Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: movie review

movie review stories: 329 news summaries

301 - 320 of 329 Stories | << Prev 1 ... 12 13 14 15 16 17 Next >>

Switch to grid view »

Martian Lands With a Thud

Would-be dramedy is just tragic

Nov 2, 07 4:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - Critics were less than awed by the arrival of Martian Child, the saccharine story of a recently widowed science-fiction writer (John Cusack) and his unlikely adoption of a young boy (Bobby Coleman) who claims to be from Mars. Manohla Dargis of the Times calls the manipulative family dramedy "100... More »

MORE ABOUT:
movie review • John Cusack • Amanda Peet • Bobby Coleman

Denzel's Dead On in Gangster

Crowe shines as a cop who takes on drug king pin Frank Lucas

Nov 2, 07 1:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - As 1970s Harlem drug kingpin Frank Lucas, Denzel Washington is equal parts charisma and cold blood—a combination critics can't resist. "In the still, watchful center of his volcanic performance you'll find the measure of a dangerous man," writes Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, adding that American Gangster,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
movie review • Ridley Scott • Denzel Washington • Russell Crowe • American Gangster

Buzz Uneven for Bee Movie

Critics divided by Seinfeld's animated debut

Nov 2, 07 9:10 AM CDT
(Newser) - Jerry Seinfeld uses “every stupid bee joke that he and his cronies could cook up” in Bee Movie, Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal says, and USA Today's Claudia Puig calls the animated feature “so unfunny it almost stings.” But Newsday finds Barry B. Benson’s... More »

MORE ABOUT:
bees • Jerry Seinfeld • animation • movie review • computer animation • Renee Zellweger • movies • animated movie

Devil Will Make You Watch It

Crime drama could net legendary director first best directing Oscar

Oct 26, 07 4:56 PM CDT
(Newser) - He may be 83, but in Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Sidney Lumet musters the “wide-awake elegance of a virtuoso half his age,” EW's Owen Gleiberman says, producing a vivid crime melodrama critics unanimously place among the year’s best. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke... More »

MORE ABOUT:
film • movie review • Sidney Lumet • Philip Seymour Hoffman • Ethan Hawke • movies

Dan's Life Is Almost Too Real

In that way, it's much like real life

Oct 26, 07 12:12 PM CDT
(Newser) - Reaction's to Steve Carell's genial comedy Dan in Real Life range from appreciative to underwhelmed. AO Scott of the New York Times calls the film—starring Carell as a recent widower and advice columnist—"for the most part, winningly gentle and observant." Roger Ebert calls it "soothingly... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Steve Carell • movie review • Juliet Binoche

Hollywood Mourns Children

Oct 21, 07 7:08 PM CDT
(Newser) - Hollywood is in mourning. Films like Gone Baby Gone, In the Valley of Elah, and Reservation Road all feature parents grieving over lost or dead children, railing at authority and looking for someone to blame. NPR’s Bob Mondello sees a theme here very different from the usual practice of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
film • movie review

Afflecks' Gone Baby a Real Coup

Oct 19, 07 4:48 PM CDT
(Newser) - Ben Affleck “emerges triumphant” from his directorial debut, Rolling Stone says in reviewing Gone Baby Gone, out today and already a critics' darling. “It's one of the best crime movies of this decade,” the Hollywood Reporter raves. Younger brother Casey stars as a PI searching for... More »

MORE ABOUT:
movie review • Ben Affleck • Casey Affleck

Rendition Torture to Sit Through

Oct 19, 07 2:17 PM CDT
(Newser) - Rendition, the story of an American woman's search for her arrested Egyptian-born husband, is a well-meaning but ultimately shallow exploration of America's policies on torture, critics say. "Rendition tackles the concern in a heavy-handed thriller with simplistic characters and manipulative storylines," says the Hollywood Reporter.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
movie review • Meryl Streep • Jake Gyllenhaal • Reese Witherspoon • Gavin Hood • Rendition • Alan Arkin

Del Toro's Good; Berry's on Fire

Tearjerker garners mixed reviews

Oct 19, 07 10:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - Things We Lost in the Fire, the weepie opening today and starring Halle Berry as a newly bereaved widow and Benicio Del Toro as her heroin-addicted comforter, draws mixed reviews. Most agree with the Chicago Tribune that it's "consistently well acted," awarding special praise to Del Toro. But... More »

MORE ABOUT:
film • Halle Berry • movie review • Benicio Del Toro • David Duchovny • Things We Lost in the Fire • movies

Mediocrity, Blahs Own the Night

Critics aren't too excited about James Gray's latest crime drama

Oct 12, 07 3:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - No one feels too strongly about We Own the Night, a crime drama Variety calls “exceptionally conventional.” It delivers “jolts of pulse-quickening drama,” the Inquirer says, complete with a rainy car chase every reviewer loved. Beyond that, “reactions will depend greatly upon one's tolerance for... More »

MORE ABOUT:
movie review • Mark Wahlberg • Joaquin Phoenix • We Own the Night • James Gray • movies

Not Even Cate Can Save Liz 2

Everyone likes Cate, not so much the movie

Oct 12, 07 11:57 AM CDT
(Newser) - Nobody can bear to say a bad word about Cate Blanchett, star of Elizabeth: The Golden Age," despite agreeing that the film itself is a big gooey mess. "Cate Blanchett can do anything," writes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone, "but she can't save this creaky sequel.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
movie review • Queen Elizabeth I • Cate Blanchett • Clive Owen • movies

Clooney Wows in Sleek Clayton

Clooney wows critics
in thoughtful corporate thriller

Oct 5, 07 2:53 PM CDT
(Newser) - It might sound like a familiar corporate thriller—a court case, dark secrets, attacks of conscience—but Entertainment Weekly says Michael Clayton makes it all seem fresh, calling it “better than good.” It’s no Erin Brockovich, raves Slate, fading white and black hats to gray. And George... More »

MORE ABOUT:
movie review • George Clooney • Michael Clayton • Tony Gilroy • movies • Oscars

As Serious Film, 'Kingdom' Falls

Unrealistic action movie doesn't carry the weight it wants to, critics say

Sep 28, 07 11:47 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Kingdom, starring Jamie Foxx and directed by Peter Berg, wants to be a thoughtful action movie about terrorism—part Rambo, part Syriana, muses the Washington Post. Instead, Newsday says, it's a “clamorous and patronizing” popcorn flick, that EW calls “shameless” in pushing audiences’ buttons. More »

MORE ABOUT:
movie review • Jamie Foxx • Peter Berg • Kingdom • movies

Do Not Adjust
Your Flat Panel TV

Joe Morgenstern on the problem with flat panel TV

Sep 23, 07 5:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Morgenstern needs you to know that you’re watching your HDTV wrong. Next generation televisions are built for a 16:9 aspect ratio, he explains, so normal TV’s 4:3-formatted programming only looks right when bordered by black boxes. But TV owners who... More »

MORE ABOUT:
television • HDTV • movie review • high definition

'Eastern Promises' Makes Good

Russian mob thriller a worthy follow up to History of Violence

Sep 21, 07 9:43 AM CDT
(Newser) - Eastern Promises, like director David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence before it, is a crime thriller starring Viggo Mortensen. And like Violence, critics love it. Its Russian mobsters transplanted to London are not characters, Roger Ebert raves, but “plausible human beings.” Mortensen stands out, having “just... More »

MORE ABOUT:
movie review • movies

Critics Riding High on Western
 '3:10 to Yuma'  

Remake is fast paced, well acted, but
ending is 'murky'

Sep 7, 07 6:47 AM CDT
(Newser) - Critics are saddling up for "3:10 to Yuma," a remake of a Western that “moves like a barn on fire,” according to Newsday’s Jan Stuart. It's director James Mangold's "most sustained and evocative work," touts the New Yorker. The morally nuanced film... More »

MORE ABOUT:
media criticism • film • movie review • Christian Bale • 3:10 to Yuma • movies • movie remakes

Blanchett 'Astonishing' as Dylan

From Venice film festival, British critic lauds unconventional bio

Sep 5, 07 4:38 PM CDT
(Newser) - I'm Not There, director Todd Haynes' Bob Dylan biopic, has gained at least one fan in the Telegraph's David Gritten. More "symbolist poem" than conventional biography, the film portrays Dylan in various guises, including an 11-year-old black actor and Cate Blanchett in the film's "tour de force."... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Bob Dylan • movie review • Todd Haynes • Cate Blanchett • Venice Film Festival • I'm Not There

Critics Paddle Balls of Fury

Lame ping-pong
 comedy lacks bounce,
 reviewers grumble

Aug 31, 07 4:47 AM CDT
(Newser) - Balls of Fury is barely getting it over the net, according to most critics, who find the ping-pong-meets-martial-arts comedy lifeless and unfunny. “It's the kind of comedy that finds Asian people hi-lar-ious because they're...Asian. (Are you laughing yet?)," writes  Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman. More »

MORE ABOUT:
comedy • movie review • Jack Black • movies

'Superbad' Still Has Soul at Box Office

Out-laughs the competition for second week; highest-grossing debut is 'Mr. Bean'

Aug 26, 07 2:39 PM CDT
(Newser) - Movie fans are filling the last week before school starts by going to the flicks their friends liked: “Superbad,” “The Bourne Ultimatum” and “Rush Hour 3” kept drawing them in with the top 3 spots this week. Rowan Atkinson's “Mr. Bean's Holiday” took surprise swipes... More »

MORE ABOUT:
film • movie review • The Simpsons Movie • Hairspray • box office • I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry • The Bourne Ultimatum • Rush Hour 3 • Stardust • Superbad • The Nanny Diaries • Mr. Bean's Holiday • movies

Ang Lee's 'Lust' Too Hot for Hollywood

Ratings group slaps 'Brokeback' director's new flick with NC-17

Aug 25, 07 1:45 PM CDT
(Newser) - Focus Features says it will stand by Ang Lee and his racy new war flick “Lust, Caution,” even though a movie trade group branded the film NC-17. The film industry's Scarlet Letter could cost the pic audiences, ad dollars, and theater distribution, but Focus CEO James Schamus said... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Hollywood • film • MPAA • movie review • World War II • Universal Pictures • adult films • Ang Lee • Focus Features • Chinese • Brokeback Mountain • Lust, Caution • movie industry • movies

301 - 320 of 329 Stories | << Prev 1 ... 12 13 14 15 16 17 Next >>


from our news partners