“Why are all your moves so smart and noble and I’m always the idiot piece of shit?” I have never played a serious game of poker in my entire life–hell, I don’t think I’ve ever really taken part in any poker game, serious or casual, either in the company of friends or among jaded professionals. […]
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For 1 Year, 100 Movies, contributor/filmmaker Trey Hock is watching all of AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movies list (compiled in 2007) in one year. His reactions to each film are recorded here twice a week until the year (and list) is up! I have thoroughly enjoyed the conversation that has developed around my piece on […]
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Here is Eric’s KTKA-49 review of “The American” starring George Clooney. His print review of the movie is right here: Movie Review: The American
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On paper, this week’s entry should be a total failure. It features a former child actor, a hackneyed kung fu plot, and some special effects that are economical at best. Add to that some vague Chinese mythology as the backdrop and a soundtrack that was composed by the director and his editor and it should […]
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Just listen to the lyrics! This song is sick and wrong (and fascinating). The fact that its being performed by The Louvin Brothers, a gospel/country duo comprised of real-life brother Charlie and Ira, makes it even creepier. It’s a true snapshot of the hard-fought lessons from ages ago. Released in 1956 on their debut record […]
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“I don’t subscribe to the credo that there’s enough room for everyone to be successful. I think there are only a few spots available, and people like Dick Koosman and Bono are taking them up.” Can a film whose central characters are uniformly unlikable be dramatically compelling in their midst? Eric thought so in his […]
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Seeing Double is the Scene-Stealers series that celebrates the only thing better than watching one movie—watching two movies. We look for a more perfect cinematic union as we view and discuss a pair of movies chosen either for things they have in common or things they don’t. The films may be old or new, obscure […]
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Make no mistake: Just because Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete” revolves around timely issues like anti-immigrant xenophobia and Hispanic stereotyping doesn’t mean he gives them the respect and critical treatment they deserve. Instead, he does what any low-budget genre filmmaker worth his salt-covered wound did in the 1970s: He exploits the hell out them. “Machete” is the […]
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Machete Don’t Text
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When Cliff Secord finds a rocketpack in the passenger seat of his stunt plane, it should be an opportunity for the type of high-flying action perfect for a big-budget summer movie. Instead “The Rocketeer” becomes an exercise in monotony. And Insomniac Movie Theater’s first cure for insomnia.
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What makes “The American” work as a thriller is not what it shows, but what it leaves out. There are no flashbacks and there is very little talk about the past. In fact, the first time we meet George Clooney’s character, we have no context at all. He’s at a cabin in the woods in […]
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