Movie Reviews

(Newser) - Hamlet 2 may not put the Bard out of business but it's not lacking for invention, critics say. The "genuinely bizarre and frequently hilarious comedy" follows the outrageous fortunes of a failed actor turned high-school drama teacher who tries to pen a Hamlet sequel, Rafer Guzman writes in Newsday . More »

(Newser) - Critics seem to split on the overall worth of sorority comedy House Bunny , but most agree that star Anna Faris is worth the price of admission. The stalwart of the Scary Movie franchise has a "sunny disposition and solid comic timing" that greatly improve what is "essentially a female remake of Revenge of the Nerds ," Christy Lemire writes for the AP. More »

(Newser) - The action comedy Tropic Thunder, a send-up of Vietnam War movies, crosses some lines—intentionally. In fact, Peter Hartlaub writes in the San Francisco Chronicle , "if you're not offended by at least one aspect of this film, then you're probably not getting out enough." But it has a secret weapon, he writes: It's "laugh-until-your-stomach-hurts hilarious." More »

(Newser) - Mamma Mia ! doesn't quite pull off the leap from stage to screen, but ABBA fans will find it worth taking a chance on, critics say. The "jukebox musical that strings together 19 ABBA hits on a narrative thread flimsier than dental floss" had Carrie Rickey of the Philadelphia Inquirer   "smiling and wincing—often at the same time." More »

(Newser) - Dark Knight swoops into cinemas tomorrow and critics say the hype is more than justified. "This is not merely a Batman movie," Amy Biancolli writes in the Houston Chronicle . It is one of the year's best films "and far and away the most hypnotic chiller." The bleak Gotham tale is "audacious and unnerving while consistently being fun and entertaining," writes Claudia Puig in USA Today . More »

(Newser) - Hades' greatest hero is back in Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and most critics agree it's a hell of a ride. Director Guillermo del Toro returns with comic book creator Mike Mignola, ensuring the dynamic sequel is "shot through with the franchise's signature goofiness, sarcasm and good heart," writes Ann Hornaday in the Washington Post . More »

(Newser) - French thriller Tell No One has the critics rushing to tell the world how much they liked it. The fast-paced and thickly plotted adaptation of a novel by American writer Harlan Coben is "hot-blooded, haunting and packed with the pleasures of the unexpected," writes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone . More »

(Newser) - Love isn't the right word to describe how most critics feel about The Love Guru , Mike Myers' first live-action comedy in 5 years. Myers stars as a self-help guru paid to revive the love life of a hockey player, but his mugging isn't enough to salvage "a collection of scattershot jokes clothes-pinned to such a slender plot," Colin Covert writes in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. More »

(Newser) - Joy Division, writes Nik Mercer for Anthem , “is one of those bands that gains significance exponentially as the years pass.” As testament to their place in pop music consciousness, recent years have seen three films on the band: 24 Hour Party People , focusing on their label and scene; Control , a Cobain-izing biopic of Ian Curtis; and now simply Joy Division:  A Documentary . More »

(Newser) - Sometimes it's hard not to laugh at the slacker/stoner comedy Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay , writes James Berardinelli in ReelViews. At other times, it's hard not to cringe at the film, a sequel to Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle . That's because the humor in Escape , about the anti-heroes being mistaken for terrorists, "is uneven in the extreme," Berardinelli writes.  More »