Movies archive

February 8, 2010 Hulu's most-watched movie is not, as the title might suggest, just about sex. Strictly Sexual, despite never making it to the big screen, has made more than 10 times its cost because of its success on Hulu. This could mean the Internet is a good place for independent filmmakers to thrive.

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February 6, 2010 This year Hollywood nominated 10 films for Best Picture instead of the usual five, leaving some movie buffs feeling nostalgic for years that honestly could have used more Best Picture slots. Critic Bob Mondello points to one year in particular that had more than its share of potential contenders.

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February 5, 2010 In the complicated, often gory films of The Red Riding Trilogy, a serial killer and a rogue police force are both terrorizing a disillusioned Yorkshire town. Pat Dowell speaks with a director, the screenwriter and the novelist behind a startling cinematic epic — one based on a story that's entirely too true.

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February 5, 2010 Luc Besson's latest action fantasy, From Paris With Love, stars John Travolta as an FBI agent and Jonathan Rhys Myers as a diplomat trying to stop a terrorist attack in Paris. The story moves at warp speed — and it doesn't skimp on thrills.

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February 4, 2010 Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times — and set in motion a chain of events that would eventually lead to Watergate, a president's resignation and an end to the war in Vietnam. Filmmakers Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith explain why they were drawn to him for their Oscar-nominated documentary.

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February 4, 2010 A three-for-one deal, the gorgeously bleak trilogy follows the blood trail of the Yorkshire Ripper as the serial killer tears through a small community, destroying lives and baffling detectives. Jeannette Catsoulis says that this elliptical, oddly poetic thriller offers closure to nobody except the dead.

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February 4, 2010 In their Oscar-nominated feature, documentarians Rick Goldsmith and Judith Ehrlich explore the anti-war awakening of Daniel Ellsberg, the former Marine and military analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971. Critic Mark Jenkins says it's an unexpectedly gripping account of a pivotal episode in an explosive era.

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• Looking Again At America's 'Most Dangerous Man'

February 4, 2010 The greedy French ruling class gets a good thrashing in District 13: Ultimatum, a gravity-taunting sequel to Pierre Morel's 2004 actioner District B13. But as anyone who saw the first movie would expect, the physical kicks are a lot more convincing than the political jabs.

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February 4, 2010 Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried play wartime lovers keeping the flame alive through handwritten correspondence — at least until that last "Dear John" missive finally comes. But between a series of snoozeworthy directorial gestures and Tatum's wooden performance, the film makes a one-way trip to the dead-letter office.

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February 4, 2010 Brittany Murphy, who starred in Clueless, died Dec. 20 at age 32. The coroner determined the primary cause of the death was community acquired pneumonia, with contributing factors of iron deficiency anemia and "multiple drug intoxication." Her mother and husband have said she didn't abuse prescription drugs or have an eating disorder.

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February 3, 2010 Yesterday Colin Firth received a Best Actor nomination for his starring role in A Single Man, the Tom Ford adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's 1964 novel. Today Firth talks to Terry Gross about playing professor George Falconer, a gay professor navigating Southern California in 1962.

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