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Movies

Untitled (Review)

A peek at the sincerity beneath absurdity in Manhattan's art world

By Cole Smithey

Adam Goldberg embodies Adrian Jacobs, a pretentious avant-garde composer and leader of an experimental musical trio called New Sound Ensemble, in Jonathan Parker's send up of Manhattan's art world. In showing the sincerity beneath the absurdity of the experimental art world, Parker gives a window of empathy for the brittle characters on display. Grade: B.

Movies

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Review)

Nicolas Cage deliriously over the top as drug-addled homicide detective

By Jason Gargano

German wild-man Werner Herzog blissfully resurrects old-school Nicolas Cage in this hilarious, noir-infested tale about a drug-addled homicide detective whose disintegration (both moral and physical) coincides with that of his hurricane-ravaged hometown. Cage hasn't been this deliriously over the top since 'Wild at Heart.' Grade: A-.

Movies

Dear John (Review)

Romantic melodrama piles on the schmaltz

By tt stern-enzi

Lasse Hallstrom's adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel 'Dear John' places his usual relationship melodrama against the topical backdrop of wartime service. Sparks' stories are known for sentimental and soap-lite scripting, but Hallstrom's marks the first time that, as a critic, I came to understand the pejorative meaning of "chick flick." Grade: D-.

Movies

Off to See the Blizzard

When the snow cleared at Sundance, the documentaries were way ahead of the fiction films

By Scott Renshaw

As the films in the Sundance Film Festival's U.S. Dramatic Competition category — the centerpiece for potential discoveries — started to roll, it was easy to wonder if it was all worth it. Thank heavens for the documentaries, which again provided the brilliance so often missing from the fiction features.


Movies

The Anti-American Dream

Right-wing pundits are going nuts over Avatar's 'anti-American' sentiments

By Terry Smith

While conservative political pundits pile on 'Avatar,' one can't help wondering whether the right has finally tired of attacking President Obama and his administration. But they're wrong: The public clearly prefers to see a movie where the revolutionaries throw out the SOBs in power than one where the SOBs in power brutally crush the rebels. It's also why so many of us despise the New York Yankees.


Couch Potato

View from the Couch

A discerning list of 2009’s best DVD releases

By Phil Morehart

Year-end “best-of” lists give me the jitters. Yes, I know: poor Phil. It’s true, though. Ranking 12 months’ worth of DVD releases is an overwhelming task. Worse still is the mad rush to watch as many as possible as the year fades in an effort to catch an overlooked title. The stacks of unwatched screeners that skyscraper over my desk only compound the nerves.


Movies And TV From The Alternative Press
Novelist Michael Kimball Pieces Together a New Kind of Narrative in '60 Writers/60 Places'
60 Writers/60 Places: On one hand, 60 Writers is little more than a series of vignettes featuring authors reading an excerpt of their works in some setting, shot with a static single-camera set up. On the other hand, it is a single-viewing experience composed of 60 completely different elements.... From Baltimore City Paper.
Stage Prodigy-Turned-Filmmaker Drake Doremus Brings 'Douchebag' to Sundance
Douchebag: Shoestring productions of personal stories such as that of Douchebag are exactly what Sundance co-founder Robert Redford was talking about at the previous day’s opening press conference, where he vowed the festival had returned to its roots of presenting groundbreaking new voices.... From OC Weekly.
Trading Down: Mythology Inflected Romp Has Nothing on Harryhausen
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief: Aside from some non-PG-rated emphasis on an abusive home life and a lot of underwhelming CGI, The Lightening Thief is a well-paced kids' action picture that flirts with Greek mythology to create its otherworldly spectacle.... From City Pulse.
Half-Eaten Chocolates: A Sampler You Don't Want to Give
Valentine's Day: Valentine's Day is yet another date movie that's less than the sum of its parts. The sheer number of A-list actors involved spells trouble. Jessica Biel, Julia Roberts, Jamie Foxx, and Anne Hathaway provide cast padding for the likes of B-listers Taylor Swift, George Lopez, and Emma Roberts.... From City Pulse.
'North Face': Alpine Tragedy Becomes Harrowing Film
North Face: Director Philipp Stölzl makes the movie a tad more political (i.e., anti-Nazi) than it needs to be, but Benno Fürmann's stoic performance reduces the story to its harsh, true fundamentals. Of the risks in climbing (as in life), he says, "You can be the best, but it's still a lottery."... From Seattle Weekly.
 
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