Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl Strayed in Wild. There are many ways that Jean-Marie Vallee’s adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s memoir Wild could have gone wrong. A story anchored more by internal struggles than external conflict, this is the sort of insular story that’s often difficult to present in a film, with directors often falling back on […]
film
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Spectacle, redemption propel Exodus
Christian Bale as Moses in Exodus: Gods and Kings. PHOTO COURTESY 20TH CENTURY FOX Director Ridley Scott is no stranger to bringing epic visions to the screen. From the sci-fi sagas Blade Runner and Prometheus to the grand ancient tales Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven, the filmmaker has consistently risen to the challenge of creating […]
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Bosses 2 a surprising improvement
Charlie Day, Jason Bateman and Jason Sudeikis in Horrible Bosses 2. PHOTO COURTESY WARNER BROS. PICTURES Though superhero films are doing their best to disprove this notion, it’s generally accepted that sequels are usually not as good as the movie that preceded them. I would argue that comedy sequels have an even harder time as […]
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Penguins deserving of time in spotlight
While I’m not privy to what’s said during the bean-counting meetings at DreamWorks Animation, I’d be willing to bet the moneymen there are more than thrilled with the success of their Madagascar franchise. The first film in the series was a hit to the tune of $532 million at the international box office while its […]
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Insecurities, self-reflection at core of Birdman
Michael Keaton as Riggan Thomson in Birdman. PHOTO COURTESY FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES Like a snake consuming its own tail, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Birdman is so postmodern, so self-referential that it ultimately begins to consume itself. This is all as it was designed to be by the director, who co-wrote the script, as this daring exercise […]
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Cast brings life to familiar Lights
Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Noni Jean and Nate Parker as Kaz in Beyond the Lights. There’s never been a shortage of behind-the-scenes showbiz melodramas in film history, but it has been a while since we’ve had a good one. So until the fourth version of A Star is Born hits the screen – to be directed […]
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It’s all about Murray in St. Vincent
Bill Murray as Vincent and Jaeden Lieberher Oliver in St. Vincent. PHOTO COURTESY THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY I’ve never been a member of the cult of Murray – Bill, that is. I know he has a very devoted following that thinks the sun rises and sets on his every move, marveling at the masterful way he […]
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Film fanatic fun
Independent films will be shown in Springfield this weekend at the 13th annual Route 66 Film Festival. This Friday, Nov. 7, from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m., and Saturday, Nov. 8, from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m., relax in front of the big screen for a film festival of international proportions. The Route 66 Film […]
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Ouija board, movie lack mystery
Douglas Smith, Ana Coto and Olivia Cooke in Ouija. It isn’t that Ouija, the latest property to hit the screen from Hasbro Toys after G.I. Joe and Transformers, is necessarily a bad movie; it’s simply late to the party. After the recent success of Paranormal Activity, Insidious and Sinister, the whole “haunted house combined with […]
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John Wick: A bloody, cathartic ride
Keanu Reeves as the title character in John Wick. PHOTO COURTESY Summit Entertainment Make no mistake, there’s little in the way of originality where David Leitch and Chad Stahelski’s John Wick is concerned. It’s a simple story you know well – a man of violence, in an attempt to put his past behind him, settles […]
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Fury gets job done, accomplishes little else
Shia LaBeouf, Xavier Samuel, Brad Pitt and Michael Pena in Fury. PHOTO COURTESY COLUMBIA PICTURES Perhaps my expectations for David Ayer’s Fury were a bit too high. Primed by the presence of a strong cast, the strength of the director’s previous film – the tough cop procedural End of Watch – and the realistic aesthetic […]
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Questions of identity propel Gone Girl
Rosamund Pike as Amy Dunne and Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne in Gone Girl. PHOTO COURTESY 20TH CENTURY FOX Having purposely kept myself in the dark regarding the central conceit at the core of Gillian Flynn’s best-selling novel Gone Girl, I approached David Fincher’s adaptation of it ready to be knocked back on my heels. […]
