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![]() Penélope Cruz is always worth watching, even in a somewhat forgettable romcom. Fortunately, Woman on Top is primarily set in San Francisco, giving it a second draw for viewers like me. But that’s about it. Her supporting cast can’t hold a candle to her, nor does the female empowerment script…
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BFFs who bathe together...
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![]() Genre movies get no better than Black Widow, a noirish crime drama that delivers just what its title promises. A stunning woman seduces rich men to marry her, kills them, absconds with their fortunes and finds her next mark. You hardly want her caught, especially if you’re a guy and she’s not…
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Black Widow in Bridal Mode
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![]() The slippery slope of crime reached a peak cinematic representation in A Simple Plan. An ill-gotten gain sets the plot in motion, after which the movie follows an exquisite slide into further felonious excitations. This scratches several erogenous zones for lovers of crime cinema. We so enjoy…
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It's been a no good, very bad day.
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![]() Glamorous L.A. noir from back when real men wore fedoras makes Mulholland Falls a high calorie treat. A sultry Jennifer Connolly cavorting with John Malkovich and Nick Nolte makes it a guilty pleasure. Cheesy dialogue makes it a bit tough to swallow. Should this luxo crime thriller be bett…
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Malkovich & Connelly make the movie
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![]() There’s No Business Like Show Business and there was no show business phonier than vaudeville, till movies. So an overtly phony movie about vaudeville makes for a phony convergence. It was perhaps the last of the musical extravaganzas, a calorically rich compendium of Irving Berlin’s showstoppi…
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Marilyn Monroe & Donald O'Connor: Sta...
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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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![]() 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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![]() Comedies get no respect, so perceptively intelligent movies like Wanderlust get discounted by the critics. Never mind that it’s continuously clever, even if only sporadically LOL. The LOLs do come however, some hitting various parts of the audience and some slaying everyone. When a Big One…
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Justin Theroux's 2-faced manipulator
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![]() Second-rate performances by first-rate stars in a second-rate thriller with a heavy-handed political agenda make Arbitrage a third-rate movie. Don’t believe the praise it’s received from the Mainstream Media. They’re in love with writer-director Nicholas Jarecki’s politics more than his movie…
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The movie's lone shining star: Tim Roth
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![]() Butter is rancid, a comedy devoid of laughs and full of bile. No LOLs, no guffaws, not even a single smile gets triggered by its steady stream of condescension. Mean spiritedness in a comedy can work, so long as the movie brings the laughs. If it’s unfunny, then it’s just smug, catty and mean…
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A figment of Hollywood imagination
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