After the misfire that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it could be argued that the last thing we need is yet another film featuring the most famous of the Marvel mutants. However, Hugh Jackman, who came to fame playing the Adamantium-laden hero, knew there was more life left in the character and was the driving force […]
film and movie reviews
Posted inArts & Culture
The Way Way Back familiar but fun
I have a feeling that if you were to press Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, the writers and directors of The Way Way Back, they’d freely admit that there’s nothing remotely original in their film. Yet another coming-of-age movie that hits all the familiar tropes, it focuses on an alienated teen who ultimately finds his […]
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Mixed intentions mute Fruitvale’s power
Fueled by a sense of anger and with the resolve to activate, Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station is an accomplished debut feature that, despite its good intentions, left this viewer with an uneasy feeling. Depicting the last day in the life of Oscar Grant, a young African-American who was senselessly killed by a transit officer in […]
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Coogler and Jordan honor memory of Oscar Grant in Fruitvale Station
When he heard the news of the tragic death of Oscar Grant, aspiring filmmaker Ryan Coogler knew he had to act but was unsure how to go about it. “I’m from the Bay Area and things like that just don’t happen there. He was a young man, he was one of us and I couldn’t […]
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Sandler and company aim low once more in Grown Ups 2
I’m sure that Adam Sandler is a very nice man. You never read anything bad about him in the news and he’s obviously very loyal to his friends. You’ll find many of the same names on the cast list of his films. He’s provided employment for a good many of his former Saturday Night Live […]
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Familiar frights haunt The Conjuring
In the fall of 1971, Roger and Carolyn Perron (Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor) got a fantastic deal on a sprawling home in rural Rhode Island. To be sure, it was a house that needed some work – the floors were in need of finishing, there were more than a few squeaky hinges that needed […]
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Explain reveals Hart to be a lightweight
I was prepared for Kevin Hart not to be the next Richard Pryor but that he doesn’t have the chops to fill Chris Rock or Dave Chappelle’s shoes is a grave disappointment. Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain is the comic’s first concert film, one that shows him in performance at New York’s Madison Square Garden, […]
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Smart, stylish, spectacular Rim sets high standard for summer fare
No one could blame you if you were to assume that Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim is just another empty, overwrought summer movie that delivers nothing but repetitive violence and stock characters. What with scenes of giant robots beating up Godzilla-like monsters being the focus of the film’s numerous previews, it seems to follow Dan […]
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Likable characters, inventive visuals buoy Despicable 2
Perhaps the most surprising thing about Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud’s Despicable Me 2 is that it seems far less ambitious than its predecessor. Sporting little in the way of character development as well as a fairly standard plot, the film flirts with being a throwaway exercise throughout. With a running time of 98 minutes, […]
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Heat can’t warm these leftovers
If I were to substitute salt for sugar while making a cake I would have a dessert that would look about the same but would be a bit of a disaster. In making The Heat, director Paul Feig and writer Katie Dippold take the same approach to the buddy/cop movie by focusing on female law […]
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Ranger undone by schizophrenic tone
Without question, sitting through director Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger was the most frustrating film-going experience I’ve had all year. Epic in scope, gorgeous to look at, mythic in its approach to its seminal title character, at its best the film successfully hearkens back to some of the great Westerns and at times pays homage […]
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Reunion at the core of Monsters University
With Cars 2 and Brave, Pixar Studios showed that they too could deliver mediocre animated films much like their competition. The problem with those two films was that they lacked the heart and pathos that made nearly all of the company’s previous efforts so distinctive. Some have claimed that increased input by the corporate bigwigs […]
