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Peter Travers

Peter Travers

Overview
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now
ABC News Now
ABC News Now is an American 24-hour news channel offered via digital television, broadband and streaming video at ABCNews.com and on mobile phones. It delivers breaking news, headline news each half hour, and wide range of entertainment and lifestyle programs. The channel is currently available in...

 and ABCNews.com.
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Encyclopedia
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now
ABC News Now
ABC News Now is an American 24-hour news channel offered via digital television, broadband and streaming video at ABCNews.com and on mobile phones. It delivers breaking news, headline news each half hour, and wide range of entertainment and lifestyle programs. The channel is currently available in...

 and ABCNews.com.

Career


Travers joined Rolling Stone in 1989 after a four-year stint with People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...

. He's best known for his basic writing style that eschews a more sophisticated analysis for an easy-to-read and often very opinionated form. According to efilmcritic.com, Travers is the nation's most blurb
Blurb
A blurb is a short summary or some words of praise accompanying a creative work, usually used on books without giving away any details, that is usually referring to the words on the back of the book jacket but also commonly seen on DVD and video cases, web portals, and news websites.- History :The...

ed film critic. Some of the contemporary directors he is most receptive to based on ratings and placement in top ten lists include Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...

, David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...

, Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...

, Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He has written and directed five feature films: Hard Eight , Boogie Nights , Magnolia , Punch-Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood...

, Tim Burton
Tim Burton
Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...

, Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...

, Joel and Ethan Coen
Coen Brothers
Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers...

, and Ang Lee
Ang Lee
Ang Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...

. He has also shown a great deal of disdain for certain directors, most notably Michael Bay
Michael Bay
Michael Benjamin Bay is an American film director and producer. He is known for directing high-budget action films characterized by their fast edits, stylistic visuals and substantial practical special effects...

 and his films.

Ratings


Since 1989, Travers has reviewed for Rolling Stone 2465 movies up to July, 21 2011.
On April 10, 2002, Travers began using intensively a star-rating system ranging from No star to Four Star. He used such system very seldom before, and not all reviews are rated.
Ratings (*)
Year No Star Half Star One Star One Half Star Two Star Two Half Star Three Star Three Half Star Four Star Total Movies Average Rating
1990 1 1 NA
1991 1 1 NA
1992 1 1 NA
2000 1 1 NA
2002 9 10 15 6 4 44 2.52
2003 25 35 49 26 6 141 2.53
2004 25 27 48 32 3 135 2.57
2005 1 10 3 21 9 57 31 3 135 2.74
2006 1 2 15 4 19 19 45 30 7 142 2.64
2007 7 5 15 15 36 42 3 123 2.84
2008 2 6 13 5 16 23 33 31 4 133 2.53
2009 5 2 14 8 11 21 42 42 3 148 2.61
2010 3 1 13 7 16 31 45 28 2 146 2.56
2011 3 2 12 3 11 11 24 12 2 78 2.12
Grand Total 15 12 139 35 176 121 378 271 38 1183 2.33
(*) Information updated up to July, 21 2011

Based on analysis of ratings, normalising to number of reviews in each category, the following directors have the highest percentage of reviews in the range Three StarsFour Stars:
Director Three Star Three HalfStar Four Star
Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...

0.26% 1.48% 5.26%
Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...

0.00% 1.11% 5.26%
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...

0.26% 0.37% 5.26%
Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar Caballero is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Almodóvar is arguably the most successful and internationally known Spanish filmmaker of his generation. His films, marked by complex narratives, employ the codes of melodrama and use elements of pop culture, popular...

0.00% 0.37% 5.26%
Todd Haynes
Todd Haynes
Todd Haynes is an American independent film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, and the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven and I'm Not There.- Style and themes :The writes that "Haynes is...

0.00% 0.37% 5.26%
Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze is an American director, producer and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television...

0.00% 0.00% 5.26%

(*) Information updated up to July, 21 2011

Four Stars


Films that received his top-rating (Four Star) are:
  • 1990
    • Miller's Crossing
      Miller's Crossing
      Miller's Crossing is a 1990 American gangster film by the Coen brothers and starring Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, Marcia Gay Harden, Jon Polito and John Turturro...

  • 1992
    • Glengarry Glen Ross
      Glengarry Glen Ross
      Glengarry Glen Ross is a 1984 play written by David Mamet. The play shows parts of two days in the lives of four desperate Chicago real estate agents who are prepared to engage in any number of unethical, illegal acts—from lies and flattery to bribery, threats, intimidation and burglary—to sell...

    • Reservoir Dogs
      Reservoir Dogs
      Reservoir Dogs is an American crime film marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and...

  • 2002
    • Adaptation
      Adaptation
      An adaptation in biology is a trait with a current functional role in the life history of an organism that is maintained and evolved by means of natural selection. An adaptation refers to both the current state of being adapted and to the dynamic evolutionary process that leads to the adaptation....

    • Far From Heaven
      Far from Heaven
      Far from Heaven is a 2002 drama film written and directed by Todd Haynes and starring Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, and Patricia Clarkson....

    • Gangs of New York
      Gangs of New York
      Gangs of New York is a 2002 historical film set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City. It was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Lonergan. The film was inspired by Herbert Asbury's 1928 nonfiction book, The Gangs of New...

  • 2003
    • City of God
    • Lost in Translation
      Lost in Translation (film)
      Lost in Translation is a 2003 American film written and directed by Sofia Coppola; her second feature film after The Virgin Suicides and it stars Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson...

    • Mystic River
      Mystic River
      The Mystic River is a river in Massachusetts, in the United States. Its name derives from the Wampanoag word "muhs-uhtuq", which translates to "big river." In an Algonquian language, "Missi-Tuk" means "a great river whose waters are driven by waves", alluding to the natural tidal nature of the...

    • Ringu
    • The Hospital
      The Hospital
      The Hospital is a 1971 black comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller and starring George C. Scott as Dr. Herbert Bock. The script was written by Paddy Chayefsky, who was awarded the 1972 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.-Plot:...

    • The Work of Director Michel Gondry

  • 2004
    • Bad Education
      Bad Education
      Bad Education is a 2004 Spanish drama film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar and starring Gael García Bernal, Fele Martínez, Daniel Giménez Cacho and Lluís Homar. The plot is about two reunited childhood friends in the vein of a murder mystery...

    • Kill Bill Vol. 2
    • Sideways
      Sideways
      Sideways is a 2004 comedy-drama film written by Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne and directed by Payne. Adapted from Rex Pickett's 2004 novel of the same name, Sideways follows two forty-something year old men, portrayed by Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church, who take a week-long road trip to...

  • 2005
    • Brokeback Mountain
      Brokeback Mountain
      Brokeback Mountain is a 2005 romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee. It is a film adaptation of the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx with the screenplay written by Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry...

    • A History of Violence
      A History of Violence (film)
      A History of Violence is a 2005 American crime thriller film directed by David Cronenberg and written by Josh Olson. It is an adaptation of the 1997 graphic novel of the same name by John Wagner and Vince Locke...

    • King Kong
      King Kong (2005 film)
      King Kong is a 2005 fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson. It is a remake of the 1933 film of the same name and stars Naomi Watts, Jack Black and Adrien Brody. Andy Serkis, through performance capture, portrays Kong....

    • Syriana
      Syriana
      Syriana is a 2005 geopolitical thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, and executive produced by George Clooney, who also stars in the film with an ensemble cast. Gaghan's screenplay is loosely adapted from Robert Baer's memoir See No Evil...

  • 2006
    • Babel
    • Borat
      Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
      Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, often referred to simply as Borat, is a 2006 mockumentary comedy film directed by Larry Charles and distributed by 20th Century Fox...

    • Letters From Iwo Jima
      Letters from Iwo Jima
      is a 2006 war film directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood, and starring Ken Watanabe and Kazunari Ninomiya. The film portrays the Battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers and is a companion piece to Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers, which depicts the same battle from the...

    • Pan's Labyrinth
      Pan's Labyrinth
      Pan's Labyrinth is a 2006 Spanish Spanish-language dark fantasy film, written and directed by Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro. It was produced and distributed by the Mexican film company Esperanto Films...

    • The Departed
      The Departed
      The Departed is a 2006 American crime thriller film, fashioned as a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. The film was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan...

    • United 93
      United 93 (film)
      United 93 is a 2006 fact-based historical drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Paul Greengrass that chronicles events aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked during the September 11 attacks...

    • Volver
      Volver
      Volver is a 2006 Spanish dramatic comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Headed by actress Penélope Cruz, the film features an ensemble cast starring Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, and Chus Lampreave...


  • 2007
    • Army of Shadows
    • Atonement
      Atonement (film)
      Atonement is a 2007 British romantic suspense war film directed by Joe Wright. It is a film adaptation of the 2001 novel of the same name by Ian McEwan. The film stars James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, and Saoirse Ronan. It was produced by Working Title Films and filmed throughout the summer of 2006...

    • No Country for Old Men
      No Country for Old Men
      No Country for Old Men is a 2005 novel by U.S. author Cormac McCarthy. Set along the United States–Mexico border in 1980, the story concerns an illicit drug deal gone wrong in a remote desert location. The title comes from the poem "Sailing to Byzantium" by William Butler Yeats...

  • 2008
    • 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
      4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
      4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is a 2007 Romanian film written and directed by Cristian Mungiu. It won the Palme d'Or and the FIPRESCI Award at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival....

    • Milk
      Milk (film)
      Milk is a 2008 American biographical film on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...

    • There Will Be Blood
      There Will Be Blood
      There Will Be Blood is a 2007 drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The film is based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil!. It tells the story of a silver miner-turned-oilman on a ruthless quest for wealth during Southern California's oil boom of the late 19th and...

    • WALL-E
      WALL-E
      WALL-E, promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E, is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future...

  • 2009
    • Up
      Up (2009 film)
      Up is a 2009 American computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and presented in Disney Digital 3-D. The film premiered on May 29, 2009 in North America and opened the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first animated and 3D film...

    • Where the Wild Things Are
      Where the Wild Things Are (film)
      Where the Wild Things Are is a 2009 American fantasy drama film directed by Spike Jonze and adapted from Maurice Sendak's 1963 children's book Where the Wild Things Are. It combines live action, performers in costumes, animatronics, and computer-generated imagery...


  • 2010
    • A Prophet
      A Prophet
      A Prophet is a 2009 French prison film directed by Jacques Audiard. Audiard claims that the film aims at "creating icons, images for people who don't have images in movies, like the Arabs in France," though he also had stated that the film "has nothing to do with his vision of society," and is a...

    • The Social Network
      The Social Network
      The Social Network is a 2010 American drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin. Adapted from Ben Mezrich's 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires, the film portrays the founding of social networking website Facebook and the resulting lawsuits...

  • 2011
    • Drive
      Drive (2011 film)
      Drive is a 2011 American crime neo-noir drama film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, starring Ryan Gosling as the principal character, with Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, and Albert Brooks...

    • The Descendants
      The Descendants (film)
      The Descendants is a 2011 comedy-drama film based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings. The film stars George Clooney, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard and Shailene Woodley and it was released in the United States on November 18, 2011. It is directed by Alexander Payne, with a screenplay by Payne, Nat...



(*) Information updated up to September 9, 2011

No Stars


On the opposite end of the rating spectrum, he has given his lowest-rating of No Star to:
  • 2000

  • 2005
    • The Dukes of Hazzard
      The Dukes of Hazzard (film)
      The Dukes of Hazzard is a 2005 comedy film based on the American television series of the same name. The film was directed by Jay Chandrasekhar and released on August 5, 2005 by Warner Bros. Pictures...

  • 2006
    • Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction
  • 2008
    • Fool's Gold
      Fool's Gold (2008 film)
      Fool's Gold is an 2008 American adventure/romance film from Warner Bros. Pictures about a married couple who rekindle their romantic life while searching for a lost treasure. The film was directed by Andy Tennant and reunites the How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days stars Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson...

    • Untraceable
      Untraceable
      Untraceable is a 2008 American thriller film starring Diane Lane, Colin Hanks, Billy Burke, and Joseph Cross. It was directed by Gregory Hoblit and distributed by Screen Gems...


  • 2009
    • All About Steve
      All About Steve
      All About Steve is a 2009 American comedy film, directed by Phil Traill, which stars Sandra Bullock, Thomas Haden Church and Bradley Cooper. It is distributed by 20th Century Fox...

    • Bride Wars
      Bride Wars
      Bride Wars is a 2009 American romantic comedy film directed by Gary Winick and written by Greg DePaul, June Diane Raphael and Casey Wilson....

    • Obsessed
      Obsessed (2009 film)
      Obsessed is a 2009 American thriller film directed by Steve Shill. The Screen Gems production stars Idris Elba, Beyoncé Knowles and Ali Larter...

    • The Informers
    • Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
      Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
      Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a 2009 American science fiction-action film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg. It is the sequel to the 2007 film Transformers and the second installment in the live-action Transformers series...

  • 2010
    • Brooklyn's Finest
      Brooklyn's Finest
      Brooklyn's Finest is a 2009 American crime film starring Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, and Wesley Snipes in his first theatrical film since 2004's Blade: Trinity. The film also stars Will Patton, Ellen Barkin and Vincent D'Onofrio. It is directed by Antoine Fuqua, and written by Michael...

    • Crazy on the Outside
      Crazy on the Outside
      Crazy on the Outside is a 2010 comedy film starring and directed by Tim Allen. This is Allen's first time directing, and is notable for reuniting Allen with co-stars from many of his previous films .-Plot:Thomas Zelda has been paroled from prison for...

    • The Tourist
      The Tourist (2010 film)
      The Tourist is a 2010 romantic thriller film directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. It is a remake of the 2005 French action film Anthony Zimmer....

    • Vampires Suck
      Vampires Suck
      Vampires Suck is a 2010 vampire spoof film based on the Twilight film series and directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. It stars Jenn Proske, Matt Lanter, Christopher N...


  • 2011
    • Atlas Shrugged: Part I
    • Transformers: Dark of the Moon
    • Jack and Jill
    • The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)
      The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)
      The Human Centipede 2 is a 2011 British-Dutch body horror film directed by Dutch filmmaker Tom Six. The sequel to 2010's Dutch film The Human Centipede , the film was scheduled for straight-to-DVD release...


(*) Information updated up to March, 30 2011

Number Ones From Travers’ Top Tens


  • 1989: Do the Right Thing
    Do the Right Thing
    Do the Right Thing is a 1989 American dramedy produced, written, and directed by Spike Lee, who is also a featured actor in the film. Other members of the cast include Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, and John Turturro. It is also notably the...

  • Best Film of the '80s: Blue Velvet
  • 1990: Goodfellas
    Goodfellas
    Goodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese...

  • 1991: The Silence of the Lambs
  • 1992: The Player
    The Player
    The Player is a 1992 American satirical film directed by Robert Altman from a screenplay by Michael Tolkin based on his own 1988 novel of the same name....

  • 1993: Short Cuts
    Short Cuts
    Short Cuts is a 1993 American drama film directed by Robert Altman. Filmed from a screenplay by Robert Altman and Frank Barhydt, it is inspired by nine short stories and a poem by Raymond Carver...

  • 1994: Pulp Fiction
    Pulp Fiction (film)
    Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...

  • 1995: Get Shorty
    Get Shorty (film)
    Get Shorty is a 1995 crime-comedy film based on Elmore Leonard's novel of the same name. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and starring John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, and Danny DeVito, the plot remained true to the book except for a few minor details....

  • 1996: The People vs. Larry Flynt
    The People vs. Larry Flynt
    The People vs. Larry Flynt is a 1996 American biographical drama film directed by Miloš Forman about the rise of pornographic magazine publisher and editor Larry Flynt, and his subsequent clash with the law. The film stars Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, and Edward Norton.The film was written by...

  • 1997: Titanic
    Titanic (1997 film)
    Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...

  • 1998: The Truman Show
    The Truman Show
    The Truman Show is a 1998 American satirical comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol. The cast includes Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, as well as Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Ed Harris and Natascha McElhone...

  • 1999: American Beauty
    American Beauty (film)
    American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged magazine writer who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, Angela...

  • 2000: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
    Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
    Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 wuxia film. An American-Chinese-Hong Kong-Taiwanese co-production, the film was directed by Ang Lee and featured an international cast of ethnic Chinese actors, including Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen...

    and Almost Famous
    Almost Famous
    Almost Famous is a 2000 musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe and telling the fictional story of a teenage journalist writing for Rolling Stone magazine while covering the fictitious rock band Stillwater , and his efforts to get his first cover story published...

  • 2001: Memento (Indiewood List) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Hollywood List)
  • 2002: Gangs of New York
    Gangs of New York
    Gangs of New York is a 2002 historical film set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City. It was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Lonergan. The film was inspired by Herbert Asbury's 1928 nonfiction book, The Gangs of New...

  • 2003: Mystic River
    Mystic River (film)
    Mystic River is a 2003 American drama film directed, co-produced and scored by Clint Eastwood, starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney and Emmy Rossum. The film was written by Brian Helgeland, based on Dennis Lehane's novel of the same...

  • 2004: Sideways
    Sideways
    Sideways is a 2004 comedy-drama film written by Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne and directed by Payne. Adapted from Rex Pickett's 2004 novel of the same name, Sideways follows two forty-something year old men, portrayed by Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church, who take a week-long road trip to...

  • 2005: A History of Violence
    A History of Violence (film)
    A History of Violence is a 2005 American crime thriller film directed by David Cronenberg and written by Josh Olson. It is an adaptation of the 1997 graphic novel of the same name by John Wagner and Vince Locke...

  • 2006: The Departed
    The Departed
    The Departed is a 2006 American crime thriller film, fashioned as a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. The film was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan...

  • 2007: No Country for Old Men
    No Country for Old Men (film)
    No Country for Old Men is a 2007 American crime thriller directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin. The film was adapted from the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name...

  • 2008: Milk
    Milk (film)
    Milk is a 2008 American biographical film on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...

  • 2009: Precious
    Precious (film)
    Precious , is a 2009 American drama film directed by Lee Daniels. Precious is an adaptation by Geoffrey S. Fletcher of the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire. The film stars Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, and Paula Patton...

  • Best Film of the '00s: There Will Be Blood
    There Will Be Blood
    There Will Be Blood is a 2007 drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The film is based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil!. It tells the story of a silver miner-turned-oilman on a ruthless quest for wealth during Southern California's oil boom of the late 19th and...

  • 2010: The Social Network
    The Social Network
    The Social Network is a 2010 American drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin. Adapted from Ben Mezrich's 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires, the film portrays the founding of social networking website Facebook and the resulting lawsuits...


External links

  • The Travers Take at Rolling Stone
    Rolling Stone
    Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

  • Movie Reviews at Rolling Stone
    Rolling Stone
    Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

  • Peter Travers at Rotten Tomatoes
    Rotten Tomatoes
    Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

  • Popcorn with Peter Travers on ABC News
    ABC News
    ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...