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Blu-Ray Review: ‘Mother and Child’ Offers Riveting Showcase For Actors
CHICAGO– No director treasures silence more than Rodrigo García. He doesn’t want anything to get in the way of the audience’s connection with his characters and the extraordinary actors who play them....
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Blu-Ray Review: Woody Allen’s ‘You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger’
CHICAGO– “My relationship with death remains the same. I’m strongly against it,” mused Woody Allen at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, during the press conference for his latest London-set comedy. The...
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Blu-Ray Review: Naomi Watts, Sean Penn Carry ‘Fair Game’
CHICAGO– Two of the best living actors shine in Doug Liman’s “Fair Game,” the (mostly) true story of Joe and Valerie Plame Wilson, two people who became symbols of the abuse of power of the Bush...
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Film Review: Not Much to Build Upon in Vague ‘Dream House’
CHICAGO– Mixing three actors with great reputations – Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts – with Jim Sheridan, a six time Oscar nominated director, would assume to yield some fruitful results....
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Film Review: Leonardo DiCaprio Embodies the G-Man in ‘J. Edgar’
CHICAGO– Much of history is determined by the petty quirks and strange psychosis of “great leaders.” J. Edgar Hoover, FBI director for 48 years, worked hard to hide his very nature by squelching the...
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Blu-ray Review: Leonardo DiCaprio Shines in Clint Eastwood’s ‘J. Edgar’
CHICAGO– With all due respect to Damián Bichir, George Clooney, Jean Dujardin, Gary Oldman and Brad Pitt, I believe that the three best lead performances by an actor in 2011 were entirely overlooked by...
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Blu-ray Review: ‘The Ring’ Remake Initially Frightens Before Going in Circles
CHICAGO– I have a certain begrudging affection for Gore Verbinski’s 2002 remake of Hideo Nakata’s 1998 thriller, “Ringu,” despite the fact that I know in my heart of hearts that it doesn’t really work....
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Film Feature: The Best Lead Performances of 2012
CHICAGO– I worked my way through the best supporting performances of 2012 earlier today and I’m back with the much-stronger array of actors and actresses who challenged themselves with great leading...
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Interview: Director Juan Antonio Bayona Recreates ‘The Impossible’
CHICAGO– Juan Antonio Bayona’s “The Impossible,” starring Tom Holland, Naomi Watts, and Ewan McGregor, is one of the most emotionally wrenching films in years (and my #7 film of 2012). The movie...
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Film Review: Shattering Power of True Story of ‘The Impossible’
CHICAGO– Juan Antonio Bayona’s “The Impossible” captures what its title implies. It transports us to an unimaginable situation, into an absolute nightmare in which air is replaced by rushing water,...
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