The Proposal a Charming Cliché

Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively star in Martin Campbell's film

(NEWSER) - Green Lantern is chock-full of special effects, but they’re not enough to rescue this superhero flick. Critics complain:

• “Green Lantern is bad,” writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times . It’s "impeded by lame jokes; evocations of better movies; an ugly-bruise palette of black, green, and purple; and a formulaic script that mechanically switches among story threads as TV shows often do.”

Football chick flick lacks suspense, delivers happy ending

(NEWSER) - The Blind Side lacks inherent suspense—it's based on the true story of Michael Oher, a rookie offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens. But the tale of a homeless African-American teen adopted by big-hearted white yuppies, at bottom a Sandra Bullock vehicle, goes over big in football country.

• Writer-director John Lee Hancock "manages to turn a movie that could have been about nothing more than 'white guilt' into something that surprisingly defies expectations and can be downright inspiring," writes Roger Moore in the Orlando Sentinel .

(NEWSER) - Sandra Bullock made a name for herself in romantic comedies but “can’t stand” them now, America's Sweetheart tells the Wall Street Journal. “I always read scripts and go, ‘I want to change the role of Sam to Samantha because it’s written better,’” Bullock says, citing the genre’s penchant for underselling female roles. And that’s what makes her new film The Proposal stand out. More»

But Nicolas Cage seems to get it: critics

(NEWSER) - Critics agree: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is ridiculous. But they're divided over whether the silliness of the sequel, once again starring Nicolas Cage as the devilish superhero, is funny or just bad.

• In the Merced Sun-Star , Roger Moore calls the movie "a profoundly silly mash-up of comic book and quasi-religious 'prophecy' about a motorcyclist who sold his soul to the devil." It beats the original: "This time around, Cage and everybody else on board are in on the joke," and that makes it "almost a great bad movie."

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."