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Barton Fink - R
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December 30, 2009
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N/A
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Blood Simple - R
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December 30, 2009
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N/A
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The Quick and the Dead - R
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December 29, 2009
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N/A
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Sherlock Holmes - PG-13
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December 29, 2009
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N/A
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Intermission - R
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December 26, 2009
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N/A
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Avatar - PG-13
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December 23, 2009
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N/A
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Matchstick Men - PG-13
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I feel robbed. Three fourths of the movie are excellent, but the ending dashes all of that to pieces. The movie held my attention with a good multi-part plot, and Nicolas Cages' performance as an OCD con man was awesome. In fact, all of the performances were great, the choice of music and filming set an excellent mood/style, and the script was great....until the end. In the end, a great big lump of a twist was just thrown in the movie, making almost all of the movie's characters fake and erasing almost all of the solid motives, actions, and character development that had made the movie interesting. On top of that, the twist was very sketchy to the point of being unbelievable. It relied on some impossible character manipulation and even more impossible prediction. I also maintain that I thought of the twist in the middle of the movie, but discarded the idea because it seemed implausible at the time. I know that all of this is very ambiguous, but I don't want to give away the ending (If I did that, then there would be no point in watching the movie at all). Hey, some people may like the movie. I just thought the twist destroyed everything that was good about the rest of the movie. Some may argue that without the twist, the movie would be just another sappy character drama. I say that the outstanding performances and the layered story-line would make it a great character drama. Instead, all you have is an empty and fake movie that has the sole purpose of making you say "I never saw that comin'".
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December 23, 2009
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N/A
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Session 9 - R
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December 21, 2009
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N/A
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The Machinist - R
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December 21, 2009
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N/A
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Transsiberian - R
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December 21, 2009
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N/A
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Drag Me to Hell - PG-13
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December 21, 2009
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N/A
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Insomnia - R
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December 19, 2009
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N/A
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Constantine - R
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December 19, 2009
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N/A
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X-Men Origins - Wolverine - PG-13
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December 19, 2009
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N/A
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GoodFellas - R
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One of the best of all crime dramas, a movie that spotlights "the life". The life of course being the life of a mobster, complete with perks, downsides, upsides, domestic problems, and respect. The movie combines a narrative based on the true story of former mobster Henry Hill with a solid, well balanced story (being substantive and interesting). One of my favorite scenes shows some of the mobsters in jail, not as low-rent thugs, but as Goodfellas, still living the high life, even while in jail. Performance-wise, all of the actors play their parts in equally convincing ways. Joe Pesci in particular stands out with his fast-talking, supposedly improvised, monologues. The director (Scorsese) and his crew do a typically excellent job with the camera/sound presentation, and the perfectly chosen and placed sound track rounds the whole production off smoothly. The combined work ends up translating the smooth, hardball feeling of life in a mob as a "Goodfella".
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December 15, 2009
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N/A
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Public Enemies - R
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Another Michael Mann movie that does not disappoint. The camera work (which is the biggest turn off for most people) was my favorite part of the movie. It was done by using all digital, HD cameras, similar to other "hand-held, live action" movies like "Cloverfield" and "The Blair Witch Project". The live action, moving cinematography gives the whole movie the feeling of a COPS episode. The history and details of the movie were amazingly accurate. The only major difference between this movie and fact was the rearranging of a few characters deaths to make the movie's story more streamlined. Depp put on a straight-forward and at the same time, very subtle performance. One criticism of this movie is the lack of dramatic character development outside the realm of history, but I think that Depp dose a particularly good job at translating his character through simple actions. That is real acting. I thought that the worst part of the movie was Cotillard's character. She did a fine job, but Mann took way too many dramatic liberties with her relationship with Dillinger. Michael Mann's low point has always been his romances (except in his best films "Heat" and "Mohicans"). Of course, I can't complain too much, since the romance of the movie was one of the only things that kept the balance between documentary and drama. Christian Bale's character was flat, straight forward, and REALISTIC!!! He did an excellent job recreating a believable, true life man with subtle expressions and a distinctly non-Dark Knight voice. I don't understand all this "Batman voice" talk. Bale is known for having a different accent in all of his movies, and Public Enemies is no different. Really, I thought Steven Grahm's "Baby-Face" Nelson was absolutely fantastic. He (like most of the supporting cast) did not even feature prominently, and yet he stole every moment he was on camera. If he had had one or two monologues added into his performance, I would cry "supporting-actor Oscar". Billy Crudup also did a stand out job as the famous J. Edgar Hoover. One of the most disopointingly underdeveloped characters was Giovanni Ribisi's Alvin Karpis. I was expecting a whole lot more from this character, and would have liked to have seen him live up to his nickname "Creepy" Karpis. I am actually hopping that an extended directors cut will come out with more development of supporting characters. All in all, great movie, did not disappoint.
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December 15, 2009
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N/A
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Taxi Driver - R
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December 14, 2009
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N/A
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Jarhead - R
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December 13, 2009
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N/A
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Four Brothers - R
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December 13, 2009
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N/A
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Lords of Dogtown - PG-13
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December 13, 2009
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N/A
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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - PG
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December 13, 2009
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N/A
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Madagascar - PG
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December 13, 2009
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N/A
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The Man - PG-13
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December 13, 2009
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N/A
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The Brothers Grimm - PG-13
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December 13, 2009
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N/A
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Derailed - R
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December 13, 2009
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N/A
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2308 ratings
41 reviews
