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Actor will focus on family in wake of near-split with wife

(NEWSER) - Sean Penn is taking a timeout from acting to focus on his family, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The actor dropped out of The Three Stooges and the crime thriller Cartel, and sources say his sabbatical from Tinseltown could last up to a year. His part in Cartel will be recast, but the Farrelly brothers have not revealed plans for the high-profile Stooges. More»

Jasons Bateman, Sudeikis star in Seth Gordon's comedy

(NEWSER) - Horrible Bosses is shockingly crude and a bit “uneven,” but it’s also amusing, critics say—because we can all identify with such workplace horrors. (Except maybe Jennifer Aniston as a crude, harassing dentist.)

• The film is “frequently very funny,” writes AO Scott in the New York Times . For one thing, it “does not bother to cut its coarseness with a hypocritical dose of sweetness or respectability,” he notes. “The laughter is mean but also oddly pure: it expels shame and leaves you feeling dizzy, a little embarrassed and also exhilarated.”

Larry the Cable Guy, Owen Wilson star in Pixar film

(NEWSER) - Just because it’s Pixar doesn’t mean it’s good, as Cars 2 proves. Its worst offender: sidekick-turned-lead Mater, voiced by Larry the Cable Guy.

• “Maybe the company was tired of turning out one masterpiece after another and decided to coast for a while,” suggests AO Scott in the New York Times . The film “takes the bold, arguably generous, and ultimately calamitous step of pushing its lovable, goofy second banana to the center of the action.” Mater is the “redneck Jar-Jar Binks.”

Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones return for alien flick

(NEWSER) - Sure, no one was that desperate for a Men in Black 3—but it's actually a pretty good summer movie. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back defending the planet from aliens, and this time, Josh Brolin's along for the ride as a young Jones.

• The movie "turns out to be so much fun," writes AO Scott in the New York Times . While it "carefully fulfills its blockbuster imperatives—with chases and explosions and elaborately contrived plot twists—it swerves into some marvelously silly, unexpectedly witty, and genuinely fresh territory."

Johnny Depp stars in Tim Burton film

(NEWSER) - Critics aren't thrilled with Tim Burton's latest offering, inspired by the late-1960s cult TV show of the same name and starring Johnny Depp as an 18th-century vampire who is buried alive, only to be accidentally dug up in 1972. The film isn't sure what it wants to be:

• Dark Shadows "tries to serve too many masters," writes Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News . "Initially it’s an epic valentine to the show. Then it’s a vamp-out-of-water story. Soon it’s a gung-ho comedy. Finally it's a monster flick." Still, it "unearths enough fun."