Orphanage a Cut Above

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  Dec 25, 08 9:00 AM CST
  Doubt erases any qualms over whether the claustrophobic, Pulitzer Prize-winning play would work on the big screen, say critics. A "frighteningly good" Meryl Streep stars as the hardline principal of a Bronx Catholic school in 1964, Lou Lumenick writes in the New York Post. A game of cat-and-mouse begins when Streep's nun suspects a priest, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, of molesting the school's first African-American student. More »

• Button Looks Great, Less Filling

  Dec 24, 08 3:47 PM CST
  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is enjoyable and visually striking, but many critics feel David Fincher and Brad Pitt fail to mine the story of a man who ages in reverse for moments of real emotional depth. Pitt “gives you no hint what his character makes of the changes,” writes David Edelstein in New York, “he just stares ahead and lets his makeup do the acting.” More »

• Cruise Makes Valkyrie Bumpy Ride

  Dec 24, 08 2:01 PM CST
  Valkyrie isn’t that good—and surely not Oscar-worthy, Peter Travers writes in Rolling Stone. “And the sooner you accept it, the more fun you’ll have at this satisfying B movie.” The supporting cast is fantastic, and Tom Cruise’s presence just serves to make “you wonder why the SS man we’re rooting for is an American, while most of the other Germans are British,” writes Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune. More »

• Seven Pounds Heavy on Heart, Light on Logic

  Dec 19, 08 10:43 AM CST
  The less you know about this movie before you see it, the more you'll like it, caution critics weighing the new Will Smith vehicle Seven Pounds. One thing not to expect in the "darker and more oblique" spiritual successor to Smith's Pursuit of Happyness is chuckles, Mick LaSalle writes in the San Francisco Chronicle.
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• Rourke Clinches Wrestler

  Dec 18, 08 10:55 AM CST
  Mickey Rourke takes the title role of The Wrestler and pins it to the mat in a stunning comeback, say critics. The tragicomic portrait of a washed-up star still hitting the circuit decades past his prime "is not just a comeback performance but something much rarer: a rounded, raddled portrait of a good man," longtime Rourke fan Anthony Lane writes in the New Yorker. More »