Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews

Category: CPE

  • The Hunger Games 3: Mockingjay 1 (***)

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    Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 – 2014 Director Francis Lawrence Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Natalie Dormer, Sam Clafin, Jena Malone Screenplay by Danny Strong, Peter Craig based on the book by Suzanne Collins At this point we’ve all become accepting of the process of dragging out books into multiple movies.…

  • Manhunter vs. Red Dragon: Mann vs Ratner

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    Manhunter – 1986 Red Dragon – 2002  Manhunter                                                                                              …

  • Whiplash (*****) dashes your hopes

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    Whiplash – 2014 Writer and Director Damien Chazelle Starring  J.K. Simmons, Miles Teller, Melissa Benoist, Paul Reiser If you are looking for the inspirational story of the year, this is not it. If you are looking to see a movie about justice, it is not this film. Whiplash is almost unidentifiable in nature, in that the…

  • Jupiter Ascending (**): Plateaus quickly, then sinks under its own insignificance

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    Jupiter Ascending – 2015 Written and Directed by The Wachowskis Starring Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis, Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Douglas Booth, Tuppence Middleton, Maria Boyle Kennedy, James D’Arcy, Gugu Mbatha-Raw Jupiter Jones (Kunis) is the daughter of a broken young Russian couple.  When her father is killed while she is in the womb, her mother journeys with the rest of the family…

  • Birdman (***1/2): Who is this guy?

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    Birdman – 2014 Director Alejandro González Iñárritu Starring Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Lindsay Duncan Screenplay Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr., Armando Bo It’s during the second balcony scene with Mike and Sam (Norton and Stone) that one begins to realize how riveting Birdman has become. It’s not that the script is all that wonderful,…

  • A new reason to love Lucy (****)

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    Lucy – 2014 Written and Directed by Luc Besson Starring Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Amr Waked, Choi Min-sik, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Nicolas Phongpheth, Analeigh Tipton, Paul Chan For all the activity Luc Besson has had in movies over the last decade as writer and producer for some interesting action fare (most notably in the Transporter and Taken series), he has not directed many live…

  • The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (***1/2) – So it ends…

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    The Hobbit – The Battle of Five Armies Director Peter Jackson Starring Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Ken Stott, James Nesbitt, Orlando Bloom, Aidan Turner, Billy Connolly, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm Screenplay by Fran Walsh, Phillippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro based on the…

  • Selma (*****): There can be no better time for this

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    Selma – 2014 Director Ava DuVernay Starring David Oyelowo, Tom Wilkinson, Tim Roth, Common, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Carmen Ejogo, Lorraine Toussaint, Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Niecy Nash, Colman Domingo, Giovanni Ribisi, Dylan Baker, Alessandro Nivola, Keith Stanfield, André Holland, Tessa Thompson, Wendell Pierce, Henry G. Sanders Screenplay by Paul Webb There are many strong feelings evoked for the viewer of Selma. In a country that is still struggling with the callouses of racial wounds,…

  • American Sniper (****1/2): Bleeds carefully with Eastwood’s heart

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    American Sniper – 2014 Director Clint Eastwood Starring Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Max Charles, Luke Grimes, Kyle Gallner, Sam Jaeger, Jake McDorman, Cory Hardrict, Navid Negahban Screenplay Jason Hall based on the book by Chris Kyle, Scott McEwen, Jim DeFelice When looking into the game plan of documenting a martyr, it’s not easy to present the subject as a whole person, flaws and all. One of the…

  • Unbroken (****) is a fitting tribute to the spirit

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    Unbroken – 2014 Director Angelia Jolie Starring Jack O’Connell, Domhnall Gleeson, Miyavi, Garrett Hedlund, Finn Wittrock Screenplay Joel and Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese, William Nicholson based on the book by Laura Hillenbrand The first thing readers of the book based on the remarkable life of Louis Zamperini need to prepare for is that there is no way this movie, vast as it is, can match the sheer…