolds appeal in familiar story

(Newser) - There’s nothing groundbreaking about The Proposal, but with appealing leads Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, it manages to pull off a story you’ve seen before.
  • The film “recycles a plot that was already old when Tracy and Hepburn were trying it out,” writes Roger Ebert in
...

Curb Star in Woody's Latest ... Eh, Whatever

 Curb Star in Woody's 
 Latest ... Eh, Whatever 
Movie Review
Jun 19, 2009 10:00 AM CDT

Curb Star in Woody's Latest ... Eh, Whatever

(Newser) - Woody Allen! Larry David! It sounds like a match made in comedy heaven, but the results are more like purgatory, according to the critics. Here’s what they’re saying:
  • Whatever Works is one of Allen’s worst movies, writes Claudia Puig of USA Today. David’s Boris “is
...

Year One Offers Unevolved Laughs
 Year One Offers 
 Unevolved Laughs 
movie review
Jun 19, 2009 6:59 AM CDT

Year One Offers Unevolved Laughs

Prehistoric comedy aims low and hits the target

(Newser) - The jokes in caveman comedy Year One with Jack Black and Michael Cera are prehistoric, say critics, but it's still passable fun for anybody not expecting a comic masterpiece.
  • Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: "More or less indefensible, but I'll gladly defend parts of it." It won't rank up
...

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