Wright Penn Lifts Pippa Lee

The best of the stuff Oscar overlooked this year

(NEWSER) - Julia and Julia may be an Oscar fave, but the folks at Esquire think Notorious, starring Jamal Woolard, did the best job of resurrecting the dead. It lists the best stuff Oscar overlooked this year:

• Best Widow: Carey Mulligan in Brothers. Her portrayal of a widow of a US soldier "stays with you long after the movie ends."
• Best Casting Decision: Keanu Reeves in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. "The obtuse, laconic, slightly wooden" actor stars as Robin Wright Penn's "obtuse, laconic, slightly wooden love interest."

Harlem drama brutally honest, some say manipulative

(NEWSER) - Precious packs a strong emotional punch with its story of an abused, illiterate teen in '80s Harlem, but where some critics see candid greatness, others see "poverty porn."

• Precious is "a great American film," writes Roger Ebert at the Chicago Sun-Times, that finds a believable way to move from "a landscape of despair" to an inspiring ending. Star Gabourey Sidibe makes a fantastic debut and "three other actresses perform so powerfully in the film that Academy voters will be hard-pressed to choose among them."

Tale of black girl born to white parents taps apartheid's madness

(NEWSER) - A true-life tale of the struggles of a dark-skinned girl born to white Afrikaners in '50s South Africa, Skin scored with critics, though some found it a bit too black-and-white.

• Skin "serves as a stirring allegory for birthright and the assertion of one's identity in the face of oppression," writes Michael Rechtshaffen at the Hollywood Reporter . "But the fact that it's actually based on a true story adds an extra layer of poignancy."

Poignant comedy manages to scrub past the indie film clichés

(NEWSER) - Humor and poignancy don't merge that neatly in Sunshine Cleaning, but its offbeat charm managed to win over most critics. The story of sisters from a troubled family who go into the crime-scene cleanup business delves deep into emotional issues but remains a comedy, Kirk Honeycutt writes in the Hollywood Reporter, although "more a gray than a black one." More»

'Philosophical' meets 'camp' in sci-fi remake

(NEWSER) - The Day the Earth Stood Still brings “stone-faced silliness” to what’s intended to be a “philosophical discussion” of humankind’s foibles, writes Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News. The human-extinction sci-fi remake's “major action sequences are never exciting,” and its attempt to make a point “results in something just as clunky as a mega-robot with laser-beam eyes,” Neumaier writes. More»