Movie Reviews

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 »

Fool's Gold reunites Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson, to less-than-golden effect. Playing off the name of their successful 2003 collaboration, Michael Rechtshaffen of the Hollywood Reporter snipes that the "soggy, listless" adventure comedy "could have been called How to Lose an Audience in 10 Minutes. " More »

Martin Scorsese doesn’t spare the wrinkles in his latest rock documentary, Shine a Light, which opened the Berlin Film Festival with a bang yesterday. These are the Rolling Stones, after all, and Scorsese’s big point, is that they’re fundamentally the same rockers at 60-plus that they were at 20. "There’s something indestructible about their chemistry," James Christopher writes in the London Times. More »

Critics are decidedly cool about Paris Hilton's latest movie. The Hottie and the Nottie , in which the hotel heiress plays "The Hottie," is, among many other things, crass, shrill and idiotic, writes Nathan Lee of the Village Voice . In addition, the script, which has Hilton's character trying to find a beau for her gargoyle of a best friend (the "Nottie"), delivers "one of the most anti-feminist messages in recent film history," says Jessica Reaves of the Chicago Tribune . More »

The screwball comedy Over Her Dead Body isn’t as bad as, say, The Hottie & the Nottie , “this year's gold standard for cinematic awfulness,” writes James Berardinelli of ReelViews.com. Still, it’s ”as mediocre a motion picture as you're likely to find in a multiplex this season," he grouses. More »

Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds may be a vanilla production, and the songs its tween icon belts out during this big-screen 3D version of her concert are "fizzy" and "forgettable," writes Jan Stewart of Newsday . But those shortcomings are trumped by the fact that, at just 15 years old, pop star Cyrus is "insanely likable and talented, with poise and presence beyond her years," says AP's Christy Lemire. More »

It's not the most original of plots—a young woman needs to win a step-dancing competition to escape poverty—but strong dance sequences and acting manage to more than save the MTV production of How She Move, critics say. "The story itself is a hodgepodge of devices, conceits, and half-baked motives," writes John Anderson of the Washington Post , but that's not enough to sink the film. More »

Sylvester Stallone's latest, and last, film about Vietnam vet/mercenary John Rambo isn't short on violence. "Body parts go flying, blood gets applied with a fire hose, spleens decorate the trees," writes Andrew Wright of the Portland-Mercury. Unfortunately, the movie is short on everything else. "One would be hard-pressed to imagine a conventional narrative being any thinner than the one in Rambo ," says Dustin Putnam of MovieBoy.com. More »

Sitting through the IMAX feature U2 3D isn't exactly like being at one of the legendary rock band's shows. "In many ways, watching the movie is better ," writes Desson Thomson of the Washington Post . The film's incredibly lifelike presentation of U2 "shows how closely technology can match" the kind of "natural high" that a live concert delivers—except there are no obstructed views or post-gig trudges to "parking lot hell," he writes. More »

It's pretty good, but Woody Allen's done better. That seems to be the prevailing sentiment of critics reviewing Cassandra's Dream , a tale of two brothers (Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor) who run into trouble and seek help from their not-so-above-board uncle (Tom Wilkinson). "It's not Allen's weakest work … but its impact is shockingly superficial," the Oregonian 's Shawn Levy writes. More »

Even Oscar-caliber talent like Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah can't save Mad Money , about three cash-strapped women who join forces to pull off the perfect heist. The movie, which also stars Katie Holmes, "fails to hit the stratosphere," Stephen Schaefer writes in the Boston Herald, because it "just isn’t funny enough to be truly engaging." More »

Cloverfield “is going to divide audiences,” predicts ReelViews’ James Berardinelli, and if the critics are any indication, he’s right. The film’s Godzilla/ Blair Witch high concept is a love-it-or-hate-it proposition. For Berardinelli, the shaky handheld view provides immediacy and intensity. Time’s Richard Corliss is less entertained. “We know only what they know,” he writes. “I.e., not much.” More »

Despite actress Katherine Heigl's undeniable appeal, her first role as a leading lady is in a film of such little consequence "that seeing it and skipping it are the exact same thing," writes Robert Wilonsky of the Village Voice . In 27 Dresses , Heigl plays Jane, a perennial bridesmaid who's got a major crush on her boss (Ed Burns), who, unfortunately, falls for Jane's blonde-bombshell sister (Malin Akerman). More »

The Bucket List, Rob Reiner’s new cancer comedy, “never ascends from the bowels of tearjerk formula and audience pandering," writes Newsday’s Jan Stuart. The film stars Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as terminally ill buddies trying to do it all before they die. They skydive, race cars, globetrot, and “recycle old screen personas with an abandon that borders on self-parody.” More »

So excruciating is the tension in the Spanish supernatural thriller The Orphanage that "you'll have to calm yourself by saying, 'It's only a movie,' " writes Time's Richard Corliss. But the horror film, centering on the dark secrets inside a woman's childhood home, is about as far from a blood-soaked slasher flick as it could be, something that's winning it high praise.  More »

Critics are decidedly mixed on "The Killing of John Lennon," Andrew Piddington's movie reconstructing events surrounding Mark David Chapman's 1980 murder of the Beatles beloved frontman. While “a well-made film" that doesn't ask you to sympathize with Chapman, Stephen Holden writes in the New York Times ,  “it requires you to spend nearly two hours in his disturbing company,” which ends up being “a total bummer.” More »

Film critics offer their top picks for 2007, ranging from quirky dramedy ( Juno ) to drama ( Michael Clayton ) to foreign fare ( The Diving Bell and the Butterfly ).                                                  Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Juno No Country for Old Men Before the Devil Knows You're Dead Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly : There Will Be Blood No Country for Old Men I'm Not There More »

There’s no avoiding it: There Will Be Blood is another long, “indie-flavored, male-centric American art film,” says Variety’s Todd McCarthy. But the “boldly and magnificently strange” flick still has critics enthralled. Following an unsavory and maybe unhinged oil tycoon’s rise to power, the film possesses “a blistering intensity,” raves Newsweek’s David Ansen, “and filmmaking that can make your jaw drop.” More »

The Great Debaters , which follows a Jim Crow-era black debate team, aims only for “inspirational pop entertainment in the Oprah Winfrey mode,” but it still manages to resonate, says the New York Times’ Stephen Holden. It is conventional, and sometimes clichéd, in telling the classic underdog story. “The wonder is that (it) transcends its own simplifying and manipulative ploys,” Holden says. “It radiates nobility of spirit.” More »

Persepolis isn’t just a good animated movie. “It’s a small landmark in feature animation,” writes Nick Pinkerton of the Village Voice . Rendered with handcrafted charm in black and white, it tells the poignant-yet-funny story of a girl growing up amidst the Iranian revolution. But “bare synopsis doesn’t begin to convey [its] imaginative breadth,” says Newsweek ’s David Ansen. More »