I think the phrase "among the best movies I've seen __________ (this year, week, month etc.) should be retired. It is not a particularly bad statement but it is too overused and an intelligent person like Dana Stevens at Slate.com should be able to able to find a better way to say she liked the movie, The Maid, in her piece.
Honestly, the review went a little over my head. I am not a film auteur so I have no idea who Luis Buñuel and the Dogme 95 movement are and on another day I may have been disgruntled by rampant intellectualism of the review, but intellectuals need to know what movies to see too, right? To each their own I guess. The actual problem with the review is that it took Ms. Stevens two paragraphs to summarize the movie. There are too many irrelevant details in it for me to care after the middle of the first paragraph. I understand that movie may be complex and have a lot of minutiae, but just tell me that and let me see it for myself.
In my opinion the reviewer should have spent more time on telling me about the performers, the director, the cinematographer, really anything that would tell me why this is a good movie and shouldn't have been a good book instead. The weak final paragraph that does talk about the actors can't even focus on that and swiftly dives back in to telling me about the plot. It even goes so far as to tell me about what to expect in the final scene.
Once again Slate does not provide a compelling review. Even taking into account that I should really stop reading reviews from Slate.com, this review falls short, ironically, because of its length. It takes a lot of time to tell me nothing. Or nothing I needed to hear. But maybe I am just not smart enough to get it.

I love tablet PCs. Actually, I love the idea since I have never used one or even seen one in real life. But as soon as I can afford it I am definitely getting one. So I was surprised and delighted to find that there is a website that just reviews tablet PCs: besttabletreview.com.
Their latest review is of KraftCom's latest "rugged" Tablet, the Rugboard 10A tablet. Review is a bit to strong of a word. this is really just a preview  taken from the company website I imagine. Still, it is a very thorough piece and includes all the details someone buying a computer would need from a first look at a product. The writting style was also very inviting and just informal enough to be pleasant without being imbecilic. I look forward to more reviews from this site soon.

Up front you know what I love about Comic Book Resources's review of "Planetary 27"? It tells me everything I need to know about how to buy it right up front. (yes, I used "up front" twice in a row there on purpose). I have the name of the comic, a nice little cover thumbnail, the creators and even the price right at the top, which I appreciate greatly as a consumer.
Chad Nevett does a capable job of summarizing the final issue of the "Planetary" Series written by Warren Ellis with art by John Cassaday and Laura Martin. He does what every other critic would do in praising Ellis and Cassaday and pointing out that this is the last issue and so on. This review tells nothing new. It does not tell me why I as a non-reader should go out and buy it. Of course, in this kind of situation there is not much reason I would. Since I have not been buying individual issues of the series there is no reason that I would start with the last issue, and if I had been buying any of the rest of "Planetary" then I would almost have to buy the final issue. So why review it at all? Especially if you are not going to go out of your way to do an in depth review and critique of the issue or even the series as a whole?
When I first read the piece I was glad that it did not try to stray and delve into the series as a whole, but after thinking about it I realize that is the only way to really do a review on the end of something. If the book was a worthwhile read than the reviewer should want to inspire me to pick it up even if I have to read everything that came before. This review does no such thing.

Heather Havrilesky's review of Meshell Ndegeocello's new album "Devil's Halo" on Salon.com is the kind of review i absolutely hate. It is nothing more than a smattering of cliches pieced together with no outward sign that she comprehends music, criticism, or her audience. Ok, the last one was just to fill out the three. Maybe Miss Havrilesky does know her audience and since I am not a regular Salon.com reader that may not be me. But I have no idea whether I should listen to the album or not. That is a clear fail. That is really all I have to say which may make this review a fail as well.