Daily Archives: January 18, 2013

Movie Review: Movie making imitates life in the South American film “Even the Rain”

Art doesn’t just imitate life, it comes in direct conflict with it in “Even the Rain,” a movie about making a m0vie and about which is more important, the film or the real world events overtaking it. In it, a … Continue reading

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Movie Review: “Barney’s Version” is messy, melodramatic and meandering — just like life

Paul Giamatti, the unlikeliest leading man of his generation, is perfectly cast in “Barney’s Version,” an intimate relationship epic based on a Mordecai Richler novel. It’s a dream role for the balding, paunchy Giamatti, who manages something like a tour … Continue reading

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Movie Review: “Just Go With It”

For one magic moment, Jennifer Aniston looks into Adam Sandler’s eyes — and we buy it. Her character is reciting a list of what she loves about his character, and even though they’re in a fake marriage on a “fake-cation,” … Continue reading

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Movie Review: “Unknown”

“Urgency” in the movies can be a product of editing or a consequence of very fine acting. It’s that sense that there is a ticking clock working against our hero, that a matter of life or death, love or loss … Continue reading

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Movie Review: “Centurion”

The “soldiers trapped behind enemy lines” story has been a favorite since Xenophon followed Greeks home from deep in hostile Persia in “Anabasis,” in 400 B.C. That’s the plot of “Centurion,” an old–fashioned quest epic set in Roman Britain. Beautifully … Continue reading

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Movie Review: “The Eagle”

The mysterious disappearance of Rome’s IX Legion Hispana inspires yet another moderately rousing action picture in “The Eagle,” a film based on Rosemary Sutcliff’s popular 1950s novel about “The Eagle of the Ninth.” Eagle-eyed period piece fans will recall that … Continue reading

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Oscars: What the Academy needs is a commissioner, like baseball, football, etc.

Every year we gripe about how the Academy “snubbed” this director, film, actress or actor. Fans use that as an excuse to tune out the Oscar telecast. Every year, the Oscars grow less special, less novel, because the awards and … Continue reading

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Box Office: Will Jessica Chastain kick Arnold’s butt this weekend?

A trio of films go into wide release today — a ghost story getting decent reviews, a retro Arnold Schwarzenegger shoot’em up earning better reviews (not from me, the peasants) and a poorly reviewed Mark Wahlberg/Russell Crowe thriller that I … Continue reading

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Critic’s Log — Today’s screening, the Oscar nominated doc “The Gatekeepers”

Call it an intimate history of an Israeli counter-terror campaign that failed. Or a necessary response to a massive internal threat to the Israeli state. The last six heads of Israel’s secret Shin Bet police force — the anti-terrorism unit– … Continue reading

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