Hancock Thwacks Box Office

Movie reviews: Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum can't save amnesia romance

(NEWSER) - In The Vow, Rachel McAdams plays a woman who must learn to love her husband again after amnesia wipes her memory. It's no surprise it was released ahead of Valentine's Day: It's pure mushiness, critics say.

• In the New York Daily News , Elizabeth Weitzman calls the film a "down-the-middle, by-the-numbers fantasy, in which no one is too quirky or interesting or challenging in any way." Still, "there’s no shortage of viewers ready to embrace an old-fashioned, guilty-pleasure romance."

Kristen Wiig comedy snags another record

(NEWSER) - It's official: Bridesmaids has become the most popular video-on-demand movie ever, with 4.8 million rentals in four months, says the Hollywood Reporter . It's just the latest record for the sometimes raunchy female comedy, which is also the top-grossing movie in its genre ever made—$288 million worldwide. And that's not counting $100 million in Blu-ray and DVD sales in the US and two potential Oscars—for original screenplay and supporting actress (Melissa McCarthy). More»

'The Surrogate,' 'Room 237,' 'For a Good Time, Call...' top New York's list

(NEWSER) - Film critics from New York braved the hobnobby world of Sundance and returned home with a list of their favorites. Many of these films, they note, have already secured distribution and will be coming to a theater near you:

• The Surrogate. A handicapped writer (John Hawkes) employs a sex surrogate (Helen Hunt) to pluck his long-overdue virginity. The Verdict: "This note-perfect, modest little movie ... sends you out on a sex-positive high."

Turning away from stardom 'common sense,' says actor

(NEWSER) - Bad boy Sean Penn is at it again. The eternally angry actor is blasting celebrity as an "obscene disease." "I don't think it's an overstatement to say that it's an obscene disease of celebrity that's taken over far too much of the life we live. I think it's a disease that's diminished the quality of life," Penn told the Huffington Post in an interview plugging his latest movie. "It's clearly something that I've been compromised by. But for the culture at large, there is this kind of herd commitment. I think it's just become cheap." More»

It's not: 'Luke, I am your father'

(NEWSER) - Sam Greenspan's 11 Points blog runs down some of most commonly misquoted lines in movie history, including:

• Wrong: If you build it, they will come (Field of Dreams)
• Right: If you build it, he will come
• Wrong: Luke, I am your father (Empire Strikes Back)
• Right: Darth Vader: Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father. Luke: He told me enough. He told me you killed him. Darth Vader: No. I am your father.
• Wrong: Hello, Clarice (Silence of the Lambs)
• Right: Good evening, Clarice
• Wrong: Play it again, Sam (Casablanca)
• Right: Play it once, Sam, for old times' sake, play As Time Goes

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