Reviews
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Hairspray Review, by A. O. Scott of The New York Times
That "Hairspray" is good-hearted is no surprise. Adam Shankman's film, lovingly adapted from the Broadway musical, preserves the inclusive, celebratory spirit of John Waters's 1988 movie, in which bigger-boned, darker-skinned and otherwise differe...
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The Simpsons Movie Review, by A. O. Scott of The New York Times
I have long been of the opinion that the entire history of American popular culture -- maybe even of Western civilization -- amounts to little more than a long prelude to "The Simpsons." I don't think I'm alone in this belief. But it does not foll...
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Into the Wild Review, by A. O. Scott of The New York Times
There is plenty of sorrow to be found in "Into the Wild," Sean Penn's adaptation of the nonfiction bestseller by Jon Krakauer. The story begins with an unhappy family, proceeds through a series of encounters with the lonely and the lost, and ends ...
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Wristcutters: A Love Story Review, by A. O. Scott of The New York Times
The afterlife can be a difficult place to set a movie, especially a comedy. Apart from the inevitable lighting and labor issues, there is the risk of alienating viewers with sentimentality, implausibility or questionable metaphysics. Then again, w...
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Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, by A. O. Scott of The New York Times
The grim lesson of "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" is delivered by an elderly jewelry dealer sitting in a tiny, dark room somewhere in the diamond district of Manhattan. "The world is an evil place," he declares, with the authority of someone...
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Starting Out in the Evening Review, by A. O. Scott of The New York Times
A crepuscular glow suffuses Andrew Wagner's intelligent, careful adaptation of a near-perfect novel by Brian Morton. One of Mr. Wagner's themes (and also Mr. Morton's) is the waning of that old, literary New York, the twilight of an idea of the ci...
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The Diving Bell And The Butterfly Review, by A. O. Scott of The New York Times
Julian Schnabel has made three feature films: "Basquiat," "Before Night Falls" and now "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." All are biographical, examining the lives of real people, and in each case the protagonist struggles with a condition of li...
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Juno Review, by A. O. Scott of The New York Times
Juno MacGuff, the title character of Jason Reitman's new film, is 16 and pregnant, but "Juno" could not be further from the kind of hand-wringing, moralizing melodrama that such a condition might suggest. Juno, played by the poised, frighteningly ...
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Charlie Wilson's War Review, by A. O. Scott of The New York Times
Most of the recent films we've seen about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq remind us what a drag those conflicts are, which may be why so few of us have bothered to go see them. Of course all wars are terrible, but good movies have a way of mitiga...
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Sweeney Todd Review, by A. O. Scott of The New York Times
Tim Burton makes fantasy movies. Stephen Sondheim writes musicals. It is hard to think of two more optimistic genres of popular art, or of two popular artists who have so systematically subverted that optimism. Mr. Sondheim has always gravitated t...
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