| Critic |
Review |
Quote |
Analysis |
This Week's Verdict |
Mahnola Dargis,
New York Times |
Shooter |
"Mr. Wahlberg, once he shaves his beard, provides ample opportunity for eyeball strain. A natural screen presence, Mr. Wahlberg is charmingly sincere (he's like a cruder, more street Matt Damon), though when he sheds his clothes the glint in his eyes is as knowing as that of an old Vegas stripper." |
There is other great stuff in this review, such as repeated references to exploding heads and other "things that go boom" in the opening, but this is one of the best descriptions of Mark Wahlberg ever written. Let's face it, Matt Damon has nothing on Marky Mark.
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Rob Nelson,
The Village Voice |
The Last Mimzy |
"[Bob] Shaye, a mogul whom even Variety dared to call 'curmudgeonly,' has cast himself as the movies' chief villain before. Years ago, I heard him being booed and hissed Ñ hell, I was booing and hissing him myself — at the New York Film Festival's 'town meeting' held three weeks after 9/11." |
Taken together with a review strewn with Tolkein references and complaints about Shaye's handling of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, this slice of life from the 2001 New York Film Festival feels like way too much information about what Rob Nelson does with his spare time. |
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Stephanie Zacharek,
Salon.com |
Reign Over Me |
"Apparently it's never too soon to use 9/11 as a catalyst for a squishy drama about connecting with our lost selves, about getting on with things, about healing our wounds individually and as a nation. Mike Binder's Reign Over Me is the first 9/11 therapy movie: Even if you didn't lose anyone on 9/11, you probably still have some buried inner pain over something or other." |
Does the world need a 9/11 movie jazzed up a notch by Adam Sandler doing another round of his man-child thing? No, the world does not.
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Kevin Crust,
L.A. Times |
Reign Over Me |
"From the opening, surreal scooter-eye view of Manhattan streetscapes accompanied by Graham Nash's 'Simple Man' to its rousing closing credits, Reign is an ardent man-love ode to rock in both its soft and hard forms. [...]
Binder uses rock — memorably the Pretenders, Jackson Browne and Bruce Springsteen — in a refreshing way to reflect the intricacies of the relationships. What pours out of Charlie's iPod might as well be coming from his broken heart, but Binder's choices keep things surprisingly spirited. Movies about male friendship are often trivialized with the 'buddy' tag, but this one resonates beyond that." |
That's the beginning and the end of Kevin Crust's review tacked together. You really don't need to read the rest of the review to get his point. Is it just me or does "refreshing use of Bruce Springsteen" seem like a bit of an oxymoron in this context? |
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Owen Gleiberman,
Entertainment Weekly |
Pride |
"Terrence Howard, given the force and directness of most of his characters, has a way of catching you off guard with what a delicately intense, satin-soft instrument his voice is. His gaze may be steady as a rock, but when he talks, there's a hint of a quaver — almost a shadow memory of tears." |
Mmm. Let's stay on target here and focus on the satiny-soft melancholia of Terrence Howard's voice. |
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