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Frozen River
Great 66 Points 2008

Bleakly terrific, this compelling movie delivers sufficient tension, human interest and muckraking to qualify as an indie classic. Outstanding performances, especially by Melissa Leo, coupled with rookie filmmaker Courtney Hunt’s well crafted story and production, show why this engaging drama wo…

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Malèna
Perfect 66 Points 2000

Deeply, floridly Italian, Malèna is a sumptuous WWII find, a Sicilian movie extraordinaire and a devastating depiction of Italian machismo reacting to the hottest signorina since Sophia Loren.

Monica Belluci plays the title character, a gorgeous war bride living in a small Sicilian town, bro…

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WikChip Image where Malèna went, the town followed
Rust and Bone
Great 66 Points 2012

The good news about Rust and Bone is that it’s not about an orca trainer’s accident. It’s about her recovery. In any case, hers is only half the story, the rest being about an oafish stud with a small child in tow. What happens to father and son is tougher to take than what happens to her – …

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WikChip Image Communing Mammals: Human and Orca
King of the Hill
Really Great 66 Points 1993

King of the Hill is a real life Little Rascals, what with pipsqueak brothers living alone during the Great Depression. Amazingly, it’s the truthy autobiography of A.E. Hotchner, Paul Newman’s pal and business partner. Even if fictional, it would still charm and enlighten, as it’s a perfect fi…

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WikChip Video Charming and Enlightening
Gainsbourg: A H...
Good 66 Points 2010

French musical sensation Serge Gainsbourg explains himself in this surreal biopic. Largely unknown here in America, Gainsbourg was a cross between Dylan, Sinatra and Leonard Cohen in France. The women he squired – including Brigitte Bardot during her superstar heyday – comprise a good part of h…

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WikChip Image Musician's Beauty: Gainsbourg & Bardot
White Mane
Great 66 Points 1953

Elemental kid’s movie, just 40 minutes long, thy name is White Mane. It’s from France of all places, with French cowboys. Really. And wild French horses – white horses and white stallions.

White Mane, the leader of a herd of wild Camargues, "was a proud and fearsome horse. All the other h…

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WikChip Image Wild Camargues on the run. Fabuleux!
Dolphin Tale
Great 66 Points 2011

Winter’s tale propels a terrific family movie. Never mind that Winter – the dolphin whose rehab from disabling injury the movie lovingly portrays – is the movie’s only real character. The fictional human characters surrounding her are easy to root for, and laugh with.

They include a father…

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WikChip Image Great tale about a dolphin's amazing ...
Only God Forgives
Great 66 Points 2013

Blood begets blood as a Bangkok blood feud drives waves of retribution in artistic director Nicholas Winding Refn’s crime thriller Only God Forgives. Think Drive crossed with Bronson, set in Asia.

If that doesn’t mean anything to you, imagine Ryan Gosling in a savagely violent, brooding…

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WikChip Image Makes the Wicked Witch seem nurturing
The Book of Man...
Great 66 Points 2013

Non football fans needn’t steer away from The Book of Manning, notwithstanding its status as a must-see for those of us who love America’s brutally beautiful game. That’s because this documentary about Archie Manning’s family follows the priorities he established within the family: family first,…

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WikChip Image 3 little Mannings: Cooper, Eli & Peyton
The English Tea...
Good 66 Points 2013

An Instagram moment propels this fitfully funny comedy about a High School lit teacher who gets aroused by a former student, after which video evidence gets socially shared around school. It’s all very au courant.

The English Teacher keeps its sex comedy in bounds by steering clear of curre…

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WikChip Image Ingénue & Author: Same Old Story