Category: drama
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We Are Your Friends [2015] ★½
Like you needed a movie called “We Are Your Friends” to confirm the fact that Zac Efron’s career will never take off. Efron plays Cole, a struggling DJ in California trying to pull it off in the music industry. Writer director Max Joseph bathes this cheesy mess with unnecessary drama. What’s the use? If you can’t figure…
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Ricki And The Flash [2015] ★★½
Here’s the thing about Meryl Streep: I can watch her in almost anything. And now at 66, she’s still constantly looking for new, challenging roles. “Ricki and the Flash” won’t win her a 4th Oscar, but she’s completely convincing and mesmerizing as an 80’s-style rock-and-roller who performs cover versions of familiar hits with her longtime band at…
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Southpaw [2015] ★★★
You’d think with movies like “Rocky”, “Cinderella Man”, Million Dollar Baby” and “The Fighter”, Hollywood would run out of good boxing stories to tell. Hold on tight. “Southpaw” is a beast of a movie, an emotional roller coaster that threatens to go off the rails, but never does. Director Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day”, “The Equalizer”), working from…
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The Gift [2015] ★★★
Aussie actor Joel Edgerton couldn’t have picked a better vehicle to explode his proper skills as a loner who can’t seem to let go of the past. Edgerton also directs Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall, who play a wealthy married couple who have moved from Chicago to Los Angeles for a fresh start. Things go crazy weird when Simon bumps…
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White Heat [1949] ★★★★
I’ve fallen in love with gangster films made in the 1930’s. Actors like James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart were in almost every gangster picture made in that era. And yet it took director Raoul Walsh years before making one of the best gangster films of all time. Cagney was an ageing star but his…
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Limelight [1952] ★★★½
I find it quite ironic that this is the last movie I ever saw with my granddad. Ironic because, unlike many Chaplin movies, this one is tragic. Ironic because my granddad passed away a few months later. Looking back at “Limelight”, there’s always a bittersweet feeling. Even when I saw it again recently, I couldn’t…
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Double Indemnity [1944] ★★★★
The quintessential film noir. No other film of the genre can match the brilliance of Billy Wilder’s haunting tale of greed, murder and betrayal. Driven by its masterful techniques and perfect narrative, “Double Indemnity” tells the story of an insurance salesman (Fred MacMurray) who falls for a beautiful but deadly oil tycoon’s wife (Barbara Stanwyck) and…
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Waves ’98 [2015]
Ely Dagher’s Waves ’98 deservedly won the top prize at the Cannes film Festival, the Palm D’Or in the short film category. The script has few spoken words, relying on visual impressions that connect a young man called Omar to a world he never knew existed. Dagher links the intimate story to the surreal one by creating miracles…
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Aloha [2015] ★½
Good directors tend to screw up. If you admire Cameron Crowe and his movies (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous) like I do, you’ll be rooting for him to score another bull’s eye with his latest effort. But it’s clear from the very first moment that “Aloha” is a complete misfire: a tiresome, dull romantic comedy/drama about a…
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La French [2015] ★★★
Don’t you just hate it when they remake classic movies like “The French Connection”? I don’t, especially when it’s a remake starring Jean Dujardin (Oscar winner for “The Artist“) as police magistrate Pierre Michel in 1970’s France and his relentless dedication to stop the most notorious drug smuggling operation in history: the French Connection. Directors Cedric Jimenez…
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Love & Mercy [2015] ★★★
Take a break from Blockbusters and go see “Love & Mercy”, the latest biopic about Brian Wilson, the songwriter and leader of The Beach Boys. I don’t suppose any biopic about Wilson could be definitive, but “Love & Mercy” does a great job. Paul Dano delivers a fearless and sympathetic portrayal of the young man who achieved worldwide success with his band but…
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While We’re Young [2015] ★★½
Noah Baumbach, who made an impressive directorial debut with “The Squid and the Whale” over a decade ago, continues to tell unusual stories with an enjoyable little film called “While We’re Young”. The overall result may not be as good as Baumbach’s previous movies, but it still works quite well. Ben Stiller gives a finely tuned performance as…
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Woman In Gold [2015] ★★★
When a film covers subject material that is highly emotional there is always the chance that the director and actors will overplay it and eventually ruin it. Luckily for us, “Woman in Gold” dodges all of that with a moving story that serves as a perfect vehicle for the incomparable Helen Mirren as well as Ryan Reynolds. Based on…
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Danny Collins [2015] ★★★
If you like, you can think of “Danny Collins” as the anti-blockbuster. It’s the opposite of an Event Movie for the summer season; instead, it’s an old-fashioned star vehicle, fashioned for the particular screen persona of Al Pacino, who can usually play these roles in his sleep, but adds something special every single time. As such, the movie…
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Wild [2014] ★★★
Took me some time to finally watch Reese Witherspoon’s Oscar nominated performance in “Wild”, but I’m glad I did. She is the focal point here and the reason the film is worth seeing. The picture itself is earnest and well-made, but it remains earthbound while its leading lady soars to greatness. Based on Cheryl Strayed’s best-selling book, “Wild” tells…
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Suite Française [2015] ★★★
If there can be such a thing as a sweet, reflective fable about love during WWII, “Suite Française” is it. Based on the best selling novel by Irène Némirovsky, who perished in Auschwitz in 1942 before she could finish her book (her daughter finally took care of it and published it in 2004 to worldwide acclaim), the film…
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La Famille Bélier [2014] ★★★
I’m a bit late coming to this movie, but having heard good feedback, I was looking forward to it. It’s easy to see why now. “La Famille Bélier” is a charming, funny film with winning performances; in short, a crowd-pleaser. Louane Emera (a semi-finalist in the second season of The Voice France) plays Paula, a young girl…
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5 To 7 [2015] ★★★
Here’s a surprising treat: a sweet, bracingly original, wholly entertaining film from writer director Victor Levin with a solid part for Anton Yelchin. In fact, every role is perfectly and inventively cast, which makes the movie almost hard to resist. The unusual plot involves aspiring writer Brian (Yelchin), who gets into a passionate love affair with a glamorous French woman (Bérénice Marlohe…
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The Age Of Adaline [2015] ★★
Like a cute puppy, this romantic drama starring Blake Lively as a woman who doesn’t age will wag its tail so you’ll find it irresistible and take it home. Not this time. There’s nothing terribly wrong about “The Age of Adaline”, it’s just that it rarely rises to its potential. And the movie does have…
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The Longest Ride [2015] ★★½
Based on yet another novel by Nicholas Sparks. I thought you should know that before you cringe and stop reading. But truth be told, “The Longest Ride” is better than most Sparks movies. Yes, it follows the same old formula we’ve come to expect from Mr. Sparks (“The Lucky One”, “Dear John”, “The Best of Me”…),…
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