Category: Movie Reviews
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There was a Man: Cool Papa E’s Tribute to Roger Ebert
There was a time when, as a teenager, I was relegated to spending my summer afternoons at home. Not old enough to drive and without siblings, relatives or anyone else around to be driven by, I would do my chores in the morning and, on the hottest days, sit inside the house in the afternoon. In Kent, a…
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Hit and Run is an accident constantly happening
Hit and Run – 2012 Written and Directed by Dax Shepard (also directed by David Palmer) Starring Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell, Kristin Chenoweth, Bradley Cooper, Tom Arnold No one should have to see a tattoo to start a movie, especially a really bad one. Why would Veronica Mars even let Dax Shepard touch her? Who would ever…
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Killing Them Softly, because it wasn’t named Hitting one for Ira
Killing Them Softly – 2012 Writer and Director Andrew Dominik Starring Brad Pitt, Andrew McNairy, Ben Mendolsohn, Richard Jenkins, James Gandolfini, Ray Liotta, Sam Shepard, Slaine, Vince Curatola, Max Casella, Trevor Long When I was dating my wife, I took her to see the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Afterwards, at dinner, I asked her what she…
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This is 40: The sort of Sequel to Knocked Up
This is 40 – 2012 Written and Directed by Judd Apatow Starring Leslie Mann, Paul Rudd, Maude Apatow, Iris Apatow, Jason Segel, Albert Brooks, Charlene Yi, Megan Fox, Ryan Lee, Lena Dunham, Melissa McCarthy, Graham Parker, Chris O’Dowd, Robert Smigel, Tim Bagley, John Lithgow, Anne Mumalo “This is coming out wrong.” A lesser storyteller would have saved…
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Atlas Shrugged II: Nothing is everything, is the same
Atlas Shrugged Part II – 2012 Director John Putch Starring Samantha Mathis, Esai Morales, Jason Beghe, Patrick Fabian, Kim Rhodes, Richard T. Jones, D.B. Sweeney, Robert Picardo, Ray Wise, Diedrich Bader, Arye Gross, Thomas F. Wilson, Paul McCrane, Rex Linn, Teller, Michael Gross, Bug Hall Screenplay by Duke Sandefur, Brian Patrick O’Toole, Duncan Scott based on the novel by Ayn Rand “I don’t…
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Argo: It’s that few rotten million…
Argo – 2012 Director – Ben Affleck Starring – Affleck, Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Tate Donovan, Clea Duvall, Victor Garber, Philip Baker Hall, Kyle Chandler, Michael Parks, Chris Messina, Titus Welliver Screenplay – Chris Terrio Alan Arkin is remarkable. He’s been doing the same shtick for 50 years. You would think it’d get old by now. It hasn’t.…
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Zero Dark Thirty or Forty, Whatever it Takes.
Zero Dark Thirty – 2012 Director Katheryn Bigelow Starring Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Ehle, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Mark Strong, Harold Perrineau, Chris Pratt, Édgar Ramírez, Mark Duplass, James Gandolfini Screenplay Mark Boal I spent much of the Bush administration reading books about the wars in the middle east after 9/11. Most of it was read in disgust…
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The Man with the Iron Fists: Not so dexterous
The Man with the Iron Fists – 2012 Directed by RZA Starring Russell Crowe, Cung Le, Lucy Liu, Byron Mann, RZA, David Bautista, Jamie Chung Screenplay by RZA and Eli Roth The Man with the Iron Fists lumbers across the screen like the big time wrestler that decides he wants to be an ice skater. The skates are…
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Arbitrage: If Ted Kennedy can do it…
Arbitrage – 2012 Written and Directed by Nicholas Jarecki Starring Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, Brit Marling, Laetitia Casta, Nate Parker Arbitrage uses a couple of old stories, combines them, and with some very good acting turns, makes it worth your time. What starts out as a congenial old guy, Robert Miller (Gere) who dodged…
Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews 