Film
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Flash over Substance
Let's just get this out of the way: Robert Downey Jr. is, and always will be, magnificent as Tony Stark. The character's cocky wit blends...
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Puzzles
I want to like Trance. It's a mostly good-looking movie, with talented actors and a talented crew, all attempting to do something bold within the...
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Magic Show
What happened to Steve Carell? He set the comedy world on fire with his naive-fool shtick in The Office and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, sweetening his...
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Woes of Oz
There's something rotten in the state of Oz. It reeks of the billable hour, the legal retainer, the foul stench of litigation. Yes, that fiend...
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And the Oscar Goes To…
There are only three things certain in life: death, taxes and petty arguments about the Oscars. (Well, four if you count Joan Rivers. She will...
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Die Hard Death Knell
Almost a quarter-century after Die Hard premiered, the travesty of John McClane lives on. He's bruised and balder, wrinkled and wearier. Whatever once seemed charming...
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Swan Song
This is the end for director Steven Soderbergh. He says he's packing up, retiring from film, moving on to other artistic projects. If he is...
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Zom Rom Com
A geeky-looking boy is mired in existential despair. He worries about his pale skin, his poor diet, his bad posture. He wants to meet people....
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Hunting Bin Laden
Zero Dark Thirty is not a ''pro-torture'' film. It's also not much of an ''anti-torture'' film, either, in so far as it isn't simply interested...
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Mazel Tov
Celebrated Spanish actress Carmen Maura plays a ditzy mom in Mikael Buch's new gay romantic comedy Let My People Go! Maura, you may recall, was...
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Chain Male
Here comes Quentin Tarantino, galloping into the terrible history of American slavery with a shotgun in his hands and a bundle of dynamite slung across...
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The Best and Worst Films of 2012
Don't be discouraged by Hollywood schlock -- we're living in a wonderful age of film. Even if there were a few duds in the last...
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Vocal Prowess
I must confess: I've never seen Les Misérables onstage. Until a few weeks ago, when I finally threw myself into all things Schönberg, Javert and...
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Hobbit Forming
I was ready to be underwhelmed by The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Nearly a decade after The Return of the King, director Peter Jackson hasn't...
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Mobster Capitalism
If you're looking for a mediocre night at the movie theater, look no further than Andrew Dominik's Killing Them Softly. It has everything: a retread...
