Sunday, January 6, 2013
The team of director Gus Van Sant and actor Matt Damon who brought us "Good Will Hunting" and "Gerry" reunite.
A pair of corporate representatives, Steve Butler (Matt Damon) and Sue Thomason (Frances McDormand), arrive in a struggling farming community, intending to sell the locals on the idea of drilling for natural gas on their land. Initially, the local folks embrace the idea....all but a respected teacher, Frank Yates (Hal Holbrook). Others join in his objections, including environmental activist Dustin (John Krasinski) and local teacher Alice (Rosemarie DeWitt), who help rally the community against the drilling. Here's what the critics are saying: Director Gus Van Sant has the challenging task of taking the divisive, high-tech practice of fracking and trying to make it not just human but cinematic. Working from a script by co-stars Matt Damon…
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Gerard Butler and Jennifer Biel are paired in the latest romantic comedy.
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Saturday, December 8, 2012
"Playing For Keeps" tries to answer the vexing question: what's a worn out Scottish soccer star to do? If you're George Dyer (Gerard Butler), you move to a Virginia suburb, home to your pre-teen son (Noah Lomax) and your ex-wife (Jennifer Biel), now engaged, and you try to break into sportscasting. In the meantime, you become the coach of your estranged son's soccer team, whose sponsor is played by Dennis Quaid, and you learn how to handle the soccer moms (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Uma Thurman and Judy Greer). Then you decide that your ex-wife really is the woman of your dreams and you begin to pursue her. Could voicing a character in "How to Train Your Dragon" be a more memorable role for Butler? Here's what the critics are saying: Some …
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Andrew Dominik's dark film about low life and the mob debuted in theaters this weekend.
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Sunday, December 2, 2012
"Killing Them Softly" is the latest in a long line of movies showing the relationship between the mafia and business. In this case, the year is 2008, and business is bad, but the film isn't--it's an entertaining adaptation of a George Higgins book. Higgins had a fantastic ear for dialogue, and this movie focuses on a yacky group of low lifes in a city that could be New Orleans or Boston. When two small-time criminals (Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn) rob a mafia-protected poker game run by Markie (Ray Liotta), the local mob boss (Richard Jenkins) hits hit man Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt) to right the wrong. He, in turn, brings in his associate Mickey (James Gandolfini) to help out. Here's what the critics are saying: "Killing Them Softly" is…
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Taylor Lautner, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are back in their starring roles in the final installment of the Twilight saga .
The love triangle between Bella (Kristen Stewart), her husband Edward (Robert Pattinson), and Werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner) comes to an exciting conclusion in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn--Part Two." Bella finally gets what she wants. She's a vampire; she's married to a vampire; now she has a half-vampire, half-human kid. That the child is from a mixed marriage doesn't sit well with some of the vampires, causing a bit of a problem. Be ready for a few surprises as the final act of the movie kicks up the stakes with a few twists and turns where anything could happen. Fans of the series will enjoy the film for its romance, humor, and a sweet ending to a series they love so much. Non-fans? Well, there isn't much going on for you here. …
Saturday, October 27, 2012
This would-be comedy follows two high school girls for one screwball night as they try to find a missing little brother--and perhaps attend the coolest Halloween party ever.
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Saturday, October 27, 2012
Teen comedy Fun Size centers on a sarcastic high school senior named Wren (Victoria Justice). She wants to go to college to get away from her dysfunctional family. Wren's mother, Joy (Chelsea Handler), insists that she watch her little brother Albert (Jackson Nicoll) on Halloween night, so Joy can go out with her much younger boyfriend. Wren gets distracted when she's invited to the party of the year, and Albert disappears into a sea of trick-or-treaters. Anxious to find him before their mom learns he is missing, Wren gets help from her BFF April (Jane Levy), as well as Peng, an aspiring ladies man and co-captain of the debate team, and Peng's best friend, Roosevelt (Thomas Mann), a sweet nerd with a crush on Wren. This four search all …
Saturday, October 6, 2012
The latest animated movie from Tim Burton may be a bit too scary for children, but adults who like the director's work will enjoy it.
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Saturday, October 6, 2012
Director Tim Burton has created a different boy-and-his-dog animated movie, expanding on a short he made in 1984. Victor is a little boy in the town of New Holland who loves science and making monster movies. After his dog Sparky is hit and killed by a car, Victor determines to bring the dog back to life, with a few adjustments. With Frankenstein-like stitching, Sparky escapes from where Victor has hidden him and frightens his friends, neighbors and classmates. The characters are voiced by Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau, Charlie Tahan and Atticus Shaffer. Here's what the critics are saying: Parents need to know that Tim Burton's latest film, Frankenweenie, is being released just in time for the Halloween season -- and, …
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Politicians, charter school advocates, businesses and educators are weighing in about this movie, but does it work well as entertainment?
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Sunday, September 30, 2012
This movie opens with a little girl who's upset because she can't read words on a blackboard. No surprise there: the child is dyslexic, we later learn. Her teacher is an unsympathetic, texting troll who's a union member, secure in her job. The little girl's feisty, gritting, beautiful mom (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a single mother working two dead-end jobs who's also dyslexic, decides her daughter needs a better education and a better school. She convinces a disheartned teacher in that school (the wonderful Viola Davis) to work with her to take over the school, invoking the parent trigger rule, and to transform it into a wonderful institution. The story is inspiration. We learn, from the movie, that "it's based on true events," but that's a …
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Thriller stars Henry Cavill and features Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver.
Think losing your luggage makes for a bad family vacation? How about losing your whole family? Those are the cards dealt to Will Shaw (Henry Cavill), who leaves behind his job for a sailing trip in Spain with his family, including his father Martin Shaw (Bruce Willis). When Will swims into town to do an errand, he returns to find the sailboat and his family missing. Oops! He then learns that his dad, instead of being a state department employee, is actually a CIA agent. And Will learns that he must triumph in an international conspiracy in order to have his family returned safely. He encounters a bored, hooting Sigourney Weaver, who likes to shoot things. Have you seen the film? Leave your review in the comments below. Along the way, we …
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Critics say the fourth installment in the Jason Bourne franchise has its moments, but plenty of weaknesses, too.
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Saturday, August 11, 2012
The latest installment in the hugely successful Bourne franchise stars Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye from “The Avengers”) as Aaron Cross, who like Jason Bourne (played by Matt Damon in the ‘The Bourne Identity,’ ‘The Bourne Supremacy’ and ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’), is on the run from the people who made him into the superspy he is. If the plot sounds familiar, it is and that, wrote Joan Alperin Schwartz of Starpulse.com, is where the problem lies. “You've seen this same plot before...many, many times before,” Schwartz wrote. Schwartz faulted the movie for its lack of character development and flat ending, but admitted the film had some exciting moments. “There are plenty of car chases, fight scenes, gun battles and crazy stunts involving leaping …
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Remake of the 1990 cult classic has plenty of action and thrills, but ultimately falls short.
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Saturday, August 4, 2012
Ever wanted to turn fantasy into reality? In "Total Recall," Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) decides to do just that. Seeking an escape from his frustrating life, Quaid visits Rekall, a company that can change dreams into real memories. However, when things go wrong, Quaid suddenly finds himself a hunted man and the line between fantasy and reality begins to blur. Have you seen the film? Leave your review in the comments below. Karen Martin of InArkansas.com describes the film as “bleak, brutal, and stuffed with questionable science. “ “There's some cool stuff, like hovercraft cars, a scrappy girly fight, dystopian sets that resemble those in Fritz Lang's Metropolis, a flasher who will bring back memories of the original film, and Cranston, …
Barbara Kraus
8:53 am on Monday, January 7, 2013
Did anyone else notice an Arab company was involved in the production? more ›