The supernatural-inflected teen romance genre butts uncomfortably up against an apocalyptic survival story in How I Live Now, which opens this weekend at AMC Studio 30 in Olathe and Liberty Hall in Lawrence.
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Reviews
Chris Hemsworth returns at the titular thunder god in a movie that is a combination sci-fi, fantasy and Dr. Who that works – barely.
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The new documentary Muscle Shoals, which opens this weekend at the Tivoli Cinemas in Westport (please check out their Kickstarter page to upgrade their projectors to digital and stay in business), posits that the spirit of community forged by the musicians that created this music was part of its magic, and listening to it in the movie, it’s hard to argue.
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Ultimately, what makes writer/director Gavin Hood’s streamlined adaptation of Ender’s Game successful is its devotion to the awakening conscience of its main character, criticized by some as “the innocent killer.”
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Eric Melin sez:
Rock Fist Way Up
Rock Fist Way Up
Essential Criterion Box ‘John Cassavetes: Five Films’ out on Blu-ray
What happens when you watch John Cassavetes: Five Films, the new Blu-ray set from The Criterion Collection, is a deeper appreciation for a writer/director who was interested in telling stories about people.
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Inevitability is a theme that is foreshadowed, warned about, and then played out in grisly fashion throughout The Counselor, which is crammed with so much nihilistic philosophizing that it makes the fatalistic tirades of Killing Them Softly seem like Fried Green Tomatoes.
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Blu-ray picks up the deep reds and blues that populate so many of the shots and displays them in breathtaking high definition. When coupled with the film’s penchant for brutality, the result can be as terrifying as it is alienating.
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How does one make lines upon lines of computer code exciting to the eye? Director Bill Condon doesn’t know either, and can show you in The Fifth Estate.
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Like most modern remakes, few of the character motivations remain ambiguous. It isn’t a deal-killer, but the script fills in too many of the blanks of the original with clearly drawn lines that lessen the film’s visceral impact.
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Catherine Hardwicke ‘s new movie Plush, out on DVD this week, is another overheated melodrama in the vein of Twilight, but with even worse music and tons of actual sex, rather than characters just obsessing over the prospect of it.
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Ultimately, the film is too long and doesn’t hold up the tension or danger long enough. Hanks lends his Phillips some emotional heft, but the typical heroics of the Hollywood thriller seem out of place in this style of presentation.
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This is Machete as a comic book character, rather than just one tough hombre. He’s gone full Superman here — nothing can kill him. This Machete belongs in the kid’s toy section next to the Robocop and Predator action figures that somehow crossed over from R-rated movies to Saturday morning cartoons.
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‘From Here to Eternity’ went on to win Best Picture and seven other Academy Awards and, according to the Blu-ray itself, help usher in a new era in “frankness” in motion pictures. Danny Kaye’s quick delivery and physical comedy skills are on display in the Technicolor “backstage” musical comedy On the Riviera, out now on Blu-ray.
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The visuals, the cinematography, visual effects and sound design should garner your respect, but if you’re interested in more than just a rich visual buffet, Gravity can keep you busy pondering its many layers.
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There is such detail in every frame that this is one movie you need to see in on the big screen to get the full effect.
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