THIS MEANS WAR *1/2 When it comes to the twin businesses of sexual politics and romantic revelations, the number of modern-day comedies that have managed to smartly upend all the […]
Matt Brunson
Posted inArts, Entertainment & Film
Safe House, Chronicle
SAFE HOUSE ** Actors often like to brag about how they performed their own dangerous stunts on a particular picture, but how many A-listers can actually claim to have been […]
Posted inArts, Entertainment & Film
Reviews: ‘The Grey,’ ‘The Woman in Black’
THE GREY ** After presenting Mexico City as the ultimate hellhole on Earth, Tony Scott’s 2004 Man on Fire ended with a credit stating that the city was actually “a […]
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Reviews: A Dangerous Method, Albert Nobbs, Man on a Ledge, Haywire
A DANGEROUS METHOD **1/2 As part of his four-score from 2011, Michael Fassbender turns up in A Dangerous Method as Carl Jung, the Swiss doctor often deemed the father of […]
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Silence is golden: ‘The Artist’
THE ARTIST ***1/2 The definitive look at the transition from silent films to talkies arrived courtesy of the 1952 musical Singin’ in the Rain. The story about a talented nobody […]
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Shame, Extremely Close etc., Contraband, The Artist
SHAME *** Michael Fassbender went all James Brown on us in 2011, as the hardest working man in show business — or at least in film — appeared in leading […]
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Review: The Iron Lady
THE IRON LADY *1/2 Taking Meryl Streep out of The Iron Lady and replacing her with just about any other actress would be akin to removing the meat out of […]
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Polanski’s ‘Carnage’: Bourgeoisie brutality
CARNAGE *** “The book was better” is a common refrain that’s been uttered at the close of many a movie adapted from a literary work, but “The play was better” […]
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Like Crazy
LIKE CRAZY *1/2 Three-quarters twee and one-quarter Glee, Like Crazy won the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance shindig, beating out a slate of 15 other titles that included […]
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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; The Artist
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY *** Many viewers might find it easier to wade through quicksand while sporting cement blocks on their feet than understanding just what the heck is going […]
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War Horse, We Bought a Zoo
WAR HORSE ***1/2 Steven Spielberg is no novice when it comes to presenting moviegoers with the horrors of war, whether it’s the muted screams of Schindler’s List, the frontline carnage […]
Posted inArts, Entertainment & Film
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Sherlock Holmes, Mission Impossible, Young Adult, Tintin
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO ***1/2 Think of it as the “close but no cigar” brand of cinema, where American adaptations of foreign hits prove to be better than […]