| Critic |
Review |
Quote |
Analysis |
This Week's Verdict |
A.O. Scott
New York Times |
The Guardian |
"You might have thought that, after the debacle of Waterworld more than a decade ago, Kevin Costner would be loath to leave dry land. But like his character, Ben Randall, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, Mr. Costner just can't stay out of the drink...Mr. Costner is comfortable in this kind of role, perhaps too comfortable. The profane, leathery, sad-sack qualities of the character — his unorthodox teaching methods, his fondness for whiskey, his gruff manner — amount to a nearly transparent veneer smeared over his essential saintliness....In the movie's fifth and final ending, Ben's selfless goodness is pushed to the very edge of earthly heroism, as he becomes an almost theological figure." |
Tony actually kind of likes this movie, and he had us going for a while there, too. But the idea of seeing Kevin Costner turned into a theological figure is enough to give us post-traumatic stress disorder flashbacks to The Postman. |
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Dana Stevens,
Slate
|
The Last King of Scotland |
"The Last King of Scotland never rises to the standard set by Forest Whitaker's fearless (and fearsome) performance as Idi Amin. Whitaker clearly has it in him to plumb the psychological recesses of this curiously playful madman, but the director, Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September), doesn't ask him to....[T]he last 20 minutes feel like a pat political thriller... This climactic escape sequence also includes a torture scene so graphic and stomach-churning, it makes The Passion of the Christ look like Operation Dumbo Drop." |
Look, the idea of a Vietnam War comedy starring Ray Liotta, Denis Leary, Doug E. Doug, and a giant elephant was stomach-churning enough. The Passion of the Christ ain't got nothin' on Operation Dumbo Drop. |
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Armond White,
New York Press |
Broken Sky |
"Yet, from the way characters dress, to their immersion in pop media, Broken Sky is excitingly up-to-date. (Each guy's different T-shirts make a veritable fashion show of expressive logo-attitudes.) Addressing the generation for whom fellatio is as casual as a handshake, Hern‡ndez shows that the ease of sexual activity has not erased deeper emotional needs. This love-lost story reveals how contemporary licentiousness has only increased the bewilderment and spiritual foundering of guiltless young sexual experimenters." |
After last week's toned-down rave of Science of Sleep and now this sweet love poem to a small experimental Gay Mexican romance, Armond has been curiously toned-down of late. He actually sounds like he might be in love. Awwww. |
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Kyle Smith,
New York Post
|
School for Scoundrels |
"School for Scoundrels teaches one important lesson: Avoid any thing carrying the banner of The Weinstein Co., which is to the multiplex what bagged spinach is to the produce aisle. Les frres Weinstein have spent the last year presenting such cinematic E. coli as Derailed, The Matador and Doogal. This time they give us a comedy that forgot to put in the jokes, and a story with more holes than the Houston Texans' defense." |
Have we been reduced to taking swipes at the Weinsteins again? What next? Monica Lewinsky jokes? Also, The Matador was awesome. |
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Scott Foundas,
LA Weekly
|
The Guardian |
"The Guardian is being released by the Touchstone Pictures arm of The Walt Disney Company, and it is, I would wager, exactly the kind of movie that Disney studio head Dick Cook had in mind when he recently decided to cut back the studio's annual production quota to focus on more sure-fire tent-pole fare like Pirates of the Caribbean. In other words, it's not serious enough to take seriously, and it isn't flashy enough to get by on thrills alone. To be sure, there are worse ways to spend an early-fall afternoon, but this is that rare movie that leaves you pining for the Jerry Bruckheimer touch." |
That's because Jerry Bruckheimer would rather make Kangaroo Jack 2 than make a movie with Kevin Costner. The man has standards. |
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