MOVIE REVIEWS: STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

Several critics are writing at great length about how Star Trek Into Darkness is not the last generation’s Star Trek. The film, writes Claudia Puig in USA Today, “may not go boldly back to the archives, but it serves up an exhilarating spectacle.” Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News comments that “this go-all-out [...]

MOVIE REVIEWS: THE GREAT GATSBY

Throughout the week, reports spread that initial reviews of The Great Gatsby were far from great. One website, TheBusinessInsider.com, even headlined, “‘The Great Gatsby’ Could Be The Biggest Disappointment Of The Year.” But in fact, the movie is receiving quite a number of favorable reviews. Indeed, The New York Times‘s A.O. Scott remarks in the [...]

MOVIE REVIEWS: IRON MAN 3

As superhero movies move from one sequel to another, they appear to grow “darker,” to use a description that pops up a lot in the current reviews of Iron Man 3, with Robert Downey Jr. again in the title role. Critics generally appear to applaud the darkness. Says Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times: [...]

MOVIE REVIEWS: 42

Older moviegoers often complain that they don’t make movies like they used to. But judging from the reviews of 42, a biography of Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in baseball, this is a movie made exactly the way they used to. Robinson’s image in the film, critics say, is virtually faultless. That’s OK [...]

MOVIE REVIEWS: THE CROODS

Reviews of DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods can be described as pretty good overall. But none of the critics are particularly thrilled with it, either. Neil Genzlinger in the New York Times devotes just four short paragraphs to the movie, remarking that “it’s colorful and has an appealing central character and — who knows? — might [...]

MOVIE REVIEWS: OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN

Olympus Has Fallen, the first of two thrillers about a terrorist takeover of the White House, is being taken out by critics the way the terrorists are taken out by Gerard Butler’s character in the movie. Robert Abele in the Los Angeles Times describes it as “a typical slab of Hollywood action in which the [...]

MEDIA WRITERS SMASH NBC OVER SMASH DEBACLE

NBC executives who had stood by their expensive musical drama Smash despite plunging ratings last season and who insisted that it only needed some tweaking to make it a success were taking it on the chin from TV columnists Wednesday after the show’s two-hour season premiere tanked in the ratings. “Smash Ratings Smushed!” headlined Entertainment [...]

MOVIE REVIEWS: BULLET TO THE HEAD

Sylvester Stallone is probably used to pummeling reviews, but with Bullet to the Head, critics are trying to do to him what Apollo Creed failed to do to Rocky Balboa — finish him off. Writes Scott Bowles in USA Today: “This marks a new low for Sly. Gratuitously violent and brimming with slurs against Asians, [...]

NETFLIX ALLOWING FREE HOUSE OF CARDS VIEWING

Hoping to hook potential subscribers on its original series House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey, Netflix said today (Friday) that it is making the first episode free to anyone visiting its website. In a statement, Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said. “By offering the first episode for free, including to non-members, we are opening up [...]

MOVIE REVIEWS: WARM BODIES

Who says vampires have all the fun (and rake in billions while doing so)? Don’t rule out zombies, say the executives of Summit Entertainment, the studio that brought you the Twilight movies and is now owned by Lionsgate. Summit is serving up Warm Bodies this weekend, geared, says Scott Bowles in USA Today, “for teens [...]

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