Blood Makes Critics Swoon

Grabs best picture, actor, director awards from US film critics

(NEWSER) - There Will Be Blood, a riveting movie about the greed and corruption of oil prospecting in America a century ago, captured several of the highest awards from the National Society of Film Critics yesterday. Director Paul Thomas Anderson's adaptation of a 1927 Upton Sinclair novel earned awards for best picture, best actor for Daniel Day-Lewis and best director. More»

National Treasure: Book of Secrets keeps top spot as Alvin out-sings Legend

(NEWSER) - National Treasure: Book of Secrets shone in the top spot again this weekend as filmgoers kept flocking to the movies, Variety reports. Alvin and the Chipmunks crooned its way into second, humbling I Am Legend, as Mike Nichols-directed Charlie Wilson's War claimed fourth over Juno, an offbeat dramedy that nabbed fifth by soaring 201% over last weekend. More»

Step closer to Oscar at BAFTA

(NEWSER) - In what many see as a prologue to the Oscars, Atonement was named best film at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards yesterday, and Daniel Day-Lewis won the best actor award for his power performance in There Will Be Blood, reports Variety. In a surprise win French actress Marion Cotillard and her portrayal of chanteuse Edith Piaf beat out Julie Christie for the best actress award. More»

Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones return for alien flick

(NEWSER) - Sure, no one was that desperate for a Men in Black 3—but it's actually a pretty good summer movie. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back defending the planet from aliens, and this time, Josh Brolin's along for the ride as a young Jones.

• The movie "turns out to be so much fun," writes AO Scott in the New York Times . While it "carefully fulfills its blockbuster imperatives—with chases and explosions and elaborately contrived plot twists—it swerves into some marvelously silly, unexpectedly witty, and genuinely fresh territory."

Johnny Depp stars in Tim Burton film

(NEWSER) - Critics aren't thrilled with Tim Burton's latest offering, inspired by the late-1960s cult TV show of the same name and starring Johnny Depp as an 18th-century vampire who is buried alive, only to be accidentally dug up in 1972. The film isn't sure what it wants to be:

• Dark Shadows "tries to serve too many masters," writes Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News . "Initially it’s an epic valentine to the show. Then it’s a vamp-out-of-water story. Soon it’s a gung-ho comedy. Finally it's a monster flick." Still, it "unearths enough fun."