|
|
 |
|
|
Alynda Wheat, People: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...has great performances and a fine story, even if it feels like it's been trotted a lot before.... more than worthy as a family-friendly outing." (Read the full review...) 191 words, 10/07/10 Mary Pols, Time: GOOD "...there is no point in being snotty about 'Secretariat.' The saga of the horse becoming a champion has you pumping your fist in simple pleasure..." (Read the full review...) 931 words, 10/07/10 David Germain, Associated Press: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...a classy but standard Disney-fication of the tale whose thrilling race scenes are offset by some of the blandest 'you can do it if you try' dialogue you're likely to encounter on film." (Read the full review...) 648 words, 10/07/10 Thelma Adams, Us Weekly: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...racetrack scenes crackle... The many disjointed domestic sequences upset the pace, however -- and the film stumbles before reaching the finish line." (Read the full review...) 73 words, 10/07/10 Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: GOOD (cg) "When Secretariat is running his races, the movie has a hokey, old-fashioned appeal.... The film is so insistently square it undercuts the very drama it's out to capture." (Read the full review...) 517 words, 10/08/10 Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "If it's hip to be square, then this racehorse movie is the ultimate in cornball cool." (Read the full review...) 208 words, 10/15/10 Claudia Puig, USA Today: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "The true story of the recordbreaking Secretariat is pretty stupendous as is. It didn't need schmaltzing up. But director Randall Wallace ('The Man in the Iron Mask') chose to aggrandize everything..." (Read the full review...) 434 words, 10/08/10 Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com: OUTSTANDING (cg) "This isn't some cornball formula film.... It is a great film about greatness, the story of the horse and the no less brave woman who had faith in him." (Read the full review...) 1,298 words, 10/07/10 James Berardinelli, Reel Views: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "The racing sequences are effectively done... but the story as a whole seems stale and overly familiar." (Read the full review...) 830 words, 10/06/10
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "Diane Lane might be the two-legged star of 'Secretariat'... But the bigger and truer stars of this enjoyable, sometimes accidentally entertaining movie are the five horses that take turns playing Secretariat..." (Read the full review...) 890 words, 10/08/10 Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "Sounds potentially yawn-inducing, and yet this slightly glazed drama is aiming for family audiences, and that ought to help it at the starting gate." (Read the full review...) 259 words, 10/08/10 Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "If you're in the mood for it, and in the mood for a strong and satisfying performance by Diane Lane, you're definitely in the right place." (Read the full review...) 861 words, 10/08/10 Lou Lumenick, New York Post: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...ultimately delivers where it matters, in the home stretch." (Read the full review...) 655 words, 10/08/10 Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: MODERATE (cg) "There is no suspense... We know the outcome. Studios rarely back movies about horses that place, or show.... 'Secretariat' isn't bad but it's precisely what you'd expect." (Read the full review...) 586 words, 10/08/10 Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: MODERATE (cg) "A passable sports drama, but heavy on the inspirational mush." (Read the full review...) 314 words, 10/08/10 Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING (cg) "This isn't some cornball formula film.... It is a great film about greatness, the story of the horse and the no less brave woman who had faith in him." (Read the full review...) 1,298 words, 10/07/10 Nick Schager, Village Voice/LA Weekly: WEAK "...the formulaic race footage itself is vigorous; the schmaltzy mythmaking script, on the other hand, deserves a one-way trip to the glue factory." (Read the full review...) 209 words, 10/06/10 Bruce DeMara, Toronto Star: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...an exciting, richly told tale with well-drawn characters..." (Read the full review...) 501 words, 10/08/10 Rick Groen, Toronto Globe & Mail: MODERATE (cg) "...you can't fault the five nags who collectively play the title role." (Read the full review...) 762 words, 10/08/10 Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: POOR (cg) "...how to pander to an audience you don't respect in the slightest.... Nothing wrong with that story, but director Randall Wallace tells it in the most banal manner possible..." (Read the full review...) 214 words, 10/07/10
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: VERY GOOD (cg) "...director Randall Wallace (who wrote 'Braveheart') has achieved the next to impossible, injecting genuine tension and suspense into a narrative we all know the ending to." (Read the full review...) 477 words, 10/08/10 Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: VERY GOOD (cg) "A workmanlike sports inspirational boasting a potent performance from Diane Lane... harnesses womanpower to horsepower for galvanic effect." (Read the full review...) 500 words, 10/08/10 Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle/San Francisco Chronicle: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "The horse is gorgeous; Diane Lane is gorgeous; they spend a lot of time staring into each other's eyes, backlit by perpetual sunsets." (Read the full review...) 613 words, 10/08/10 Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: MODERATE (cg) "A well-acted tale of an underdog's triumph that sorely lacks an underdog, it teeters between pleasantly generic film biography and rank manipulation." (Read the full review...) 417 words, 10/08/10 Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: VERY GOOD (cg) "...a traditional, by-the-numbers feel-good movie that's likely to leave you cheering in the end anyway, even though you know what's coming." (Read the full review...) 541 words, 10/08/10 Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...gorgeous to look at, suspenseful when it's supposed to be and firmly in control of the sports movie archetypes and tropes that it wields like an experienced jockey using a riding crop." (Read the full review...) 185 words, 10/08/10 Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...happy proof of what care, polish, and some modest humor can do for a tired-seeming entertainment.... it has been presented to us -- by Walt Disney Pictures, no less -- as an occasion for uplift." (Read the full review...) 1,220 words, 10/08/10 Clint O'Connor, Cleveland Plain-Dealer: EXCELLENT (cg) "...a good family film." (Read the full review...) 478 words, 10/08/10 Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...you watch breathless and thrilled, despite knowing the outcome.... The dialogue in Mike Rich's screenplay is often clunky and expository..." (Read the full review...) 391 words, 10/08/10 Mike Russell, Portland Oregonian: GOOD (cg) "...an unapologetically earnest biopic..." (Read the full review...) 557 words, 10/08/10 Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "Diane Lane is the only winning part of 'Secretariat.' " (Read the full review...) 328 words, 10/08/10 Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...a strenuously familiar feel-good flick... Everything may be true, but that doesn't make it compelling. Even a talent like Lane can't shuffle this stacked deck." (Read the full review...) 505 words, 10/07/10 Tom Long, Detroit News: VERY GOOD (cg) "...family friendly, efficient and just a bit too twinkly-clean for its own good. The corn here is higher than it needs to be." (Read the full review...) 1,053 words, 10/08/10 Randy Myers, Miami Herald: VERY GOOD (cg) "...a rousingly entertaining and robustly acted movie with electrifying horse-racing sequences filmed from the jockey's perspective." (Read the full review...) 526 words, 10/08/10
Nick Schager, Village Voice/LA Weekly: WEAK "...the formulaic race footage itself is vigorous; the schmaltzy mythmaking script, on the other hand, deserves a one-way trip to the glue factory." (Read the full review...) 209 words, 10/06/10 Josh Tyler, Cinema Blend: POOR (cg) "...all but ignores the horse it's named after in favor of telling the tedious, mostly irrelevant story of his owner. Let's call her Diane Lane." (Read the full review...) 850 words, 10/04/10 Jeffrey Gantz, Boston Phoenix: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "Mike Rich's screenplay goes straight to the cliché factory... What keeps the film out of the claiming ranks is a tough Diane Lane..." (Read the full review...) 773 words, 10/07/10 Keith Phipps, AV Club: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "There's adversity, triumph, and lessons learned on the way to a happy ending. And upbeat scenes set to stirring, era-appropriate songs? Do you even have to ask?" (Read the full review...) 441 words, 10/07/10 Simon Abrams, Slant: POOR (cg) "...incompetent action scenes almost single-handedly capsize the film, which is a feat considering how stunted the rest of 'Secretariat's' central melodrama is." (Read the full review...) 750 words, 10/08/10 Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: POOR (cg) "...how to pander to an audience you don't respect in the slightest.... Nothing wrong with that story, but director Randall Wallace tells it in the most banal manner possible..." (Read the full review...) 214 words, 10/07/10 Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: WEAK (cg) "...stumbles out of the gate, races to finish line." (Read the full review...) 711 words, 10/08/10 MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher: EXCELLENT (cg) "Secretariat doesn't just win, he stacks the deck against himself, and then he wins anyway, with effortless grace. The quietly exultant feminism of the film is kinda like that, too..." (Read the full review...) 315 words, 10/21/10
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: POOR "...stumbles along beneath the weight of leaden life lessons.... Diane Lane does better than anyone had a right to expect, since she is saddled with dialogue of exceptional dreadfulness." (Read the full review...) 167 words, 10/08/10 Manohla Dargis, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "Diane Lane might be the two-legged star of 'Secretariat'... But the bigger and truer stars of this enjoyable, sometimes accidentally entertaining movie are the five horses that take turns playing Secretariat..." (Read the full review...) 890 words, 10/08/10 Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "If you're in the mood for it, and in the mood for a strong and satisfying performance by Diane Lane, you're definitely in the right place." (Read the full review...) 861 words, 10/08/10 Dana Stevens, Slate: WEAK "...a by-the-numbers sports-hero picture with an inexpressive hero (horses look great in motion, but they can't carry a close-up) and a preordained outcome.... the only real thrill comes from watching horses run." (Read the full review...) 655 words, 10/07/10 Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "I enjoyed it immensely... Which doesn't stop me from believing that in its totality 'Secretariat' is a work of creepy, half-hilarious master-race propaganda almost worthy of Leni Riefenstahl..." (Read the full review...) 1,322 words, 10/06/10
Justin Chang, Daily Variety: GOOD "...conventional but rousingly effective... pulls through its occasional faltering stretches by focusing on the essentials of its incredible real-life saga..." (Read the full review...) 998 words, 10/03/10 Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: GOOD "Lane holds the film together with a sturdy performance... Malkovich gives the film its comic relief as the French-Canadian trainer who after a long career has a winner to make up for all those painful big losses." (Read the full review...) 817 words, 10/03/10 Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "If you're in the mood for it, and in the mood for a strong and satisfying performance by Diane Lane, you're definitely in the right place." (Read the full review...) 861 words, 10/08/10 Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: GOOD (cg) "...mildly engaging... a rather flat, overly explicit, extremely old-fashioned inspirational tale..." (Read the full review...) 1,072 words, 10/03/10 Manohla Dargis, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "Diane Lane might be the two-legged star of 'Secretariat'... But the bigger and truer stars of this enjoyable, sometimes accidentally entertaining movie are the five horses that take turns playing Secretariat..." (Read the full review...) 890 words, 10/08/10 Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: POOR "...stumbles along beneath the weight of leaden life lessons.... Diane Lane does better than anyone had a right to expect, since she is saddled with dialogue of exceptional dreadfulness." (Read the full review...) 167 words, 10/08/10
Thank you for following MovieReviewIntelligence.com |
Opening Soon (Early Figures)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
