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Defiance (2008): C
Can no one stop Ed Zwick’s reign of mediocrity? The Last Samurai and Blood Diamond director delivers yet another one of his action-packed historical dramas with Defiance, in which heroes brood, hunks curl up with hotties under warm blankets, brothers squabble, and stuff goes kaboom with deadening predictability. Zwick’s trademark talk-explosion!-talk-gunfire!-talk template is at this…
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Good (2008): C+
As with this season’s Adam Resurrected, Good’s most impactful moment involves concentration camp prisoners playing, with orchestral instruments, a lyrical death march for impending gas chamber victims. And like Paul Schrader’s film, Vicente Amorim’s drama – adapted from C.P. Taylor’s 1981 play – is otherwise decidedly blunt and unaffecting. In 1933 Germany, liberal professor John…
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Last Chance Harvey (2008): C-
It’s mildly refreshing that Last Chance Harvey isn’t tween-minded, but that doesn’t mean this adult rom-com is smart, funny or moving. Writer/director Joel Hopkins’ story begins dreadfully, clumsily crosscutting between lonely American divorcé Harvey (Dustin Hoffman) and lonely British statistics agency employee Kate (Emma Thompson) as they each suffer an identically uncomfortable, depressing night out…
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The REAL Next-to-Last
Well, I guess this is, in fact, my second-to-last link dump of the year, since a final one will show up right before Christmas next week. Nonetheless, it's the big one – in terms of featuring high-profile awards contenders – that I was referring to a couple of nights ago.This Week:The Curious Case of Benjamin…
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Next to Last
Here's a quick link dump for this Thursday evening, with my final 2008 one to come next week that'll include reviews of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Reservation Road, and a thriller featuring a very silly-looking eye-patched superstar.Now Playing:Seven Pounds (Cinematical)Yes Man (Slant magazine)The Tale of Despereaux (Slant magazine)
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2008: Year In Film
With the year coming to a close, it's time again for the annual ritual of critics' top ten lists. Over at Slant magazine, Ed Gonzalez and I (as well as Bill Weber and Andrew Schenker) detail our favorites from 2008, a year that didn't exactly overwhelm with amazing films but offered enough good stuff to…
