9 years ago
Reviews (10 posts found)
“Non-Stop”: When A Stranger Texts
Liam Neeson has had it with these muthaeffin’ terrorists on this muthaeffin’ plane!
For most of its running time, Non-Stop provides breezy, no-nonsense, kitchen-sink entertainment, as screenwriters John W. Richardson, Christopher Roach and Ryan Engle craft ...
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“Almost Human” Is Entirely Devoid Of Genre Delights
Few filmmakers seem capable of rising above the sad state of affairs that is modern indie horror, the rest seem caught up in a boundless mode of non-creativity and excessive aping that’s neither welcome nor admirable. Joe Begos’ Almost Human is the latest in t...
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“Omar” Crosses The Walls Dividing Smart and Thrilling Storytelling
There is a danger inherent in political cinema that plagues a vast number of films made within the genre: if the filmmaker tempers personal theories and passionate arguments for the subject at hand, the film can become politically insipid and socially irreleva...
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“Pompeii” is a Pyroclastic Flop
If nothing else, Pompeii is so unindicative of Paul W.S. Anderson’s style that it at least confirms he has one. Anderson’s last three features, the fourth and fifth installments of the Resident Evil series and his inexplicable, invigorating take on The Three M...
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“Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me”: This Broadway Baby is Still Here
During the course of Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me, the veteran Broadway actress repeatedly reminds us that she is 87 years old. We wouldn’t believe it otherwise. Sure, she forgets an occasional lyric in rehearsals and onstage, but forgetfulness isn’t age-specific....
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“The Wind Rises”: A Gorgeous Film That Doesn’t Take Off
The following review has been republished from our AFI Film Festival coverage. It reviews the original Japanese dub, and not the newly released English dub.
If The Wind Rises is truly Hayao Miyazaki's last film (and remember, this is the seventh time that h...
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‘In Secret’ Fails To Scandalize
Very early on in its running time, In Secret taunt us with licentious promise; our heroine, Therese (Elizabeth Olsen), sneaks off to a riverbank, conceals herself in underbrush, and quietly masturbates as she watches a brawny laborer sweep away pesky weeds wit...
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“3 Days To Kill”: Not Suitable for Sober Viewers
Amber Heard stands under a bordello red spotlight on an otherwise empty set, her leg propped up suggestively, as if she were posing for a lurid portrait. But there's also a cell phone to her ear, no one's watching her, and she's alone. Kevin Costner's characte...
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“The Railway Man”: An Ambitious and Moving WWII Biopic
Jonathan Teplitzky's The Railway Man is an Oscar movie out of season. Lost in the doldrums between Academy Award consideration and the cacophonous din of the summer blockbusters, it's a film abandoned, with enough tragedy, triumph, sweeping romance and factual...
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“Jimmy P.” Is A Frustrating Misfire
It’s been six years since Arnaud Desplechin’s widely hailed 2008 holiday melodrama A Christmas Tale, a film that was as rich, inviting and maddening as it was overstuffed and energetic. His latest, Jimmy P. (Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian), which premiered a...
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