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Movie Review: MAGIC MIKE

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 07/01/2012

Rating: R Stars: Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matthew McConaughey, Cody Horn, Olivia Munn, Matt Bomer, Riley Keogh, Joe Manganiello, Kevin Nash, Adam Rodriguez, Gabriel Iglesias Writer: Reid Carolin Director: Steven Soderbergh Distributor: Warner Bros. Release Date: June 29, 2012 It should be noted that in a thoroughly unscientific poll taken by this reviewer, virtually every heterosexual woman queried wanted to see MAGIC MIKE. Most of them did not care what the plot was like, or whether there would even be a plot. This may demonstrate that there’s a relatively untapped audience out there eager for male eye candy, or it […]Read On »

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WRATH OF THE TITANS Highlights DVD and Blu-ray Releases for the Week

By PETER BROWN 06/29/2012

WRATH OF THE TITANS | (c) 2012 Warner Home Video

Your time is short. We know this. So in order to expedite your buying and Netflix decision making, we provide you with a list of the cool and not-so-cool titles coming out for movies, television and everything in-between. So put your feet up, grab some popcorn and check out this week’s selections. Movies WRATH OF THE TITANS – There isn’t a lot of meat to the sequel to the remake of CLASH OF THE TITANS. Bad guys are out to do bad things in awaking a mammoth creature of old, Kronos, by draining the power of Zeus (Liam Neeson). Of […]Read On »

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Movie Review: BRAVE

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 06/24/2012

BRAVE movie poster | ©2012 Disney * Pixar

Rating: PG Stars (voices): Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Julie Walters, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd Writers: Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell and Brenda Chapman & Irene Mecchi, story by Brenda Chapman Directors: Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman, co-director Steve Purcell Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures Release Date: June 22, 2012 BRAVE, the latest release from Disney/Pixar, has a lot going for it. For starters, the screenplay by Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell and Brenda Chapman & Irene Mecchi, from Chapman’s story, has the feel of true mythology to it, even though it is original. Second, the 3D animation of humans […]Read On »

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Movie Review: ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 06/23/2012

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER movie poster | ©2012 20th Century Fox

Rating: PG-13 Stars: Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rufus Sewell, Marton Csokas, Jimmi Simpson, Joseph Mawle, Robin McLeavy Writer: Seth Grahame-Smith, based on his novel Director: Timur Bekemambetov Distributor: 20th Century Fox Release Date: June 22, 2012 Normally, this reviewer is a believer in substance over style – what a movie is about, its story, its ideas, its emotional impact and its performances normally take precedence over what the film looks like. However, this is not true of ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER. It’s probably possible, perhaps even easy, to find out what director Timur Bekmambetov and […]Read On »

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Movie Review: ROCK OF AGES

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 06/16/2012

Rating: PG-13 Stars: Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Tom Cruise, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Malin Akerman, Bryan Cranston, Paul Giamatti, Mary J. Blige Writers: Justin Theroux and Chris D’Arienzo and Allan Loeb, based on the stage musical book by Chris D’Arienzo Director: Adam Shankman Distributor: Warner Bros. Release Date: June 15, 2012 ROCK OF AGES the movie is adapted from ROCK OF AGES, the Broadway jukebox musical. A “jukebox musical,” for those unfamiliar with the term, is a show with a non-original score – in this instance, think MAMMA MIA!, but with Eighties rock and pop instead of ABBA […]Read On »

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Movie Review: SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 06/14/2012

SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED poster | ©2012 Film District

Rating: R Stars: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnston, Karan Soni, Jenica Bergere Writer: Derek Connolly Director: Colin Trevorrow Distributor: Film District Release Date: June 8, 2012 In the mid-Nineties, the following ad actually ran in a survivalist magazine: “WANTED: Someone to go back in time with me. This is not a joke.P.O. Box 91 Ocean View,WA 99393. You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.” With this as a jumping-off point, writer Derek Connolly and director Colin Trevorrow have crafted a disarmingly funny film that […]Read On »

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SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS Highlights DVD and Blu-ray Releases for the Week

By PETER BROWN

SHERLOCK HOLMES A GAME OF SHADOWS | (c) 2012 Warner Home Video

Your time is short. We know this. So in order to expedite your buying and Netflix decision making, we provide you with a list of the cool and not-so-cool titles coming out for movies, television and everything in-between. So put your feet up, grab some popcorn and check out this week’s selections. Movies SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS – I wasn’t a big fan of the first SHERLOCK HOLMES movie as I never really got behind the legendary detective as an action hero versus, you know, doing actual investigative work. So when the sequel came out I wasn’t expecting […]Read On »

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Movie Review: PROMETHEUS

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 06/10/2012

PROMETHEUS movie poster | ©2012 20th Century Fox

Rating: R Stars: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, Logan Marshall-Green, Sean Harris, Rafe Spall Writers: Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof Director: Ridley Scott Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Release Date: June 8, 2012 Prior to PROMETHEUS, director Ridley Scott has, in his prolific career, made only two other science fiction films. However, those two films were ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER. It’s hard to imagine what current science fiction (and, in the case of ALIEN, creature horror) films would look like without those two seminal features in the canon, except to say that things would be different. […]Read On »

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Movie Review: SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN

By CARL CORTEZ 06/02/2012

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN poster | ©2012 Universal Pictures

Stars: Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Sam Claflin Writers: Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock, Hossein Amini Director: Rupert Sanders Distributor: Universal Pictures Release Date: June 1, 2012 After Julia Roberts tore through scenery in the campy MIRROR, MIRROR early this year, prospects for the second big studio reboot of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale certainly didn’t look promising. However, SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN has just the right amount of reinvention and visual panache, that it turns out to be a pretty decent movie. The story is way too familiar, which is one of its big drawbacks, but director […]Read On »

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Movie Review: MEN IN BLACK 3

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 05/26/2012

MEN IN BLACK 3 movie poster | ©2012 Sony Pictures

Rating: PG-13 Stars: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Jemaine Clement, Michael Stuhlbarg, Emma Thompson Writer: Etan Cohen, based on the Malibu Comic by Lowell Cunningham Director: Barry Sonnenfeld Distributor: Columbia Pictures Release Date: May 25, 2012 When it came out back in 1997, MEN IN BLACK was delightful, pitting Tommy Lee Jones’ formidable deadpan as the ultimate secret government agent against Will Smith’s forthright persona as a new recruit against satirical alien spectacle. It was funny, it was inventive and it felt like the creation of people who had things they wanted to say and jokes they wanted […]Read On »