Let's Talk About Movies

Category: The Twenty-First Century

  • Parkland [2013] ★★

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    Sign me up for any film that recounts the events of November 22 1963, the day John F. Kennedy, the president of the United States, was murdered. You couldn’t ask for a more intriguing premise, or a better cast, including Paul Giamatti, Marcia Gay Harden, Jeremy Strong, Billy Bob Thornton, Colin Hanks, Jacki Weaver, and Zac…

  • Paranoia [2013] ★½

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    In a year of crappy movies, “Paranoia” wins the award for stupidest thriller I’ve seen in quite a while. It takes a bunch of talented people (with the exception of Liam Hemsworth who’s just awful to watch), drops them in a quicksand of clichés and watches them sink. That would be Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman…

  • Thor: The Dark World [2013] ★★½

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    Thor’s second solo adventure (third in total with “The Avengers“) forces the audience to run an obstacle before the fun kicks in. The end result is an enjoyable but easily forgettable ride, because the story never really takes hold. It’s far from being a bad movie, but it’s not as good as it ought to be,…

  • The East [2013] ★★½

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    If you enjoy low-key movies, you’ll probably enjoy “The East”, the latest movie from writer Brit Marling and director Zal Batmanglij. Marling also plays the main character, Sarah Moss, an ex-F.B.I. operative who finds herself recruited by Patricia Clarkson to join her top-secret private intelligence firm. Her mission? Go undercover to join an eco-terrorist group called The East,…

  • Ghadi [2013] ★★★

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    As a writer, actor and observer of Lebanese way of life, Georges Khabbaz just keeps getting better and better. Now he offers us “Ghadi”, a remarkably entertaining and thoughtful movie, and a solid feature debut behind the camera for Amin Dora, who directed the series “Shankaboot” a few years ago. Every detail of this modest…

  • Machete Kills [2013] ★★

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    Welcome to B movie territory. The star of the show: Dany Trejo, who reprises his Machete role for yet another round. It’s a digital gorefest that expands on the fake trailer director Robert Rodriguez included in 2007’s “Planet Terror”. In part 1, Machete had to deal with Steven Seagal and Robert DeNiro. In part 2,…

  • Captain Phillips [2013]

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    “Captain Phillips” stars Tom Hanks, whose name cannot be uttered without thinking of the Academy Awards. Fair enough. He’s one of the best actors of his generation. Now he’s teaming up with director Paul Greengrass (“The Bourne Trilogy”, “United 93”) to tell a story that made global headlines in 2009. Hanks plays Richard Phillips, captain…

  • The Best Offer [2013] ★★★

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    Art, Mystery, obsession , betrayal. That’s “The Best Offer”, a Hitchcockian film that gets in your head and stays there. Geoffrey Rush, erasing all memories of “The Pirates of the Caribbean” series, delivers yet another memorable performance as Virgil Oldman, an art auctioneer who is well-known in the art world, so much in fact that his…

  • Adore [2013] ★½

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    Embarrassingly bad drama set in Western Australia, where two best friends (Naomi Watts and Robin Wright) hook up with each other’s sons (say what?). Wright’s boy, Ian (Xavier Samuel), gets Watts in the sack first. Then Watts, angry as hell, thinks it’s only right to have sex with Wright’s son. Sounds sexy? Not really. With that cast,…

  • Disconnect [2013] ★★★

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    Here’s a cautionary tale that starts in your face, and keeps coming at you right through the closing credits. That’s no easy achievement, especially when it’s a movie that deals with the dangers of social media (you heard me). In the style of “Magnolia”, “Crash” and “Babel”, first time feature director Henry Alex Rubin and his writer…

  • The Way Way Back [2013] ★★★

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    How do you take a familiar premise and turn it into one of the most enjoyable indie movies of the year? For answers, see the engaging new comedy “The Way Way Back” which introduces Liam James and Sam Rockwell (“Matchstick Men”, “Moon”) as you’ve never seen him before. Nat Faxon and Jim Rashare are mainly sitcom actors, but…

  • Curse Of Chucky [2013] ★½

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    Straight-to-DVD sequel finds Chucky (from the “Child’s Play” series) terrorizing yet another family on a stormy night. That creepy little doll is still fun to watch, even after all these years, but the film is utterly worthless until the final 15 minutes. Its unexpected finale saves it from a “Fiasco” rating. Rating: 1.5/4

  • Don Jon [2013] ★★½

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    Part of me doesn’t even want to tell you that “Don Jon” is a movie about a porn addict. Chances are you’ll stop reading. That would be a mistake, because “Don Jon” is not infected with the usual comedy formula. It’s far from perfect, but it’s funny, honest and acted with such no bull audacity that…

  • Lovelace [2013] ★★

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    The story of Linda Lovelace, the 1970’s porn star who achieved worldwide fame for her performance in “Deep Throat” may not be as familiar to the present generation as it was for the people who lived during that era. That places a great deal of pressure on the people behind this film to engage us and illuminate key…

  • Escape Plan [2013] ★★

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    It would be easy to write off “Escape Plan” as the testosterone heavy version of Clint Eastwood’s “Escape from Alcatraz” and let it go at that. But unlike “Alcatraz”, which was clever and highly entertaining, this one feels impure and stupefyingly simple. Yet things begin promisingly well with Stallone playing a structural engineer who has the…

  • About Time [2013] ★★★

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    There’s no reason “About Time” should play as well as it does; it’s formulaic and predictable. But it flows so well, and the cast is so likable, that it’s hard to resist. As a writer, director and observer of relationships, Richard Curtis (“Notting Hill, “Love Actually”) just keeps getting better and better. This time, he has chosen time…

  • Man Of Tai Chi [2013] ★★

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    Keanu Reeves’ directorial debut is a mediocre…wait for it…martial arts movie. Now there’s an original idea. Such a movie is “Man of Tai Chi”, an alternatively kick-ass and clumsy piece of junk that might satisfy fans of the genre and turn off pretty much everyone else. Reeves also plays the leader of an underground fight-to-the-death…

  • Habbet Loulou [2013] ★★

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    What were they thinking? I kept asking myself that question as I plodded through the watchable but pointless first hour of this new Lebanese comedy/drama. Why bother naming your movie “Habbet Loulou” if the movie itself isn’t worthy of its title? Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that writer director Layal M.Rajha simply wanted to transplant…

  • Rush [2013] ★★★½

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    Nothing heats up the fall season like a Formula One movie directed by non other than Ron Howard (“Frost/Nixon”, “A Beautiful Mind”, “Apollo 13”) . “Rush”, starring Chris Hemsworth (aka Thor) and Daniel Bruhl (in a performance of a lifetime) is a knockout. At first, you’d think a car racing movie about two rivals wouldn’t…

  • Insidious: Chapter 2 [2013] ★★½

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    When it comes to horror movies, sequels can be a tricky thing. Which is why I’m glad to report that “Insidious 2” isn’t as bad as I feared it would be. Credits go to director James Wan, who did a fine job with the first “Insidious” and this year’s “The Conjuring“. “Insidious 2” doesn’t live…