Category: 2.5/4
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Arthur Newman [2012] ★★½
Colin Firth and Emily Blunt play Americans in this weird little movie from director Dante Ariola. “Arthur Newman” tells the story of one Wallace Avery (Firth as good as always), a man tired of his own existence who plans to fake his own death in order to change his identity. His new name (yep you guessed…
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The Internship [2013] ★★½
Sometimes a shamelessly silly comedy is all you want out of life. “The Internship” more than fills the bill. Is it cheesy? Heck yes. Is it predictable? You bet it is. But it’s also entertaining and really funny at times. Cheers to Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, who gave us “Wedding Crashers” aka one of the funniest films…
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Emperor [2012] ★★½
Interesting slice of World War II history has Tommy Lee Jones and Matthew Fox (“Lost”, “Vantage Point”) assigned to help rebuild Japan after the war and bring Emperor Hirohito (Takata rô Kataoka) to trial for war crimes. It’s a minor picture for sure, with a great performance by Jones, who is definitely the best thing in…
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![The Call [2013] ★★½](https://tlkabtmovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/the-call-poster.jpg?w=540)
The Call [2013] ★★½
If you’re willing to pay money to see a movie in which Halle Berry plays a 911 operator who spends most of the time talking on the phone, then you know exactly what you’re in for. There’s no use complaining. What makes the movie a fun ride (and believe me it is entertaining) is the…
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3096 Days [2013] ★★½
“3096 Days” is the true story of Natascha Kampusch, the 10 year old Austrian girl who was snatched off the street by a stranger in 1998. Her kidnapper, Wolfgang Priklopil shut her in an underground room beneath his garage, telling her that the doors and windows were booby trapped and that her family had forgotten about her. The…
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Evil Dead [2013] ★★½
First things first: I’m a huge fan of the original “Evil Dead”, in which 5 friends traveled to a cabin in the mountains where they found evil spirits lurking around in the forest. The movie was shot on a tight budget, but still managed to provide a violent and gruesome experience. So in mind, nothing could…
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The Incredible Burt Wonderstone [2013] ★★½
Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi as corny Vegas magicians. Jim Carrey as a wannabe magician. What’s not to like? “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone”, cheesy as it may sound, has a lot of genuine laughs. Too bad it doesn’t have enough to carry it over the finish line, a mere 90 minutes after it begins. Still,…
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Jack The Giant Slayer [2013] ★★½
“Jack the Giant Slayer” is far from the disaster it’s been made out to be in some circles…nor is it a wonderful achievement. It has enough visual effects and production values for three movies, but not enough story material, which is one of its problems. But it does provide vigorous, eye-filling entertainment, and paves the way…
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Mama [2013] ★★½
It has a spooky atmosphere, a wicked story and a solid performance by Jessica Chastain as a woman who is trying to solve the mystery of how her boyfriend’s nieces survived in the wilderness for five years and why they still seem to be haunted by a menacing ghost they call “Mama.” No fair revealing more…
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A Good Day To Die Hard [2013] ★★½
It’s easy to joke about Bruce Willis, now past 55, returning for a fifth chapter in the “Die Hard” series. It’s been over 20 years since the first one and 5 years since the last. Shouldn’t Willis be retired by now? OK, I said the jokes were easy. But you know what? Willis gets the last…
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Warm Bodies [2013] ★★½
Comparing “Warm Bodies” to “Twilight” doesn’t do this movie justice. Unlike “Twilight”, this is a larger-than-life zombie yarn with special effects and a sense of humor. It isn’t my favorite kind of entertainment, but writer-director Jonathan Levine (who won us over with his 2011 movie “50/50”) has brought an appealing cast to the story adapted from Isaac…
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Gangster Squad [2013] ★★½
Expectations are murder. With a dynamite cast (do Sean Penn and Josh Brolin ever fuck up?), and director Ruben Fleischer who inspired worship for “Zombieland”, you assume a new classic. What you get is an ambitious try. Yet “Gangster Squad” pulls the magician’s trick of distraction, offering enough superficial entertainment value with good use of locations, charismatic actors,…
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Hyde Park On Hudson [2012] ★★½
Sometimes, a solid performance makes a movie worth watching. Case in point: Bill Murray, who portrays President Franklin D. Roosevelt in this charming little movie that takes place in the summer of 1939. The story focuses on Roosevelt’s distant cousin Daisy Suckley (Laura Linney) and her relationship with the President. Director Roger Michell imagines what may have happened…
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Dredd [2012] ★★½
Since Sylvester Stallone screwed up the the comic-book character with his 1995 screen version. I dreaded the idea of another “Dredd” movie. Surprise. This version starring Karl Urban is not half bad. The first movie was pure cheese, and it had Rob Schneider in it (yes it was that bad). Here, things get much darker as Dredd…
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Cloud Atlas [2012] ★★½
“Cloud Atlas” is a movie that offers a grandiose and a disappointing experience at the same time. It flirts with greatness and has much to admire, including exceptional performances from Tom Hanks, Jim Broadbent and Hugo Weaving. Their work is reason enough to recommend the film, yet when the movie ended I didn’t know what to make of…
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Pitch Perfect [2012] ★★½
I’m not a big fan of musical comedies, but “Pitch Perfect” kept me entertained, at least for a while, even as it covered familiar territory. Audiences who liked “Bring it On” for instance will definitely get a kick out of it. Anna Kendrick does a good job as a college freshman who dreams of being…
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Trouble With The Curve [2012] ★★½
If you like, you can think of “Trouble with the Curve” as the anti-Twilight. It’s the opposite of an Event Movie for the fall season; instead, it’s an old-fashioned star vehicle, fashioned for the particular screen persona of Clint Eastwood. As such, it’s easy to take and lightly enjoyable. One might even call it a “nice” movie, which…
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ParaNorman [2012] ★★½
“ParaNorman” is far from being a bad movie, but one thing was running through my mind the whole time: how could kids enjoy such a dark, twisted story? And ultimately that’s my problem with it. Norman is a weird little boy who sees dead people (think “The Sixth Sense”). Even his parents think he’s weird.…
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Hotel Transylvania [2012] ★★½
What this raucous 3D animated fun house lacks in originality, it makes up for in visual and vocal wit. Adam Sandler uses a hilarious Hungarian accent to voice the role of Dracula, and he is surrounded by the likes of Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi and even David Spade. What won me over from…
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To Rome With Love [2012] ★★½
There’s nothing really wrong with a Woody Allen movie set in the Eternal city, but there’s nothing really right about it either. I had a few problems with his latest film “To Rome with Love”, but I had a good time watching it and sometimes, that’s what really matters. As usual, he has assembled an…
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