Created Aug 24, 2012 09:09PM PST • Updated Aug 24, 2012 09:09PM PST
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Greatest Western? The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence is certainly in the running, given how it plays with Wild West myth-making, features three iconic stars along with a passel of great costars and wields a humdinger of an ending. "Nothing's too good for the man who shot Liberty Valance," the last line portentously declares. The same could be said of the praise that can be heaped on this John Ford classic. The story unfolds in flashback after a grey-haired Jimmy Stewart returns with his wife to the little town where they met decades earlier. Reflecting back, he tells the tale of a vi… |
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The Coen Brothers are writers as much as directors, making Barton Fink – a satiric tribute to tortured writers and the demonic pull of Hollywood – more than a little self-reverential. Oops, did I say reverential? Referential, self-referential. Either way, it's one of their best movies, notwithstanding being clankingly arch at times. It is after all a career thriller. A writer goes to Hollywood and is forced to … go Hollywood. With the Coen's trademark ironic humor applied, the whole schmear ends up as a Borscht Belt Day of the Locust, if you catch my drift. "That's showbiz"… |
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Two movies in one – the demented story of a badass junkie and the inspiring story of an avenging angel. Both are about the same guy, Sam Childers, an American biker who has saved and continues to save hundreds of otherwise doomed Sudanese kids. As a kickass movie about a real guy trying to stop a current wave of genocide, Machine Gun Preacher succeeds as action-adventure and as call-to-action. Wow. The call-to-action is the same one the "Kony 2012":http://invisiblechildren.com/movedc/ phenomenon raised earlier this year, the need for the world to stop Joseph Kony's "Lord's Resistanc… |
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A deserved classic, this aptly titled movie features giant stars, a ginormous mansion incongruously stuck in the heart of the giant state of Texas, a running time that exceeds three hours and giant story elements. It all works amazingly well, never seeming drawn-out or boring, notwithstanding a rather stately pace. Chronicling the amplification of 20th Century Texas society from cattle wealth to oil megawealth, Giant also stoops to conquer racism towards Mexicans. It does all this by following three generations of Texas gentry, their feudal underlings, rivals and assorted functionari… |
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Safety not guaranteed, but viewing pleasure is assured from this endearing romcom. It features a smart story about a Miss Lonelyheart falling in love with an apparently crazy time-traveler she's researching for an exposé. His crazy but real (crazy-real?) scenario meshes well with today's über-ironic audiences. Unfortunately, Safety Not Guaranteed is not easy for audiences to find. It was in a couple theaters in June, then went missing. This week "CineArts at Santana Row":http://www.cinemark.com/theatre-detail.aspx?node_id=1679 has it at 5:30 and 10:15. I caught the late show last ni… |
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Bernie – the most genuinely funny movie of the year and the most pleasant surprise – mixes amateur townsfolk with big name stars to create an only-in-America story, and a true one at that. Well, truthy. Assistant funeral home director Bernie Tiede really did murder the richest widow in his small town, only to have the town rally to his defense, a story documented in Texas Monthly as "Midnight in the Garden of East Texas":http://www.texasmonthly.com/1998-01-01/feature4.php. The author of that piece went on to write Bernie with Texan director Richard Linklater, who recruited two of h… |
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Funny and sad in equal measures, this brilliant movie brings to life the media event that put a postscript on one of the saddest chapters in American history. |
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Deadly funny, Young Adult expertly skewers shallow Americana, especially the self-absorbed who drift through the sports bars, Hampton Inns and chain stores that delineate it. Nearly every scene tickles. Many are provocatively LOL, especially effective on those of us with a taste for really smart black humor. Three superior talents make the movie. Golden star Charlize Theron plays a "Prom Queen Bitch from Hell" with perfect pitch. Writer Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman prove that the sensibility behind "Juno":http://www.viewguide.com/movie_reviews/634-juno, their whip-smart … |
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Nowhere Boy is a portrait of the artist as a very young man. Which artist? John of Nowhere Man fame, of John, Paul, George and Ringo fame. That makes it essential viewing for Beatle fans; optional for squares. Raised by an aunt who took him in, tempted and betrayed by the mother who gave him his rock-n-roll spirit, John Lennon's traumatic childhood instilled a deep-seated alienation. No wonder he became an angry young man, naturally anti-authoritarian. Nowhere Boy hits its stride as John discovers the power that comes to a rockstar. First a pretty Liverpool lass readily… |
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