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Lay the Favorite
Very Good 66 Points 2012

True stories bear a burden when they get turned into movies. Stay true to the story and the movie will be less than spectacular. Punch it up and get accused of selling out.

Lay the Favorite falls prey to the former as it recounts a real young woman’s underground education. The indomitable…

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WikChip Image Formidable Wife: Catherine's Tulip
Lost in America
Good 66 Points 1985

Lost in America’s reputation exceeds its reality. Modestly funny in 1985, its four memorable scenes live on in the mind’s eye, but fail to sustain this mere 91 minute movie. Turns out its nest-egg wasn’t enough.

Not that it doesn’t have a great line here and there.

Don’t use “nest”! D…

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WikChip Video "Oh I know, you mean the $100,000 box."
Paul Blart: Mal...
None Yet 0 Points 2015
Rain Man
Really Great 66 Points 1988

Who’s on first? Tom Cruise to start, until Dustin Hoffman outshines him in an acting duet for the ages. Rain Man is all that and much more, a wonderful movie full of charm, humanity and insight. It won the Big Four Oscars in 1989 – Best Picture, Best Actor (Dustin Hoffman), Best Director and Be…

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WikChip Video The Oscars were once revered.
San Andreas
Great 83 Points 2015

Yes I did and I’m glad I did, saw San Andreas, in 3D and everything. Having long since become a Californian, I felt ready for its disaster movie ethos of If you love something, destroy it on the big screen.

Fortunately, San Andreas is a consummately manipulative and charming blockbuster….

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WikChip Video Sia's mournful California Dreaming
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
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  • BrianSez – Regarding "Wick's Review":http://www.viewguide.com/m...
Sullivan's Travels
Perfect 69 Points 1941

When everybody rates a movie as Five Star, calling it one of the greatest ever made, the stakes are high. Expectations of perfection prevail. Expectations, meet Sullivan’s Travels, a perfect Golden Age movie.

Sullivan’s Travels is a movie about the movies, about comedies mostly, from whi…

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WikChip Image Lake's legs in Head's costumes
4 Replies
  • BrettHarrison – Regarding "Wick's Review":http://www.viewguide.com/m...
  • Wick – Regarding "Wick's Review":http://www.viewguide.com/m...
  • BrettHarrison – Regarding "Wick's Review":http://www.viewguide.com/m...
  • Wick – Regarding "BrettHarrison's Review":http://viewguide....
Swingers
OK 83 Points 1996

Not Money, “Money” being Swingers’ buzzword for winning. Granted the movie stood out in the mid-90s for its over-the-top retro sensibilities and for introducing Vince Vaughn’s charming jerk act to a wide audience. Those attributes and an achingly lovely Heather Graham are all that recommend i…

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3 Replies
  • BrianSez – Regarding "BrianSez's Review":http://www.viewguide.c...
  • Wick – Regarding "Wick's Review":http://www.viewguide.com/m...
  • Wick – Regarding "BrianSez's Review":http://www.wikpik.com/...
The Big Short
Great 66 Points 2015

The Big Short isn’t the Big Lie, but isn’t far from it either. The government hides just offscreen in Adam McKay’s seriocomic docudrama about the epic falsehoods that consumed the banking industry in 2008.

Falsehoods one and two were Washington’s ability to safely stimulate homeownership amo…

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WikChip Video Margot Robbie in a bubblebath
The Expendables 3
Very Good 66 Points 2014

Barney Ross makes his third and likely last big screen appearance in The Expendables 3, an overstuffed moviestar montage. Sylvester Stallone has gathered a new crop of kick-ass action heroes to go along with his returning set of aging action heroes. Add Mel Gibson as the super-villain and you e…

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WikChip Video The Movie In Brief