Posted January 23, 2013in Film Review
“Mama” 2 stars Rated PG-13 100 mins. Horror Starring: Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Megan Charpentier Guillermo del Toro — the director of such minor masterpieces as “The Devil’s Backbone” and “Pan’s Labyrinth” — weakens his sphere of influence by producing a sorely underdeveloped horror movie that manufactures scares from the
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Posted January 16, 2013in Film Review
“Hyde Park on Hudson” 2 stars Rated R 94 mins. Comedy Starring: Bill Murray, Laura Linney, Olivia Williams If only we could see Bill Murray’s FDR hanging out with Daniel Day-Lewis’ Abraham Lincoln, then there might be…well, another mediocre life-slice movie about dead presidents. Like Day-Lewis, Murray builds his character
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Posted January 09, 2013in Film Review
“On the Road” 4 stars Rated R 124 mins. Drama Starring: Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart Enough time has passed since Jack Kerouac shocked American literary culture with his free-verse writings that few audiences will fault the film version of “On the Road” for its miscasting of Sam Riley
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Posted January 02, 2013in Film Review
“Zero Dark Thirty” 3 stars Rated R 160 mins. Action Starring: Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt Kathryn Bigelow’s cinematic version of the U.S. military’s absurdly protracted 10-year hunt for Osama bin Laden is not what you would expect. Bigelow’s frequent screenwriter collaborator, and former war reporter, Mark Boal (“The
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Posted December 26, 2012in Film Review
“Les Miserable” 3 stars Rated PG-13 157 mins. Drama Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway Audiences new to Boubil and Schoenberg’s stage musical — based on Victor Hugo’s novel of historical fiction — may be surprised to discover the wooly narrative isn’t as compelling as they imagined it might
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Posted December 19, 2012in Film Review
“Django Unchained” 5 stars Rated R 160 mins. Drama Starring: Jamie Foxx, Don Johnson, Leonardo DiCaprio You know from Quenton Tarantino’s audacious choice of intro music — the haunting theme song from Sergio Corbucci’s iconic 1966 spaghetti Western “Django,” that the maestro-of-all-things-tasty has many surprises in store for his delighted
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Posted December 12, 2012in Film Review
“The Central Park Five” 5 stars Not Rated 120 mins. Documentary Starring: Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Kharey Wise It’s tempting to think that gross miscarriages of justice are less likely to occur in big cities, where police and judicial oversight are theoretically more prevalent than small, insular towns — like
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Posted December 05, 2012in Film Review
“Hyde Park on Hudson” 2 stars Rated R 94 mins. Comedy Starring: Bill Murray, Laura Linney, Olivia Williams If only we could see Bill Murray’s FDR hanging out with Daniel Day-Lewis’ Abraham Lincoln, then there might be…well, another mediocre life-slice movie about dead presidents. Like Day-Lewis, Murray builds his character
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Posted November 28, 2012in Film Review
“Killing Them Softly” 5 stars Rated R 97 mins. Drama Starring: Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta, Richard Jenkins One of the 10 best films of 2012, Andrew Dominik’s cold-blooded satire of American corporate-political-capitalism cuts through its subject like a freshly sharpened guillotine blade. Fortunately someone still wants retribution for the $7.77
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Posted November 21, 2012in Film Review
“Life of Pi” 4 stars Not Rated 120 mins. Adventure Starring: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Adil Hussain Gracefully sidestepping its overreaching, religiously didactic premise — that the unfolding story offers up absolute proof of God — Ang Lee’s lush 3D adaptation of Yann Martel’s restrained novel of magical realism
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