movie review – News Stories About movie review - Page 44

movie review

Jul 1, 2008 11:22 AM CDT

People Don't Like You, Hancock

They all want to, though

(Newser) - Everyone wants to like Hancock. The idea of a slovenly, booze-swilling superhero screwup is undeniably priceless. But “the finished product is so poorly conceived and misguided that even Will Smith… can't save it,” writes Claudia Puig of USA Today. The movie starts out irreverent and fun, then veers...

Gunnin' Sure to Score
With Hoop Fans

Review

Jun 27, 2008 5:25 PM CDT

Gunnin' Sure to Score With Hoop Fans

Beastie Boy produces shallow but pleasing documentary

(Newser) - Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot, the second documentary from Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, is no Hoop Dreams, but critics predict a slam-dunk with roundball and hip-hop aficionados. The film follows eight high school phenoms through a high-profile Harlem pick-up game and “offers a snapshot of the kind of top...

See Wanted, Enjoy the Ride

movie review

Jun 27, 2008 11:18 AM CDT

See Wanted, Enjoy the Ride

Film is a wild ride without much substance

(Newser) - If you're heading out to see the new Angelina Jolie flick Wanted, critics have some advice: Lighten up and enjoy it. "It’s trash, but I love it anyway,” writes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. The story of a “nobody” office worker who winds up “a...

Pixar's Wall-E Proves Its Mettle

movie review

Jun 27, 2008 9:38 AM CDT

Pixar's Wall-E Proves Its Mettle

Robot love story wins rave reviews from critics

(Newser) - Stunning animation, an endearing love story, and a compelling look at mankind’s future make Pixar’s Wall-E one of the best films of the year, critics agree. “This is getting to sound like a broken record: Pixar Animation Studios has just topped itself. Again,” Kirk Honeycutt writes...

Kit Kittredge is Sweet, Simple

movie review

Jun 20, 2008 4:00 PM CDT

Kit Kittredge is Sweet, Simple

Well-made movie will entertain kids, critics agree

(Newser) - The young girls who love the “American Girl” series are pretty much guaranteed to love Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, critics agree. Rex Reed of the New York Observer calls it “a brisk, beautifully conceived period piece that spells entertainment with a capital E,” though he admits...

Get Smart Not So Clever

movie review

Jun 20, 2008 12:15 PM CDT

Get Smart Not So Clever

Film struggles to balance action and comedy

(Newser) - The film version of the 1960s TV spy parody Get Smart can’t decide if it's an action flick or a comedy, and it shows. It’s “an action comedy that represents the worst of both worlds,” Mick LaSalle writes in the San Francisco Chronicle—“as funny...

Love Guru Is Beyond Help

movie review

Jun 20, 2008 8:40 AM CDT

Love Guru Is Beyond Help

Critics spurn sophomoric Mike Myers comedy

(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...

Happening Is No Big Event

movie review

Jun 13, 2008 1:00 PM CDT

Happening Is No Big Event

But slow, silly film has its moments

(Newser) - M. Night Shyamalan’s apocalyptic thriller The Happening is slow-paced and funny at times, leaving critics mixed in their reactions. It’s “too thoughtful for the summer action season, but I appreciate the quietly realistic way Shyamalan” tells his story, writes Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times. “It...

Hulk
Packs
a Fun
Punch

movie review

Jun 13, 2008 8:00 AM CDT

Hulk Packs a Fun Punch

Critics say action-packed flick will please the summer movie crowd

(Newser) - It’s no Iron Man, but The Incredible Hulk is a crowd-pleaser that comic book devotees and action fans will appreciate, critics say. The second adaptation of the Marvel comic in five years avoids the missteps of Ang Lee’s 2003 moody bust (Hulk) and “embraces its identity as...

Zohan Sticks to the Lowbrow

movie review

Jun 6, 2008 1:34 PM CDT

Zohan Sticks to the Lowbrow

'Likeable' film doesn't match satirical potential

(Newser) - The Adam Sandler comedy You Don’t Mess With the Zohan may be fun, but it probably won't do much for those outside the usual Sandler audience of teenage boys. The story of an Israeli commando-turned-hairdresser is full of “missed opportunities for sharpening silliness with satire,” writes Peter...

Kung Fu Panda Kicks Butt

movie review

Jun 6, 2008 9:10 AM CDT

Kung Fu Panda Kicks Butt

Old story becomes a fun journey in fast-paced martial arts animation

(Newser) - Dreamworks' animal extravaganza Kung Fu Panda isn't packed full of surprises, the critics say, but top-notch visual and voice acting lift it above the standard animal adventure fare. Jack Black gives the lead character, a pudgy panda who dreams of becoming a martial arts master, a "slightly abashed suburban-couch-potato...

Sex Backlash Is Mostly Sexist

Opinion

Jun 4, 2008 2:36 PM CDT

Sex Backlash Is Mostly Sexist

Men, male critics just resent girls mucking up summer action flicks

(Newser) - The masses have spoken: Sex and the City is a success, a tentpole, and with a $56 million opening weekend, a blockbuster even. But if you hear men talk about it, you’d think it was the most horrible thing to ever happen to cineplexes, writes Ramin Setoodeh. They grow...

Critics Pumped for Steroids Doc

movie review

May 30, 2008 5:45 PM CDT

Critics Pumped for Steroids Doc

Bigger, Stronger, Faster sifts through the pharmaceutical enhancements

(Newser) - The documentary Bigger, Stronger, Faster is drawing raves for its clear-eyed, nuanced look at the world of steroid users. Christopher Bell, a bodybuilder and onetime juicer, directs and narrates an "incisive and compulsively watchable look at America's love affair with steroids," Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly writes.

The Strangers Not Welcome

Movie review

May 30, 2008 1:50 PM CDT

The Strangers Not Welcome

Critics praise director, slam film

(Newser) - Critics agree that writer-director Bryan Bertino shows promise in his freshman film, home-invasion horror flick The Strangers, but they differ on whether the material was worthy of the talent. Jessica Reaves, writing in the Los Angeles Times, praises a “taut, spare thriller” that’s “enormously unsettling”—she...

Great Sex for Series Fans

Movie review

May 30, 2008 9:34 AM CDT

Great Sex for Series Fans

A bloated bore for others

(Newser) - Sex and the City: The Movie will probably delight die-hard fans but disappoint others, critics say. “I am not the person to review this movie,” admits Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times—not a fan—who writes that he counted only “one line of truly witty dialogue....

Cannes Agrees: Che Is ... Long

movie REVIEW

May 23, 2008 12:30 PM CDT

Cannes Agrees: Che Is ... Long

Commercial market hardly assured for Soderbergh's 4½-hour biopic

(Newser) - Steven Soderbergh’s much-anticipated Che Guevara biopic debuted last night at Cannes, and critics agree on at least two points: It was really, really long, and American audiences might never get to see it. A tough sell to distributors, the 4½-hour Che focuses almost entirely on military procedure, with...

Indy's Still Kicking Butt in Crystal Skull

MOVIE REVIEW

May 18, 2008 6:52 PM CDT

Indy's Still Kicking Butt in Crystal Skull

Seeing Indiana Jones 'is like meeting an old friend,' LA Times says

(Newser) - Who you calling old? It may be 19 years since Indiana Jones last donned a fedora, but Harrison Ford amply kicks Russian butt in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Kenneth Turan writes in the Los Angeles Times. The flick, opening in the US on Thursday, premiered...

Waltz Explodes at Cannes

movie review

May 16, 2008 2:10 PM CDT

Waltz Explodes at Cannes

After lousy 'Blindness' opening, Bashir shakes up festival

(Newser) - Now that's more like it. After a typically lousy opening—allegorical disaster Blindness—the Cannes Film Festival shook things up yesterday with Waltz with Bashir, a ferocious animated documentary from Israel recounting the 1982 massacre at Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. It’s “stunning,” writes Manhola Dargis in...

Applause for Reprise

Movie review

May 16, 2008 11:54 AM CDT

Applause for Reprise

Critics celebrate double 'portrait of an artist'

(Newser) - Joachim Trier’s debut film, the honest and amusing dramedy Reprise, is wowing critics. The film, which tells the story of a pair of young aspiring writers, “opens like a portrait of the artist as a young man (times two) and, with stealth and wit, metamorphoses into something wide...

Narnia Still Casts a Spell

movie review

May 16, 2008 8:59 AM CDT

Narnia Still Casts a Spell

Return to fantasy kingdom is darker, crisper

(Newser) - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian returns to the fantasyland 1,300 years after The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and all is not well in the kingdom. The "darker, more conventional, and more crisply made" follow-up features "more clashing swords than all the Robin Hood movies...