Posted January 01, 2014in Film Review
“Out of the Furnace” 3 stars Rated R 106 minutes Crime Starring: Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Zoe Saldana Scott Cooper’s American character study-thriller bursts at the seams. After his directorial debut with “Crazy Heart,” director/co-screenwriter Cooper returns from his Oscar win with a sophomore movie that fulfills his promise as
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Posted December 26, 2013in Film Review
“Her” 2 stars Rated R 120 minutes Comedy Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Scarlett Johansson Where Spike Jonze once soared using magical realism — albeit written by someone else — as his guide (see “Being John Malkovich”), he now flounders with a self-penned technology-driven story that shrivels before your eyes.
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Posted December 18, 2013in Film Review
“August: Osage County” 3 stars Rated R 121 minutes Comedy Starring: Meryl Streep, Dermot Mulroney, Julia Roberts Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play loses an hour-and-a-half from its original running time, but none of its dramatic impact in the playwright’s own screenplay adaptation. Arriving during the holidays, when American family members
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Posted December 11, 2013in Film Review
“American Hustle” 3 stars Rated R 129 minutes Drama Starring: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper If awards were handed out for the sloppiest movies, “American Hustle” would be a dead ringer for just such a booby prize. The damn thing is all over the place. It can’t decide if
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Posted December 04, 2013in Film Review
“Inside Llewyn Davis” 5 stars Rated R 105 minutes Drama Starring: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman The Coen brothers are master curators of culture. You can see it as far back as their debut film, “Blood Simple,” a gritty neo-noir that exulted in the genre’s tightly knit excesses of
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Posted November 27, 2013in Film Review
“Oldboy” 2 stars Rated R 104 minutes Drama Starring: Min-sik Choi, Ji-tae Yu, Hye-jeong Kang Korean director/co-screenwriter Chan-wook Park’s haunting 2003 revenge drama “Oldboy” is one of the most unbearably intense films ever made. Based loosely on a Japanese graphic novel, the movie is the second installment in Park’s “Vengeance
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Posted November 20, 2013in Film Review
“Delivery Man” 2 stars Rated PG-13 103 minutes Comedy Starring: Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt, Cobie Smulders Writer-director Ken Scott does the same thing twice by repurposing his 2011 French-language film “Starbuck” into a Hollywood movie that predictably loses something in translation. Pumping up the volume on the comic account of
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Posted November 13, 2013in Film Review
“Go For Sisters” 2 stars Not Rated 122 minutes Drama Starring: LisaGay Hamilton, Yolonda Ross, Edward James Olmos John Sayles’ latest effort a dud. Still, even if the legendary independent filmmaker never made another better-than-average movie, the auteur responsible for such instant classics as “The Return of the Secaucus Seven,”
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Posted November 06, 2013in Film Review
“Big Sur” 2 stars Rated R 74 minutes Drama Starring: Jean-Marc Barr, Kate Bosworth, Josh Lucas Adapting Jack Kerouac’s late career novel “Big Sur” (1962) proves an awkward challenge for director-screenwriter Michael Polish. That isn’t to say that the film is a complete failure, but it is disappointing. Nonetheless, it
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Posted October 30, 2013in Film Review
“All is Lost” 5 stars Rated PG-13 105 minutes Action Starring: Robert Redford Robert Redford gives the finest performance of his career in writer-director J.C. Chandor’s literal and metaphorical tale of one man’s attempts to survive on the high seas. Redford carries Chandor’s one-man showcase with a depth of character
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