Hereafter 2010

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: ...genuinely and deeply moving, and Damon's performance in particular grows into something uncanny and beautiful. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: It has the power to haunt the skeptical, to mystify the credulous and to fascinate everyone in between... Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Eastwood weaves between these disparate yet intrinsically connected story lines smoothly and without hurry. The pacing may feel a bit too languid, but it allows us to get to know these characters by observing who they are as opposed to what they do. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: An undercooked slice of paranormal mumbo jumbo with the genes of an M. Night Shyamalan chin-scratcher but the execution of a diffident nonbeliever. What was Clint thinking? Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Hereafter occupies some muzzy twilight zone, too woo-woo sentimental to be real, too limp to make for even a halfway decent ghost story. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Either you buy their Vaseline-lensed visions of the hereafter, or you watch in stony silence, as I did, wondering why there's no one to care about. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: One of those movies that works better on a second viewing; it's a gentle, loosely structured tale of lost souls that'll wash away if you let it. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Just because a film takes place entirely in the long shadow of death doesn't mean it has to be this relentlessly dour. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: It isn't a film fixated on death so much as what comes after and how that affects the living, the type of subject typically treated in films as a theoretical conceit, but one that Eastwood pursues with his trademark straightforward style. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Eastwood's latest is serenely, even masterfully eccentric -- the sort of movie that begins with a tsunami and ends with a kiss. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Epic filmmaking is not Clint Eastwood's thing. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Hereafter is a solemnly reassuring film made by major talents working intriguingly outside their comfort zones. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: I realize it's bad manners to be flip about a movie that emblazons its heart on its sleeve. But Hereafter, soggy with portentous uplift, invites that response. Read more

Joy Tipping, Dallas Morning News: The last 30 minutes of the film hint at what it might have been if someone had whipped that script into shape; the idea of exploring experiences of the afterlife was a great one, and Eastwood certainly has the vision to pull it off. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: The film is a deeply compassionate, decidedly secular and somewhat plodding meditation on what matters now and what lies beyond this life. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Eastwood and Morgan skillfully and slowly unveil each character's struggles and then send them on their way to inevitable encounters with one another. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Damon -- reunited with director Clint Eastwood following their work on Invictus -- makes a sincere, low-key medium, conveying information like a reporter rather than a precious mystic. Read more

Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: Another strong and unexpected drama from Clint Eastwood. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Hollywood once upon a time made films exploring these kinds of issues, but in today's climate only a filmmaker like Eastwood, determined to never do the same thing twice, would have the nerve and the clout to take it on. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Eventually, you realize the movie isn't comprised of much more than premise, greeting-card wisdom and coincidences, and its two hours start to grow long. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: The bafflement that comes with loss is certainly a strong enough emotion to get a story moving, but, by turning to spiritualism, visions, and the afterlife, Morgan has wandered into hokum without illuminating grief. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It's meant to make us ask, "All right, what comes after?" But it leaves real Eastwood fans only wondering, "Okay -- what comes next?" Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: It's as if everyone involved in the film figured they could keep Hereafter from turning ghost-story hokey by making it grounded, beautiful and matter-of-fact. And it sort of works. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: The only thing more disconcerting than seeing an action-disaster sequence open a Clint Eastwood drama is watching the 80-year-old auteur channel M. Night Shyamalan. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: The movie drags, yet it feels like it's missing an hour. It features three characters on three continents who barely interact with one another. And after 130 minutes, it stops without concluding. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Shifting gears to a softer, gauzier mood, Clint Eastwood's Hereafter finds the masterful icon charting new terrain. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: [It's] optimistic. Hokey, even. But it's beautiful, too. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It's safe to say that, as a director, Clint Eastwood shows no fear. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Clint Eastwood's Hereafter considers the idea of an afterlife with tenderness, beauty and a gentle tact. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Hereafter, set to a resonant Eastwood score, truly is haunting. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Eastwood's directorial output, from Mystic River on, constitutes the 21st century's first cinematic marvel, and Hereafter is among the best things he has ever done. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Though I found Hereafter meandering and occasionally sentimental, I couldn't help but admire Clint Eastwood's ambition in taking on-headfirst-the greatest fact of human existence. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Clint Eastwood's gentle, thoughtful film about the fragility of life and the promise of a life beyond. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: [Eastwood's] first boring film. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: The viewer waits, at first expectantly and later with increasing irritation, as the disparate story strands are forced together in the "are you kidding?" finale. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Hereafter makes no grand statement about life after death. It's just Eastwood pondering the subject, as any thoughtful person might, and inviting us to think along with him. It's hard to pass up so sincere an offer. Read more

Leah Rozen, TheWrap: Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: The movie will divide some Eastwood fans, conquer others. The naysayers will be grateful that, from this healthy, workaholic actor-director, there is always the promise of a good movie -- if not here, then hereafter. Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: The result may not plumb Shyamalanian awfulness, but if you did get to the afterlife you'd hope they weren't playing this movie. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: This is no tale of paranormal activity. It offers no clear-cut answers on life after death. Rather, it calmly examines death, grief and melancholy, packing an unexpectedly profound emotional gut-punch. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: An uneven but absorbing triptych of stories concerning the bonds between the living and the dead. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Multiple story lines cross international borders to mix personal tragedy with post-9/11 existential terror: Hereafter is a mawkish mondo mistico, obvious, schematic, and sometimes subtitled. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: It starts out with a tsunami -- and ends up standing in a puddle. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Eastwood continues to churn out one unique, challenging film after another. Read more