Category: Action
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The Darkest Hour is indeed quite dim
The Darkest Hour – 2011 Directed by Chris Gorak Starring Emille Hirsch, Max Minghella, Rachel Taylor, Olivia Thirlby, Joel Kinnaman Screenplay by Jon Spaihts It’s not the fact that we get to see the film’s signature move, disintegrating humans, dogs, etc, hundreds of times. It’s not the fact that the dialogue in the film is stiff enough to…
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Trespass: Released in theaters, but feels like straight to video
Trespass – 2011 Directed by Joel Schumacher Starring Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman, Cam Giganet, Jordana Spiro, Ben Mendelsohn, Liana Liberato, Dash Mihok, Nico Tortorella, Emily Meade Screenplay by Eli Richbourg, Karl Gajdusek The most interesting fact about Trespass is not the teaming of Cage, Kidman and Schumacher. This is not an artistic high point for any of…
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CPE and Em: The Adventures of Tintin rolls a bit like Indy
The Adventures of Tintin – 2011 Directed by Steven Spielberg Starring Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis , Daniel Craig, Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Toby Jones, Tony Curran, Gad Elmaleh Screenplay by Stephen Moffatt, Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish based on The Adventures of Tintin, by Hergé The faces of The Adventures of Tintin and his co-stars look disturbingly similar…
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Tower Heist is Eddie Murphy closer his best days, but not much else
Tower Heist – 2011 Directed by Brett Ratner Starring Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Alan Alda, Téa Leoni, Casey Affleck, Judd Hirsch, Matthew Broderick, Michael Peña, Gabourey Sidibe Screenplay by Ted Griffin, Jeff Nathanson There is something sharp and very clean about a Brett Ratner film. There never seems to be any sort of litter, refuse or debris anywhere on the…
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The Three Musketeers is bright, beautiful and smarter than it looks
The Three Musketeers – 2011 Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson Starring Logan Lerman, Milla Jovovich, Matthew Macfadyen, Ray Stephenson, Luke Evans, Mads Mikkelson, James Corden, Juno Temple, Orlando Bloom, Christoph Waltz, Gabriella Wilde, Freddie Fox Screenplay by Andrew Davies and Alex Litvak based on The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas The Three Musketeers is one of the more ridiculous…
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Immortals: More Fighting and Chicks in Sepia Tone
Immortals – 2011 Directed by Tarsem Singh Starring Henry Cavill, Freda Pinto, Mickey Rourke, John Hurt, Stephen Dorff, Luke Evans, Isabel Lucas, Kellan Lutz Screenplay by Charley and Vlas Parlapanides At the beginning of Immortals, Zeus, in his “Old Man” disguise, gives the following exposition: “When this world was still young, long before man or beast roamed…
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Drive starts out in the fast lane; ends up in the ditch
Drive – 2011 Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn Starring Ryan Gosling, Albert Brooks, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman, Christina Hendricks, Oscar Isaac Written by Hossein Amini based on Drive by James Sallis There is a scene at the beginning of Drive that is as clever as any car chase I have seen. Acting as driver for a…
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Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part I: Watching Grown Men Cry
Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 – 2011 Directed by Bill Condon Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattison, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Dakota Fanning, Ashley Greene, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Kellen Lutz, Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone, Anna Kendrick, Sarah Clarke Written by Melissa Rosenberg based on the novel by Stephanie Meyer There is a point after Bella (Stewart) has…
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CPE and Em: Real Steel is Rocky Sock ‘Em Robots
Real Steel – 2011 Directed by Shawn Levy Starring Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lily, Dakota Goyo, Anthony Mackie, Kevin Durand, Hope Davis, James Rebhorn, Olga Fonda, Karl Yune Written by John Gatins There is such a disconcerting premise to the core of Real Steel, it almost completely eradicates what is right about it. As Charlie Kenton, Jackman…
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Setup: Finally, a rapper who can’t act
Setup – 2011 Directed by Mike Gunther Starring 50 Cent, Ryan Phillippe, Bruce Willis, Jenna Dewan, Brett Granstaff, Randy Couture, Will Yun Lee, James Remar, Susie Abromeit Written by Gunther and Mike Berman Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson seems like a nice guy. And with Setup, a movie he helped to produce, one can tell that…
Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews 