Lakeview Not a Pretty Picture

Joss Whedon directs Robert Downey Jr. in superhero blowout

(NEWSER) - Sure, it's an effective moneymaking scheme: release movies about individual superheroes, then one about all of them. But with Joss Whedon at the helm, The Avengers really works. What critics are saying:

• "Even if you don't particularly like comic-book adaptations, this film just might make a believer of you," writes Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times . "Whedon is the key reason why this $220 million behemoth of a movie is smartly thought out and executed with verve and precision."

Some critics love offbeat comedy remake, some hate it

(NEWSER) - Critics are decidedly split on Death at a Funeral, Chris Rock’s remake of a British farce that’s a scant 3 years old. Here’s what they’re saying:

• “Death at a Funeral is proof that a well-made screenplay is indestructible,” writes Ty Burr of the Boston Globe . It’s sloppily directed, and Rock is miscast, yet it’s still funny, because “the sight of a raging, drug-addled dwarf rising from a coffin is a comedy gift that keeps on giving.”

Critics divided, but star wins them over

(NEWSER) - Soul Men is the cinematic swan song of both Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes, and they undoubtedly deserve better, “given how easily it slips into conventionally vulgar and predictably crude” humor, writes John Anderson in Newsday. Still, get past the “old-man jokes, low-rent sex humor” and the film contains “moments of comedic fire that justify the presence of the two stars in the film, and us in the theater.” More»

Animated Star Wars feature doesn't quite replicate the feel of the real thing

(NEWSER) - Star Wars: The Clone Wars fills a gap in the saga's chronology, and although the animated feature may give devoted Lucasfilm fans their fix before the TV series launches this fall, the oddly lifeless movie "isn't the Star Wars we've known and loved, Todd McCarthy writes in Variety. More»

Dull plotting, acting undermine high-concept thriller

(NEWSER) - The concept for Jumper seems promising: An awkward teenage boy who discovers he has the power to instantly teleport himself to anywhere on the globe is targeted for elimination by religious fanatics. And in some respects the film delivers on that promise. "The jumping effect is faultlessly executed," writes Empire's Olly Richards, adding that the movie "packs some cracking action" into its relatively short 88-minute running time. More»