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![]() Deeply unsatisfying, notwithstanding the top-drawer talent that created it, this adaptation of a celebrated novel proves that some books should never make the heavenly transition to the silver screen. Shame on Peter Jackson – the Lord of the Ring…
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Sarandon was great, a rarity in this ...
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![]() People want to love Les Miz and many have, including the Oscars and a fellow ViewGuider. Fair enough. Beloved is beloved, especially when a blockbuster movie doesn’t stint on production values or star power. Sometimes however, an ugly truth is hiding right in plain sight, or in plain earshot…
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Samantha Barks stands out in a crowd
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![]() Enron’s rise and fall gets reprised in this dolorous documentary. Unfortunately there’s little new here for those who followed the debacle when it went down. Worse, the narrative is marred by a blanket sense of sanctimonious disgust and the testimony of at least one disgraced antagonist, convic… |
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![]() The Conversation was one of Francis Ford Coppola’s celebrated early Seventies movies, nominated for Best Picture and winner of the Palme d’Or. Deeply accomplished, occasionally fascinating, a time capsule of San Francisco from 1973, it nonetheless disappoints all these decades later. The min…
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Coppola talks 'The Conversation' in 1974
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![]() Charismatic, disorienting and brooding, Animal Kingdom presents the truthy tale of an infamous crime family, including their murder of two Melbourne cops. The brooding gets a bit much by the third reel, weighing down what would otherwise be a great true-crime movie. The charisma comes from …
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Infamous crime family, charismatic movie
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![]() This movie is sick, literally. That’s not a bad thing as star-studded disaster movies go, though this one is more paranoiac than most. Fantasizing about the Mother of All Communicable Diseases does make it more than a little fascinating. Is that sick to say? The star-studded cast proves its …
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Gwyneth: flirtatious and outgoing, fo...
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![]() Oliver Stone loves making drug-trade movies, war movies and especially drug war movies. So a California drug war makes an ideal subject for his obsessions. Savages – the title flaunts its nihilistic appeal – fills the bill. Speaking of flaunting, Stone’s movie sports rich ingredients but nev…
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Salma Hayek -- Cleopatra Kingpin
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![]() Lots of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Well, that’s not true. The Rover signifies a monumental Guy Pearce performance, coupled with a notable Robert Pattinson one. Nor was there lots of sound, come to think of it. Surprisingly little actually, what with Guy Pearce’s quietly laconic ave…
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Guy Pearce: Moviestar for the Ages
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![]() The Civil War’s decisive battle can get extensively aired over nearly 4½ hours, and does in Gettysburg. The real battle lasted three days in July of 1863, say 36 hours actually fighting. The movie covers fully an eighth of that. Stamina is required, a long plane ride ideal. Consider it a …
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Hell saved the Exceptional Nation.
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![]() Think of this de facto zombie movie as No Country for Little Boys: a surreally grim milieu through which a dauntless Father must shepherd his pure-hearted Son. Such a nihilistic extravaganza creates ample opportunities for life lessons of the most extreme sort. The result is gripping, though …
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Dauntless Paternal Love
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