MOVIE REVIEWS: LAWLESS

It’s hard to remember a movie that received such divergent reviews as Australian director John Hillcoat’s Lawless, which opens today (Wednesday). That’s how it was at Cannes, when it was screened in competition last May, drawing boos and applause during the closing credits. The film, adapted by rock musician Nick Cave and starring Shia LaBeouf, […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: THE CABIN IN THE WOODS

Horror films rarely find a receptive response from critics — until the time they become classics. By and large, The Cabin in the Woods is no exception. But more than a few critics have something positive to say about it. Rafer Guzmán in Newsday, in fact, advises readers to “put it right at the top” […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: THE GREEN HORNET

Box office forecasters are predicting big things for The Green Hornet this weekend. But critics are swatting it from every direction. “Overblown, interminable and unfunny,” is the way Lou Lumenick describes it in the New York Post. Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal begins his review this way: “The Green Hornet may not be […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: LITTLE FOCKERS

The main problem with the latest Fockers sequel is that it just isn’t as funny as its two predecessors, Meet the Fockers and Meet the Parents, most critics agree. Claudia Puig in USA Today remarks, “It takes too long for the story to take off and even longer for the comedy to kick in.” Ty […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: THE FIGHTER

The Fighter is a terrific movie about a boxer in the tradition of other terrific movies about boxers, critics suggest. That they all seem to follow a similar plotline is almost beside the point, they say. As A.O. Scott sums it up in the New York Times: “This is yet another tale of an underdog […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: MORNING GLORY

Critics suggest that Morning Glory is more sitcom than nightly newscast even though its set in the world of broadcast news — morning news. “Comedies open every week,” writes Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times. “This is the kind I like best. It grows from human nature and is about how people do their jobs […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: SECRETARIAT

Roger Ebert is one of the critics cheering loudest in their reviews for Secretariat. In today’s Chicago Sun-Times, he recalls that his onetime TV colleague, the late Gene Siskel, once told him that his favorite movies were about what people do all day. “That’s what Secretariat is,” Ebert writes. “It pays us the compliment of […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Reviews don’t come much friendlier than those for David Fincher’s The Social Network, written by The West Wing‘s Aaron Sorkin and starring Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times awards it four stars, writing, “David Fincher’s film has the rare quality of being not only as smart as its […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: THE TOWN

A few critics aren’t especially enthusiastic about Ben Affleck’s The Town, which he directed, starred in, and co-wrote. To A.O. Scott of the New York Times, it’s just a “solid minor entry in the annals of Boston crime drama.” Ty Burr in the Boston Globe calls it “a pretty decent crime drama.” And Michael Phillips […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: EAT PRAY LOVE

Several critics are giving Eat Pray Love, starring Julia Roberts, an even tougher going-over than they are to The Expendables. Even Roberts, who generally receives fine notices from them, can’t escape their darts. “Twenty years ago, even 10 years ago, the role of Liz would have been played by Meryl Streep, who has the rare […]