Australia a Continental Mess

But if you like the style and the stars, then just eat the ice cream

(NEWSER) - Critics agree: Nine is no 8½. Some enjoy a star-studded song-and-dance, but most don't like the song part, and they find the stars misused at best. Some opinions:

• "Step right up, pay $10, and you can see eight superstars, six of whom have won Oscars, singing songs in sparkly costumes." If that sounds good, cautions Dana Stevens of Slate , know that "the songs range from mediocre to actively unlistenable and that few of these actors know how to put over a song."

Sharp performance from Jackman saves stale X-Men spinoff from total mediocrity

(NEWSER) - A charismatic Hugh Jackman gamely slashes his way through X:Men Origins: Wolverine, say critics, but he's let down by a stale script and effects that fail to lift the movie above generic superhero fare.

• Hollywood.com: The "action-filled spinoff delivers on the brawn but not the soul of the X-Men franchise that spawned it."

(NEWSER) - Nicole Kidman “squirmed” through the Sydney premier of her movie, Australia, and fled the country soon after, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. “I can't look at this movie and be proud of what I've done,” the actress said. “It's just impossible for me to connect to it emotionally at all.” Kidman rarely sees her own films, but did this time to satisfy director Baz Luhrmann. More»

(NEWSER) - Tearjerker novel Nights in Rodanthe left some critics sobbing and others scowling. Now Unfaithful co-stars Richard Gere and Diane Lane are reunited for the movie version of the Nicholas Sparks romance, with a similar divide. The actors' "natural rapport" makes for a movie "one either utterly succumbs to or stubbornly resists," Brian Lowry writes in Variety. More»

Movie about divorced dad rises above usual cliches

(NEWSER) - Definitely, Maybe, the story of a soon-to-be-divorced dad whose 11-year-old daughter wants to hear how he met her mother, is definitely a cut above most romantic comedies, critics say. "It's a lot fresher and a bit more sophisticated than the ordinary run of maudlin chick flicks," writes Ken Fox of TV Guide. More»