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movie review

Dec 5, 2008 3:58 PM CST

Frost/Nixon Even Better on Film

Solid interview, good play, better movie

(Newser) - Frost/Nixon is “less a political movie than a boxing film without the gloves,” writes Kirk Honeycutt in the Hollywood Reporter, and it’s knocking out critics. The film is based on a much-honored play, and “the surprising news is that Frost/Nixon works even better on screen,”...

No Prize for Nobel Son

movie review

Dec 5, 2008 1:02 PM CST

No Prize for Nobel Son

Critics mixed on story of professor's kidnapped son

(Newser) - The story of an arrogant professor reluctant to pay ransom for his kidnapped child, Nobel Son is a mixed bag, with “moments of vengeance-filled enjoyment but also a sense of tonal haphazardness,” writes Robert Abele in the LA Times. “Signal-flare plotting” reveals a less-than-perfect screenplay, but “...

Cadillac Is Quite a Ride

movie review

Dec 5, 2008 10:10 AM CST

Cadillac Is Quite a Ride

Top-notch music, performances powers the story of Chess Records

(Newser) - Cadillac Records may play fast and loose with historical fact, but you can't fault the tunes that fuel it, say critics. The "rollicking and insightful celebration of Chicago blues in its hectic golden age" tells the story of Chess Records and bluesmen like Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, writes...

Milk Doesn't Spill a Drop

Movie Review

Nov 26, 2008 2:05 PM CST

Milk Doesn't Spill a Drop

Critics lap up gay-rights drama

(Newser) - If Milk were a ballot proposition, critics would pass it in a landslide. Part docu-drama, part biopic, the film spins the tale of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay American elected to public office, into an “incisive and stirring” drama, Owen Gleiberman writes in Entertainment Weekly. It’s “...

Australia a Continental Mess

Movie Review

Nov 26, 2008 11:42 AM CST

Australia a Continental Mess

Epic misses its mark

(Newser) - Australia strives mightily to be a grand, old-school epic romance. “But what we get instead is an unwieldy mess” that’s overlong and drowning in clichés, writes Elizabeth Weitzman in the New York Daily News. Stars Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman “have no chemistry to speak of,...

Four Christmases a Big Turkey

MOVIE REVIEW

Nov 26, 2008 9:46 AM CST

Four Christmases a Big Turkey

Holiday comedy saps critics of their Christmas cheer

(Newser) - Holiday comedy Four Christmases had some critics chuckling but left most moaning ho-ho-no. Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon star as a couple forced by circumstance to visit the dysfunctional families of their divorced parents, but the "predictable and dyspeptic story" lacks the bite of misanthropic holiday classics like Bad ...

Bolt Is Fetching Fun

MOVIE REVIEW

Nov 21, 2008 1:18 PM CST

Bolt Is Fetching Fun

Critics say frisky Disney animation is its best effort in years

(Newser) - Disney's latest animated movie may not win prizes for originality, but Bolt is barking up the right tree for family entertainment, say critics. John Travolta voices with "terrific tenderness" the super-powered pooch who's unaware that his life has been a canine Truman Show, writes Michael Rechtshaffen in the Hollywood ...

Teens Will Swoon for Twilight

Movie review

Nov 21, 2008 11:55 AM CST

Teens Will Swoon for Twilight

Vampire romance grabs target audience, fails on effects

(Newser) - The teen-vampire drama Twilight will “mesmerize its target audience, 16-year-old girls and their grandmothers,” writes Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times. “The movie is lush and beautiful, and the actors are well-chosen.” The story of a girl and her vegetarian-vampire lover focuses on the “fervent,...

Slumdog Millionaire
Has Winning Pedigree

MOVIE REVIEW

Nov 14, 2008 2:27 PM CST

Slumdog Millionaire Has Winning Pedigree

Critics can't resist the brutal, yet 'upbeat,' slice of Mumbai life

(Newser) - Slumdog Millionaire's feel-good story is tough to resist, critics say. The hard-knock life of a boy who goes from the streets of Mumbai to game-show fantasyland is “one of the most upbeat stories about living in hell imaginable,” writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times. Still, “...

Craig's Bond Saves Solace

MOVIE REVIEW

Nov 14, 2008 12:13 PM CST

Craig's Bond Saves Solace

Daniel Craig shines in superspy sequel but some find Bond brand too diluted

(Newser) - Quantum of Solace doesn't quite measure up to its predecessor, but that's because the Bond makers set the bar so high with Casino Royale, say critics. Daniel Craig returns for his second outing as the superspy, and his cold-blooded but charismatic performance ensures that his "place as the best...

Mac Gives Soul to Uneven Film

Movie Review

Nov 7, 2008 3:53 PM CST

Mac Gives Soul to Uneven Film

Critics divided, but star wins them over

(Newser) - Soul Men is the cinematic swan song of both Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes, and they undoubtedly deserve better, “given how easily it slips into conventionally vulgar and predictably crude” humor, writes John Anderson in Newsday. Still, get past the “old-man jokes, low-rent sex humor” and the film...

Role Models Sets Bad Example

movie review

Nov 7, 2008 12:11 PM CST

Role Models Sets Bad Example

Critics mixed on man-child laffer

(Newser) - The "shamelessly stoopid, proudly profane R-rated comedy” Role Models, the story of two immature men forced to take care of kids, is “killer funny,” writes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. But other critics aren’t so sure. “A lot of Role Models is plain old tin,...

Madagascar Sequel
Not Wildly Different

MOVIE REVIEW

Nov 7, 2008 9:09 AM CST

Madagascar Sequel Not Wildly Different

(Newser) - Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa brings back the on-the-run New York menagerie, and DreamWorks hasn't monkeyed much with the first movie's winning, if slightly tired, formula, say critics. The celebrity-voiced animals' new adventure "is aimed mostly at children and should score a direct hit," Kirk Honeycutt writes in the...

Porno Naughty But Nice

MOVIE REVIEW

Oct 31, 2008 11:49 AM CDT

Porno Naughty But Nice

Raunchy 'R' rated comedy is a PG romance at heart

(Newser) - Indie director and slacker king Kevin Smith has made a surprisingly tender film with Zack and Miri Make a Porno, critics say. Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogan star as a pair of "genuinely likable social misfits" whose platonic friendship is put to the test when they decide to...

Changeling Decent but Flawed

Movie Review

Oct 24, 2008 12:58 PM CDT

Changeling Decent but Flawed

A plain headline for what critics call a plainly told movie

(Newser) - There’s a kidnapping, corrupt police, a trip to a mental hospital, a serial killer, even a hooker with a heart of gold. “If Changeling were fiction, you’d accuse it of being over the top,” writes David Ansen of Newsweek. Instead, it’s based on a true...

No Glory, Plenty of Cliches

MOVIE REVIEW

Oct 24, 2008 8:02 AM CDT

No Glory, Plenty of Cliches

Cop thriller a little too much like every other cop thriller to be a classic

(Newser) - Pride and Glory has all the ingredients of a great cop thriller, critics say, but they're ingredients that have been recycled a few too many times. Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Noah Emmerich, and Jon Voight turn in fine performances as a family of New York cops, Bill Goodykoontz writes in...

Max Payne Lives Up to Its Name

NEW RELEASE

Oct 17, 2008 7:17 PM CDT

Max Payne Lives Up to Its Name

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...

Bees More Honey Than Sting

MOVIE REVIEW

Oct 17, 2008 4:05 PM CDT

Bees More Honey Than Sting

Sweet Southern coming-of-age story could be one for Oscar buzz

(Newser) - The Secret Life of Bees is a pretty sweet story, critics agree, but all that honey proved a little cloying for some. The story of a troubled South Carolina teen (Dakota Fanning) set in 1964 is "an affecting ensemble piece that's destined to generate a fair share of awards-season...

City of Ember Smolders

Movie Review

Oct 10, 2008 4:19 PM CDT

City of Ember Smolders

Kids will enjoy nonsensical movie

(Newser) - Kids should enjoy the “rousing and action-packed and short” City of Ember, so long as they "haven't already been hopelessly corrupted by high-powered sci-fi on TV and video,” Roger Ebert writes for the Chicago Sun-Times. But for adults the movie may prove too nonsensical, and, for other...

Body of Lies Too Conventional

movie review

Oct 10, 2008 1:26 PM CDT

Body of Lies Too Conventional

Film has atmosphere but 'flawed' story

(Newser) - The CIA thriller Body of Lies is “always crisp and watchable,” but “it ends up too unconvincing and conventional to consistently hold our attention,” writes Kenneth Turan in the LA Times. The story of an anti-terror mission played out on the ground but guided from the...