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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 xEliza TruittspacerTruitt, ElizayeshyperlinkElizaTruittfalse11Eliza Truitt, a former editor at Slate, now works as a wedding photographer in Seattle.729USA20011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM6313904368300000002001101875315PMThursdayOctOctober1910/18/2001 11:53:15 PM63139031595000000051_Staff Contract1998811120000AMTuesdayAugAugust08/11/1998 4:00:00 AM630383904000000000307420011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM63139043683000000020011020110506AMSaturdayOctOctober1110/20/2001 3:05:06 PM631391727060000000x26000/26207/tin-ani.gif17http://img.slate.com/mediafalseIllustration by Mark Alan Stamaty2009624123145AMWednesdayJunJune06/24/2009 4:31:45 AM6338140030525521892009624123145AMWednesdayJunJune06/24/2009 4:31:45 AM6338140030525521892009624123145AMWednesdayJunJune06/24/2009 4:31:45 AM633814003052552189Pfalse20011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM6313904368300000002001101911905AMFridayOctOctober110/19/2001 5:19:05 AM631390511450000000 Movies Pushing Tin (20th Century Fox). The first half of this film offers an exhilarating peek into the high-pressure world of air traffic controllers, but despite the best efforts of a choice ensemble cast (John Cusack, Cate Blanchett, Billy Bob Thornton, Angelina Jolie), the movie tanks by the end. "[F]or a while, at least, the sheer journalistic energy of what we're seeing grips us in a casually exotic way" (Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly). The trouble: The plot is horrendous and ends up with an "obligatory traffic control emergency crisis" (Janet Maslin, the New York Times) that takes all the spice out of what had been an unusual study of group dynamics. (Watch the trailer and clips from the film here [requires free registration].) Election (Paramount Pictures). Critics rave: "The best and brightest high-school adventure since the groundbreaking Heathers ... a nearly flawless little film" (Kenneth Turan, the Los Angeles Times). Reese Witherspoon turns in a spectacular performance as a ferociously ambitious goody-goody go-getter who's running for student council president. Matthew Broderick is the genial teacher who becomes irritated with Reese's smugness and tries to rig the election. The three-candidate runoff that results is a loose parody of the '96 presidential election, which makes for "a moral fable with rare comic bite" (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone). (Slate's David Edelstein calls the film "exuberantly caustic." Visit this site dedicated to the expecting Witherspoon and her fiance Ryan Phillippe.) Lovers of the Arctic Circle (Fine Line Features). Critics have a hard time explaining just what it is they like so much about this Spanish film of fate and love, but they like it. Maslin says one "needn't really articulate what makes it so haunting. The evidence is on the screen" (the New York Times). Joe Morgenstern writes, "Lest I, too, go round in circles trying to convey the dense texture of this exquisite film, I'll simply say that [it] seizes your mind and stays in your heart" (the Wall Street Journal). The story follows two lovers who meet at the age of 8 and cycle in and out of each other's lives through adulthood. Peppered with wordplay, startling visual imagery, and near misses by the two lovers, the film has only one flaw, according to critics, namely that all the fancy footwork verges on becoming too self-conscious. (Visit the film's official site for a sample of the film's peculiarities.) Music Mule Variations, by Tom Waits (Epitaph). Tom Waits' first album in six years, which ditches the junkyard noise experimentation of his previous releases for a blues approach, gets passable reviews from Rolling Sone and Spin. "Waits seems to have peaked as a songwriter with 1985's Rain Dogs," writes Ben Ratliff, "and he's still writing outtakes from that record" (Rolling Stone). Spin's Sarah Vowell says, "Waits' coolie raps often feel a little fake, like he's working at having a good time." Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times dissents, calling Mule Variations "personal and accessible"; as does Billboard, "Waits digs deep and wide into his song psyche and pulls up material rooted in blues, gospel, and cabaret music but delivered with the utmost originality." (Listen to a track from the album here.) x26000/26208/Nabokov-ani.gif1517http://img.slate.com/mediafalseIllustration by Mark Alan Stamaty2009624123145AMWednesdayJunJune06/24/2009 4:31:45 AM6338140030525521892009624123145AMWednesdayJunJune06/24/2009 4:31:45 AM6338140030525521892009624123145AMWednesdayJunJune06/24/2009 4:31:45 AM633814003052552189Pfalse20011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM6313904368300000002001101911905AMFridayOctOctober110/19/2001 5:19:05 AM631390511450000000 Event Nabokov's 100th Birthday (April 23, 1999). The centennial of Vladimir Nabokov's birth is marked by the appearance of a biography of his wife, Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov); a reissue of Speak, Memory; and a celebration staged by The New Yorker, Vintage books, and the PEN American Center. Critics praise Véra for the details it reveals about the Nabokovs' intense marriage--she was his "editor, typist, secretary, chauffeur, nursemaid, go-between, buffer, researcher and butterfly-catching companion" (Michiko Kakutani, the New York Times). But when you get down to it, "this is really a potted biography of Vladimir Nabokov, told from an unusual angle" (Michael Dirda, the Washington Post). The PEN celebration featured readings by and about the Nabokovs by Joyce Carol Oates, Dimitri Nabokov, David Remnick, and Véra author Stacy Schiff. The New York Public Library is also getting in on the action with an exhibit of Nabokov's manuscripts and personal effects, such as his glasses and butterfly net. (Click here to read a discussion on Speak, Memory and Véra in Slate. This multimedia exhibit on Nabokov on the New York Times' Web site includes recordings of him reading his work and a series of photos [free registration required].) Book Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame, by Benita Eisler (Knopf). The 800-page biography puts forth no new theories on the poet or on his times as it retells the juicy bits of his life. Sam Schulman complains in the Wall Street Journal that despite the excellent material, Eisler "cannot capture" the essence of Byron's power "because her earnestness misses his seductive combination of modesty, irony, self-doubt and self-confidence." (For more on Byron, visit this site which includes a portrait gallery and links to other poets' sites.) Snap Judgment Movies Lost & Found (Warner Bros.). A "rancid little nothing of a movie" (Stephen Holden, the New York Times) that's a grim, gross wannabe Farrelly brothers flick. Stars David Spade. Thumbs down from all critics.  eXistenZ (Dimension Films). Good reviews for David Cronenberg's virtual reality flick that covers the same ground as the more popular The Matrix. Jennifer Jason Leigh stars as a video game designer who hides in a game of her own devising. Features a device called a "gristle gun." Magazine Nylon. Supermodel Helena Christensen starts her own magazine; critics are mildly interested. It boasts interviews with Liv Tyler and Mike D and a layout far funkier than any other women's mag, but critics agree creative director Christensen is "without a doubt the magazine's biggest selling point" (Design Week). Find a movie playing near you on Sidewalk.com. Recent "Summary Judgment" columns April 21: Movie--Hideous Kinky; Movie--Life; Movie--Goodbye, Lover; Movie--SLC Punk; Book--The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, by Stephen King; Book--A Prayer for the Dying, by Stewart O'Nan. April 14: Movie--Go; Movie--The Dreamlife of Angels; Movie--Never Been Kissed; Movie--Metroland; Book--The Ground Beneath Her Feet, by Salman Rushdie; Theater--The Iceman Cometh, by Eugene O'Neill. April 7: Movie--The Matrix; Movie--10 Things I Hate About You; Movie--Cookie's Fortune; Movie--A Walk on the Moon; Movie--The Out-of-Towners; Book--Morgan: American Financier, by Jean Strouse; Book--The Times of My Life and My Life With the Times, by Max Frankel. March 31: Movie--Mod Squad; Movie--EdTV; Movie--20 Dates; Television--Futurama; Book--All Too Human: A Political Education, by George Stephanopoulos; Book--For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, by Nathan Englander. 10MoviesMoviesM10The New yorkerNew yorker, TheN10New YorkNew YorkN10reviewsreviewsR10Wall Street JournalWall Street JournalW10theatertheaterT10Wall StreetWall StreetW10Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesL10FilmFilmF10booksbooksB10David RemnickRemnick, David People10criticscriticsC10thumbsthumbsT10downdownD10panspansP10pickspicksP10upupU10LoversLoversL10The Wall Street JournalWall Street Journal, TheW10David EdelsteinEdelstein, David People1movies, books, theater, reviews, critics, picks, pans, thumbs, up, down,0000false23105falsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalse245199942933000AMThursdayAprApril34/29/1999 7:30:00 AM630609534000000000199942933000AMThursdayAprApril34/29/1999 7:30:00 AM630609534000000000