A Walk Among the Tombstones

Someone is murdering the wives of New York drug dealers in the diabolical mystery A Walk Among the Tombstones, an appealingly low-key detective thriller featuring a top-of-his-game Liam Neeson as independent private detective Matthew Scudder, author Lawrence Block’s hardboiled crusader featured in 17 of…

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The Possession of Michael King

For awhile, the supernatural thriller The Possession of Michael King, about an atheist documentarian and grieving widower who turns to the supernatural for answers, delivers the goods—ingenious concept, strong acting, palpable atmosphere and some genuine scares.  And while there’s nothing quite new in David…

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Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

There’s one thing to recommend—or maybe two—in Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s tediously stylized mayhem opus Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, and that’s a delicious Eva Green as a scheming femme fatale who leads several men to doom. Green, who similarly elevated…

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What If

When writing a screenplay intended to be “offbeat,” it’s probably not a good idea to employ a shopworn and predictable plot, as is the case with the untenable new romantic “comedy” What If, starring a pair of otherwise accomplished actors playing exactly two conditions—haplessly…

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I Origins

Great films always divide viewers, and I Origins, and Mike Cahill’s superbly thought-provoking examination of skepticism, belief, science, religion, true love and the existence of the soul, will be no exception.  As his second picture, following 2011’s notable Another Earth, I Origins reveals Cahill’s…

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Edge of Tomorrow

A tale told with sound and fury signifying perhaps the best big-budget sci-fi action movie since Avatar, director Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow is proof positive that a summer superthriller needn’t be mindless, this one so innovative in its storytelling and satisfying in its…

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The Fault in Our Stars

It’s been some time since I’ve felt overwhelmed by a movie, or maybe just a character. Perhaps even longer since I fell in love with one. That happened a few days ago, and I think I still have butterflies. In the unabashedly tear-inducing movie…

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Maleficent

The main reason to see Maleficent, the new revisionist take on Sleeping Beauty featuring heavy doses of girl power and even more CGI, is its most special effect, a silky smooth performance by Angelina Jolie as the titular, anti-heroic villainess in spite of herself.  Heretofore…

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X-Men: Days of Future Past

Forget about it being a summer franchise picture, because X-Men: Days of Future Past is a thoughtful and thematically dense anti-blockbuster, a movie full of ideas that largely eschews huge action set-pieces through most of its running time in favor of a surprisingly compelling…

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Chef

The very definition of a crowd-pleaser, Jon Favreau’s Chef is as amiable and enjoyable a comedy as in recent memory, and one that ultimately works on sweetness and a solidly charming performance from its writer/director/star, whose film has real heart and big laughs.  Chef…

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