RED RIDING HOOD ** The idea of combining a werewolf tale with a whodunit is an interesting one, and the notion of adding layers of Freud and feminism onto the […]
Film Reviews
Posted inArts, Entertainment & Film
Adjustment Bureau, Rango, Gnomeo & Juliet, Cedar Rapids
THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU *** One person’s religious beliefs are often another person’s existentialist theories, and The Adjustment Bureau offers plenty of theological fodder to go around. Because it tinkers with […]
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Hall Pass, Big Mommas: Like Father Like Son
HALL PASS **1/2 It’s hard to wax philosophic about a film in which a portly guy stoned out of his gourd elects to use a golf course sand trap like […]
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Unknown, Barney’s Version
UNKNOWN *** I don’t mind that Unknown, which builds on Liam Neeson’s newly minted status as a tortured action hero, is utterly ridiculous. Why? Because within the constraints of its […]
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Just Go With It, The Eagle, The Company Men
JUST GO WITH IT *1/2 Adam Sandler’s latest catnip for knuckleheads, Just Go With It, is based on Cactus Flower, a farce that’s been the basis for a French play, […]
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The Mechanic, Another Year
THE MECHANIC *1/2 In the annals of “tough guy” cinema, there’s not much to say about the 1972 Charles Bronson vehicle The Mechanic except that its leading character displays a […]
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Somewhere, Biutiful
SOMEWHERE *1/2 For my money, Sofia Coppola’s 2003 Lost in Translation was such an unblinking masterpiece — one of the two or three best films of its entire decade — […]
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No Strings Attached, The Green Hornet
NO STRINGS ATTACHED *1/2 Last fall’s underrated Love & Other Drugs was a movie of two parts, with the pieces as segregated as oil and vinegar floating in the same […]
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Blue Valentine, Rabbit Hole
BLUE VALENTINE *** Ingmar Bergman’s superb 1974 release Scenes from a Marriage went beyond allowing the viewer to feel like a fly on the wall: It made the viewer feel […]
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Country Strong, Casino Jack
COUNTRY STRONG ** Jeff Bridges won an Academy Award this past year for playing a boozy country singer in Crazy Heart, but don’t expect Gwyneth Paltrow to win even so […]
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10 for ’10
Glance at any two random critics’ 10 Best lists from 2010 and chances are the majority of the titles will match. What that means — at least to my way […]
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True Grit, Little Fockers, The King’s Speech
TRUE GRIT *** It’s been well documented the the Coen Brothers’ take on True Grit isn’t a remake of the 1969 film that won John Wayne his only Academy Award […]