Category: Ratings
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The Bling Ring: Crime in the Google age.
The Bling Ring – 2013 Written & Directed by Sofia Coppola Starring Israel Broussard, Katie Chang, Taissa Farmiga, Claire Julien, Georgia Rock, Emma Watson, Leslie Mann The most striking thing about The Bling Ring is the ease with which the kids were able to move in and out of the lives of the rich and famous. In a time when Hollywood reaction to…
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The Lords of Salem: So much wrinkly naked flesh
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…
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The Reluctant Fundamentalist: What is the Pakistani dream?
The Reluctant Fundamentalist – 2012 Director Mira Nair Starring Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson, Liev Schreiber, Kiefer Sutherland, Om Puri, Shabana Azmi, Martin Donovan Screenplay William Wheeler Written by Mohsin Hamid and Ami Boghani I am thankful for the cinematic voice that is Mira Nair. Who else could take a subject as potentially divisive as a man’s movement from a devoted…
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Oblivion: A nice, unoriginal Sci-Fi story with great visual flair
Oblivion – 2013 Director Joseph Kosinski Starring Tom Cruise, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Melissa Leo, Morgan Freeman Screenplay Joseph Kosinski, Karl Gajdusek, Michael Arndt So many elements are borrowed from other sources in Oblivion, it’s remarkable that it ends up as cohesive as it is. That the sources all derive from the more contemplative sci-fi of the 1970’s may have something to do…
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The Iceman just wants to be a landlord
The Iceman – 2013 Director Ariel Vroman Starring Michael Shannon, Winona Rider, Chris Evans, Ray Liotta, James Franco, David Schwimmer, Stephen Dorff, Erin Cummings, Robert Davi Screenplay by Vroman and Morgan Land No one can economize a performance like Michael Shannon. His countenance is always sober, but seething underneath. His performance in Man of Steel was a thankless…
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Now You See Me is a cute date that vanishes after the show
Now You See Me – 2013 Director Louis Leterrier Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Mélanie Laurent, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Common, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Michael Kelley, Elias Koteas Screenplay Ed Solomon, Boaz Yakin, Edward Ricourt Now You See Me is the kind of trick that shows you how its done while its setting you up for the next trick. Four magicians (Eisenberg, Fisher, Harrelson and Franco)…
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The World’s End: Is a bit of a leap from a pub crawl
The World’s End Director Edgar Wright Starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan, Rosamund Pike, Pierce Brosnan Written by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg British comedy is often overrated, in the same way that France gets too much credit in the romance department. There are three citizens of the U.K. that help bridge the gap between how funny they…
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The Great Gatsby: His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one…
The Great Gatsby – 2013 Director Baz Luhrmann Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke Screenplay by Luhrmann and Craig Pearce based on the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald “It was all for her. The house. The parties. Everything.” Daisy is his Rosebud. But she’s so much less. The moment his heart was fulfilled was the moment that…
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Forgotten Gem: Elmore Leonard’s Out of Sight – Made of stars
Out of Sight – 1998 Directed by Steven Soderbergh Starring George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Ving Rhames, Steve Zahn, Dennis Farina, Don Cheadle, Albert Brooks, Samuel L. Jackson, Luis Guzman, Isaiah Washington, Catherine Keener, Nancy Allen, Viola Davis, Michael Keaton Screenplay by Scott Frank, based on the novel by Elmore Leonard There was a time, before I was married, when…
Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews 