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Movie Review: THE IDES OF MARCH

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 10/07/2011

THE IDES OF MARCH movie poster | ©2011 Sony Pictures

Rating: R Stars: Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright, Max Minghella, Evan Rachel Wood Writers: George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon, based on the stage play FARRAGUT NORTH by Beau WIllimon Director: George Clooney Distributor: Columbia Pictures Release Date: October 7, 2011 THE IDES OF MARCH takes its title from Shakespeare’s play JULIUS CAESAR, referencing the date of the emperor’s assassination. Nothing quite so drastic happens in this drama, based on Beau Willimon’s stage play FARRAGUT NORTH (where most political consultants wind up after they’re done with the campaign trail), although […]Read On »

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Movie Review: REAL STEEL

By SEAN ELLIOTT

REAL STEEL movie poster | ©2011 DreamWorks

Stars: Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo, Evangeline Lilly Writer: Screenplay by John Gatins Story by Dan Gilroy & Jeremy Levin Director: Shawn Levy Distributor: Touchstone Pictures & Dreamworks Pictures Release Date: October 7, 2011 I will freely admit that I expected little or nothing from REAL STEEL. I kind of looked at like a film version of “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots” with Wolverine. I was pleasantly surprised at a film that has depth, nicely crafted story, and a lot of very touching scenes. Plus, there’s enough boxing and robots to make a ROCKY fan happy. The basic plot […]Read On »

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Movie Review: MARGARET

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 10/02/2011

MARGARET movie poster | ©2011 Fox Searchlight

Rating: R Stars: Anna Paquin, J. Smith-Cameron, Mark Ruffalo, Jeannie Berlin, Matt Damon, Jean Reno, Matthew Broderick, Kieran Culkin, Hina Abdullah, Allison Janney, Jonathan Hadary Writer: Kenneth Lonergan Director: Kenneth Lonergan Distributor: Fox Searchlight Release Date: September 30, 2011 Seventeen-year-olds tend to act without thinking often. But what if an action may have catastrophic, irrevocable consequences? How to take responsibility for this without wrecking the lives of everyone in sight? This is a tough issue even for adults – for high school student Lisa Cohen (Anna Paquin), it’s practically unbearable. In MARGARET, the trouble starts when Lisa, a Manhattan dweller, […]Read On »

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Movie Review: TUCKER & DALE VS. EVIL

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN

TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL movie poster | ©2011 Magnet Releasing

Rating: R Stars: Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss, Brandon Jay McLaren, Christie Laing, Chelan Simmons Writers: Eli Craig & Morgan Jurgenson Director: Eli Craig Distributor: Magnet Releasing Release Date: September 30, 2011 TUCKER & DALE VS. EVIL is an oddity. We can conceptually appreciate its plentiful jokes as they fly past, yet we don’t find ourselves laughing much. It’s not that the movie is unfunny in that awful way of comedies that fall flat, it’s just that, despite all the extreme gore, its quizzical tone doesn’t match the outrageousness it aims for but seldom achieves. Unless one […]Read On »

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Movie Review: ABDUCTION

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 09/25/2011

ABDUCTION movie poster | ©2011 Lionsgate

Rating: PG-13 Stars: Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Alfred Molina, Jason Isaacs, Maria Bello, Sigourney Weaver, Denzel Whitaker, Michael Nyqvist Writer: Shawn Christensen Director: John Singleton Distributor: Lionsgate Release Date: September 23, 2011 ABDUCTION feels so much like an adaptation of a young adult novel that it’s surprising to see that the script is an original (okay, according to the production notes, it’s based on an un-screen-credited idea by executive producer Jeremy Bell) by Shawn Christensen. Indeed, Christensen turns the original premise, and the title, into something of a red herring. There’s a sense of familiarity about the film, but it’s […]Read On »

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Movie Review: MONEYBALL

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 09/24/2011

MONEYBALL movie poster | ©2011 Sony Pictures

Stars: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright Writers: Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, story by Stan Chervin, based on the book by Michael Lewis Director: Bennett Miller Distributor: Columbia Pictures Release Date: September 23, 2011 To describe MONEYBALL accurately is to run the risk of making it sound like a number of things that it is not – dry, insular, too cerebral for the masses. Instead, it is about baseball in the way that THE SOCIAL NETWORK was about Facebook. Baseball is MONEYBALL’s universe, but the film actually makes the topic so universal that even people who […]Read On »

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BRIDESMAIDS is one of the Blu-ray and DVD picks this week

By PETER BROWN 09/22/2011

BRIDESMAIDS | © 2011 Universal Home Entertainment

Your time is short. We know this. So in order to expedite your buying and Netflix decision making, we provide you with a list of the cool and not-so-cool titles coming out for movies, television and everything in-between. So put your feet up, grab some popcorn and check out this week’s selections. Movies: BRIDESMAIDS – Now, I would not go as far as to say that BRIDESMAIDS is a chick flick. It is in a lot of ways. But it is also a pretty funny comedy. Kristen Wiig is good in the lead role but I gotta be honest gets […]Read On »

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Movie Review: STRAW DOGS

By RACHEL REITSLEFF 09/18/2011

STRAW DOGS movie poster | ©2011 Screen Gems

Stars: James Marsden, Kate Bosworth, Alexander Skarsgard, James Woods, Dominic Purcell, Laz Alonso, Willa Holland, Walton Goggins, Drew Powell, Rhys Coiro, Billy Lush Writer: Rod Lurie, based on the screenplay by David Zelag Goodman and Sam Peckinpah, based on the novel THE SIEGE AT TRENCHER’S FARM by Gordon Williams Director: Rod Lurie Distributor: Screen Gems Release Date: September 16, 2011 In 1971, director/co-screenwriter Sam Peckinpah made a heavily controversial splash with STRAW DOGS, an adaptation of the Gordon Williams novel THE SIEGE AT TRENCHER’S FARM. Dustin Hoffman starred as an American academician who moves to a rural village in England […]Read On »

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Movie Review: DRIVE

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN

DRIVE movie poster | ©2011 Film District

Stars: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Oscar Isaac, Albert Brooks Writer: Hossein Amini, based on the book by James Sallis Director: Nicolas Winding Refn Distributor: FilmDistrict Release Date: September 16, 2011 DRIVE gets off to a promising start, introducing us to our Driver protagonist (Ryan Gosling), a movie car stunt expert by day, a getaway driver by night and an occasional mechanic at a Valley garage when he’s not doing either of his more hazardous professions. We meet the Driver as he’s giving his rules to two robbers who manage not to screw things up […]Read On »

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Movie Review: THE DEBT

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 09/11/2011

THE DEBT movie poster | ©2011 Focus Features

Rating: R Stars: Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, Ciaran Hinds, Jessica Chastain, Marton Czokas, Sam Worthington, Jesper Christensen, Romi Aboulafia Writers: Matthew Vaughn & Jane Goldman and Peter Straughan, based on the Israeli film HA-HOV written by Assaf Bernstein & Ido Rosenblum Director: John Madden Distributor: Focus Features/Miramax Release Date: September 2, 2011 Based on the 2007 Israeli film HA-HOV, THE DEBT moves fluidly between two timelines over thirty years apart. In 1997, Rachel Singer (Helen Mirren) and her ex-husband Stephan Gold (Tom Wilkinson) are jointly proud of their daughter Sarah (Romi Aboulafia), who has written a book about their heroic […]Read On »