Movie Reviews (Page 13)

The first blockbuster of the summer comes out this Friday.

Indeed, Robert Downey Jr. flies into theaters as Iron Man this week. While the previews for the film couldn't make it look much more exciting, we were curious what critics thought. Here's our answer...

- Audiences looking for grand escapist fare at cinemas this summer won't mind having spent their price of admission on it. Be sure to get some popcorn too... -- Sci Fi Movie Page

- In place is a talented cast, an interesting director, an established lead character, and a wealth of plots from the comics ready to be mined for future storylines. Despite Iron Man's problems, it will definitely leave you wanting more... -- IGN UK

- [An] expansively entertaining special effects extravaganza... -- Variety

- Handsome and Charismatic, Robert Downey Jr. renders a dominant performance, treating the comicstrip character as a dramatic actor, which compensates for the movie's flaws and elevates it above the standard of a slickly produced popcorn summer fare... -- Emanuel Levy

Following a series of less than serious roles - Kill Bill, My Super Ex-Girlfriend - Uma Thurman takes on a dark role in The Life Before Her Eyes. The plot of the film is pretty much as intense as it gets:

A woman is permanently scarred after a school shooting takes the life of her best friend.

So, does Uma pull off the role well? Is the film worth seeing? Let's find out what a handful of movie critics think about those questions and others...

- The Life Before Her Eyes will draw you in, then intrigue you, then bore you, then bewilder you, then make you crazy with its incessant flashbacks and flash forwards, and finally leave you feeling like the victim of a fraud. -- The Wall Street Journal

- It's sad to see such subtle, wrenchingly emotional work expended on such trifling material. -- TV Guide

- Paints a compelling and thought-provoking picture of not only school violence, but violence in general, and the trickle-down effect that a single moment in time can have on one's whole future. -- The Movie Boy

- What this heavy-handed film mainly has to endure is a clunky story structure and an ending that wasn't original when it was seen four decades ago on The Twilight Zone. -- New York Daily News

Baby Mama should be an interesting test case for audiences.

We already know male comedians such as Steve Carell and Will Ferrell can carry movies, but what about their female counterparts? How will this Tiny Fey and Amy Poehler vehicle fare at the box office? We'll have that question answered next week.

For now, though, let's just see what film critic think of the comedy...

- There are gags and scraps of action that give the movie fits of buoyancy, and these tend to come not so much from the younger, eager performers as from the old hands. -- The New Yorker

- Surrogate motherhood is the comic topic of the day, and this is one funny chick flick that won't rankle male members of the audience. -- Cole Smithey

- A tailor-made girls' night out movie, Baby Mama is a tidily wrapped package the contents of which you can easily guess before opening it. -- Variety

- That the film also features SNL's Amy Poehler makes the proceedings' crushing mediocrity that much more frustrating. -- Slant Magazine

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay comes out on April 25.

Considering the DVD success of Harold and Kumer's first adventure (something about trying to find a fast food joint), we can pretty much pencil in the follow-up at the top of next weekend's box office. Maybe even the movie of the year.

But what do critics make of it? We them for a movie review or two...

- A prison sex slave rebellion having to do with an organ sandwich, don't ask, and a detour over to Bush's secret sex den, make this ballsy doper duo and their Blue State versus Red State rant hard to resist. -- NewsBlaze

- In its own wacky way, Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay is one of the ballsiest comedies to come out of Hollywood in a long time. No kidding. -- Variety

- The HIGHly-anticipated sequel to 2004's Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle comes just how you'd expect it: raunchy, wild, disgusting and completely absurd. -- Cinematical

- Like most comedy sequels, it is not as funny as its predecessor -- but, like most comedy sequels, that won't matter too much if you get stoned before you watch it. -- Eric D. Snider

We never thought we'd say this about an Al Pacino movie, but of all the films opening this weekend, 88 Minutes looks the most boring.

The supposed thriller looks like a cliched cat-and-mouse cop flick, with Pacino in the role of the hunted police officer, haunted by his past. Do critics around the nation agree with us? Let's find out...

- 88 Minutes plays like a script Tom Cruise rejected back in the '90s, forcing Pacino to run -- across campus, across town, through parking garages, up and down stairs. -- New York Press

- 88 Minutes will add a little more luster to a career that has not been adequately appreciated perhaps because of the suspiciously seductive power of a little man with an outsize talent. -- New York Observer

- How Al Pacino found himself roped into this wacky movie is another mystery entirely and one that doesn't take much research past the words "yacht payment" to solve. -- Brian Orndorf

- If one is the loneliest number, two is company, three is a crowd and four is an orgy, then eighty-eight must be the universal symbol for unwatchability. -- Arizona Daily Star

Starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li, The Forbidden Kingdom certainly looks to be a must-see for anyone interested in martial arts.

But what about those that enjoy a sensible plot? Intelligent dialogue? Overall entertainment? A handful of critics weigh in on whether or not The Forbidden Kingdom provides all these and more, as well...

- The Jackie/Jet pairing lives up to the hype, resulting in one of the best family adventure tales of recent memory. -- ReelzChannel

- While top-billed duo do indeed occupy plenty of screen time, this is basically the latest version of that post-Star Wars fantasy concept in which only a middle-class white teenage boy can save the universe from, y'know, Evil. -- Variety

- An incredibly entertaining and satisfying action flick well worth the wait to finally see these two martial arts masters work together. -- ComingSoon.net

- Once past the clunky prologue, the film is great fun, with a good balance between computer effects and athleticism. -- New York Magazine

It's a basic, time-tested movie equation:

Beautiful girl + Screaming + Torn apart clothing = Ch-ching!

With Brittany Snow and the film Prom Night fitting that description perfectly, we expect the horror flick to do well at the box office this week. But does that mean it's actually any good? Let's see what a few critics have to say about that...

- The new Prom Night is insistently lifeless, which I think is worse than simply being awful. At least awful has some personality to it...the defanged slasher movement once again lays a rotten egg. -- Brian Orndorf

- A snappy teen movie that's short and as sharp as the blade bloodied by its distinctively featured psychopathic killer. It's formulaic and there's nothing new, mind you, but it's well done and it is our imaginations that are encouraged to create the horror. -- Urban Cinefile

- Outside of a brief clip from Can't Hardly Wait, there is absolutely nothing in Prom Night that is even remotely scary. - eFilmCritic

- It's tough to be terrified by [Schaech's] absurdly methodical pursuit of Donna's friends, who he has no reason to kill besides maybe coveting their seats at the lunch table. -- Metromix.com

Somehow, we doubt movie reviews for Forgetting Sarah Marshall will even make a difference as far as the box office haul for this comedy goes.

Considering its pedigree and advanced hype, expect huge numbers.

Still, for those interested, the reviews have been mostly positive. Here's a look at a few for the film that opens on April 18...

- Personally, I can't remember the last time I laughed this hard at the movies... Without revealing the scene (because that would spoil the fun), this one has a shock value moment that is on par with Ben Stiller's classic "Franks and Beans" scene from [Something About Mary]. -- Reelz Channel

- One of those can't-miss romantic comedies in that there's some sweet, sensitive, insightful stuff for the ladies -- but there's also plenty of raunchy comedy for the boys. -- Cinematical

- Producer Judd Apatow looks to have scored another long-legged hit with Forgetting Sarah Marshall. -- Variety

- Writing and starring in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Jason Segel gets emotionally naked. He bares his soul. Also, he lets us see his schlong. As Steve Martin said, comedy is not pretty. -- Kyle Smith

Street Kings stars Keanu Reeves, The Game and Hugh Laurie. It'll be difficult for any movie to top that sort of eclectic.

How do these different stars mesh together on screen? That's what we wanted to know. So we spoke to a number of film critics and received the following takes on Street Kings...

- A disappointingly routine policier, a genre item in which the only new element is the degree of corruption and cynicism, building on the tradition of Ayer's script of Training Day and Ellroy's L.A. Confidential, both superior works as dramas and movies. -- Emanuel Levy

- A combination of implausible plot-points, and the miscasting of television's Hugh Laurie as Internal Affairs chief Captain Biggs, hampers a convoluted crime thriller that is nonetheless entertaining for its grotesque action sequences. -- Cole Smithey

- Pic is conflicted, glamorizing gunslinging while crying foul over unnecessary force. -- Variety

- While military man turned director Ayer implicates our culture steeped in violence and the damaging effects of trained killing, whether by police or in war, he's assembled such a deplorable LAPD rogues gallery, it's hard to tell which one is the worst. -- NewsBlaze

Smart People delivers a great cast. The romantic comedy stars Dennis Quaid, Ellen Page, Thomas Hayden Church and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Do these stars combine to produce an entertaining, heart warming film? Let's see what a number of movie critics from around the country think about that...

- Smart People is a borderline-excruciating exercise in trying to replicate the eccentric charm of Little Miss Sunshine. -- Slant Magazine

- It could've been much better. The characters don't really progress too far (any developments are too minute to be appreciated), leaving this movie as really just a bunch of A-List names with nothing much else to offer. -- Film Threat

- [Screenwriter] Poirier is a master at dialogue. His script crackles with sharp lines and he gives all his scenes a splendid comic undertow. -- The Hollywood Reporter

- Has enough funny moments and original ideas that it's genuinely enjoyable based on the strength of its script and cast alone. -- ComingSoon.net