Film
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Unsolved Misery
Vilmos Zsigmond, cinematographer. Dante Ferretti, production designer. Mark Isham, composer. Hilary Swank, actress. These are not film industry names normally associated with cinematic belly flops....
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Ray of Light
The last few weeks of August are beyond miserable. At least where moviegoing is concerned. Every so often, however, a ray of sunshine peeps through...
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Plain Snakes
In Snakes on a Plane, Samuel L. Jackson stars as FBI agent Neville Flynn, a man who must contend with, as you must know by...
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Hero Worship
World Trade Center is likely the one summer release you least want to see. It is, after all, a brutal reminder of the horrifying events...
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Down Under
I'm always up for a good scare at the movies. But it seems, more and more, today's so-called scary movies aren't up to the task...
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Humor Most Foul
Recently, I've been on a Woody Allen retrospect kick. My Netflix queue is overflowing with his past works, back when they were funny (Bananas), back...
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Splish Splash
I'm feeling a little sorry for M. Night Shyamalan right about now. Slam-dunking his movies seems to have become an Olympic sport for critics. In...
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Independent Spirit
It's always gratifying to watch independent filmmakers -- at least those with talent -- reach a point where they're working within the Hollywood system (meaning...
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Swishbuckling
When Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl drifted into theaters three summers ago, few -- least of all myself -- expected it...
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Strangely Familiar
Throw out the name ''Sedaris'' in the community and the gay writer David is often who pops into people's minds. But his older, straight sister,...
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Fashion Statement
I can honestly say that, in all my years in journalism, I've never encountered an editor like Miranda Priestly, the powerful wicked witch at the...
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Hero's Welcome
It's been quite some time, Superman, but now that you're once again among us, let me be among the first to say, welcome back. And...
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Masked Unmarvel
''Wrestling is ungodly,'' remarks Sister Encarnacion (Ana de la Reguera) to Friar Ignacio (Jack Black). ''It's a sin.'' ''Why?'' asks Nacho. ''Because these men fight...
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Bad Omen
When I was a moviegoing teenager, two movies scared the devil out of me: The Exorcist and The Omen -- the first for its unrelenting,...
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Broken
Early in The Break-Up, Brooke Meyers (Jennifer Aniston) asks her boyfriend, Gary Grobowski (Vince Vaughn), to help with the dishes after a dinner party. Absorbed...
