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![]() Walk The Line is a great music biopic, enjoyable whether you’re a country music fan or not, or care a whit about Johnny Cash & June Carter. After watching the movie, you’ll know why they are held in such high esteem and cared about as people. |
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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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![]() New addition to the boxing movie canon? Absolutely, complete with elemental title, elemental story and devastating performances. A female power story as much as a male one, Melissa Leo, Christian Bale and Mark Walhberg’s maternal-fraternal triangle pegs the meter for codependency. When Amy Ada…
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All in the (dysfunctional) Family
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![]() Do war movies get any better than this? Puts you right there, in all the graphic realism that comes with war. But not just any war movie, this story spins a great tale that follows Hanks and his crew looking for and saving Ryan (Pitt). If you like war movies, this is a must-see.
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![]() One of the earliest of films to focus on the re-adjustment of servicemen to civilian lives – Best Years gives it two us from 3 angles: Disenchanted well-to-do banker; Working stiff who can’t hold down his job or his marriage; and a poor guy who lost both his hands and mired in self doubt. Th… |
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![]() Starched and stilted, Witness for the Prosecution nonetheless packs one hell of a punch at the end, with glorious detail throughout and a powerhouse cast who are the complete masters of their juicy roles. Nevermind that its theatrical roots show. Agatha Christie knew how to write for max view…
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Wilder angle: Dietrich looks up at Power
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![]() A compelling concept, exceedingly well produced, makes for a grimly terrific movie. Dystopian fantasies like this – What if people could no longer procreate? – provide a rich canvas for filmmakers to project their political predilections, here of a class struggle triggered by the procreation cri… |
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![]() A superbly crafted film about a sympathetic sociopath, Monster deserves to be appreciated for much more than Charlize Theron’s Oscar-winning performance as serial killer Aileen Wuornos. For instance, it deftly shows a seamy side of American society, the confounding and sometimes tragic forces …
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Fully Committed: Theron's Wuornos all In
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![]() Seminal movie, thy name is The Blue Angel, Der Blaue Engel in its native German. Josef von Sternberg was 36 when he paired unknown Marlene Dietrich with eminent Emil Jannings. Dietrich and von Sternberg rocketed straight to Hollywood. Jannings was left behind, kind of like in the story its…
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Falling In Love Again with Marlene
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![]() This paean to lost licentiousness in the face of fascism won eight (8!) Oscars, losing out only on Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay (both to The Godfather for Pete’s sake). The movie that made Liza more famous for her talent than her…
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Sexy Brilliance.
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