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Film & Screen
Footloose 2011
Following in its steps

Craig Brewer’s lightly revamped Footloose does not dishonor the well-loved original


One of the most common complaints that one hears about the entertainment world is how the backers of movies and Broadway shows are afraid to risk their investments on anything but a sure thing, whi...

October 20, 2011 12:00 PM | 0 0 comments | 22 22 recommendations | email to a friend
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Philip Seymour Hoffman, Max Minghella, Marisa Tomei and Ryan Gosling in The Ides of March
Backstabbing without blood

Idealists don’t stand a chance in George Clooney’s dark political drama The Ides of March


If the inner workings of political campaigns in America are really as coolly vicious as they are depicted in The Ides of March, and not just dramatically amplified to appeal to the most jaded cynic...

October 13, 2011 12:00 PM | 0 0 comments | 23 23 recommendations | email to a friend
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Joseph Gordon-Levitt, left, and Seth Rogen star in 50/50
Some of my best friends are malignant

Overrated cancer “comedy” 50/50 is neither particularly touching nor funny


Some weeks, it’s a challenge to find a movie that you really want to see – especially if you fall somewhere outside Hollywood’s core demographic of males in their late teens and early-to-mid-20s. T...

October 06, 2011 12:00 PM | 0 0 comments | 21 21 recommendations | email to a friend
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Ellen Barkin in Another Happy Day
Welcome to the family

Ellen Barkin is transcendent in edgy dark comedy Another Happy Day


One of the major attractions of the Woodstock Film Festival (WFF) is its focus on independent films, which usually means that you get to catch movies there that you wouldn’t normally see anywhere e...

September 29, 2011 12:00 PM | 0 0 comments | 27 27 recommendations | email to a friend
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Gwyneth Paltrow in Contagion
The dance of Death

Stephen Soderbergh and a crack cast of actors make Contagion creepily believable


For those of us lucky enough to be born in America in recent times, the only one of the dreaded Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse that most of us will encounter up close in our lifetimes is Death – o...

September 22, 2011 11:57 AM | 0 0 comments | 25 25 recommendations | email to a friend
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Emilio Aragón’s Paper Birds
Spanish gold

Emilio Aragón’s Paper Birds is a hidden treasure waiting to be discovered at this year’s WFF


There are a number of films appearing at this year’s Woodstock Film Festival (WFF) that will inevitably get a lot of hype because they involve big-name directors or performers. I’m not here to talk...

September 15, 2011 12:34 PM | 0 0 comments | 23 23 recommendations | email to a friend
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Helen Mirren in The Debt
The secret agent’s secret

Helen Mirren & Jessica Chastain share acting laurels as Israeli spy in The Debt


Who doesn’t love Helen Mirren? The Royal Shakespeare Company veteran and star of TV’s long-running Prime Suspect has won an Oscar for The Queen and been nominated for The Madness of King George, Go...

September 08, 2011 12:54 PM | 0 0 comments | 30 30 recommendations | email to a friend
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Zoe Saldana in Colombiana
Lithe, limber and lightweight

Colombiana is a fun romp – if you can turn off your plausibility alarm


Being a fan of the fantasy genre myself, I’m always a bit bemused by people who say that they don’t like fantasy and/or science fiction because they’re too “unrealistic” – then turn around and admi...

September 01, 2011 08:00 AM | 0 0 comments | 33 33 recommendations | email to a friend
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Jim Sturgess and Anne Hathaway in One Day
Crossing paths at cross-purposes

Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess dance around the inevitable for 20 years in One Day


First, a disclaimer: I haven’t read the novel One Day by David Nicholls, on whom the movie of the same name is based. I usually subscribe to the view that it’s almost always better to read the book...

August 26, 2011 10:51 AM | 0 0 comments | 29 29 recommendations | email to a friend
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Signe Baumane
Drawing swords

The Falcon in Marlboro hosts animation “Battle of the Sexes” this Wednesday


Who makes a better sex film: a man or a woman? Award-winning animators Signe Baumane and Bill Plympton believe that the answer can be achieved through mass debating. On Wednesday, August 31, the du...

August 25, 2011 10:49 AM | 0 0 comments | 28 28 recommendations | email to a friend
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