Film
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Overblown
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is about an egomaniacal monster, hell-bent on hoarding his treasures above all else. He surrounds himself with a mountain...
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Family Misfortunes
There's a menace poisoning the modern Hollywood drama. It's wearing an unfamiliar face, but the symptoms are easily identified. The lazy use of narrative cliché....
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Hungering for More
The mood of a franchise film matters. Consider the effect it can have on character, story and purpose. What would Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy be...
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Survival Instinct
The American dream, more than whatever else, is a longing for health and wealth. We want to live and make good livings. So, naturally, the...
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Hope Floats
When you sit in a movie theater, you sit inside a contradiction. The theater creates a wall between your mind and body -- the lights...
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Falling for ''Gravity''
The heavens are silent. It's a matter of science. There's no air pressure in a vacuum, so in space, there's no sound. That's why we...
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Fast Track
There's no such thing as an unpredictable sports movie. Once in a while, a surprising one might pop up, but the rhythms of the story...
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Tropical Terror
Micah Fink might be straight, but sometimes the ''ally'' badge alone is enough to cause anxiety. ''I think anybody who works with this community in...
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August's Amazing Arrivals
Edgar Wright has done the improbable with The World's End. His latest comedic homage is bigger, bolder and battier than Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz -- and at...
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Whitaker and Winfrey Make Magic
The Butler is modern American melodrama at its finest. A stirring fictionalization of the life of a White House butler, its inspiring tale masks a...
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Orbiting Aristocrats
If I never see another human body explode, it'll be too soon -- and it's all Neill Blomkamp's fault. The South African filmmaker made his...
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''To Do List'' Scores
The To Do List isn't perfect. It moves in fits and starts, slipping in and out of rhythm in clumsy, amateurish ways. It's wildly enthusiastic,...
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Station Master
On the morning of Jan. 1, 2009, Oscar Grant was shot in the back by a police officer. He was neither armed nor dangerous. He...
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Monster Mashup
There is only one reason why anybody would want to endure Pacific Rim. That reason happens midway through the movie, when a giant robot faces...
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A Satisfying Splash
At first glance, The Way, Way Back seems to hit all the benchmarks of a pleasant indie comedy. It's got the sad-eyed teenage boy who's...
