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![]() Tony Stark has been the verbal superpower behind the Avengers, till now. Yet the motormouth of Robert Downey Jr. is MIA in Captain America: Civil War and the movie doesn’t suffer. His novel reticence in Civil War is in service to a well executed Civil War story, but it’s a risk nonetheless. F…
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Easter Eggs Explained: Worth Watching
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![]() Spielberg deploys DiCaprio, Walken & Hanks to great effect in the true-crime whopper Catch Me If You Can, the biopic of wunderkind conman Frank Abagnale. Spielberg’s film was a period-piece hoot when it premiered in 2002, depicting a 60s & 70s America that felt distant even then and is downrigh…
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Frank Abagnale does Google
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![]() Polish up the acceptance speeches. Changeling deserves a passel of trophies, though Best Picture isn’t one of them. The difficult story – while expertly told – ends up a mildly exhausting slog, one not worth enduring for anyone not wanting to visualize the most elemental of maternal nightmare… |
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![]() Being a Kennedy came with compulsions, including sailing, drinking, womanizing and the presidency, those last with fatal effect. Ted Kennedy’s date with death didn’t lead to another dead Kennedy, but to the manslaughter of a loyal supporter: Mary Jo Kopechne, a name familiar to baby-boomers acros…
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She didn't drown. She suffocated, slo...
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![]() Closed Season’s home-front Holocaust drama gets amplified by delving into some serious sexual intrigue. Result? A great movie, one that’s titled Ende der Schonzeit in its native Germany. Google translates that as “End of the grace period”. Hmm, besser in Deutsch. A near feudal German…
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"I need you to impregnate my wife here."
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Visually scintillating, musically avant-garde, dramatically turgid: This biopic of two cultural giants goes down like Brussels sprouts instead of foie gras. IOW, it takes effort to work through the two hour running time, when it should feel like savoring a rich delicacy. Pity, since Coco & Igor…
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Great design barely trumps turgid drama.
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![]() I loved the human-interest slant on this tale of the Civil War. Jude Law’s undying love for Kidman draws him back to her despite the risk of being a deserter towards the end of the war. The story is engaging, and the cast is top notch. Zellweger is not quite believable as a hardened southern gal… |
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![]() Dallas Buyers Club is another triumph for Matthew McConaughey. It’s also a vivid evocation of the gritty side of Dallas circa 1985, along with the chaos that accompanied the early years of the AIDS epidemic. However, like its lead character, the movie is self-satisfied to a fault, self-rightou…
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She's very popular in SF, NY and LA.
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![]() Five big-names starring in “the best period film”1 make Steven Frears’ Dangerous Liaisons really great. Frears, he of The Queen, employs Michelle Pfeiffer, Glen Close, a nubile Uma Thurmond and a horny John Malkovich in bringing Christopher Hampton’s …
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They are impressive. The cast, that is.
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![]() Instead of The King’s Speech, Darkest Hour is The Prime Minister’s Speeches, Churchill’s speeches at the outset of WWII. It fixates on Sir Winston’s galvanizing addresses to Parliament and the British people during the darkest hour for the UK, and for all of civilization. His words ignited …
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Even the trailer is stirring!
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