Movie Reviews (Page 18)

As There Will Be Blood continues to pick up awards, many are wondering if we're looking at the winner of this year's Best Picture at the Oscars.

If that's not enough to entice people to check out the Daniel Day-Lewis vehicle, here are a series of reviews from America's top critics:

- There Will Be Blood strives for boldness, instead of just being bold. It doesn't cut, and it doesn't bleed. -- Salon.com

- There Will Be Blood, the joint venture between actor Daniel Day-Lewis and director Paul Thomas Anderson, might be the most incendiary combination since the Molotov cocktail. -- Los Angeles Times

- For bleakness, the movie can't be beat -- nor for brilliance. -- Entertainment Weekly

- Paul Thomas Anderson's loose adaptation of Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil! finds the director exhibiting newfound maturity and restraint without sacrificing any measure of artistry. -- Slant Magazine

The Kite Runner is a well-known, well-respected, best-selling book.

But what about the film version? Here's what critics are saying about it...

- [Director Marc Forster']s mix of topicality and sensationalism makes The Kite Runner sentimental, not profound. -- New York Press

- I won't deny that the film is sometimes rushed, oversimplified and skimpy on the details of Afghan culture that informed the book. But the tale still takes hold. -- Rolling Stone

- A dark tale of gnawing lament and an all-consuming yearning to atone for lifelong shortcomings. -- Arizona Daily Star

- The young actors are quite good, as is Homayoun Ershadi as Amir's intellectual father. -- Philadelphia Daily News

On the heels - or should that be the uterus? - of Knocked Up, Katherine Heigl stars in the romantic comedy 27 Dresses later this month.

What are critics and viewers saying about this tale of a perpetual bridesmaid? Let's find out...

- 27 Dresses lacks the kind of bracing satire we'd expect from the screenwriter, The Devil Wears Prada's Aline Brosh McKenna. Here, the devil wears taffeta and the script is more frothy than cutting edge. -- News Blaze

- Jane has always been good at taking care of others, but not so much in looking after herself. Her entire life has been about making people happy â€" and she has a closet full of 27 bridesmaid dresses to prove it. -- SmartCine.com

- I just saw a preview of this movie last night and it was hilarious! One of the best movies I have seen in a long time! I HIGHLY recommend seeing it!!!!!!!!!!!!! -- user on Netglimse.com

The Bucket List stars a pair of iconic actors: Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson.

But does this mean the film is worth seeing? Let's see what critics around the nation are saying about it...

- A feel good, end-of-life flick that manages to overcome its sobering subject-matter and somehow buoy the spirit. -- Newsblaze

- The Bucket List is a messy free-for-all, but it's a genuine pleasure to watch two hired hands literally running the rodeo. -- The New York Observer

- While it all cuts together to make one swell trailer, the end product fails to take flight. -- The Hollywood Reporter

- Despite some emotional dips and a see-it-to-believe-it load of schmaltz at the end, The Bucket List is mostly a joy ride with good company, and the actors obviously were having a high time on their traveling boondoggle. -- New York Daily News

Sweeney Todd is an unusual movie - a demonic barber sings and murders people?!? - but is this Johnny Depp film a good movie?

Critics around the nation weigh in:

- [Sweeney Todd] is mighty entertainment that makes you feel sorry for the poor saps in the next theater at the multiplex. -- The New York Post

- Most of the jokes fall flat in this joyless version. It's a movie for people who'd like to hear Depp do another British accent and wear a Bride of Frankenstein wig. -- Charlotte Observer

- An invigorating experience that ranks among the best stage-to-screen translations ever filmed. -- Orlando Weekly

- Sweeney Todd is as much a horror film as a musical. It is also something close to a masterpiece. - The New York Times

Charlie Wilson's War is generating a decent amount of Oscar buzz.

But does it deserve it? Let's find out what a cross section of critics are saying about this Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts vehicle:

- A pleasant enough film, but I simply didn't see what all the awards talk is about. -- Hollywood Report Card

- Tells a momentous story - a story every American should know - in a boisterous, lickety-split style that makes the history lesson go down easily. -- New York Magazine

- When Charlie Wilson's War is on target - pretty much every time Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman appear on-screen together - it's a really enjoyable movie. -- The Arizona Republic

- Charlie Wilson's War is a journalistic satire of realpolitik in which our jerry-rigged alliances, which looked strategic at the time, end up biting the U.S. in unforeseen ways. -- Entertainment Weekly

No movie has been as critically acclaimed in 2007 as Juno.

Here are a few examples of what the reviews are saying about this Michael Cera and Ellen Page vehicle:

- [Juno] comes off as calculatedly irreverent at times... but its sweetness is genuine and next-to-impossible to resist. -- A.V. Club

- The sophomore film from Jason Reitman is as smart and funny as his debut feature Thank You for Smoking, and even more affectionate and full of life. -- The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

- Juno turns out to be about hope and understanding. Everyone's heart is in the right place here, and maybe that's why the movie wins out. -- Reel Talk Reviews

- Just when one is about to write off Diablo Cody's much-praised screenplay as less than the sum of its ornate quips, a scene will be flipped in an unexpected direction and a hidden vein of emotion suddenly struck. -- Slant Magazine

I Am Legend broke a December box office record this weekend by raking in $76.5 million. So we know the film made money.

But did it make people happy? Here are a series of reviews from trusted movie sources:

- Where [director Francis Lawrence] takes it may not always work, but he makes sure we enjoy the ride. -- FilmCritic.com

- The opening scenes of "I Am Legend" have special effects so good that they just about compensate for some later special effects that are dicey. -- Roger Ebert

- This Will Smith-fronted tale is all about heroism, selfless sacrifice and final redemption. -- Plugged In

- Downright hokey...a billboard for a Batman-Superman team-up movie...will elicit more gasps from the fanboys than anything else. -- Groucho Reviews