reviews – News Stories About reviews - Page 4

FOOD & WINE

Aug 6, 2008 1:29 PM CDT

Greek Whites 'Smack of Sunshine'

Unpretentious pleasures for aficianados who branch out

(Newser) - In honor of the Olympics, Eric Asimov set out to rediscover Greece's white wines for the New York Times. He found whites just subtly different from the made-to-be-drunk young bottles of Italy and Spain, fermented from "unfamiliar, indigenous grapes grown nowhere else." The moschofilero varietal dominated the tasting,...

A Possible Cure
for BlackBerry Thumbs

product review

Jul 25, 2008 3:23 PM CDT

A Possible Cure for BlackBerry Thumbs

Gizmo comes complete with claims about treating geeks' aches

(Newser) - If your thumbs ache after hours of texting and gaming, a new gadget may be able to whip your digits back into shape. The Xtensor "exercise device" helps geeks strengthen their wrists and hands or rehabilitate injuries, reports Laptop Magazine, but reviewer Joanna Stern acknowledges that she hasn't had...

Ebert, Roeper Close Curtain
on At the Movies

Jul 22, 2008 6:24 AM CDT

Ebert, Roeper Close Curtain on At the Movies

Critics give Disney 2 thumbs down for show's new direction

(Newser) - Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper are calling it a day with At the Movies, reports the Chicago Tribune. Insiders say Disney plans to revamp the 33-year-old show and give it more of a Hollywood focus. Ebert, who holds the trademark for the show's signature thumbs up/thumbs down format, has vowed...

Wine Reviews: Taste the Pretension

Opinion

Jun 13, 2008 11:46 AM CDT

Wine Reviews: Taste the Pretension

Dry notes make snobs too boring to mock—almost

(Newser) - When wine lovers say they taste notes of cherries or hints of tobacco, “usually all I can detect is a whole lot of jackass,” Joel Stein writes in the LA Times . Wine dialogue has devolved into a meaningless string of obscure scents, Stein says. It’s boring—too...

Redbelt Gets a No-Decision

movie Review

May 9, 2008 5:44 PM CDT

Redbelt Gets a No-Decision

Reviews mixed for Mamet fight flick

(Newser) - Redbelt can’t quite score a knockout with critics. While many find much to admire in David Mamet’s fight movie, most also concede it’s a flawed affair, and some outright disliked it. In the New York Times, Manohla Dargis described it as “a satisfying, unexpectedly involving B-movie,...

No Tears in Soulless Cry-Baby

Theater Review

Apr 25, 2008 9:16 AM CDT

No Tears in Soulless Cry-Baby

Latest Waters musical lacks heart

(Newser) - Cry-Baby, the latest broadway musical based on a John Waters movie, is tasteless—and not in the good way, writes Ben Brantley in the New York Times. It’s not offensive, it just has no flavor. Its 1950s bad-boy-meets-good-girl premise is tired, and James Snyder can’t match Johnny Depp’...

Cosmetic Surgery Can't
Go Unmentioned

OPINION

Apr 14, 2008 2:07 PM CDT

Cosmetic Surgery Can't Go Unmentioned

TV critic decries 'new—and wrinkle-free!—elephant in the living room'

(Newser) - Cosmetic surgery is out of control, TV critic Mary McNamara contends in the Los Angeles Times, and it's time to break the taboo of talking about it in mainstream criticism. TV reviews shouldn’t descend into blogospheric dissections of cosmetic work, but obvious surgery not connected to an actor’s...

Black Crowes Squawk at Sham Maxim Review

Feb 27, 2008 2:42 PM CST

Black Crowes Squawk at Sham Maxim Review

Magazine gives 2.5 stars to an album it never heard

(Newser) - Pick a number, any number: Maxim's 2.5-star rating—out of 5—for the Black Crowes' latest album was little more than a guess, the magazine admitted yesterday. No advanced copies were released, the San Francisco Chronicle reports, but that didn't stop Maxim's critic from decreeing in the March issue...

Critics Love Wire's Media Turn

Jan 6, 2008 4:32 PM CST

Critics Love Wire's Media Turn

Final season 'paints realistic portrait of newsroom'

(Newser) - Entering its last season, HBO's urban drama The Wire "succeeds strikingly at getting what's wrong just right," Tom Shales writes in the Washington Post. “Written and acted to the highest standards of the best TV drama,” the show has dealt with drugs, job loss, and school...

It Really Is
Too Good
to Be True

Aug 26, 2007 4:11 PM CDT

It Really Is Too Good to Be True

When is an online review the real thing, and when is it a plant?

(Newser) - You want to find a new place to stay/eat/visit, but how can you trust the online reviews when they could be faked by the owner? Travel + Leisure has a few suggestions for filtering out the self-interested imposters:

Ad copy clichés like "affordable elegant serenity."
Vague praise

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