Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
I don’t understand all the criticism toward Stephen Daldry’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Yes, it takes place directly after 9/11, what young Oskar calls “the worst day,” but the movie is about much more than that specific tragedy in our history. It’s about how people cope with tragedy in general, how to deal with loss...
Continue ReadingYoung Adult
The re-teaming of screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman proves Juno was no fluke. Their collaboration with Young Adult is inspired, a scalding black comedy about the queen b_ _ _ ch in high school and everyone’s worst nightmare — except now she’s 37 and returning to her hometown. The movie is cynical and goes down like a sour shot,...
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The Muppets
The gang’s all here — plus some new faces — in Disney’s wonderful take on The Muppets. When Walter, who is considered the Muppets’ biggest fan, and his friends (played by Jason Segel and Amy Adams), go to visit Walter’s idols, he finds their theater nearly falling over in neglect. This would be a disheartening sight for any Muppet fan, but when...
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The Ides of March
“Society must be better than the individual.” These words are spoken by Governor Mike Morris during the fictional Ohio presidential primary at the heart of The Ides of March. The line is also the fundamental message of the film. Interesting, considering Morris (played by George Clooney, who directs the film) is little more than a secondary character, a...
Continue ReadingContagion
I went in expecting to panic. The premise of Steven Soderbergh’s new movie Contagion is that of a world-wide pandemic that kills off millions of people. Of course, this viral warfare brings out the worst characteristics of the human race as they all face hardships such as death, hunger and fear. The world is grey and glum. So yes, I expected to leave panicked...
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The Help
Like 2009’s The Blind Side, The Help may be accused of falling into the genre of nice-white-lady-helping-out-the-less-fortunate films. This argument is a little unfair; I feel that The Help has far more to offer audiences than this trite synopsis may lead you to believe. Based on a popular novel by Kathryn Stockett, The Help is set in 1960s Mississippi....
Continue ReadingHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
It all ends. For Harry Potter fans all over the world, this film marks our last big hurrah. I was privileged to be part of a generation of children who grew up right along with the characters. When book seven was released, we still had the films to look forward to — that little bit of hope to keep our imaginations alive, and hold onto our childhoods. Now...
Continue ReadingMidnight in Paris
Summer is our time to slow down. Take some time to take a breath and engage in hopefully a certain amount of self-indulgence. What would you do if you could do anything? Would you lie in a hammock and read all day? Would you walk the streets of Paris at night trying to figure out how to follow your dreams? Do you still indulge in following those dreams? Midnight...
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Movie Review: Bridesmaids
Ladies, heed a word of advice. Do not go see Bridesmaids with your mother-in-law. This raucous, laugh-out-loud romp is what my mother-in-law would term “scandalous.” Apparently Hollywood, in the form of Judd Apatow, the mastermind behind Superbad and Knocked Up, decided we women needed our own movie driven by “shock value.” We certainly got it. Kristen...
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Scream 4
When the first Scream came out, part of its popularity was based on the novel ways it got the scare. It was hip and campy and made you jump in your seat. As with any good franchise, the newest installment seeks to recreate this horror movie magic. Scream 4, directed by Wes Craven, opens on the 10th anniversary of the original “Woodsboro Massacre.” Neve...
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Movie Review: Red Riding Hood
You can’t blame them for trying. With all the hoo-ha over vampires and werewolves in entertainment, you just knew “Little Red Riding Hood” was going down. Heck, they even got the director of the original Twilight film, Catherine Hardwicke, to take on this classic fairy tale. I think our English teachers would be shaking their heads glumly. Red Riding...
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Movie Review: Just Go With It
I started my day flipping through the Sports Illustrated swim suit issue. This cast a somewhat gray pallor over my psyche. I’m not going to lie, I was grumpy and in no mood to see some shallow, silly movie with a spring chicken bikini goddess and a not-so-spring-chicken bikini goddess, (Brooklyn Decker and Jennifer Aniston, respectively). I expected the...
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