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A Separation fascinates both as an absorbing domestic drama and a lens into contemporary Iran. That compelling combination has made it a worldwide sensation, the odds-on favorite to win Best Foreign Language Film at the upcoming Oscars. It presents two families drawn together by domestic n…
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Bergman in Paris? No. Hatami in Teh...
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Spectacular calamity followed by impressive vengeance makes Olympus Has Fallen an amply satisfying cinematic experience. So what if it’s jingoism. It’s extremely well executed jingoism, by jingo! Patriotic action-movie fans – like me – happen to like this sort of button-pushing entertainment…
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Stunts and FX make the movie.
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Two great movies, one bad title, The Place Beyond the Pines could lose 20 ticks and still be twice typical Hollywood fare. Ryan Gosling & Bradley Cooper play two guys on opposite sides of the law, whose paths cross to lethal effect. Both are conflicted and sympathetic. Neither is untarnishe…
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Eye Dropper TearTat -- nice touch
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Joe Morgenstern declared Mud an instant classic in the Wall Street Journal. Not sure why, but hell yes. You almost want to ding Mud for being such a classically terrific movie, but damn if it doesn’t play out as monumentally cinematic yet nearly natural. Kind of a crime caper involving b…
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Leading men, now & then: Matthew & Tye
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42 gives us a part of baseball history that fans and non-fans alike should see. As much as it is a decent baseball story, it is an even better story about American history. This glimpse into how Jackie Robinson made his way from a Negro league to the Brooklyn Dodgers was more complex than a simpl… |
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Cate Blanchett transfixes in Woody Allen’s superior dramedy Blue Jasmine. Playing the Jasmine of the title, Blanchett goes from Park Avenue socialite to broken vixen in a performance that masterfully oscillates between elegance and rawness. That last almost assures her an Academy Award nomina…
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The great Cate in Chanel & pearls w ...
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In a world … where shallow people and male chauvinists thrive, and attractiveness drives income, there’s a woman smart enough, pretty enough and funny enough to write, direct and star in a great little RomCom. Lake Bell’s her name and taking on the patriarchy’s her game. Well, the part of t…
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Lake Bell pimps her movie
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Not as good as it thinks it is or was cracked up to be, Prisoners nonetheless proves to be an involving, impressive and ultimately satisfying thriller. It’s worth being imprisoned inside a theater for 2½ hours. Yet sleazy storytelling-tricks weigh it down and a grimly enthusiastic desire t…
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Two men tortured by the same crime
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Movies about real people who lived lives like you’d see in a movie aren’t often great movies, which Rush isn’t. It is – however – a well executed albeit conventional biopic, of the sporting variety. Superstar powered by Chris Hemsworth as racing superstar James Hunt, it never reaches RUSH t…
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The real Lauda & Hunt: screen ready
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Tom Hanks has his best role in years as Captain Rich Phillips, yet ends up second banana to the U.S. Navy in general and the SEALs in particular. The combined effect elevates Captain Phillips to true greatness. That it is also the rare history lesson delivered while still current elevates it …
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The real Captain Phillips in the inset
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