Edelstein says, “The thriller Savages is in the same brutal, druggy realm of Natural Born Killers, but Stone has evolved in the last decade and a half, and the new film has a deeper, more complicated perspective. The violence isn’t a kick. It’s horrifying, senseless. Amid the mayhem, you think, “It didn’t have to go down this way.” (full review here)

(via Movie Review - ‘Savages’ - A Violent, Drug-Induced High : NPR)

David Edelstein on Brave: “Brave is pure Pixar in its mischievousness and irreverence and the brilliantly delineated facial movements of its characters.”

David Edelstein reviews Todd Solondz’s new movie Dark Horse: “You could never call Solondz a humanist, but he achieves something I’ve never seen elsewhere: compassionate revulsion.”

David Edelstein reviews The Dictator and says, “I wish we had more American movies like this — entertainments that mix low farce and high political satire, reminding us that extreme silliness does not preclude extreme seriousness.”

David Edelstein’s take on The Five-Year Engagement: “The Five-Year Engagement is a crowd-pleaser, but for me it still left a bitter taste. In spite of the naughty words, Stoller and co-writer Segel and producer Apatow have engineered a scenario so simplistic and retro that you wonder about their larger agenda. Do they want women to be more like the main character’s sister, for whom getting knocked up in a drunken one-night stand is a blessing in disguise?”

(via Movie Review - ‘The Five-Year Engagement’ : NPR)

David Edelstein reviews Monsieur Lazhar: “ But he’s one of the best teacher role models I’ve ever seen. Monsieur Lazhar, the character and the film, are heartrending.”

(via Movie Review - ‘Monsieur Lazhar’ : NPR)

The NPR review of Bully:

“Bully is a wrenching, intensely moral film, and so potentially useful to children who are either being bullied, or doing the bullying, that the MPAA’s Victorian prudery about a few instances of schoolyard language can’t help but seem boneheaded.” — Bob Mondello

(via Movie Review - ‘Bully’ - A Provocative And Essential Documentary : NPR)

Suzanne Collins’ bestseller about a televised killing tournament has come to the big screen, with a cast that includes Jennifer Lawrence, Lenny Kravitz and Stanley Tucci. Critic David Edelstein says some of the actors — including Lawrence — give amazing performances.

“In these days of 24/7 media — where even the dinkiest problem can get magnified and go viral — campaigns are obsessed with controlling every single thing, including our perception of the campaign’s workings. Watching The War Room, I kept thinking that the most old-fashioned thing about the Clinton campaign was that it trusted anyone to come inside it with cameras running.” — John Powers, Inside Bill Clinton’s Campaign ‘War Room’

The Lorax speaks for the trees, but David Edelstein must speak for The Lorax.

(via Movie Review - ‘Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax’ : NPR)

David Edelstein says, “It didn’t take long to realize that I was watching not only one of the greatest impersonations I’d ever seen — but one that was also emotionally real.”

Tom Cruise is climbing your Dashboard. [Edelstein’s take on MI4? Wonderful fun.]

David Edelstein says, “You must heed the subliminal advertising in the title. YOU GO.”

The Descendants gets to you by mixing devastating sadness with sick humor — and showing how they’re karmically connected.

— David Edelstein, “In Paradise, A Stranger To Himself.”

David Edelstein reviews Mysteries of Lisbon: “What makes this movie transcendent — a fast 4 1/2 hours — is that unique blend of distance and intimacy. You can study it like a series of paintings — and then realize, with a gasp, that it has gotten hold of you like a fever dream.”