Mary Pols

Mary Pols has been reviewing film and occasionally books for TIME since 2009. She has degrees from Duke University, where she studied art history, and the University of California Berkeley’s School of Journalism. Before joining TIME, she worked as a reporter and a movie critic for several California newspapers. She wrote a memoir about parenthood that was turned into a television comedy (not Weeds).

Articles from Contributor

ReviewMovies

Why I’m So Glad I Am Not Number Four

By Mary Pols Feb. 17, 2011

Despite Alex Pettyfer’s sexy smolder, this sloppy, cynical attempt to build a young-adult film franchise never catches fire

ReviewMovies

Just Go with It? Jennifer Aniston Runs Away with It

By Mary Pols Feb. 10, 2011

What could have been another crude Adam Sandler comedy is redeemed by the former Friend’s best work in years

ReviewMovies

The Roommate: Single White Female, the College Years

By Mary Pols Feb. 07, 2011

Leighton Meester and Minka Kelly deserve better than this by-the-numbers girl-meets-girl psycho thriller

Q&A

Kevin Smith: Why He’s Going Rogue with Red State

By Mary Pols Feb. 02, 2011

The director talks to TIME about his new movie, thumbing his nose at the Hollywood studio system and why he’s serious about leaving film

ReviewMovies

The Mechanic Review: Can He Fix It? Well, He Can Blow It Up

By Mary Pols Jan. 27, 2011

Jason Statham raises his taciturn action hero game opposite Ben Foster in this capable remake of Charles Bronson’s macho 1972 classic

ReviewMovies

Peter Weir’s The Way Back, a Good Walk Almost Spoiled

By Mary Pols Jan. 21, 2011

A desperate band of fugitives flee Siberia on foot in Peter Weir’s compelling tale of survival against the odds, but their journey meanders towards the end