Invictus Does Mandela Justice

One person's 'enthralling' is another person's boring

(NEWSER) - Clint Eastwood, Matt Damon … what’s not to like about Hereafter? But not all the critics are overly impressed with this spiritual film that touches on the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2005 London subway bombings:

• “The mostly mesmerizing but finally flawed film” mostly “plays like a smart and stylish thriller,” writes Michael O'Sullivan in the Washington Post . But the promise of three separate and “artfully-woven” plotlines coming together for “a collision—or at least a fusion,” is never realized. “The big payoff fizzles.”
• Mick LaSalle begs to differ: This is one of Eastwood’s best, he writes in the San Francisco Chronicle . “Every shot communicates something precise, whether it's plot detail or a thought or emotion.” The result is a “sympathetic and all-encompassing understanding of the pain and grandeur of life on earth.”

Hollywood legend says Eastwood made role a snap

(NEWSER) - When you’ve had the career Morgan Freeman’s had, “there aren’t many challenges in making movies,” the venerable actor tells Vogue. But he found one: Freeman’s taking on the role of Nelson Mandela in a big-budget biopic. “You've got to do this without embarrassing yourself, your audience, and especially Madiba,” he says. “There are pitfalls. But I am going to be working with Clint.” More»

Nobel laureate doing 'as fine as can be at his age'

(NEWSER) - Nelson Mandela has been released from a South African hospital after a laparoscopy "did not indicate anything seriously wrong" with the 93-year-old democracy icon, President Jacob Zuma said today in a statement. Mandela was hospitalized yesterday with an abdominal complaint, but the AP notes that Zuma's statement says he is "relaxed and comfortable. The doctors are happy with the progress he is making. We thank all South Africans for their love and support of Madiba." Madiba is Mandela's clan name, notes the BBC . More»

93-year-old may have had surgery in South Africa

(NEWSER) - Nelson Mandela, whose public appearances have become increasingly rare, is back in the hospital. The 93-year-old had an unspecified stomach ailment, reports AP , while the BBC thinks he had surgery in a Pretoria military hospital to correct it. "I can assure you that the former president is in good spirits and well," says a spokesman for President Jacob Zuma. A hospital stay about this time last year brought about similar headlines. More»

Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet star in Steven Soderbergh film

(NEWSER) - Critics applaud Steven Soderbergh’s latest effort, Contagion, a deeply disturbing imagining of a global pandemic that features an all-star cast (Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne):

• It’s “easily the scariest of the disaster films” since 9/11, writes Lou Lumenick in the New York Post . What’s more, it “takes great pains to present its situations realistically, and includes a lot of intelligent speculation about what sort of political, economic, and ethical questions would be raised by such a disaster.”