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All is Lost **** Short Take: A man struggles to survive after being lost at sea. Reel Take: All is Lost is a huge departure from J.C. Chandor’s last film Margin Call, the talky Wall Street drama. In this minimalist tale, Robert Redford plays a man on a solo sailingContinue Reading

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Aint Them Bodies Saints **** Short Take: After a robbery gone wrong, a man takes the rap for shooting a cop and is robbed of a life of with the woman he loves. Reel Take: David Lowery’s Aint Them Bodies Saints is tailor made for the art house circuit. TheContinue Reading

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2 Guns ***1/2 Short Take: Old school buddy movie benefits from above average plotting, crisp action scenes, and winning performances from Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg. Reel Take: August seems to be the month of retreads as opposed to remakes as far as my movie going is concerned. All threeContinue Reading

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Monthly Reel Inspired by Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger, our Chip Kaufmann has written an epic article about The Lone Ranger at 80. So I’ll keep this month’s cinematic thoughts and ponderings short, sweet and to the point. 1. I want to be Helen Mirren when I grow up. TheContinue Reading

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Before Midnight **** Short Take: The third chapter in the lives of Jesse and Celine in the Before Sunrise trilogy. Reel Take: For those of us of a certain age, the characters of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julia Delpy) in Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise, epitomized true love. Although theContinue Reading

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The Great Gatsby **** Short Take: Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic novel is a Roaring Twenties extravaganza and assault of the senses, befitting Fitzgerald’s own world of excess. Reel Take: A little leeway must be granted with any film adaptation of a great novel. In the caseContinue Reading

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42 **** Short Take: Beautiful, old fashioned biopic on Jackie Robinson may be too reverential for some but its ability to take you back in time and tell its story puts it on the level of The Natural and Eight Men Out. Reel Take: Only the snarkiest critics are sayingContinue Reading

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Dead Man Down *** Short Take: This modern attempt at a film noir is a real train wreck of a movie and yet another example that a big budget and a high powered cast do not guarantee success. Reel Take: It no longer comes as a surprise when a foreignContinue Reading