Film Critics Fading in Cyber-Culture

Paul Rudd stars in Jesse Peretz comedy

(NEWSER) - Our Idiot Brother is the story of a sweet-natured fool who depends on his three sisters to get his life back on track. It’s good for a smile, if not big laughs:

• In the New York Times , AO Scott calls it a “thin, unconvincing movie made likable by the charm and skill of its cast and by a script peppered with wit and insight.” The humor, however, comes from “obvious, picked-over places.”

Filming slain writer's script a fine sentiment, poorly executed

(NEWSER) - When Waitress writer-director Adrienne Shelly was murdered, in 2006, she left behind the script for Serious Moonlight. Critics speculate that she might have made it work, but that hasn't happened:

• "A wife duct-tapes her husband to a chair and tells him that she will make him fall in love with her again (and if she doesn't, she'll never set him free)," Mick LaSalle summarizes in the San Francisco Chronicle . "The banter is insufferable. The situation is frustrating. Audiences may begin to feel as if they're duct-taped to a chair."

De Niro the best part about predictable holiday treacle

(NEWSER) - Critics are divided on Everybody’s Fine: Some think the family drama is okay because of Robert De Niro, and others think it’s awful despite him. What they’re saying:

• It’s “a thoroughly fake movie that is about, of all things, the need for truthfulness,” writes Kirk Honeycutt of the Hollywood Reporter . “Characters have no depth, and all emotions get ladled on via a syrupy score and De Niro's strenuous acting.”
• Rooting for these characters “requires saintly moviegoing patience I clearly don't have,” says Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly , adding that the script was written “under guidance, apparently, from Dr. Phil.”

High-quality copy has been downloaded 75,000 times

(NEWSER) - An almost-done, high-quality rip of X-Men Origins: Wolverine has been leaked online and downloaded 75,000 times a month before its scheduled release, the BBC reports. 20th Century Fox hasn’t said how its summer blockbuster, starring Hugh Jackman, got out, but there’s at least some solace: “The CGI is missing and the movie looks horrible without it,” comments a disappointed viewer. More»

Critic gives thumbs up to imminent return

(NEWSER) - Roger Ebert—beset by a series of serious health ailments in recent years—will soon resume reviewing films, he wrote in a letter to Chicago Sun-Times readers. The critic was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2002; since then he’s undergone several surgeries, including a tracheotomy that cost him his voice, Editor and Publisher reports. But he’ll put pen to paper once again, perhaps as early as this month. More»