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Thursday, April 11, 2013

Movie Reviews

A Hazy Ode 'To The Wonder' Of Hidden Worlds

Jane (Rachel McAdams) rekindles an old affair with the taciturn Neil (Ben Affleck), an environmental investigator whose work takes him to a remote Oklahoma town in the enigmatic new film To the Wonder.

April 11, 2013 Terrence Malick's latest cinematic meditation doesn't seem to have much to do with anything; it's pretty but largely pointless, a globe-trotting film with a fondness for lyrical internal monologues and unlikely international juxtapositions.

Summary

Thursday, April 04, 2013

Movie Reviews

Robert Redford Keeps Revolutionary'Company'

Jim (Robert Redford) must flee with his daughter, Isabel (Jackie Evancho), to the scene of a past crime in order to avoid a probing amateur reporter.

April 4, 2013 Lesser talents could lose track of the high-wattage cast that joins the actor-director in The Company You Keep. But this modern-day journalistic revisit to the revolutionary turmoil of the 1970s succeeds because Redford knows how to keep his marquee-name ensemble on the same page.

Summary

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Movie Reviews

'Renoir': Impressionism, Rapturously Realized

A budding romance between Jean Renoir (Vincent Rottiers) and the model Andree (Christa Theret) both informs and distracts from the movie's larger narrative.

March 28, 2013 Sketched in tones as bright and gorgeous as those its namesake artist put to canvas, the gauzy biopic Renoir portrays the domestic disruptions — and the artistic reawakening — of the Impressionist master's final days.

Summary

Movie Reviews

'The Place Beyond The Pines': It's A Far Piece

Angsty stunt performer Luke (Ryan Gosling) quits the circus and becomes a busybody father after a former girlfriend reveals she's had his child.

March 28, 2013 Topical and tough, the latest from Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance is a self-conscious drama that seems to long for a healthy dose of old-school movie macho. The story of a retired circus performer and the cop who tails him stretches across generations — but the audience might not be willing to wait that long.

Summary

Movie Reviews

'Retaliation': Harsh Payback For Poor G.I. Joe

Duke (Channing Tatum) and Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson) are live-action G.I. Joes in the big-screen franchise's latest thoroughly disposable installment.

March 28, 2013 The producers spent $135 million on 'splosions, 3-D effects, and ... oh, right, actors. But they might as well have used actual action figures in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, a stiffly ridiculous exercise in moving Hasbro merchandise.

Summary

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Movie Reviews

A 'Devil' In The Details Of A Brotherly Rivalry

Brothers Rash and Mo (James Floyd and Fady Elsayed) live in the rough working-class London neighborhood of Hackney — but which sibling is the titular designee in My Brother the Devil gets harder and harder to determine as the film goes on.

March 21, 2013 The authentic grit of modern London is a plus in Sally El Hosaini's debut feature, My Brother the Devil. What's less successful is her attempt to break storytelling conventions; a intriguing concept and a smart setup subside into familiar sibling-rival storytelling by the film's end.

Summary

Movie Reviews

'No Place On Earth': Underground, A Story Of Survival

Sam and Saul Stermer, members of a family who hid in an underground Ukrainian cave in the early days of World War II, return to the hideout in No Place on Earth.

March 21, 2013 Director Janet Tobias frames an indelible story of two families living in Eastern European caves early in World War II; spelunker Christopher Nicola discovered the hideout more than two decades ago.

Summary

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Movie Reviews

'Burt Wonderstone': Vegas, When The Magic Stops

Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi) and Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carell) are Vegas magicians whose gimmicky, vintage-style act is no match for their modern audiences.

March 14, 2013 There's a clever premise and some promising performances buried in this comedy-magic misfire. But those winning aspects are ultimately ruined by a mean-spirited movie that's too cruel for kids and too dull for most adults.

Summary

Thursday, March 07, 2013

Movie Reviews

Friendship Fades To Bleak 'Beyond The Hills'

As Voichita (Cosmina Stratan) settles into life as a Romanian Orthodox nun, her childhood friend Alina (Cristina Flutur) returns to try to draw her out of a life of deep religious piety.

March 7, 2013 Director Cristian Mungiu's Beyond the Hills has echoes of his earlier (and best-known) drama, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. Here he's telling a tale of autocratic religion in a bleak Romanian backwater.

Summary

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Movie Reviews

Soviet Ghosts Resurface In Soggy 'Phantom'

Grizzled Soviet submarine captain Demi (Ed Harris) fights crew subversion and personal pain in a losing Cold War struggle against American opponents.

February 28, 2013 A surprising flip of Cold War submarine thrillers, Phantom shows what the Soviets might have been thinking as they battled their American foes. It's unfortunate that the American-produced film that results is such a soggy mess.

Summary

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Movie Reviews

'11 Flowers': A Revolutionary Childhood

Wang Han (Liu Wenqing) is given the honor of leading his schoolmates in daily calisthenics, but the honor poses hurdles for his struggling family.

February 21, 2013 The stark Chinese drama 11 Flowers meditates on the universal experiences of childhood even as it details the bizarre specifics of growing up during Mao's Cultural Revolution. The acquisition of a new white shirt changes a young boy as the revolution draws to a close. (Recommended)

Summary

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Movie Reviews

Kiarostami Eyes Tokyo 'Like Someone In Love'

Akiko (Rin Takanashi) is a young call girl and university student in modern Tokyo who hesitantly befriends an elderly male client.

February 14, 2013 Legendary Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami turns to the neon sprawl of Tokyo for Like Someone in Love, where his actors find some gentle insight. But the expat director retains something of the air of a wide-eyed tourist, which isn't always to the film's credit.

Summary

Thursday, February 07, 2013

Movie Reviews

A Sorcerer, A White Snake, And Lots Of CGI Magic

The demon snake sisters (Charlene Choi and Eva Huang) disguise themselves as beautiful women in The Sorcerer and the White Snake.

February 7, 2013 Short on thrills but chock full of dazzling CGI wizardry, the mythical Sorcerer and the White Snake is a centuries-old Chinese story of demon-human love gone wrong.

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Movie Reviews

Warning: 'Side Effects' May Include Eye-Rolling

In Steven Soderbergh's medical thriller Side Effects, Emily (Rooney Mara) goes through an emotional crisis — and then a psychopharmacological one — after her husband Martin (Channing Tatum) is released from prison.

February 7, 2013 Steven Soderbergh has said Side Effects will be his final film. But the talented director has turned in a stylish but silly thriller — a sad closing chapter for a notable career.

Summary

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Movie Reviews

'Bullet To The Head': No-Brainer Bubblegum

Sung Kang plays a D.C. cop at large in New Orleans, where he finds himself in an uneasy alliance with hit man Sylvester Stallone in the blues-rock driven crime drama Bullet to the Head.

January 31, 2013 Adapted from a French graphic novel and outfitted with an ethnically diverse cast, this New Orleans-set crime thriller centers on a hit man (Sylvester Stallone) who finds himself in an uneasy alliance with a detective (Sung Kang).

Summary

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