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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Posted November 14, 2012in Film Review
“Anna Karenina” 4 stars Rated R 130 mins. Drama Starring: Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson The Tom Stoppard-scripted “Anna Karenina” opens with a virtuosic display of orchestrated one-take, linear camera movement to transport the viewer from a backstage theatrical reality to an adaptable cinematic
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Posted November 07, 2012in Film Review
Daniel Day-Lewis flawless as always in ‘Lincoln’ “Lincoln” 2 stars Rated PG-13 132 mins. Drama Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” is almost as much of a mess as the War Between the States. Its truncated script — by playwright Tony Kushner, based loosely
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Posted October 31, 2012in Film Review
“Flight” 2 stars Rated R 93 mins. Drama Starring: Nadine Velazquez, Denzel Washington, Carter Cabassa Enjoyable in that Hollywood-popcorn way for which Robert Zemeckis is famous — see “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” skip “Forest Gump” — “Flight” is a drama that would have been better without the director’s love of
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Posted October 24, 2012in Film Review
Connection lost “Cloud Atlas” 2 stars Rated R 163 mins. Drama Starring: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant “Cloud Atlas” wants to be more than it is. For a movie pitched as a Meta-Meta exploration linking all of humanity through the ancient past to the recent past to the
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Posted October 17, 2012in Film Review
Getting busy “The Sessions” 4 stars Rated R 98 mins. Drama Starring: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy The most unlikely film of 2012, “The Sessions,” is a defiant romantic comedy of serious import that pushes the boundaries of R-rated intimacy. The film’s sex-positive message is so persuasively articulated
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Posted October 10, 2012in Film Review
Exploitation bonanza 1 STAR Rated R 107 mins. Thriller Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack Openly anti-Semitic, homophobic, misogynist and racist, there’s something to offend nearly everyone in this wrongheaded ’60s-era sexploitation misadventure. Once assigned to Pedro Almodovar for directing duties, Pete Dexter’s pulp novel “Paris Trout” —
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Posted October 03, 2012in Film Review
Girl Power 3 STARS Rated PG-13 112 mins. Comedy Starring: Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Rebel Wilson Essentially a glorified episode of the television show “Glee,” “Pitch Perfect” is a spotty coming-of-age comedy that only marginally pays off on its promise of delivering harmonized vocal virtuosity. Barden University freshman Beca
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Posted September 28, 2012in Film Review
Back in time in ‘Looper’ 2 stars? Rated R 118 mins. Sci-Fi Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt As time-travel suspense thrillers go, “Looper” is only a pinch better than mediocre. The make-up that Joseph Gordon-Levitt wears to make him look like a young Bruce Willis is such a
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