MovieSorter

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Hell or High Water
Very Good 83 Points 2016

Hell or High Water arrived with high expectations, which it didn’t meet. So this Rangers and robbers story set in today’s Texas gets scored a bit lower than it otherwise might have. That said, Jeff Bridges and Chris Pine are great moviestars. Figure in a fitfully interesting story, and the movi…

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WikChip Image Jeff Bridges, Texas Ranger
The Bank Job
Very Good 83 Points 2008

A quality caper movie based on a still murky true story from the early 1970s, The Bank Job efficiently entertains with a combination of larcenous derring-do and salacious scandal. Engagingly performed by Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows and a crew of quality character actors, the movie judicious…

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Masterminds
Good 83 Points 2016

Masterminds starts off rock-and-roll, but soon becomes dumb-and-dumber, only not so funny or charming. Loosely “based on a true story”, it oscillates between parody and homage, albeit more the former given its deep SNL roots. Unfortunately, TV-quality sketch comedy bits don’t a great movie make…

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WikChip Video Comedy Great: Kate McKinnon
Casino
Very Good 85 Points 1995

A lesser Scorsese crime movie, Casino can’t shake the shadow of Goodfellas, especially given the central presence of De Niro and Pesci. Still, a good Scorsese crime movie with an A-list cast ain’t chopped liver.

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Mud
Really Great 86 Points 2013

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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WikChip Image Leading men, now & then: Matthew & Tye
2 Replies
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Savages
Good 86 Points 2012

Oliver Stone loves making drug-trade movies, war movies and especially drug war movies. So a California drug war makes an ideal subject for his obsessions. Savages – the title flaunts its nihilistic appeal – fills the bill. Speaking of flaunting, Stone’s movie sports rich ingredients but nev…

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WikChip Image Salma Hayek -- Cleopatra Kingpin
2 Replies
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The Heat
Great 86 Points 2013

The Heat brings the laughs, as it should. The nastiness too, as it must, nasty humor being the currency of today’s hit comedies. The Heat is rolling in that smack. How funny is this movie? 75% LOL. More if you can still hear between your own convulsive laughter and the theater-sized laugh pa…

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WikChip Image "Holds stuff in" "You mean medi...
6 Replies
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  • Wick – We may join you, remotely of course.
  • Tripod – Going to see it again tomorrow...
The Place Beyon...
Great 86 Points 2013

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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WikChip Image Eye Dropper TearTat -- nice touch
3 Replies
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Skyfall
Very Good 88 Points 2012

A big Bondian miasma, dark and steely, Skyfall marks a solid chapter in the half century superspy series. Big it is – nearly two and a half hours, though it doesn’t feel overlong; complete with massive explosions and huge fights; full of big, big moviestars, including a first rate supervillain…

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WikChip Image Classic: Bond & M with DB5 in Scotland
4 Replies
  • BrianSez – Regarding "BrianSez's Review":http://www.viewguide.c...
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  • BrianSez – Regarding "Wick's Review":http://www.viewguide.com/m...
Smokin' Aces
Good 90 Points 2006

When it comes to grading Smokin’ Aces, I’m splitting the difference between Spaceghost’s Really Great and BrianSez’s Barely OK. My Good reflects the movie’s stellar cast and glimmering Vegas visuals. That said, it ain’t good in any moral sense. In fact it’s a sociopathic cesspool that not on…

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WikChip Image FBI partners Ryan Reynolds & Ray Liotta
2 Replies
  • Wick – Regarding "Wick's Review":http://www.viewguide.com/m...
  • BrianSez – Regarding "Wick's Review":http://www.viewguide.com/m...