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PROMISED LAND (2012)Movie Reviews
Drama about a corporate salesman for a fracking company whose pitch to buy land in an economically depressed rural town is challenged by local residents. Cast:Matt Damon, Frances McDormand, John Krasinski, Scoot McNairy, Rosemarie DeWitt, Hal Holbrook, Lucas Black, Titus Welliver, Tim Guinee, Terry Kinney, Sara Lindsey, Johnny Cicco, Lennon Wynn, Kristin Slaysman, Rosemary HowardDirector:Gus Van SantRelease Date:December 28, 2012DVD Release:April 23, 2013From:Focus FeaturesRating:RLength:1 hr 46 min
Promised Land (2012) played to good not great reviews. • Marc Mohan wrote in the Portland Oregonian, "...a solid, suspenseful issue film..." • And Curt Holman wrote in Atlanta Creative Loafing, "...rarely strikes many sparks.... For a film ostensibly against fracking and the giant corporations that practice it, it makes a surprisingly weak case..." More Reviews Below...
Promised Land (2012) Positive Reviews (44 Reviews, reviews below)
Alynda Wheat, People: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...remarkably entertaining for a movie about fracking.... The film mostly works, except for one eye-roller of a plot twist and two terribly underwritten women."(See all of Alynda Wheat's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 91 words, 01/03/13
Richard Corliss, Time: FAIR "...slogs along... well-meaning does not automatically equal good movie. Some organic life is needed. And the only crop 'Promised Land' harvests is Capra Corn."(See all of Richard Corliss's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,180 words, 12/21/12
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: MODERATE(cg) "...alternately amusing and frustrating, full of impassioned earnestness as well as saggy sections.... succeeds in fits and starts."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 487 words, 01/01/13
Mara Reinstein, Us Weekly: VERY GOOD(cg) "Matt Damon and John Krasinski make it compelling... Each actor -- at his most affable -- makes a case in a smart, surprisingly accessible way."(See all of Mara Reinstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 123 words, 01/03/13
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: EXCELLENT(cg) "...urgent, heartfelt, and not-quite-as-predictable-as-you-think... Damon and Krasinski do a nice job of giving the usual confrontations a gentle and surprising spin."(See all of Owen Gleiberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 223 words, 01/04/13
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: VERY GOOD(cg) "...potent and powerful... Gus Van Sant finds the human side of a knotty issue. No polemics. Just the face of a new America in crisis."(See all of Peter Travers's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 101 words, 01/04/13
Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: MODERATE(cg) "...falls short in trying to sell a personal-salvation story as a salve to the conundrum it presents... it doesn't wash.... earnest and somewhat predictable..."(See all of Glenn Kenny's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 660 words, 12/21/12
James Berardinelli, Reel Views: MODERATE(cg) "...much of what's good is easily forgotten as a result of the preachy, impossible-to-swallow final 15 minutes... the misstep undermines all that comes before it."(See all of James Berardinelli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 795 words, 12/28/12
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (11 Reviews)
A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...earnest... feels not quite sure how to reconcile its polemical intentions with its storytelling impulses, and thus finally unable to fulfill its own promise."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 667 words, 12/28/12
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: EXCELLENT(cg) "There's a lightness of touch here that makes its level-headed advocacy go down smooth as lager, and allows some quiet room for thought."(See all of Joe Neumaier's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 471 words, 12/28/12
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...good intentions and good work aside, the film flounders before it reaches its conclusion... ends up too gimmicky for its evident earnestness."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 821 words, 12/28/12
Kyle Smith, New York Post: WEAK(cg) "...despite a promising start the movie gets a case of the sillies.... it gets so cheesy that I suspect it was also secretly funded by Velveeta."(See all of Kyle Smith's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 583 words, 12/28/12
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: MODERATE(cg) "...the character played by Matt Damon is awfully wussy.... the script is unconvincing... Van Sant, a smooth craftsman, never gives us a town on the ropes."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 481 words, 12/28/12
Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...isn't dull, though the bias is another matter.... The movie never gets stridently political, but it ultimately insists on doing things the typical, Hollywood way."(See all of Rafer Guzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 308 words, 01/04/13
Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine: POOR "...it collapses on all fronts, delivering hot-button platitudes and just-add-water character development... its attack on natural gas is so lazy that it actually backfires."(See all of Bilge Ebiri's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 775 words, 12/28/12
Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice/LA Weekly: MODERATE "...essentially a conversion story... Van Sant knows how to display the common touch, but the movie is a hard sell whose ending is never in doubt."(See all of Nick Pinkerton's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 230 words, 12/19/12
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...made with intelligence and touches on an important issue... [but] just ask yourself how much better it would have been with a little more murk. A lot, I'm thinking."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 258 words, 01/03/13
KEY CITIES (11 Reviews)
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: MODERATE(cg) "...wispy, over-earnest... isn't a particularly arresting piece of filmmaking... the movie fizzes and pops; otherwise it's an attractive, well-intentioned dry well."(See all of Ann Hornaday's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 471 words, 12/28/12
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: MODERATE(cg) "...frustrating.... It should be better than this, smarter... No matter where you stand on the fracking issue, you'd like to be treated with more intelligence and less preachifying."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 479 words, 12/28/12
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "It's a fine line between interesting characters and 'Northern Exposure' quirk, but the movie mostly stays on the right side of it... Damon is likable enough..."(See all of Ty Burr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 641 words, 12/28/12
Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...starts off on the right foot -- and then shoots itself in it.... a twist in the last third turns what had been a politically correct story into a dramatically inert misfire."(See all of Stephen Whitty's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 527 words, 12/28/12
Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a pleasure... Frances McDormand, as always, creates an entire world around her character... Rosemarie DeWitt brings her charming, smiling slipperiness..."(See all of Moira Macdonald's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 332 words, 12/28/12
Marc Mohan, Portland Oregonian: VERY GOOD(cg) "...an increasingly rare instance of a Hollywood film unafraid to take sides on a contentious political issue.... a solid, suspenseful issue film..."(See all of Marc Mohan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 339 words, 12/28/12
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "John Krasinski and Gus Van Sant play a shell game with our rooting interest to preserve a plot twist. It's a hedged bet that doesn't have a big payoff..."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 365 words, 01/04/13
Laura Reiley, Tampa Bay Times: VERY GOOD(cg) "It helps that fracking already sounds like a dirty word, something you'd say when your thumb meets the business end of a hammer."(See all of Laura Reiley's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 433 words, 01/02/13
Tom Long, Detroit News: VERY GOOD(cg) "...more character study than political screed.... This isn't a movie about easy fixes, be they personal or political; it's a film about long-term problems."(See all of Tom Long's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 282 words, 01/04/13
Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: VERY GOOD(cg) "...the characters drive this story, not ideology... as the movie ambles along to Steve's inevitable change of heart, it takes us along for the drive."(See all of Connie Ogle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 530 words, 01/04/13
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (9 Reviews)
Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice/LA Weekly: MODERATE "...essentially a conversion story... Van Sant knows how to display the common touch, but the movie is a hard sell whose ending is never in doubt."(See all of Nick Pinkerton's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 230 words, 12/19/12
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: MODERATE(cg) "...an ambiguous homily about the energy crisis and environmental pollution.... A twist clarifies nothing, and Van Sant's direction is as subtle as the fracking process itself."(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 157 words, 12/27/12
Scott Tobias, AV Club: MODERATE(cg) "...the gears eventually start to show.... No one seems to recognize the irony of making a film about corporate rigging that is itself outrageously rigged."(See all of Scott Tobias's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 403 words, 12/27/12
Chris Barsanti, Pop Matters: VERY GOOD(cg) "For all its political earnestness, this is a dapper film... It uses up too much of its store of tricks in the first half, and doesn't know where to go with a couple of characters..."(See all of Chris Barsanti's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 725 words, 12/21/12
Ed Gonzalez, Slant: WEAK(cg) "...tritely pays lip service to the knotty ideas of land rights, heritage, and tradition... a seemingly endless barrage of piled-upon, for-our-benefit-only hectoring."(See all of Ed Gonzalez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 680 words, 12/05/12
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...made with intelligence and touches on an important issue... [but] just ask yourself how much better it would have been with a little more murk. A lot, I'm thinking."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 258 words, 01/03/13
Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: WEAK(cg) "...rarely strikes many sparks.... For a film ostensibly against fracking and the giant corporations that practice it, it makes a surprisingly weak case..."(See all of Curt Holman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 440 words, 12/26/12
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...via a simple narrative that is so effortless it barely feels constructed at all, nothing here is quite what it seems, and everything is even more than what it is."(See all of MaryAnn Johanson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 776 words, 12/28/12
HIGHBROW PRESS (6 Reviews)
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: FAIR "An elegy for traditional values... injects itself into the fracking fray with plenty of fervor and no taste for complexity... Capra-esque nostalgia isn't helpful."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 296 words, 12/28/12
A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...earnest... feels not quite sure how to reconcile its polemical intentions with its storytelling impulses, and thus finally unable to fulfill its own promise."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 667 words, 12/28/12
David Denby, New Yorker: VERY GOOD "...heartfelt and clear-minded... this is one of Damon's best regular-guy performances... The movie is smart about something that's usually treated sentimentally."(See all of David Denby's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 543 words, 01/07/13
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...good intentions and good work aside, the film flounders before it reaches its conclusion... ends up too gimmicky for its evident earnestness."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 821 words, 12/28/12
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: VERY GOOD "...the movie surprised me with the grace and sophistication of its portrayal of small-town America, along with nice supporting performances..."(See all of Andrew O'Hehir's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,499 words, 01/02/13
MOVIE INDUSTRY (6 Reviews)
Justin Chang, Daily Variety: GOOD "...quietly absorbing.... well-acted.... a sturdy, conventional drama of conscience that acknowledges the current era of economic uncertainty..."(See all of Justin Chang's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 793 words, 12/05/12
Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...presents its environmental concerns in a clear, upfront manner but hits some narrative and character bumps in the second half that weaken the impact..."(See all of Todd McCarthy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 875 words, 12/05/12
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...good intentions and good work aside, the film flounders before it reaches its conclusion... ends up too gimmicky for its evident earnestness."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 821 words, 12/28/12
Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...arguably Matt Damon and Gus Van Sant's weakest collaboration, a simplistic and conventional message film that wears its ideology and politics on its sleeve."(See all of Emanuel Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 340 words, 12/06/12
A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...earnest... feels not quite sure how to reconcile its polemical intentions with its storytelling impulses, and thus finally unable to fulfill its own promise."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 667 words, 12/28/12
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: FAIR "An elegy for traditional values... injects itself into the fracking fray with plenty of fervor and no taste for complexity... Capra-esque nostalgia isn't helpful."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 296 words, 12/28/12
17.3 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Promised Land (2012)'s reviews are separated by an average 17.3 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.
Promised Land (2012) (44 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Promised Land (2012)'s reviews cover 92.0% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 22,973 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 522 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 42.7 Hours After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Promised Land (2012)'s reviews on average broke 42.7 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 Promised Land (2012)'s opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
Promised Land (2012) (44 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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