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Pixar reclaims a giant chunk of its formerly sterling reputation (after the disappointing <em>Cars 2</em>) with <em>Brave</em>, a princess story with a decided and delicious difference. The usual hallmarks of Pixar are very much in evidence: brilliant, breathtaking animation, sound design...
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A sci-fi crime drama enveloped in the web of a mystery story gets the 3D conversion treatment in Alex Proyas’ <em>I, Robot</em>. With the film’s creative visuals, it’s fairly easy to understand why Fox studio executives chose this movie for a 3D conversion, but, truth to tell, the film...
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Combining historical highlights in the life of our country’s sixteenth President with a fictitious underground life as a fearless vampire slayer, Timur Bekmambetov’s <em>Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter</em> makes for an occasionally entertaining but just as often ridiculous monster romp...
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It’s a funny thing about the strange and undoubtedly fabulous world director James Cameron created for his sci-fi fantasy <em>Avatar</em>: though the planet we see is sensationally phantasmagorical, its underlying story of corporate greed and brutish militarism at its most jingoistic is...
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The latest in Disney’s series of made-for-home video Tinker Bell adventures is <em>Secret of the Wings</em>, and like the others in the series, it’s a pleasant, family-friendly tale only this time offered in 3D for the first time as well as 2D. Truth to tell, though the main feature is...
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Ranked among the American Film Institute’s Top Ten in the mystery genre, <em>Dial M for Murder</em> is a fine film from the master, Alfred Hitchcock. Based on a play broadcast on the BBC, it is the story of a man scorned, who bided his time evolving the perfect plan to murder his cheating...
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Make no mistake about it: Ridley Scott’s <em>Prometheus</em> is a prequel to <em>Alien</em>. There were some denials issued before the film’s theatrical release, but rest assured that H.R. Giger’s beloved monster is alive and well and living somewhere within the bowels of this entertaining...
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The kind of superhuman effort it must have taken to coordinate the schedules of the major actors so they could participate in Marvel’s <em>The Avengers</em> would be worthy of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Hawkeye, and the Black Widow’s powers combined. Marvel’s epic assemblage...
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With almost half of its running time dedicated to exciting action and flawless special effects, it is sometimes easy to forget that this grand scale smash hit is a love story at heart. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star as two young travelers who, despite the chasm of social status...
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The most infamously unsuccessful movie at the box-office thus far in 2012 (though <em>Battleship </em>and <em>Dark Shadows</em> may give it some competition), Andrew Stanton’s <em>John Carter</em> mixes elements of science fiction, fantasy, and western lore into a moderately entertaining...
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Len Wiseman’s <em>Underworld</em> was a terrific piece of entertainment. It introduced the stunning Kate Beckinsale in a <em>Matrix</em>-style tight black shiny outfit and a franchise for Sony Pictures which seems to continue to grow in popularity. The concept behind the series is...
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I feel bad for Michael Bay. He doesn’t seem to get a fair shake from fair sized segments of the movie going public and many critics who serve as their ‘taste testers’. There are plenty of legitimate criticisms that can be levied against Bay; <em >Pearl Harbor</em> was too liberal...
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End of the world stories continue to get a great deal of play. From the Zombie plague in AMC’s <em >The Walking Dead</em> to the alien invasion of TNT’s safe <em >Falling Skies</em>, television seems to have become fertile playground for the stories which largely filled the...
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There have been a number of adaptations of Alexandre Dumas’ proletariat power trio, <em >The Three Musketeers</em> for the big screen; the gallant escapades of Athos, Porthos, Aramis and eager and young D’Artagnan, are well-known in the literary and movie going world. Director...
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<em>The Adventures of Tintin</em> is not well-known in the United States though fans around the world, particularly in Europe, are legion. Creator Hergé (whose real name is Georges Remi), created a plentiful bounty of exciting tales for the young reporter Tintin to undertake. For this...
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<em>Hugo</em>, based on Brian Selznick’s <em>The Invention of Hugo Cabret, </em>is a delightful movie experience; a tale of loss, love, meaning and purpose all disposed to lovingly reflect on the magic and wonder of cinema and the journey of finding ones way. It is a testament to...
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<strong>Conan The Barbarian</strong> is an unsuccessful attempt to reboot the Conan stories, using a fairly good script but fairly poor direction and mostly unimpressive performances. While the movie was shot well for 2D exhibition, it was then converted to 3D in post-production...
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Craig Gillespie’s <em>Fright Night, </em>a remake of the 1985 movie of the same name, is a nasty piece of goods. Eschewing the general air of geniality and horrific fun that marked the original version of the story, the remake is ugly and brutal, made for nihilistic 21st century...
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<strong>Sea Rex 3D</strong> is an interesting travelogue through the world of undersea dinosaurs, transferred over from the IMAX format to 3D Blu-ray. As such, it’s a typical short IMAX documentary, in that much of the time is spent with a narrator providing a lot of scientific detail...