Flicks
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It’s often the case that film festival favorites don’t live up to the hype. A case in point is James Ponsoldt’s Smashed, a movie that won the “U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Excellence in Independent Film Producing” at th...
Movie
When the first James Bond film was released, it was at the height of the Cold War, which created incredible tension between the Western World and the Soviet Union and its communist allies. In this context, it made sense that We...
Movie
Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph shows us what happens when a video game villain gets tired of playing the bad guy at every drop of a quarter. In Fix-It Felix, Jr., an old school Donkey Kong-like arcade game, Ralph (John C. Reilly) is p...
Flicks
Since she grew up in Russia, writer-director Julia Loktev (Moment of Impact, Night Day Night) can recall how her family and friends regarded the neighboring region of Georgia as a hot vacation spot. So where better to set The L...
Movie
Maverick’s, the big wave surfing spot in Northern California, is the stuff of legend. Many a surfer has been injured or even killed trying to tackle the 25-plus-foot swells for which the spot is known. The place was originally ...
Flicks
Director Barry Levinson initially won acclaim for 1982’s Diner, a period piece about a group of old high school pals who reunite at a Baltimore diner for a friend’s wedding. Since then, he’s built quite a resume working in both...
Movie
There’s no need to recount the plot of Paranormal Activity 4, the latest sequel in the horror film franchise that launched in 2007. Nothing really happens in the slow-moving film. The movie is such a bore, it suggests the serie...
Movie
Based on the James Patterson novel Cross, Alex Cross is a shoddily made, half-assed attempt to bring back the fictional character that Morgan Freeman portrayed in two previous films. After bad dialogue, the real problem is the ...
Movie
The true story behind Argo, the new Ben Affleck film about six hostages who somehow manage to escape Iran in the midst of the U.S. hostage crisis, is almost unbelievable. A larger-than-life CIA-driven extrication plan that invo...
Movie
Comedian Kevin James is really good at playing the lovable loser. He did it for years on the sit-com King of Queens and has embraced the role in the various films. This, combined with his particular brand of physical comedy mak...