Category: drama
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![Laggies [2014] ★★½](https://tlkabtmovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/laggies-poster-e1417381163779.jpg?w=842)
Laggies [2014] ★★½
“Laggies” is far from innovative, but it’s pleasant enough, and I think that’s the fitting adjective for this coming of age film starring Keira Knightley, Chloe Grace Moretz and Sam Rockwell. Knightley plays Megan, a 20 something woman who is still trying to figure out what to do with her life. When she discovers her father is…
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The Theory Of Everything [2014] ★★★½
Eddie Redmayne has emerged as a fine actor over the past few years, in films like “My Week With Marilyn” and “Les Miserables“. With his performance in “The Theory Of Everything”, he reaches a new plateau, transforming himself into the brilliant Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed with motor-neuron disease at just 21 and was given only 2 years…
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St. Vincent [2014] ★★★
“St. Vincent” is one of the nicest surprises of the year. It entertained me and left me with a feeling of satisfaction that’s all too rare these days. The story is best described as a comedy, but like many of the best films in that genre it’s rooted in truth: honest observations about family and friendship.…
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The Drop [2014] ★★½
If you love James Gandolfini (and who doesn’t), this is your last chance to see the late actor on the big screen. And it’s a damn good performance, playing a small-time crook who runs a Brooklyn bar that serves as a money drop for Russian dealers. The bartender, Marv’s cousin Bob (the great Tom Hardy), goes along…
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Locke [2014] ★★★
That’s Tom Hardy behind the wheel. He’s Ivan Locke, a Brit, driving from Birmingham to London in real time. He’s a husband and father driving away from his biggest job ever as a construction manager because his one night stand is having his baby tonight in a London hospital. He’s also about to call his wife and…
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Nightcrawler [2014] ★★★½
A while ago, I had the chance to watch a 1933 movie called “Picture Snatcher”, in which the great James Cagney plays an ex-con who gets a newspaper job by snapping a forbidden photograph showing the execution of a convicted murderess. 80 years later and the subject of corrupt journalism couldn’t be more relevant. Want proof? “Nightcrawler”, the…
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A Most Wanted Man [2014] ★★★
Philip Seymour Hoffman was one of the best actors on the planet. For more proof, feel free to check out “A Most Wanted Man”, Anton Corbijn’s tense spy thriller, based on John le Carré’s 2008 novel, in which Hoffman gives a performance that is flawless in every detail. He plays Günther Bachmann, a German intelligence operative who…
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Love, Rosie [2014] ★★½
“Love, Rosie” feels a lot like deja-vu, but it’s sweet, charming and entertaining. I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of romantic comedies that cover a long time period in a constantly-changing relationship. From the peak of “When Harry Met Sally” to the low of “A Lot Like Love”, we’ve seen it all. So basically the outcome…
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Fury [2014] ★★★
It hurts to watch “Fury”…literally. I have never seen a more visceral film about WWII; I can’t count how many times I winced or moved while watching the picture. But that’s what makes it so good. Director David Ayer (the underrated “End of Watch”), and his actors outdid themselves to bring this gripping story to the screen, and…
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The Best Of Me [2014] ★★
Based on the best-selling weepie by Nicholas Sparks, “The Best Of Me” is a hazard to all those allergic to cheesy chick flicks, or Sparks’ flicks in general. James Marsden stars as Dawson Cole, a man who is suddenly brought back into his ex-partner Amanda’s (Michelle Monaghan) company, when the pair meet to read the will of an old friend…
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Frank [2014] ★★★
Unleashed imagination is a hell of a rare thing to find at the movies these days. “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, sure, but then what? Try “Frank”, an offbeat comedy loosely based on the story of Frank Sidebottom, a Brit comic who enjoyed some underground success in the late 1980s and early 1990s by wearing a fake…
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Rio, I Love You [2014] ★½
Dull follow-up to “Paris Je T’aime” and “New York I Love You” offers a range of episodes set in the Brazilian city of Rio De Janero, mostly dealing with encounter of love in a different neighborhood of the city. Most of them are slight and boring; these vignettes about the beautiful city of Rio may just…
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The Judge [2014]
Director David Dobkin shows ambition for days in “The Judge”. That the movie is co-written by the gifted Nick Schenck (“Gran Torino”) is reason enough to recommend it. That the movie features two of the year’s best performances from Robert Downey, Jr. and Robert Duvall raises the bar another notch. So hold on tight. “The Judge” is a completely absorbing…
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The Rover [2014] ★★½
Aussie writer-director David Michôd follows up his critically acclaimed “Animal Kingdom” with a post-apocalyptic road movie that feels a lot like a western film.That means mainstream movie-goers will smell art and run like hell. And who can blame them? From the looks of things, “The Rover” is fighting a losing battle. Not to director David Michôd, whose Aussie-based “Animal…
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Before I Go To Sleep [2014] ★★½
This thriller starring Nicole Kidman is a psychological stunt, but a damn intriguing one. Kidman gives a solid performance as Christine Lucas, a woman who suffers from a severe case of amnesia. She wakes up every day thinking she is still in college only to be confronted in the mirror with the face of a 40-year-old. Her…
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Begin Again [2014] ★★★
Summer brings out the big guns in Hollywood with blockbusters ready to crush any movie that values simplicity and sincere emotion. Well, don’t let summer squash “Begin Again”, the new musical drama from writer-director John Carney, who did such a fine job with “Once” a few years ago (and won an Oscar as a result). “Begin Again” may…
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If I Stay [2014] ★★
I’ll leave it to the experts to explore why so many of today’s youth-oriented novels/movies are dramatic, if not downright cheesy. “If I stay” is the latest example, based on Gayle Forman’s best-seller, and like other similar stories, it will make you cry. Or at least try. Fortunately, this story has a good actress in the lead and…
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I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang [1932] ★★★★
Fantastic drama/film noir based on Robert E.Burns’ autobiographical story about an innocent man (a fantastic Paul Muni) who accidentally gets mixed up in a robbery that lands him ten years on a chain gang where they treat prisoners like dirt. The story is so powerful and well told that you find yourself rooting for the poor…
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Boyhood [2014] ★★★½
Artistic ambition can be a bitch for filmmakers. Stanley Kubrick was initially slammed in 1968 for aiming so high with “2001: A Space Odyssey”, now considered a classic. Lucky for him, and us, writer/director Richard Linklater (the genius behind the “Before Sunrise” trilogy) follows his own rigorous path. Whatever a modern story about boyhood is, Linklater’s…
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The Philosophers [2014] ★★½
“The Philosophers” is provocative and interesting, so while it may be far from perfect, it’s not a movie I could easily dismiss. Writer/director John Huddles opens on a intriguing note, heads in unexpected directions, and ruins the fun in the final act. No worries. Until then, the film has many surprises in store. James D’arcy…
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