Imprisoned Polanski 'Depressed': Lawyer

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."

'Better late than never,' fugitive director tells Zurich film festival

(NEWSER) - Two years to the day after the Swiss arrested him for child sex offenses committed in the US in 1977 , Roman Polanski picked up his lifetime achievement award at the Zurich film festival. "What can I say? Better late than never," said the director, who was freed from house arrest last summer after the Swiss decided not to extradite him to the US. "It's a very moving moment for me," he told the audience, which gave him a standing ovation. More»

Summer movie revenue, on the other hand, is up

(NEWSER) - This summer saw the release of some beloved films, but that wasn’t enough to keep theaters packed. Even as studios and theater owners saw record revenues (thanks to an average ticket price of $7.88), attendance fell to its lowest level since 1997, Bloomberg reports. The number of tickets sold this summer is expected hit 552 million, a drop of 2.6% from 2009. Meanwhile, summer revenue will rise to $4.35 billion, an increase of 2.4%. More»

Action flick less than the sum of its all-star parts

(NEWSER) - Sylvester Stallone directed and co-stars, alongside a Magnificent Seven-style roster of action-film legends—Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Steve Austin, Mickey Rourke, and Jason Statham—but critics have some issues with The Expendables.

• James Verniere (and a friend), Boston Herald : "Hulk like Expendables. It SMASH. Guns go BANG-BANG. Things go BOOM. Fire EVERYWHERE. Cars crash and make even MORE FIRE. HA-HA-HA. Hulk no like Rourke, though. Rourke NUTS."

Michael Cera and original storytelling make this a winner

(NEWSER) - Critics generally love the inventive storytelling of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, a very modern romance that stars Michael Cera. It's based on a graphic novel, and it shows.

• Joe Neumaier, Daily News : "Plugged into some kind of mental electrical socket by director Edgar Wright, this is a romantic adventure for the ADD age, a pop poem for Millennials that could just as well be titled Scott Pilgrim vs. the Old Ways of Storytelling."
• Eric D. Snider, Film.com : It's "an exuberant mixture of comic books, video games, and hipster romance," tied together with "unconventional filmmaking techniques." It might be the norm in 10 years, but "for now it's almost revolutionary."