What other critics are saying

"Freedom Writers"

Jeff Strickler, Star Tribune (Minneapolis): This true-life drama about an inspiring teacher follows a familiar template that has been honed by classroom classics ranging from "To Sir, With Love" to "The Blackboard Jungle." It's clichéd, corny, formulaic and predictable. It's also irresistibly effective. When it's this well done, we thoroughly enjoy seeing it again.

"Miss Potter"

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: An oddball rendering of the life of Beatrix Potter, the world-famous creator of Peter Rabbit and one of the best-selling children's book authors of all time, the movie is at once a flagrant piece of kitsch and an unexpectedly affecting story about an individual overcoming tragedy and brutally restrictive circumstances by talent and force of will.

"Notes on a Scandal"

David Germain, The Associated Press: It's hard to go wrong when you match up two of the world's finest film actresses on opposite sides of a twisted psychological drama. It's the pure-class take on "Single White Female," allowing Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett to melt into their roles. It's a grand thing to watch these two Academy Award winners, who easily could be back in Oscar contention with this film, have at each other.

"Perfume: The Story of a Murder"

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: Published in 1985, Patrick Suskind's novel was the unaccountably compelling story of a boy who grows up to be a serial murderer. Director Tom Tykwer and screenwriter Andrew Birkin faithfully adapted the plot but willfully missed the point of the story. In rebuilding the protagonist to make him more sympathetic to movie audiences, he and Birkin underplay the elements that gave him tragic dimension. So it goes in movie-land, but it's one thing to make an intellectual novel cinematic and another entirely to play dumb.

"Thr3e"

James Ward, Visalia (Calif.) Times-Delta: There just isn't any reason to see this sluggishly paced thriller that feels like a jumbled mix of other films and, worse, is devoid of thrills.