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HEREAFTERMovie Reviews
Drama about how three people in different parts of the world (a French journalist, a working class man in San Francisco and a schoolboy in London) are connected by death and the afterlife. Cast:Matt Damon, Bryce Dallas Howard, Cécile De FranceDirector:Clint EastwoodRelease Date:October 15, 2010DVD Release:March 15, 2011From:Warner Bros.Rating:PG-13Length:2 hr. 6 min.
Hereafter played to mixed reviews. • Claudia Puig wrote in USA Today, "...packing an unexpectedly profound emotional gut-punch.... an intimate, thought-provoking, dialogue-driven story..." • And Joe Morgenstern wrote in the Wall Street Journal, "Either you buy their Vaseline-lensed visions of the hereafter, or you watch in stony silence, as I did, wondering why there's no one to care about." More Reviews Below...
Alynda Wheat, People: MODERATE(cg) "An overly long, moody take on what happens after we die... In 'Hereafter,' as in the real world, an obsession with death means no life at all."(See all of Alynda Wheat's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 175 words, 10/21/10
Richard Corliss, Time: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...a daunting test for the video-game crowd -- and, for more patient viewers, a film of mixed rewards and challenges.... has its privileged moments."(See all of Richard Corliss's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,075 words, 10/22/10
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: VERY GOOD(cg) "...there's an elegance and an efficiency in the storytelling that are so very characteristic of Eastwood's 40 some-odd years behind the camera."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 733 words, 10/14/10
Thelma Adams, Us Weekly: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "While the emotional early scenes captivate... the flick's second half falls apart.... Still, Damon shoulders his role with grace..."(See all of Thelma Adams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 178 words, 10/14/10
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: GOOD(cg) "...written with uncharacteristic credulity by 'The Queen's' Peter Morgan and directed by Eastwood with an uncharacteristic lack of a center..."(See all of Lisa Schwarzbaum's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 503 words, 10/15/10
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: VERY GOOD(cg) "Eastwood hits narrative bumps on this atypical spiritual journey, as does politics-obsessed screenwriter Peter Morgan. No worries."(See all of Peter Travers's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 204 words, 10/15/10
Claudia Puig, USA Today: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...calmly examines death, grief and melancholy, packing an unexpectedly profound emotional gut-punch.... an intimate, thought-provoking, dialogue-driven story..."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 516 words, 10/15/10
Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...considers the idea of an afterlife with tenderness, beauty and a gentle tact. I was surprised to find it enthralling."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 829 words, 10/21/10
James Berardinelli, Reel Views: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a fascinating, absorbing motion picture, but will work only for those willing to surrender to the story as it unspools at its own deliberate rate."(See all of James Berardinelli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,093 words, 10/21/10
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (14 Reviews)
A.O. Scott, New York Times: EXCELLENT "...has the power to haunt the skeptical, to mystify the credulous and to fascinate everyone in between... It leaves you wondering... it's wonderful."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,117 words, 10/15/10
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: POOR(cg) "...an airport novel dressed up as a movie.... a shambling, overly detailed screenplay by Peter Morgan that is itself haunted by memories of far better films..."(See all of Joe Neumaier's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 452 words, 10/15/10
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "What's surprising and satisfying about this film are its determination to deal with unconventional material in a classical way.... This is quiet but potent filmmaking..."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 772 words, 10/15/10
Kyle Smith, New York Post: MODERATE(cg) "...offers sensitivity and a demure shrug. What would 'Gran Torino's' Walt Kowalski say to such a limp and passive film? 'Get off my screen.' "(See all of Kyle Smith's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 630 words, 10/15/10
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: MODERATE(cg) "Many love it and consider it yet another late masterwork from director Clint Eastwood. I think that sort of praise does a disservice to Eastwood's best pictures..."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 598 words, 10/22/10
David Edelstein, New York Magazine: WEAK "...ends small, its hold gradually slackening, its thread dissolving.... too woo-woo sentimental to be real, too limp to make for even a halfway decent ghost story."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 783 words, 10/11/10
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...considers the idea of an afterlife with tenderness, beauty and a gentle tact. I was surprised to find it enthralling."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 829 words, 10/21/10
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: VERY GOOD(cg) "...makes no grand statement about life after death. It's just Eastwood pondering the subject, as any thoughtful person might, and inviting us to think along with him."(See all of Peter Howell's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 686 words, 10/15/10
Liam Lacey, Toronto Globe & Mail: MODERATE(cg) "...consistently watchable. The cinematography is crystal clear, and the methodical pacing compels you to feel the weight of the individual episodes."(See all of Liam Lacey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 642 words, 10/15/10
Josep Parera, La Opinion: EXCELLENT(cg) "Eastwood es un cineasta de corte clásico que deja que sus películas crezcan argumentalmente sin prisa, dejando de lado trucos circenses del cine contemporáneo."(See all of Josep Parera's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 721 words, 10/15/10
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...sweet, loping, and meditative... isn't going to please everyone.... the film is startling - mostly for the fact that this quiet cogitation on death comes from Eastwood."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 634 words, 10/22/10
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: WEAK(cg) "...wholly unsatisfying... a terrible letdown, like investing in a belief system and discovering there's no 'here' that you've been after all your life."(See all of Roger Moore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 542 words, 10/22/10
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: VERY GOOD(cg) "...gentle, thoughtful... Eastwood takes on a subject that could provoke incredulous laughter and handles it with intelligence and restraint."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 555 words, 10/22/10
Joy Tipping, Dallas Morning News: VERY GOOD(cg) "Eastwood does his usual fabulous job, investing the film with mood and detail galore, and drawing affecting performances... The clunker here is the script by Peter Morgan..."(See all of Joy Tipping's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 535 words, 10/22/10
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: VERY GOOD(cg) "...affecting both in spite of and because of its flaws.... serenely, even masterfully eccentric -- the sort of movie that begins with a tsunami and ends with a kiss."(See all of Ty Burr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 769 words, 10/22/10
Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Far softer and more subtle than Eastwood's usual powerful dramas, it feels disappointing on first view, as if there isn't enough there."(See all of Moira Macdonald's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 557 words, 10/22/10
Tom Long, Detroit News: GOOD(cg) "...comes off a bit too cool for its own good. Eastwood may have found life after death, but he forgot too much of the heart in life."(See all of Tom Long's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 575 words, 10/22/10
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: MODERATE(cg) "...absorbing in its first half... eventually, you realize the movie isn't comprised of much more than premise, greeting-card wisdom and coincidences..."(See all of Rene Rodriguez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 477 words, 10/22/10
Katey Rich, Cinema Blend: WEAK(cg) "...failure to present the afterlife with any meaning or originality is just the beginning of the many, many faults... a soppy, disorganized melodrama..."(See all of Katey Rich's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 720 words, 10/15/10
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: VERY GOOD(cg) "...might be Clint Eastwood's most controversial and divisive film ever. It surely is his most ambitious, though not his most accomplished."(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 557 words, 10/21/10
Nathan Rabin, AV Club: MODERATE(cg) "...feels more arbitrary than revelatory. Just because a film takes place entirely in the long shadow of death doesn't mean it has to be this relentlessly dour."(See all of Nathan Rabin's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 325 words, 10/14/10
Nick Schager, Slant: POOR(cg) "...finds the director succumbing to eye-rolling corniness.... unintentionally has everyone speak in such overtly meaningful ways that no genuine meaning emerges."(See all of Nick Schager's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 880 words, 10/09/10
Bob Mondello, NPR All Things Considered: FAIR "...a slow-motion tidal wave of afterlife hokum, and you can feel it slipping away, bit by bit, despite Eastwood's best efforts to keep it on life support.... it sort of works."(See all of Bob Mondello's reviews...)(Listen to the full review...) 229 seconds, 10/15/10
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: WEAK "Either you buy their Vaseline-lensed visions of the hereafter, or you watch in stony silence, as I did, wondering why there's no one to care about."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 266 words, 10/15/10
A.O. Scott, New York Times: EXCELLENT "...has the power to haunt the skeptical, to mystify the credulous and to fascinate everyone in between... It leaves you wondering... it's wonderful."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,117 words, 10/15/10
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "What's surprising and satisfying about this film are its determination to deal with unconventional material in a classical way.... This is quiet but potent filmmaking..."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 772 words, 10/15/10
Dana Stevens, Slate: WEAK "...could have come straight from one of those basic-cable documentaries in which people recount their near-death experiences in between cheesy 're-enactments'..."(See all of Dana Stevens's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 961 words, 10/21/10
Justin Chang, Daily Variety: GOOD "...uneven but absorbing... armored against risibility by its deep pockets of emotion, sly humor and matter-of-fact approach to the fantastical."(See all of Justin Chang's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 972 words, 09/13/10
Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: VERY GOOD "...never is less than intriguing, right from its tour de force opening sequence, and often full of insights... nimbly maneuvers through territory few American films enter."(See all of Kirk Honeycutt's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 752 words, 09/23/10
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "What's surprising and satisfying about this film are its determination to deal with unconventional material in a classical way.... This is quiet but potent filmmaking..."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 772 words, 10/15/10
Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: EXCELLENT(cg) "...meditative, always intriguing, often enchanting... a deliberately fractured, globe-trotting exploration of fate and mortality, life and the afterlife."(See all of Emanuel Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,332 words, 09/12/10
A.O. Scott, New York Times: EXCELLENT "...has the power to haunt the skeptical, to mystify the credulous and to fascinate everyone in between... It leaves you wondering... it's wonderful."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,117 words, 10/15/10
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: WEAK "Either you buy their Vaseline-lensed visions of the hereafter, or you watch in stony silence, as I did, wondering why there's no one to care about."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 266 words, 10/15/10
26.1 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Hereafter's reviews are separated by an average 26.1 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
Hereafter (53 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Hereafter's reviews cover 100.0% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 33,328 words involume (average is 20,172 words). Length:The film's reviews average 629 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 49.5 Hours After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Hereafter's reviews on average broke 49.5 hours after opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is Hereafter's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
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