Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews

Category: 3.5 Stars

  • Fruitvale Station (***1/2) – All sales are final

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    Fruitvale Station – 2013 Written and Directed by Rylan Coogler Starring Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer, Ahna O’Reilly, Kevin Durand , Chad Michael Murray If the point of the movie is to show the value of a human life in the time frame of the last day, they had me at the moment Oscar Grant III (Jordan) first…

  • The Butler (***1/2) – Broad strokes don’t work as well as fine detail

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    The Butler – 2013 Directed by Lee Daniels Starring Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Terence Howard, David Oyelowo, Elijah Kelley, David Banner, Mariah Carey, Adriane Lenox, Yaya DaCosta, Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Redgrave, Clarence Williams III, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Lenny Kravitz, Colman Domingo, Robin Williams, James DuMont, Robert Aberdeen, James Mardsen, Minka Kelly, Liev Schreiber. John Cusack, Alex Manette,…

  • The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (***1/2) more hunger, more games

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      The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – 2013 Director Francis Lawrence Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, Donald Sutherland Screenplay Simon Beaufoy, Michael deBruyn based on the book by Suzanne Collins After struggling through the first book of the series, The Hunger Games, I was not looking forward to the movie…

  • Gravity: Beautiful, if annoying

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    Gravity – 2013 Director Alfonso Cuarón Starring Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris (voice) Screenplay Jonás and Alfonso Cuarón In the end, it’s not how long one lives, but the quality of life one lives.  The events that take place in the span of the film Gravity lends credence to that axiom.  If I were in the…

  • The Hangover Part III and Kick-Ass 2: Delightful if not so funny

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    The Hangover Part III – 2013 Director Todd Phillips Starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Ken Jeong, Heather Graham, Jeffrey Tambor, Justin Bartha, Jamie Chung, John Goodman Screenplay Todd Phillips, Craig Mazin Kick-Ass 2 – 2013 Writer and Director Jeff Wadlow Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloë Grace Moretz, Jim Carrey, Clark Duke, Olga Kurkulina, Lindy Booth, John Leguizamo, Morris Chestnut, Donald Faison Two notable comedies had sequels in the summer of 2013, and both…

  • CPE, Em & El: Thor: The Dark World: More Loki, anyone?

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    Thor: The Dark World – 2013 Director Alan Taylor Starring Tom Hiddleston, Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano, Jaimie Alexander, Rene Russo Screenplay Christopher Yost, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely It’s no surprise that Loki is one of the first characters that you see after the prologue of Thor: The Dark World.  It’s a short…

  • The Lone Ranger: Waiting for Depp to fail.

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    The Lone Ranger – 2013 Director Gore Verbinski Starring Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, William Fichtner, Tom Wilkinson, Barry Pepper, James Badge Dale, Helena Bonham Carter Screenplay Justin Haythe, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio The Lone Ranger was pretty much announced DOA when it was released in July 2013.  Why is pretty much tea leaf readings based on production difficulties, a general distaste for Jerry Bruckheimer and…

  • Fast & Furious 6: High Tech Lemonade

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    Fast & Furious 6 – 2013 Director Justin Lin Starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson,Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Sung Kang, Luke Evans, Gina Carano, John Ortiz Screenplay Chris Morgan Into the void of PG-13 summer action sprang forth the 6th film in the Fast & Furious franchise.  There is a point to all of this speed and fury, I am sure of…

  • V/H/S and V/H/S/2: Someone really has some stories to tell

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    V/H/S – 2012  V/H/S/2 2013 Directors V/H/S: Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, Radio Silence V/H/S/2: Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Eduardo Sánchez, Gregg Hale, Gareth Huw Evans, Timo Tjahjanto, Jason Eisener Starring V/H/S: A bunch of decent young acting talent V/H/S/2: More decent young acting talent Screenplay: V/H/S: Simon Barrett, David Bruckner, Nicholas Tecosky, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez, Chad Villella V/H/S/2: Simon Barrett, Jamie Nash, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Huw Evans, John Davies Horror stories…

  • The Lords of Salem: So much wrinkly naked flesh

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    The Lords of Salem – 2012 Writer & Director  Rob Zombie Starring Sheri Moon Zombie, Bruce Davison, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Ken Foree, Patricia Quinn, Dee Wallace, María Conchita Alonso, Judy Geeson, Meg Foster There are better things that one could see at the beginning of a movie than a series of wrinkled old hags praising Satan and condemning our Lord and Savior.  There are…