Archive for the ‘ Movie Reviews ’ Category

Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews

Leonard Maltin movie reviews can be found all over the place, as this noted film critic and historian has worked on television, in print, and even on those mini-reviews you seen before the movie theater goes dark. With his casual critical style and nice-guy demeanor, he’s managed to maintain his status as one of America’s top film experts for several decades.

Maltin was born on December 18th, 1950, and he was already writing about film by the age of 15. During this time, he published a fanzine known as Film Fan Monthly and penned articles for Classic Images. A degree in journalism was a logical next step, and Maltin received one from New York University.

His film criticism career exploded after graduation, with articles in everything from TV Guide to Variety. But many know him best for his continuing stint as film critic for Entertainment Tonight and his annual series of books entitled Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide.

Other Leonard Maltin film books include:

And the list goes on and on…

Those looking for Leonard Maltin movie reviews will also find that he’s all over television (Starz, syndicated TV, ReelzChannel) and even radio (Leonard Maltin on Video). And if you’ve got kids, you’ve probably seen him hosting the films included in the Walt Disney Treasures collection.

And if all that wasn’t enough, Leonard Maltin also has a presence on the Internet. His site, Leonard Maltin’s Movie Crazy, is billed as a place for people who love movies.

One of the many Leonard Maltin movie reviews actually got him in the Guinness Book of World Records for the shortest review. For the 1948 musical entitled Isn’t It Romantic?, Maltin’s review consisted only of one word: “No.”

Leonard Maltin’s 100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century

Released at the turn of the century, this list includes Maltin’s suggestions for the 100 best films of the 20th century. While I haven’t included the complete list, here are a few of those that made the cut.

If you’ve enjoyed this post about Leonard Maltin movie reviews, then you may also like the following:

Peter Travers Movie Reviews

If you’ve ever been a subscriber of People or Rolling Stone, then chances are you’ve read a few Peter Travers movie reviews. In addition to his work in print, he also serves as the host of Popcorn, an ABC News.com and ABC News Now program featuring celebrity interviews. Known for his straightforward review style that doesn’t put you to sleep with antiquated words, Peter Travers movie reviews are among my favorite to read. And I’m not the only one, as he’s the most blurbed film critic in the nation.

He’s been with Rolling Stone since 1989, joining their staff after four years spent at People magazine. His style is immediately recognizable, with a four-star rating system and reviews usually clocking in at around 500 words. A few examples of his highest-rated movies include:

On the opposite end of things, the following films have received the lowest rating (zero stars) available from a Peter Travers movie review:

While Travers seems to hate all things Michael Bay, he is smitten with the following directors, often giving their films superior ratings: Tim Burton, Clint Eastwood, David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Ang Lee, and the Coen brothers.

Top-Rated Films from Peter Travers

Each year, Peter Travers put out his top 10 best films of the year list. The following details the top movie chosen each year, beginning with his first year at Rolling Stone.

Peter Travers Movie Reviews

If you’d like to check out some of the most recent Peter Travers movie reviews, just click on any of the following links:

Other recommended links from A1 Movie Reviews:

Gene Siskel Movie Reviews

While fans can no longer enjoy new Gene Siskel movie reviews, we can still look back fondly on a career filled with astute observations, humorous bickering, and a true passion for cinema. Alongside fellow critic Roger Ebert, Siskel hosted At the Movies from 1982 until his death in 1999. During that time, the duo became famous for their passionate on-air debates, and many fans simply referred to them as “the fat guy” and “the bald guy.” But there was so much more to Gene Siskel.

Born on January 26th, 1946, Eugene “Gene” Kal Siskel would experience a love for the movies while watching Dumbo as a child. Years later, he would cite this Disney classic as the first film to make a real impression on his.

Years later, he would go on to graduate with a degree in Philosophy from Yale in 1967. During that time, he studied with Pulitzer-winning writer John Hersey, and landed a job with the Chicago Tribune in 1969.

But Siskel’s life was in for a dramatic change in 1975, as that’s when he teamed up with Roger Ebert, a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. Their first show was known as Sneak Previews, and it aired on a Chicago-based PBS station. Their recognizable “thumbs-up, thumbs-down” rating system caught on, and the duo had gained a sizable following by 1978.

In 1982, they departed PBS for syndication, launching their trademark show Siskel & Ebert At the Movies. By 1986, the program was being produced by Walt Disney , and the title was eventually shortened to just Siskel & Ebert. Throughout the years, the pair appeared on everything from The Tonight with Johnny Carson to The Howard Stern Show, always ready to defend their reviews and cheerfully discuss their sometimes heated arguments.

During all his years as a critic, Siskel only walked out of a film on three occasions. The first came in 1971, with the Dean Jones comedy The Million Dollar Duck. Next was the 1980 film Maniac, and the third was for Penelope Spheeris’ 1996 film Black Sheep. With the latter, he admitted to pretending to go to the bathroom, only to never come back.

His two favorite films were Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and Saturday Night Fever. Siskel was such a big fan of the latter that he purchased Tony Manero’s white disco suit at a charity auction. Here’s a portion of what he said about the film in his written review, “My fever for ‘Fever’ goes beyond its music, even beyond its spectacular dancing sequences. I have come to love the film’s characters–all of them. And the only explanation that comes close to describing my visceral attachment to the film is that it is a 119-minute compression of most everyone’s teenage years. It’s all there: the clothes, dancing, cars, booze, fellowship, sexual thrills, sexual frustration, parental affection, parental hatred, unrequited love, the first job, doubting religion, and seeing oneself slowly becoming an adult.”

Sadly, Gene Siskel was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor in 1998. He continued to work for as long as he could, but then took a leave of absence in February of 1999, stating with good humor, “I’m in a hurry to get well, because I don’t want Roger to get more screen time than me.”

After undergoing surgery to remove the tumor, Gene Siskel died from complications at the age of 53 on February 20th, 1999. He is survived by his wife, Marlene, and their children, Will, Callie, and Kate. The final Gene Siskel movie review was for Simply Irresistible with Sarah Michelle Gellar, which received a “thumbs-down” rating.

In 2009, 10 years after Siskel’s death, on-air partner Roger Ebert delivered this touching tribute. Despite the fact that the duo hasn’t been together in over a decade, many film fans still think of them as being synonymous.

Gene Siskel Top 10 Films

Each year, in addition to his usual Gene Siskel movie reviews, the critic would also put together a top 10 list for his column in the Chicago Tribune. He would also do the same thing for the television, and slight differences would sometimes exist between the two. Below, I’ve collected an assortment of these lists for your enjoyment.

1998
01. Babe: Pig in the City (George Miller)
02. The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick)
03. Pleasantville (Gary Ross)
04. Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg)
05. The Truman Show (Peter Weir)
06. Antz (Eric Darnell/Tim Johnson)
07. Simon Birch (Mark Steven Johnson)
08. There’s Something About Mary (Bobby Farrelly/Peter Farrelly)
09. Waking Ned Devine (Kirk Jones)
10. Madadayo (Akira Kurosawa)
11. Beloved (Jonathan Demme)

1995
01. Crumb (Terry Zwigoff)
02. Toy Story (John Lasseter)
03. Nixon (Oliver Stone)
04. Babe (Chris Noonan)
05. Dead Man Walking (Tim Robbins)
06. Leaving Las Vegas (Mike Figgis)
07. The American President (Rob Reiner)
08. Exotica (Atom Egoyan)
09. Apollo 13 (Ron Howard)
10. Les Miserables (Claude Lelouch)

Best Films of the 1980s
01. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese)
02. Shoah (Claude Lanzmann)
03. The Right Stuff (Philip Kaufman)
04. My Dinner With Andre (Louis Malle)
05. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Robert Zemeckis)
06. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee)
07. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone)
08. Moonlighting (Jerzy Skolimowski)
09. Sid and Nancy (Alex Cox)
10. Kagemusha (Akira Kurosawa)

1979
01. Hair (Milos Forman)
02. Kramer vs. Kramer (Robert Benton)
03. The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino)
04. Breaking Away (Peter Yates)
05. Manhattan (Woody Allen)
06. The Marriage of Maria Braun (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
07. Nosferatu, the Vampyre (Werner Herzog)
08. The Onion Field (Harold Becker)
09. Time After Time (Nicholas Meyer)
10. The China Syndrome (James Bridges)

1969
01. Z (Costa-Gravas)
02. Midnight Cowboy (John Schlesinger)
03. Alice’s Restaurant (Arthur Penn)
04. Simon of the Desert (Luis Bunuel)
05. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (Robert Ellis Miller)
06. Oh! What a Lovely War (Richard Attenborough)
07. The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah)
08. if…. (Lindsay Anderson)
09. Pretty Poison (Noel Black)
10. Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (Paul Mazursky)

Oh, and here’s a list of 10 movies he absolutely never wanted to see again (compiled in 1985):

Friday the 13th (1980)
Friday the 13th, Part 2 (1981)
Friday the 13th, Part 3 (1982)
Friday the 13th – The Final Chapter (1984)
Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985)
The Cannonball Run (1981)
Cannonball Run II (1984)
Porky’s (1981)
Porky’s II (1983)
Porky’s Revenge (1985)

Gene Siskel Quotes

As we wrap up this article on Gene Siskel movie reviews, I’d like to leave you with a few quotes from one of the greatest critical minds of modern cinema.

And here are a few links to other A1 Movie Reviews blog posts you might be interested in:

A. Jaye to Write Sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street

For regular readers of A1 Movie Reviews, you’re no doubt familiar with the work of A. Jaye, one of our talented film critics who happens to live across the pond in the UK. When he’s not busy working on his own site, Thrill Fiction, he’s written a number of reviews for us, and he’s particularly passionate about the horror genre. Here’s a sample:

As you can see from the above reviews, A. Jaye has a critical style that’s all his own, and his writing stands out in an endless sea of hacks looking to become the next Harry Knowles. That’s why I wanted to make specific mention of his latest Thrill Fiction post.

Following his review of the Nightmare on Elm Street reboot, A. Jaye cranked out another post and advanced the theory that only two films really qualify as worthwhile horror remakes: Night of the Living Dead (1990) and The Hills Have Eyes (2006). While he also sang the praises of The Thing (1981), The Fly (1986) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), he wisely points out that all these are new works based on previously filmed material.

So with only two true remakes to fawn over, what’s a horror fan to do? Well, if you’re A. Jaye, you’re going to go out and write a script.

That’s right, A. Jaye announced in a post entitled A Nightmare on Elm Street: What About the Sequel that he’ll be putting together a spec script entitled A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Return, which will serve as a remake of the first sequel. He’s set a target date of August 31st to post his first draft of the screenplay online, so be sure to head over to Thrill Fiction and lend your support.

And for those readers with an extra helping of ambition, why not write one yourself? Even if you think it’s horrible, there’s probably a good chance that Michael Bay and the boys at Platinum Dunes will give it a look. For more information on how to do so, take a look at this excellent article titled How to Write a Screenplay.

And with any luck, we’ll be able to bring you more quality movie reviews from A. Jaye in the near future.

Manifest Destiny: A Fates Calling

Student films can be tricky, because the talent that crafts them often ends up working in opposition to each other. It’s difficult for blossoming, ambitious filmmakers to put egos aside, get on the same page, and deliver something for the common good of the film. However, when it’s done right, the results are remarkably impressive and something that can be appreciated as much as (if not more than) some studio-produced features. Manifest Destiny: A Fates Calling, a short film from Justin Chambers and Crevice Entertainment, is a good example of what I’m talking about.

Clocking in at around 18 minutes, it’s a brief film that packs some heavy concepts into its condensed narrative economy. Set in medieval times, it centers around two brothers being held captive. At the king’s command, they must decide which brother shall die and which shall be set free. It stars Donny Boaz and Carl Silva as the siblings in the midst of this crisis. There are also brief appearances by Jason Lamar as a fellow prisoner and Rocio Burton as a queen.

The performances by Boaz and Silva are spectacular. They bring their emotional intensity to a boiling point yet maintain an elegant poise. Nothing here is over the top or overacted. They play off each other well, and their timing is precise. It’s almost like they’ve done several projects together. The trust in each other is evident onscreen and makes for a scene that requires much investment with only minimal exposition, yet they manage to pull it off. Particularly engaging is Silva. His depiction of the younger Tavish operates on many batteries of emotion–none of which are easy to play–and he executes them all with seasoned craftsmanship. He’s definitely one to watch. Lamar’s brief appearance is also impressive.

Chambers’ direction is on point. This is a heavy-handed scene, and much of the challenge was harnessing the steady performances from his actors. I’d say he managed to do so effectively. There is a bigger story here and maybe too much to pack into just 20 minutes, but aside from a few dialogue and editing hiccups, the film flows well and takes advantage of the time it has, leaving the viewer satisfied and not asking too many questions. It’s strongly reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy in terms of tone and style, particularly in the opening sequence. Derek Lotek did an awe-inspiring job here. The production design is simply amazing, possibly the best of any student film I’ve ever seen.

Overall, Manifest Destiny: A Fates Calling is an impressive watch with terrific young talent both in front of and behind the camera. With its solid narrative, great performances, and egoless professionalism, this is one short film that may be worth seeking out and watching over much of the weaker fare currently playing in theaters.

Four out of five stars.

Weird Movie Reviews

It occurred to us that those of you with a taste for the strange and macabre might be interested in some weird movie reviews. These are reviews of those films that screw with your head and leave you wondering WTF for the next few hours…but in a good way.

Some filmmakers only dabble in this market. Case in point: Peter Jackson directed a puppet porn/crime thriller called Meet the Feebles before moving on to more mainstream fare like The Lord of the Rings, King Kong, and The Lovely Bones. On the other hand, some moviemakers are so good at weird movies that they hardly make any other kind. Here’s a look at some of those filmmakers and their unusual movies:

Blue Velvet: An unflinching look at the darker side of human nature, David Lynch’s 1986 cult classic revolves around a college kid (Kyle MacLachlan) who returns home to his ailing father’s bedside. When he discovers a severed human ear in the fields near his house, he gets caught up in the world of masochistic chanteuse Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini). Blue Velvet’s images are as surreal as you would expect from David Lynch, but his early work at least has an understandable narrative thread. To be totally confounded, check out some of his later work in Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive.

Donnie Darko: Almost everything about this movie is bizarre – from the slow pacing to the quirky soundtrack to the all-eyes face of its hero, Donnie (a then-undiscovered Jake Gyllenhaal). Not to mention the terrifying six-foot bunny named Frank that sends him on a local crime spree after he sleepwalks out his house, narrowly escaping death. Writer-director Richard Kelly’s most recent film The Box, was also pretty peculiar, although not nearly as good.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: This unusual love story is practically Disney by screenwriter Charlie Kaufman standards. It tells the story of Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet), a couple whose romance sours. When it does, they decide to undergo a procedure to erase one another from their memories but the traces left behind cause some confusing complications. For more Kaufman mind trips, try Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Synecdoche, New York.

Cry-Baby: Don’t let the recent feel-good remake of Hairspray fool you. John Waters is a weird guy who makes some weird movies. In this film, Johnny Depp stars as the title character, a 1950s greaser-type who is only capable of crying a single tear. Surrounded by misfits and outcasts (he has a friend named Hatchet Face, enough said.), Cry-Baby is the normal one in the movie. Waters’ campy sense of humor makes this film prime fodder for our weird movie reviews roundup. For more from this kooky writer-director, check out the original Hairspray, Pecker, and Cecil B. Demented.

A Clockwork Orange: I’d love to offer an insightful review of this stellar example of Stanley Kubrick’s filmmaking, but the experience of watching this movie was so intense that I ended up on the bathroom floor puking my guts out for much of it. But then, Kubrick’s entire body of work is strange and intense. For further proof, you need look no further than Eyes Wide Shut, Full Metal Jacket, Dr. Strangelove, and The Shining.

Edward Scissorhands: A mad scientist animates a boy to be his son and companion. When he dies before having the chance to equip him with human hands, Edward (Johnny Depp, really adept at these weird movie roles) must go out into the real world with giant hedge clippers for digits. Once there, he finds love, bigotry and a career in the salon business. This movie is an ideal showcase for Tim Burton’s knack for the simultaneously dark and comic, and for arresting imagery. Not weird enough for you? Try Ed Wood, Sweeney Todd, or Big Fish.

If you still can’t get enough weird movie reviews, check out these other sites for their takes.

And don’t forget that all the films listed above can be purchased through Amazon. They offer low prices, fast shipping, and a small commission to us for sending you there.

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Good Movie Reviews

If you’re in the market for good movie reviews – that is, well-written reviews of movies worth seeing, then you’re in the right place. It’s harder to praise a film than to pan it, as there are only so many words for great. But these five recent reviews showcase the adjective-finding, metaphor-making, analysis-writing chops of some talented reviewers and some enjoyable films.

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Recent Movie Reviews

Are you on a quest for recent movie reviews? If so, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, I’ve included a number of the latest movie reviews to keep you informed of what’s hot and what’s not. And keep in mind that you can buy movies like Avatar on Amazon for much less than most chains (plus we get a cut of the action). Boy, could your day get any better?

These are the most recent movie reviews, but other films may be flooding into multiplexes by the time you read this. For the latest on new movies like The Wolfman and Shutter Island, be sure to check back often.

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Roeper Movie Reviews

If you’re looking for Roeper movie reviews, then you must be a fan of Richard Roeper, the columnist/critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and co-host of At the Movies (aka Ebert & Roeper at the Movies and Ebert & Roeper) from 2000 until 2008. He’s also the author of the following books about cinema:

(All these books can be found on Amazon, and buying one will help us pay for the costs of maintaining this site. I could also use a new pair of shoes. )

In February of 2009, fans of Roeper movie reviews were thrilled to hear that he was launching his own website at RichardRoeper.com. In addition to waxing philosophic about sports and politics, Roeper also posts movies reviews in text and video form. The video reviews are done with the cooperation of the Starz cable channel. And like everyone else in the nation, Roeper also shares his thoughts on Twitter.

While he continues to maintain his site, he has also signed a six-figure deal with ReelzChannel within the last few months. From the looks of it, Richard Roeper movie reviews will soon be everywhere.

In case you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, here’s a selection of Roeper film reviews and movie articles currently available. Take a look and marvel at the critical skills that could very well make him the heir to Roger Ebert’s empire. To read the full review, just click on the lick I’ve so graciously provided.

There are tons more reviews available on the Richard Roeper website, from smash hits like Avatar to Moon, the brilliant science-fiction film starring Sam Rockwell.

Also recommended:

10 Funny Movie Reviews

These 10 funny movie reviews should provide a nice change of pace from the usual super-serious reviews written by all the respectable critics. The following reviews are filled with cynicism, sexual innuendo and downright goofiness. Read on and prepare to be amused.

Avatar from Cracked – Bobby “Fatboy” Roberts writes this review of Avatar. While it ends up being a positive review due to the intense action scenes of the climax, the bulk of the reviews if a scathing (and hilarious) look at the rest of the film. From Dances With Wolves comparisons to complaints about clumsy romantic subplots, there’s plenty of comedic goodness to be had in this funny movie review.

Seven Pounds from FilmBender – The guys at FilmBender pull no punches, claiming that seven pounds isn’t nearly as many times as they’d like to pound star Rosario Dawson. It’s hardly an in-depth analysis, but it did give me a chuckle. Hopefully, it’ll do the same for you. Plus, it features a great picture of the lovely Ms. Dawson.

District 9 from Mr. Cranky – Mr. Cranky hates every movie; it’s just a matter of how much he hates them. He really despises District 9, complaining in humorous detail about the level of violence and underdeveloped aliens.

Speed 2: Cruise Control from Roger Ebert – This one isn’t meant to be funny, but it still is. That’s because venerable film critic Roger Ebert actually gave three stars out of four to the disaster known as Speed 2: Cruise Control. While I’m certain Jason Patric was thrilled by the positive review, anyone else will be left scratching their head in confusion…and amusement. I guess nobody’s perfect.

I Am Sam from Mr. Cranky – Another gem from Mr. Cranky, this time aimed at a film where Sean Penn plays a mentally disabled man. Cranky calls it a “shameless piece of universal cosmic dung,” but he’s just getting started. Check out this classic bit of criticism: “Sam has a group of funny developmentally challenged friends, several of whom are not played by actual developmentally challenged people. At my screening, their antics tended to make middle-aged women with below-average IQs giggle a lot.”

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead from FilmBender – Besides talking about the sheer hotness of Marisa Tomei, the guys at FilmBender also manage to talk a little bit about the actual movie. But mostly they discuss how good Tomei looks in and out of bed.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li from Mr. Cranky – One of my favorite sites when it comes to funny movie reviews, Cranky sums this film up perfectly with the following line, “Street Fighter used to be about the fighting. Apparently, now it’s about giving B grade TV stars their very own leading roles.”

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li from Ain’t It Cool News – One of Harry Knowles’ cronies also gets in on the Street Fighter bashing, calling this Kristin Kreuk vehicle “really, really, really bad shit.” This one is pretty lengthy compared to other funny movie reviews, so expect to get plenty of comedic bang for your buck.

Rest Stop from Film Cynic - When it comes to horror films, Rest Stop is about as bad as it gets. So bad it’s laughable, the film eventually wears you down like a screening of Mystery Science Theater. Film Cynic explores the awfulness in great detail, taking about everything from so-called acting to the atrocious script. The film is unintentionally funny, while the review certainly means to be.

Miss March from Mr. Cranky – One final gem from Mr. Cranky, this review rips apart Miss March, a film that had critics everywhere frothing at the mouth in disgust. It receives the dreaded mushroom cloud rating, which, according to the site, is “proof that Jesus died in vain.” Cranky says the film “has no balls” and is a “1.5 hour infomercial on Playboy.” Click on the link to read more.

If you’d like to buy any of the movies above, click on the Amazon links we’ve provided. We’ll get a small commission fee for sending you there, and everyone walks away from the experience happy.

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