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![]() Suburban drug running goes tragically awry in this fictionalized account of a real Southern California murder. Nearly as alarming as the 2000 murder is the callow nihilism of the SoCal teens and twentysomethings involved with it. Living in comfort, they admire the gangsta doggs celebrated on MT…
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Justin Timberlake: Dude can act.
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![]() What we have here is a hard-boiled High School movie. Students in and around an underground drug ring allow Brick to revel in deceit and ironic detachment. Rian Johnson’s first movie then leavens itself through Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s romantic heroism. So what if JGL is mid-twenties posing …
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Richly Romantic: JGL & Nora Zehetner
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![]() The brilliant Darren Aronofsky got his start with Pi, a low budget thriller about a math genius who holds the key to success for two secretive groups. The movie starts off wonderfully disturbing, later depicting a severe psychotic incident that’s not so wonderful, that’s very disturbing actual…
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Samia Shoaib should be a star.
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![]() The battles of 1st Bull Run, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville get brought to terribly glorious life in this opening salvo of a planned Civil War trilogy. Funded by a son of the South, Gods and Generals focuses on sympathetic Confederate heroes Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. It could …
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One of the signal moments in US history.
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![]() A smug couple fights spectacularly over their narcissistic disappointments, with their immature worldview presented as the final word on family-centered suburban existence. Melodramatic, occasionally quite funny, flawlessly performed, supremely well made, Rev. Road is worth seeing if family tr…
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The classic novel behind the movie.
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![]() The Civil War’s decisive battle can get extensively aired over nearly 4½ hours, and does in Gettysburg. The real battle lasted three days in July of 1863, say 36 hours actually fighting. The movie covers fully an eighth of that. Stamina is required, a long plane ride ideal. Consider it a …
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Hell saved the Exceptional Nation.
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![]() Prime Clint, the reluctant avenging hero, forced here to battle a faulty heart and a cleverly playful serial killer. This understated classic proves that even Eastwood’s minor movies tend to be tautly paced, cleverly constructed and richly satisfying. The clever construction comes from the co…
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Wanda De Jesus: Clint loves strong wo...
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![]() Paul Newman wanted to be bad and got his wish with Hud. He plays a charismatic asshole, a user and abuser whose evil becomes increasingly evident as the movie rolls along. Three Oscars came in its wake, though King Cool himself had to be satisfied with just a nomination. Think Hud would’ve s…
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His unwanted attention brought her an...
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![]() Think of this de facto zombie movie as No Country for Little Boys: a surreally grim milieu through which a dauntless Father must shepherd his pure-hearted Son. Such a nihilistic extravaganza creates ample opportunities for life lessons of the most extreme sort. The result is gripping, though …
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Dauntless Paternal Love
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![]() 40% LOL, 50% hide the women and children. Make that 80% hide the innocents, yet still 40% LOL, more than enough funny to get the job done. Yes, it’s spectacularly mean, violently so, but it’s no more cruelly subversive than was Borat. (Oh great. Now Borat…
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