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![]() As Liam Neeson movies go, Unknown is a bit sub-par. It bears a resemblance to the Taken duo in that he’s an American on the run from and after bad guys in a European capital, but its plot is way more mysterious. Too mysterious, even though it reve…
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Bad Taxi Ride: Neeson & Kruger
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![]() Artistic pranksters engaged in good old-fashioned anarchism make the Oscar nominated Exit Through the Gift Shop big fun. Just don’t judge its subjects too closely. Banksy’s documentary chronicles street art’s commercial breakthrough, with the director himself its shining star. Anti-capital…
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Break on thru to commercial success
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![]() Wannabe superheroes are an obvious target for movie comedy. Wonder then that so few moviemakers try it, even if two did in 2010. Super may not be the funniest of that pair, but it’s plenty comical and surprisingly deep at the same time. You can see why writer-director James Gunn got "Guardians …
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Ellen Page flaunts her booty, er, Boltie
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![]() Where did Drive come from? Under-titled and under-promoted, it seems to have sprang from nowhere. Pity, because it’s an extremely invigorating thriller. It also burnishes Ryan Gosling’s growing legend while establishing Nicolas Winding Refn as a major Hollywood director. Wow. Few action …
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Hammer in hand, Gosling looks for a n...
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![]() Wall Street gets stripped bare in this brilliantly depressing takedown of überleveraged trading houses, what used to be known as Investment Banks. An acting tour de force about the fall of a Lehman-like firm, Margin Call plays like a Wall Street Glengarry Glen Ross…
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Stanley Tucci's dissed risk manager
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![]() Descendents descend from families. The Descendants is about concentric families in crisis: an exploding nuclear family, a feuding extended family, an enduring multigenerational family. They all center on George Clooney’s reluctant patriarch, the trustee of a landed Hawaiian dynasty. Cloone…
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A family rediscovers paradise. Aloha.
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![]() Wow. Few contemporary dramas are as fully realized, involving and insightful as the unfortunately titled Margaret. Title aside, the movie’s other negative is a two and a half hour running time, and that’s for the version available from iTunes and Amazon. Apparently there’s also a three hour …
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Pacquin acting out. Damon allowing it.
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![]() Fans of the Beach Boys, Glen Campbell, the Mamas & the Papas, Sonny & Cher or Nancy Sinatra should seek out this documentary about the unsung musicians who made their music for them. The Wrecking Crew wasn’t an official name for the group. These independent studio players didn’t have an officia…
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Carol Kaye stars on Good Vibrations.
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![]() Cliches are rarely so well calibrated as in Trouble with the Curve. Crusty father, chip-off-the-ol’-block daughter, minor league baseball, small towns, hot dogs, roadhouses, and on and on. BTW, those hot dogs are of the ballpark and ballplayer varieties, with one of the latter played by Justin …
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Heartwarming
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![]() Live Like Jay or even Of Men and Mavericks would have been a better title than Chasing Mavericks. Plain old Mavericks would have been the most pure. Whatever the title, this soulful and occasionally thrilling movie isn’t for everyone, but it’s for lots more than just surfers. Lovers of…
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The famous cover shot of Jay Moriarity
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