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Entries Tagged as 'Film Reviews'

Body of Lies

October 10th, 2008 · Comments Off

Body of Lies opens with a quote about evil begetting evil. But try as you might, you will not be able to come to a conclusion about who drew first blood. Whether the wicked chicken or the malevolent egg came first is entirely in the eye of the beholder in this slick, genuinely thoughtful but […]

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City of Ember

October 10th, 2008 · Comments Off

Thirty-one-year-old director Gil Kenan, who’s only other film, Monster House, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Film, now gives us a shadowy, sci-fi version of Goonies in keeping with the more sinister feeling world in which we now live. City of Ember is an obsessively creative and wondrous film, proving beyond a […]

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The Express

October 10th, 2008 · Comments Off

Let’s face it, we may never see an original sports movie ever again. Every last one has already been made. The last truly original sports movie (and one of the best) was Rudy, because it was never a story about winning — it was a story about heart. The Express shares a lot of Rudy’s […]

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Beverly Hills Chihuahua

October 4th, 2008 · Comments Off

This is an abridged version of a review I wrote for Christianity Today Movies. To read the rest of this review, click here.
Ay, Chihuahua! Beverly Hills Chihuahua is better than its premise and trailer might lead you to believe. But not by much.

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Religulous

October 3rd, 2008 · Comments Off

There is no arguing with faith. Not that that stopped the political humorist and one of America’s sharpest social critics, Bill Maher in his hilarious and thought-provoking new documentary, Religulous. They say that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Maher comes on like honey, but the provocateur is an unrepentant vinegar man.

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Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist

October 3rd, 2008 · Comments Off

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist is a film about love, friendship, music and one very well traveled piece of gum. Brazen yet bashful, Infinite Playlist is a delight of a film, leavened with a phosphorescent soundtrack and enough quirky performances to last the rest of the year.

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Appaloosa

October 3rd, 2008 · Comments Off

The quintessential American genre, the Western, has been mercifully roused to life of late. The latest entry, Appaloosa, is firmly grounded in genre orthodoxy even as it teases at the edges of nonconformity. The results are decidedly mixed.

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Flash of Genius

October 3rd, 2008 · Comments Off

Try imagining the pitch for Flash of Genius: “It’s a true story about the guy who invents the intermittent windshield wiper blade and his subsequent fight for recognition. I’m telling ya, this thing is gonna write itself.” On its face, it’s not exactly the sort of story that sets studio heads’ hearts aflutter. So it’s […]

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Blindness

October 3rd, 2008 · Comments Off

Blindness comes with an established pedigree. Adapted from Portuguese Nobel Laureate José Saramago’s lauded book, the film is directed by Academy Award-nominee Fernando Meirelles (City of God) from a screenplay by Tony Award-winner Don McKellar (Broadway’s The Drowsy Chaperone) and stars Academy Award-nominee Julianne Moore. It would be easy to assume, given that sort of […]

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Miracle at St. Anna

September 26th, 2008 · Comments Off

Miracle at St. Anna wants with all its impressive might to be more than just a war movie. But director Spike Lee bites off far more than he can possibly chew and ends up choking on his overindulgence. Part murder mystery, part war epic, part political polemic, part sentimental melodrama, this episodic film is a […]

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