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summary judgmentSummary JudgmentHighlights from the week in criticism.2NA=1154&NC=1208&DI=4098&PS=58335&PI=7315SummaryJudgmentfalsefalseCulturespacernotembeddedsummary judgmentYuppie-sploitationBlake WilsonThe critical buzz on The Brave One and In the Valley of Elah.noYuppie-sploitationThe critical buzz on The Brave One and In the Valley of Elah.nospacer205150The Brave OneZoe Kravitz, Jodie Foster, and Victor Colicchio in The Brave Onefalsefalse1/123125/123064/2156591/2173285/070914_SJ_braveOne.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123064/2156591/2173285/070914_SJ_braveOne.jpg205150http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20094710518PMTuesdayAprApril134/7/2009 5:05:18 PM63374706318338727120094710518PMTuesdayAprApril134/7/2009 5:05:18 PM63374706318338727120094710518PMTuesdayAprApril134/7/2009 5:05:18 PM633747063183387271false200791441106PMFridaySepSeptember169/14/2007 8:11:06 PM633253830660000000200791441106PMFridaySepSeptember169/14/2007 8:11:06 PM633253830660000000The Brave One (Warner Bros.). Jodie Foster's top-flight performance as a softie, liberal public radio host turned stone-cold vigilante killer lends a touch of class to this "upscale revenge drama" (the Onion A.V. Club). The Los Angeles Times isn't alone in seeing a contradiction in terms: a movie "trapped in a no man's land between seriousness and pulp trash." But most critics think it works—reprehensible or no. Despite himself, the Washington Post's Stephen Hunter gives in: "You may hate yourself for yielding to the expertise of the manipulation, but the vicarious thrill of 'The Brave One' is the sense of pulling your own trigger on pure evil and watching the bullet tear through." And at least Scott Foundas, in the Village Voice, thinks that mechanism—turning liberals against their better instincts—makes this an important movie: "more worth writing, talking, and thinking about than anything that has tumbled off the Hollywood assembly line in a good long while." (Buy tickets to The Brave One. Read Eric Lichtenfeld's Slate piece on vigilante movies.)—Sept. 14truenotochyperlinkno2007910121109PMMondaySepSeptember129/10/2007 4:11:09 PM633250230690000000200791443941PMFridaySepSeptember169/14/2007 8:39:41 PM633253847810000000summary judgmentThe Western Lives OnBlake WilsonThe critical buzz on 3:10 to Yuma and Shoot 'Em Up.noThe Western Lives OnThe critical buzz on 3:10 to Yuma and Shoot 'Em Up.no3:10 to Yuma (Lionsgate). Critics like this Western, in part because it feels familiar—it remakes the 1957 classic of the same name and is steeped in the conventions of the genre, though it's more expressive and violent than the original. In The New Yorker, David Denby writes, "I found myself settling into its stern logic and its physical splendor with a grateful sigh." At the same time, the new film is too elaborate for some: The Village Voice's J. Hoberman sighs, "What's lost in [director James] Mangold's rough-hewn exercise in barroom-brawl baroque is the original one-on-one." As the New York Times explains in a review of a new special-edition DVD, the original film was "a psychological drama, as intense as a Bergman marital duel, but played out in a forceful exchange of looks and gestures." In any case, reviewers think performances are fine—especially Russell Crowe as the brilliant psychopath at the center of the movie and Peter Fonda as a grizzled bounty hunter. (Buy tickets to 3:10 to Yuma. Buy the original 1957 version on DVD.)—Sept. 7truenotochyperlinkno20079434457PMTuesdaySepSeptember159/4/2007 7:44:57 PM63324517497000000020079710139PMFridaySepSeptember139/7/2007 5:01:39 PM633247668990000000summary judgmentThe Latino JobBlake WilsonThe critical buzz on Ladrón que roba a ladrón and The Nines.noThe Latino JobThe critical buzz on Ladrón que roba a ladrón and The Nines.noLadrón que roba a ladrón (Lionsgate). A bunch of Latino immigrants, trusting in their invisibility in a casually bigoted Los Angeles, set out to pull off an outrageous heist. This describes the plot of Ladrón que roba a ladrón ("A thief who steals from a thief"), but also the production: As critics note, "the film bears a suspicious, almost lawsuit-worthy resemblance to the Ocean's movies" (Nathan Rabin, the Onion's A.V. Club). So much the better, most reviewers think. USA Today's Claudia Puig fully endorses the caper, writing: "It's not a watered-down imitation or a south-of-the-border remake. It is clever, funny and very entertaining." The movie's political message is played lightly, but the Austin Chronicle hears it loud and clear: "Ladrón is grand Hollywood entertainment for and about a long-ignored culture that's just now starting to sense the potential vastness of its own economic and political influence. To make an intelligent heist film is difficult work; to shoot an entertaining sociological study is near impossible. To manage both at the same time has got to be some kind of minor miracle." (Buy tickets to Ladrón que roba a ladrón.)—Aug. 31truenotochyperlinkno200782711231PMMondayAugAugust138/27/2007 5:12:31 PM633238171510000000200783151649PMFridayAugAugust178/31/2007 9:16:49 PM633241774090000000summary judgmentNanny BoresBlake WilsonThe critical buzz on The Nanny Diaries and The King of Kong.noNanny BoresThe critical buzz on The Nanny Diaries and The King of Kong.nospacer205150The Nanny DiariesNicholas Art and Scarlett Johansson in The Nanny Diariesfalsefalse1/123125/123064/2156591/2171735/070824_SJ_Nanny.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123064/2156591/2171735/070824_SJ_Nanny.jpg205150http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20094710517PMTuesdayAprApril134/7/2009 5:05:17 PM63374706317932474720094710517PMTuesdayAprApril134/7/2009 5:05:17 PM63374706317932474720094710517PMTuesdayAprApril134/7/2009 5:05:17 PM633747063179324747false200782433444PMFridayAugAugust158/24/2007 7:34:44 PM633235664840000000200782433444PMFridayAugAugust158/24/2007 7:34:44 PM633235664840000000The Nanny Diaries (MGM). Everyone compares this film to last year's The Devil Wears Prada (both films are based on dishy novels that send up Manhattan's elite). Unfortunately for The Nanny Diaries, it's very much the loser. New York magazine's David Edelstein calls it "a grim slog"—and few critics would disagree. The highlight is unequivocally Laura Linney, who "delivers a masterpiece of Cruella De Vil-level toxin" (per the Washington Post's Stephen Hunter) as the evil mom/boss Mrs. X. (Although she still doesn't live up to Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestly.) The mopey Scarlett Johansson and her shiftless protagonist don't fare as well. The New York Times' Stephen Holden smirks that she "may smolder invitingly in certain roles, but The Nanny Diaries is the latest in a string of films that suggest that this somnolent actress confuses sullen attitudinizing with acting." (Buy tickets to The Nanny Diaries. Read Dana Stevens' review of The Nanny Diaries in Slate.)—Aug. 24truenotochyperlinkno200782010635PMMondayAugAugust138/20/2007 5:06:35 PM6332321199500000002007824125850PMFridayAugAugust128/24/2007 4:58:50 PM633235571300000000summary judgmentSupergoodBlake WilsonThe critical buzz on Superbad.noSupergoodThe critical buzz on Superbad.noSuperbad (Sony). Last month, the New Yorker's David Denby lamented the state of romantic comedy, as epitomized by Judd Apatow's phallocentric Knocked Up. But this teen sex comedy, co-written by that film's star, Seth Rogen, and co-produced by Apatow, has him rethinking his position: "I recently wrote that I could happily do without any more movies devoted to the breaking of the male bond. Yet here's an uproarious and touching picture on that theme." Superbad follows two high-school nerds in their mock-epic quest to score booze and get laid. It's incredibly (incredibly!) obscene and, critics think, extremely hilarious. David Edelstein of New York magazine notes "a nonstop stream of F- and P- and D-words that would make David Mamet sit up and salute." But as the New York Times' Manohla Dargis writes, the film is attuned to "[t]he divide between what a man says … and how he really feels inside … no matter how unapologetically vulgar their words, no matter how single-mindedly priapic their preoccupations, these men and boys are good and decent and tender and true." In a phrase: Classic Apatow. (Read Dana Stevens' review of Superbad in Slate. Buy tickets to Superbad.)—Aug. 17truenotochyperlinkno200781360150PMMondayAugAugust188/13/2007 10:01:50 PM6332262491000000002007817122107PMFridayAugAugust128/17/2007 4:21:07 PM633229500670000000200311442523PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:25:23 PM631781583230000000200311442523PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:25:23 PM631781583230000000falsetruefalsefalsefalsefalsetrue20011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM6313904368300000002001102623213PMFridayOctOctober1410/26/2001 6:32:13 PM631397035330000000By xFranklin FoerspacerFoer, FranklinyeshyperlinkFranklinFoerfalse13Franklin Foer is a senior editor at the New Republic and a contributing editor at New York. He is the author of How Soccer Explains the World.53ffoer@tnr.com(202) 362-8704(202) 955-27221645 Conn. Ave. NW Apt. 2WashingtonD.C.20009USA111311320011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM6313904368300000002001101874158PMThursdayOctOctober1910/18/2001 11:41:58 PM63139030918000000051_Staff Contract200962523232PMThursdayJunJune146/25/2009 6:32:32 PM6338153715239753578520011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM6313904368300000002001102292048AMMondayOctOctober910/22/2001 1:20:48 PM631393392480000000x40000/40433/Disco-ani.gif1802176141http://img.slate.com/mediafalseIllustration by Mark Alan Stamaty200962523232PMThursdayJunJune146/25/2009 6:32:32 PM633815371524131611200962523232PMThursdayJunJune146/25/2009 6:32:32 PM633815371524131611200962523232PMThursdayJunJune146/25/2009 6:32:32 PM633815371524131611Pfalse20011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM6313904368300000002001101912341AMFridayOctOctober110/19/2001 5:23:41 AM631390514210000000Movies The Last Days of Disco (Gramercy Pictures). A modestly warm reception for the last installment in director Whit Stillman's trilogy (following Metropolitan and Barcelona) about neurotic, hypereducated young WASPs. Critics forgive the incoherence of the film--set in early '80s New York, in a nightclub modeled on the legendary Studio 54--and lap up the characters' witty exegeses of yuppie culture. "Stillman is the Balzac of the ironic class," says the Washington Post's Stephen Hunter. Others claim Stillman's semiautobiographical musings on the decline of the WASP have long been exhausted of insight. (Click here for the official site.) Hope Floats (20th Century Fox). Critics find Waiting to Exhale director Forest Whitaker's latest chick flick guilty of the genre's worst defects: tear-jerking melodrama, shots of little girls with stuffed animals, and the "emotional range of a sympathy card" (Roger Ebert, the Chicago Sun-Times). Some predict that Sandra Bullock's performance--as a prom queen who returns to her hometown after her husband cheats on her--will only deepen her midcareer funk. Crooner Harry Connick Jr. is also judged charmless. Some reviewers endorse the film as benign summer fare with "nary a car chase, explosion or loaded weapon" (Leah Rozen, People). (To download the trailer, click here.) Television More Tales of the City (Showtime; June 7 and 8, 9 p.m. ET/PT). Like its predecessor, the second film made from an Armistead Maupin novel about gay San Francisco sparks controversy. Critics attack PBS's timid refusal to air More Tales, even though the 1994 original was one of its highest rated programs ever. Still, they admit the sequel isn't that great. While full of delightfully quirky characters (peeping Toms, Scientologists), it is also "undeniably reminiscent of daytime soap opera" (People). (Click here for the official site.) A Bright Shining Lie (HBO) and Thanks of a Grateful Nation (Showtime). Two docudramas about military cover-ups win praise for their high quality but criticism for playing fast and loose with the facts. Journalist David Halberstam and former Pentagon official Daniel Ellsberg, who are characters in Shining Lie, complain that the Vietnam film distorts the nonfiction book it is based on. Grateful Nation is said to present a powerful but one-sided argument for the existence of the "Gulf War syndrome" that many vets claim afflicts them. x40000/40434/Rothko-ani.gif2001826141http://img.slate.com/mediafalseIllustration by Mark Alan Stamaty200962523232PMThursdayJunJune146/25/2009 6:32:32 PM633815371524287865200962523232PMThursdayJunJune146/25/2009 6:32:32 PM633815371524287865200962523232PMThursdayJunJune146/25/2009 6:32:32 PM633815371524287865Pfalse20011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM6313904368300000002001101912341AMFridayOctOctober110/19/2001 5:23:41 AM631390514210000000Art "Mark Rothko" (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.). Critics argue over the meaning of the Abstract Expressionist's famous floating rectangles. "Like Seinfeld," the Washington Post's Jo Ann Lewis asks, "are they about nothing?" Some declare Rothko a pure painter who was concerned only with color. Others insist he self-consciously aimed to represent emotions and landscapes. A few interpret the dark hues of his later works as a reflection of his own tragic life, which ended in alcoholism and suicide. (Click here to read Christopher Benfey's review in Slate.) Theater Corpus Christi, by Terrence McNally (Manhattan Theatre Club). The press rallies to the Pulitzer Prize winner's defense on hearing that the Manhattan Theatre Club was canceling his play about a gay Jesus. Though the theater relented when Arthur Miller, Wendy Wasserstein, and other top playwrights howled, most critics still paint the incident as a free-speech outrage. "American theater has surrendered to thugs," charges the New York Times' Frank Rich. Conservatives retort that liberals would never tolerate similar bigotry aimed at beliefs sacred to Jews or blacks. "A so-called work of art that maligns Jesus is an affront that warrants protest by every legal means. If that's censorship, so be it" (Bill Reel, Newsday). (Click here to read Jon Robin Baitz's take on the controversy in Slate's "Diary.") Updates While conservatives bash Bulworth for its political correctness, The Nation likens it to Citizen Kane. "Like [Orson] Welles, [Warren] Beatty brings to this production a history of left-liberal politics and an admiration for black musicians," says Stuart Klawans. ... New York Times Book Review Editor Charles McGrath, a former deputy to William Shawn at the New Yorker, calls Lillian Ross' memoir about her affair with Shawn "on occasion factually inaccurate or misleading" and "a betrayal of Shawn's high editorial principles. ... [S]ome of it would almost certainly have made him wince." Recent "Summary Judgment" columns May 28: Movie--Godzilla; Movie--Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; Movie--Cannes Film Festival Roundup; Book--Freedomland, by Richard Price; Books--Remembering Mr. Shawn's "New Yorker": The Invisible Art of Editing, by Ved Mehta; Here But Not Here: A Love Story, by Lillian Ross; Television--The Larry Sanders Show (Showtime). May 20: Death--Frank Sinatra; Television--Seinfeld finale; Movie--Bulworth; Movie--The Horse Whisperer; Book--The Everlasting Story of Nory, by Nicholson Baker; Book--Cities of the Plain, by Cormac McCarthy; Book--Identity, by Milan Kundera, translated by Linda Asher. May 13: Movie--Deep Impact; Movie--Character; Music--Into the Sun, by Sean Lennon; Book--Titan: The Life and Times of John D. Rockefeller, by Ron Chernow; Book--The Time of Our Time, by Norman Mailer; Book--A Widow for One Year, by John Irving. May 6: Movie--He Got Game; Movie--Les Misérables; Movie--Summer Movie Roundup; Television--Newsmagazine Roundup; Book--Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood, by Peter Biskind; Book--The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels; Theater--The Judas Kiss. --Franklin Foer10MoviesMoviesM10The New yorkerNew yorker, TheN10Book reviewBook reviewB10New YorkNew YorkN10ArtArtA10NationNationN10FilmFilmF10William ShawnShawn, William People10ConservativesConservativesC10Arthur MillerMiller, Arthur People10Citizen KaneCitizen KaneC1 1111false2310falsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalsetruefalsefalse242.019986433000AMThursdayJunJune36/4/1998 7:30:00 AM63032527800000000019986433000AMThursdayJunJune36/4/1998 7:30:00 AM630325278000000000