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The Lucky Ones
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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... captures the manner in which both the smallest and largest events on a road trip can build a sense of camaraderie among three strangers with very little in common.
Posted Feb 26, 2010
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Street Fight
(2005)
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Andy Klein
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"...completely gripping and enraging."
Posted Jan 19, 2009
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Night Watch
(2004)
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Andy Klein
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...better than most of our domestic product...
Posted Jan 19, 2009
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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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Despite its length and expansive pace, it's never dull. And, despite the dubiousness of its stabs at being "meaningful," it still leaves you with more than most mega-productions.
Posted Dec 23, 2008
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Gomorra
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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[T]here's nothing here to draw us in -- nothing particularly interesting or engaging about the stories or the characters.
Posted Dec 19, 2008
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Nothing but the Truth
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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Lurie's style has grown increasingly fluid, and the players (especially Farmiga) deliver, but he tosses everything away with the last twist.
Posted Dec 19, 2008
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Adam Resurrected
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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It seems to have been written in a tone of magical realism, but the director is Paul Schrader, a filmmaker who has many talents, but no feel for whimsy, let alone magic.
Posted Dec 19, 2008
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The Wrestler
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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... handily his best leading performance in years ... possibly ever .... Director Aronofsky ... plays it straight, giving us a clear, linear narrative, interrupted only by one intercut flashback. The step away from pyrotechnics becomes him.
Posted Dec 19, 2008
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Gran Torino
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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[It gives] Eastwood a chance to be funnier than he's been in a long time.
Posted Dec 12, 2008
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Timecrimes
(2007)
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Andy Klein
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A witty, well-made addition to the [time travel] subgenre.
Posted Dec 12, 2008
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Doubt
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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Shanley [opens] up his four-character original enough to make it more cinematic without destroying the claustrophobic air of the characters' school-bound, almost medieval, world.
Posted Dec 12, 2008
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The Day the Earth Stood Still
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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Gort the robot looks the same but is ten times bigger and a tenth as interesting -- a good metaphor for the whole project.
Posted Dec 12, 2008
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Frost/Nixon
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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Howard and Morgan are able to structure a series of largely mundane events for maximum suspense.
Posted Dec 12, 2008
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Milk
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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[Later] you realize that [Penn] doesn't innately look that much like Milk -- which is a sign of how terrific his performance is. Josh Brolin is no less perfect as White...
Posted Dec 12, 2008
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Transporter 3
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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For the most part, the fights and chases are as implausible as the story, but there's an extraordinarily clever escape-from-certain-death bit about 20 minutes from the end that I don't think I've ever seen before.
Posted Dec 12, 2008
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The Dukes
(2007)
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Andy Klein
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Between the performances and the nice visual style, the whole feels greater than the sum of its plot points.
Posted Nov 20, 2008
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A Christmas Tale
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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Once the connections become clear, however, this often bitter story almost becomes a thriller, as we fear the next outburst or revelation and its aftermath.
Posted Nov 17, 2008
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Bohica
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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Director D.J. Paul and screenwriter Joseph "Bo" Colen don't bring much new to the notion of boredom being the toughest part of war.
Posted Nov 17, 2008
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The Alphabet Killer
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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...a big problem is the preposterousness of the mystery's solution...
Posted Nov 17, 2008
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Quantum of Solace
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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[Craig] seems rigidified, with no more inner life than a mechanical action figure.
Posted Nov 15, 2008
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Soul Men
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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This may not be a great movie, but I still couldn't help falling in love with it.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Captain Abu Raed
(2007)
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Andy Klein
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Nadim Sawalha gives a terrific performance, subtle and complex, and most effective when the camera simply lingers on his face.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Loins of Punjab Presents
(2007)
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Andy Klein
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The most obvious model for this sweet, low-budget production is Christopher Guest's Best in Show ... except with desis instead of doggies.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Changeling
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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Both the best qualities and worst flaws in Changeling have been evident in Eastwood's work for some time now.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Fear(s) of the Dark
(2007)
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Andy Klein
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All except di Sciullo's are beautifully drawn, in a variety of distinct styles.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Synecdoche, New York
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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It's really quite brilliant. But it's also so difficult and so emotionally downbeat that it's hard to characterize it as "entertaining."
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Flashbacks of a Fool
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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... an uninspired rearrangement of familiar elements, with little emotional force to justify the entire project.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Happy-Go-Lucky
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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One of Leigh's most upbeat films, as well as one of the best.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Ashes of Time Redux
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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... magnificent on a purely sensual level ... The new version is shorter by about ten minutes and is divided by chapter headings, which make the film slightly less confusing.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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W.
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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... while not the ideological lambasting many probably expected, it's nonetheless not a portrait the subject himself would find flattering.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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An American Carol
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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... the jokes are lame and the caricatures too removed from any defensible reality.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Religulous
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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... while he tries not to look snarky, his comic impulse sometimes overwhelms him.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Rachel Getting Married
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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... perfectly calibrates the gradual revealing of the family dynamics, while dragging you through a gamut of strong emotions -- not necessarily the most enjoyable experience.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Obscene
(2007)
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Andy Klein
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... a justified tribute to [Barney] Rosset, who in his mid-80s is still feisty, with a refreshingly lighthearted attitude toward all he accomplished.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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... slickly constructed and frequently funny.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Allah Made Me Funny: Live in Concert
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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The whole thing is like an HBO comedy special -- Allah made these guys pretty funny -- and it's hard to see why it's getting theatrical release.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Miracle at St. Anna
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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It might have been easily trimmed by a half hour, which is a shame, because there are so many good moments buried in there -- a proverbial two-hour movie struggling to get out.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Righteous Kill
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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Russell Gewirtz's script is built around a trick, one that is simultaneously too clever by half and not clever at all (which itself is quite a trick).
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Lakeview Terrace
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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Lakeview Terrace is well enough made to partly overcome my general distaste for films ... that are unpleasant, yet without catharsis or edification
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Sukiyaki Western Django
(2007)
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Andy Klein
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... for all its virtues, Sukiyaki Western Django is a one-gimmick film that eventually wears out its welcome.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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What Women Want
(2000)
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Andy Klein
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English's attempts to fit The Women into a modern setting are intelligent, but that, unfortunately, does not suffice, because the film is so limp in so many other ways.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Towelhead
(2007)
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Andy Klein
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Ball drops the poisonous little voodoo dolls he mistakes for characters into a ... realistic environment, as though that will somehow render his story more "serious."
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Burn After Reading
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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Even though Burn After Reading is often funny, it rarely achieves either the hilarity of Intolerable Cruelty or the iconic goofiness of The Big Lebowski.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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A Secret
(2007)
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Andy Klein
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Miller and his excellent cast create characters whom we can understand and even empathize with, even as they commit horrible breaches of faith.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Ping Pong Playa
(2007)
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Andy Klein
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Ace documentarian Jessica Yu's fictional feature debut ... is mostly funny and often cute, but it suffers a bit in comparison to the very similar Foot Fist Way ...
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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A Girl Cut in Two
(2007)
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Andy Klein
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Chabrol does his best work in the thriller genre, but he seems colder and frankly humorless when he works with real-life stories [as he does here].
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Traitor
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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For most of its length, Traitor is a serious and suspense-filled film ... But as the movie approaches its climax, the plot goes crazy -- and [not] in a good way.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Tropic Thunder
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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Stiller is terrific, and Downey is somewhat better than terrific -- inspired. ... Tropic Thunder really is hysterical; and it even manages, now and then, to surprise.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Hamlet 2
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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Coogan is a master at playing jerks, but Dana is too silly, too stupid, and too unappealing to enlist us on his side.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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Vicky Cristina Barcelona
(2008)
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Andy Klein
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The voiceover gives Vicky Cristina Barcelona the feeling of a fairy tale; while it might take place in a fairy tale world, the story is driven by sometimes unpleasant complexities.
Posted Nov 12, 2008
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