Lovely Bones Hits and Misses

After sneak screening, critic predicts Oscar glory; another pans it

(NEWSER) - The Lovely Bones got a sneak showing in London last night, and one reviewer is already calling it the best film of next year—while another lambastes it as candy-coated crap. An anonymous critic from the Sun says he’s already sure he won’t “see anything more astonishing, emotionally draining, and life-affirming” next year, and calls it Peter Jackson’s best film. “Yes, even better than The Lord of The Rings” (emphasis his). More»

Even if you don't like Will Ferrell, you'll laugh

(NEWSER) - Despite a few reviewers who think it’s basically an extended Saturday Night Live sketch, The Other Guys snagged a high score on the Tomatometer —and some are calling the Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg cop comedy the funniest movie of 2010:

• If you’re tired of Ferrell's typical “clueless blowhard,” never fear: director Adam McKay “shrewdly varies the formula," making Ferrell the “square” and Wahlberg the “aspiring alpha dog,” writes Joe Williams in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch . “The Other Guys is the funniest movie of the year.”

Lee Daniels misses Best Director race, The Road shut out, and more

(NEWSER) - The Golden Globes are “as notable for the films and performances that members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association omit as for those that they celebrate,” writes Chris Lee in the Los Angeles Times , and yesterday’s nominations “had no shortage of surprising snubs.” Lee, and Gregg Kilday in the Hollywood Reporter , point out a few:

• Lee Daniels, Precious: The only director whose movie got a best dramatic picture nod without being nominated for best director.

(NEWSER) - The aliens are despised outsiders stranded in post-apartheid South Africa in District 9, a film whose mix of social commentary and blood-spattered B-movie standards makes it the sci-fi movie of the year, say critics.

• Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: The movie is "a scathing social satire hidden inside a terrific action thriller teeming with gross aliens and regrettable inter-species conflict. And it's a blast."

Critics slam video game-based action flick

(NEWSER) - Max Payne, a sci-fi shooter video game-turned-movie, is “undiluted junk,” writes Elizabeth Weitzman in the New York Daily News. “No amount of generosity could excuse the levels of ineptitude on display here,” she says of the Mark Wahlberg vehicle. “The story has more holes than a shot-up metal door, the acting feels bored at best, and the intermittent action, while passable, hardly makes up for the downtime.” More»