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Slow Going
Because most of this week’s new films screened early, and because Iron Man seems to have scared most other movies away from late-April, early-May, I only have three new links – including my second zero-star review in 7 days! – for this gorgeous Friday morning. Enjoy. Out Now: Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (Slant magazine) Out…
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Leatherheads (2008): C
George Clooney loses the proverbial thread with his third directorial outing Leatherheads, a 1920s football saga that blends rusty screwball comedy and perfunctory romance under a period piece veneer. Clooney is Dodge Connelly, the leader of a ragamuffin pro football team during an era when the sport was played with few pads, no rules, and…
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Street Kings (2008): C
Los Angeles crime novelist extraordinaire James Ellroy is credited as one of Street Kings’ three screenwriters, though that doesn’t prevent David Ayers’ second directorial outing from being a lousy mediocrity. Ayers’ latest is, after 2006’s Harsh Times, his second straight overwrought and unfulfilling tale concerning a loco white boy knee-deep in the City of Angels’…
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High School Hell
This week’s batch o’ links features my first zero-star review in some time, for the unnecessary and – worse – monumentally incompetent remake of 1980’s Prom Night. And to compound that negativity, may I present my write-up of the largely intolerable Smart People as well. Still, the week wasn’t a total loss, as evidenced by…
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Sketchy Comedy
IFC News and Nerve.com have teamed up to determine the 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time, and I’ve chimed in with my own thoughts on a few of the list’s selections. Below is a link to the feature’s main page, but for my own capsules, check out numbers 40, 18, 16, and 14. 50…
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Post Full of Kryptonite
I can’t believe I just made a Spin Doctor’s reference in this post’s title. My 18-year-old self would be absolutely disgusted. Nonetheless, for your Friday evening reading pleasure, here are links to myriad less-than-flattering reviews, the nastiest of which is probably for Al Pacino’s latest. Today: Nim’s Island (Slant magazine) The Ruins (Slant magazine) Sex…
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Not All Fun & Twisted Games
For my return to the pages of SOMA magazine, I profile Brady Corbet – star of Greg Araki’s superb Mysterious Skin and Michael Haneke’s stateside remake of his controversial 1997 meta-thriller Funny Games – in which the actor discusses collaborating with the Austrian auteur, his unhappy experience making 2004’s Thunderbirds, and his desire to work…
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Seven Spot
The episode of Rock of Love 2 that’s currently playing in the background (for who knows what reason) is making it surprisingly tough to think. Thus, I’ll dispense with the chit-chat. Here are seven new reviews, including my final New Directors/New Film write-ups. Out Now: 21 (Slant magazine) Chapter 27 (Slant magazine) The Cool School…
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License to Ill
After a week of being under the weather, I’m still struggling to get myself healthy. Nonetheless, a few new review links for this Friday night, before I pass out early yet again… Today: Drillbit Taylor (Slant magazine) The Hammer (Slant magazine) Poisoned by Polonium: The Litvinenko File (Slant magazine) New Directors/New Films: Soul Carriage (Slant…
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Who Dat?
A kid’s film that’s legitimately profound, Horton Hears a Who! is a movie I’ll actually feel good about taking Hannah to. The rest of this week’s reviews are a typical mixed bag, though of special note is Munyurangabo, a truly stunning debut that’ll be showing at this year’s New Directors/New Films series. Out Now: Horton…
