Quotes from CM Reviews about Russell

Thanks to roheryn, Maria:

How exceptional a film actor is Russell Crowe? So exceptional that in Cinderella Man, he makes a good boxing movie feel at times like a great, big picture. - Lisa Schwarzbaum/Entertainment Weekly

Crowe is just phenomenal in the part....there's just no denying that this guy is one of the best out there - Jeff Otto/Film Force

What keeps "Cinderella" from complete hokiness is Crowe's utterly believable performance. As Jim, he measures his worth in simple terms: making money for his own, keeping his word and taking punishment without flinching. This is about manhood in the oldest and finest sense. - Desson Thomson/Washington Post

With Russell Crowe in the title role, "Cinderella Man" also has an actor you never want to bet against, no matter what the odds. In fact, Crowe's impressive work as Braddock, his ability to bring integrity as well as skill to his performance, demonstrates why he's the most accomplished actor of his generation's major stars, someone whose ability makes this film succeed more than it should. - Kenneth Turan/Los Angeles Times

Russell Crowe is that kind of movie star—a leading man who dares to represent the fears and aspirations of his audience. Audiences feel for Crowe the way they used to feel for Al Pacino in the 70s. Like Pacino, Crowe's persona registers most strongly with young men from working-class to poor backgrounds, but it cuts across class, race and gender lines. Other leading men entertain you; Crowe moves you. - Matt Zoller Seitz/New York Press

Russell Crowe’s performance in the lead makes one tired of continuously emphasizing that he puts out stellar performance after stellar performance.- Kris Tapley/Oscar Watch

If Braddock's improbable comeback is the core of Ron Howard's exhilarating film, Russell Crowe is its juicy apple. The actor's stinging simplicity and quiet urgency recall Spencer Tracy at his humblest and most titanic.- Carrie Rickey/Philadelphia Enquirer

Crowe, whose leading-man mystique is only deepened by the way he makes plain-spoken good-naturedness seem riveting and, in the grand old movie manner, even sexy.- Gene Seymour/Newsday

Crowe might not have been able to save Kingdom of Heaven, but judging by his performance here, there aren't many movies he couldn't save. That he's an extraordinary actor has been obvious to American audiences since Romper Stomper. - Brian Miller/Seattle Weekly

Crowe's performance is a total home run.- Jeffery Wells/Hollywood Elsewhere

After all, you get to again watch Russell Crowe be master and commander of what it is he does so well....As James J. Braddock, Russ reminds us his gladiator-like acting skills are as sharp as ever, and yeah, we missed him. - Emily Blunt/Blunt Review

I cannot name another actor of Crowe's generation who could have pulled this off....Mark my words … when the Russell Crowe story is written many years from now, “Cinderella Man” will be a turning point. Because not only will it earn Crowe his second Oscar (the first was for “Gladiator,” although in a just world he should have one for “The Insider”), it will mark the moment at which the movie-going public stopped looking at the actor one way and began to see him in a whole new light. - Robert W. Butler/Kansas City Star

Crowe's performance is almost quiet in its magnificence, reaching heights in both dialogue and emotion but also in many of Howard's soundless, slow-motion glances at an opponent in the ring. - Tyler Foster/Coming Soon

Taking this performance alongside his work on "Master and Commander," it's reasonable to place Crowe in the company of the leading men who brought great humanity to classical roles, from Spencer Tracy to James Stewart.- Robert Koehler/Variety

It is easy to take Russell Crowe for granted, since he is a superb actor and he never fails to tell us just how great he is. But this time he's downright marvellous, not only the spitting image of Braddock but undeniably authentic in portraying a man who has everything to fight for and nothing to lose. - Peter Howell/Toronto Star

Cinderella Man also ices it for stargazers that Russell Crowe is the dominant screen actor working today. ....on screen, this master and commander projects sensitivity like no one else around. - Mike Clark/USAToday

Crowe is entirely successful in both portraying the man and the athlete, delivering a physical performance that’s as confident and satisfying onscreen as his Maximus.- Nick Nunziata/CHUD

It works because Russell Crowe is a very honest performer with a physical charisma and set of technical skills that make him one of the best actors of his generation. - Tom Brook/BBC World

It's Russell Crowe, however, who's the essential heart of this movie, and its soul. He never falters. Every great star has a specific quality; Crowe's has always been one of stubborn suffering. - Stephen Witty/Newark StarLedger

Crowe is, in his unique way, astonishing. Even at his biggest moments he seems both convincing and somewhat reticent, as if he wants to provide the truth as long he happens to be up there on screen but isn't glorying in the opportunity. - Stanley Kauffman/New Republic

Russell Crowe once again proves that he is one of the foremost actors of his generation. - Glenn Davis/Princeton Tiger Weekly

Much of that superb acting is done by Russell Crowe, one of the most gifted performers in movies today.- David Sterrit/Christian Science Monitor

It’s amazing how quickly Russell Crowe can immolate instantaneously into any role. - Erik Childless/Sportsfan Magazine

I am just as happy to have gone in cold, so that I could be astonished by Crowe's performance.- Roger Ebert/Chicago Sun Times

It is now time to finally recognize Russell Crowe as one of the few elite actors of his generation. - Steven Snyder, Zertinet Movies

Crowe is marvelous, tackling an unabashedly noble character without ever pounding on that pesky "nobility" part - Sean Burns,Philadelphia Weekly

Russell Crowe (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Proof of Life) is, no hyperbole intended, a genius. - Mary Ann Johanson,Flick Filosopher

The true story of James J. Braddock, played with blazing brilliance by Russell Crowe...Crowe is jaw-droppingly good, a movie star with a true actor's subtlety and grace. - Peter Travers,Rolling Stone

At the center of all this richness is another irresistible star turn by Crowe. As his Oscar-winning performance in "Gladiator" proved, no contemporary actor is better at conveying an uncluttered personal integrity and nobility of spirit. You just want to hug the guy. - William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Russell Crowe is same-old, same-old, which means he gives another standout performance, achingly penetrating the psyche of a boxer up against the ropes. - Phil Villareal, Arizona Star

Howard captures the sport in all its gory glory. Here again Crowe's dedication to his art is truly remarkable. You can almost feel his pain. - Paul Clinton, CNN.Com

Once more demonstrating acting chops that literally take the viewer's breath away, Crowe genuinely seems a product of this terrible, heartbreaking period of national suffering, as he somehow channels a palpable atmosphere of despair. Only rarely do we sense such verisimilitude from actors who are, after all, products of our modern era. ...And now we have Crowe, sublimely persuasive as Depression-era boxer Jim Braddock in Howard's aptly named, fact-based fairy tale, "Cinderella Man." Crowe has shaded and fine-tuned his performance to a degree that suggests the impossibility of time travel and on-the-spot research. - Derrick Bang, Davis Enterprise

As for Crowe, he gives what may turn out to be a touchstone performance of this generation. Crowe's reputation for burrowing far inside his characters is long established, but in Cinderella Man, he goes so far you wonder how he could ever possibly come back. - Christopher Kelly/Fort Worth Star

That the movie packs such an emotional wallop is largely due to Crowe, who digs deeper into himself with every movie and takes us with him. In a movieland of eternal boys like Adam Sandler and Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks, Crowe is the man in more ways than one. Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Enquirer

What makes the picture soar are the rock-solid craftsmanship of Howard's filmmaking and the one-two-three punch of intelligence, creativity, and sincerity that Crowe brings to every scene he's in. David Sterrit, Christian Science Monitor

But it is Crowe's humanity, and Howard's mature restraint, that elevate the movie to its thrilling, rousing heights. This is an utterly predictable, thoroughly manipulative and thunderously obvious movie. I wouldn't change a frame of it. Rene Rodríguez, Miami Herald