Category: 3.5 Stars
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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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Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is the kind of hillbilly horror we all can rally behind
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil – 2010 Directed by Eli Craig Starring Taylor Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss Written by Craig and Morgan Jurgenson There is a subtlety to the acting of Taylor Labine and Alan Tudyk, who as Dale and Tucker provide one half of the adversarial title of this film, that is…
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Courageous is not flashy, but it will get you home
Courageous – 2011 Directed by Alex Kendrick Starring Alex Kendrick, Ken Bevel, Kevin Downes, Ben Davies, Robert Amaya, members of the Sherwood Baptist Church Written by Alex and Stephen Kendrick Sherwood Baptist Church, in Albany, Georgia has a line on something here. Taking the cue from the success of The Passion of the Christ, The Chronicles of Narnia…
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Anonymous: Hey, is that Bill Shakespeare over there?
Anonymous – 2011 Directed by Roland Emmerich Starring Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, David Thewlis, Xavier Samuel, Sebastian Armesto, Rafe Spall, Edward Hogg, Jamie Campbell Bower Written by John Orloff I’ve never been a fan of Shakespeare. It was hoisted upon my unsuspecting and inexperienced childhood in such a way as to feel like…
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A Better Life: Bichir gives the kind of performance that opens doors
A Better Life – 2011 Directed by Chris Weitz Starring Demian Bichir, José Julián, Carlos Linares, Eddie “Piolín” Sotelo, Joaquín Cosio, Nancy Lenehan Written by Eric Eason A man looking for work waits for cars to slow down, looking for workers. By mid day, it is just him and another person, who offers him a bite to eat. Within two…
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The Guard shows real chemistry between Gleeson and Cheadle, kind of like Gibson and Glover
The Guard – 2011 Written and Directed by John Michael McDonagh Starring Brendan Gleason, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, Mark Strong, Fionnula Flanagan, David Wilmot, Michael Og Lane, Dominique McElligott, Rory Keenan Early on in The Guard, I got the ringing sense of familiarity. At first, I couldn’t place it. There was a ton of swearing with Gaelic accents, and…
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The Killer Elite – Action like your dad used to watch
The Killer Elite – 2011 Directed by Gary McKendry Starring Jason Statham, Robert DeNiro, Clive Owen, Yvonne Strahovski, Dominic Purcell, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje Written by Matt Sherring There us a point towards the end of Killer Elite, when the majority of the killers have been killed and Danny Bryce (Statham) goes to collect the person who had been kidnapped,…
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I Don’t Know How She Does It: Watch if you like your family and your job
I Don’t Know How She Does It – 2011 Directed by Douglas McGrath Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Greg Kinnear, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Munn, Christina Hendricks, Busy Phillips, Kelsey Grammer, Seth Meyers Written by Aline Brosh McKenna, based on the book by Allison Pearson There is a smooth and safe sheen to I Don’t Know How…
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Colombiana by another name, is The Professional, Part 2
Colombiana – 2011 Directed by Olivier Megaton Starring Zoë Saldana, Michael Vartan, Cliff Curtis, Lennie James, Callum Blue, Jordi Mollà Written by Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen When one considers that Luc Besson and prolific screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen first worked together on the movie, Leon: The Professional, it becomes increasingly obvious as to why Colombiana seems…
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CPE and Em: Dolphin Tale adds filler to a real story
Dolphin Tale – 2011 Directed by Charles Martin Smith Starring Harry Connick, Jr., Nathan Gamble, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman, Kris Kristofferson, Jim Fitzpatrick, Winter, Austin Stowell Written by Karen Janszen, Noam Dromi The last time I thought of Charles Martin Smith, he got blasted by a double barrel in an elevator while escorting the accountant witness…
Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews 