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Articles

• That's Entertainment (G)

  

  

  MOVIES

  Ken Hanke | 1 day ago

  Genre: Compilation Documentary

  Director: Jack Haley, Jr.

  Starring: Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, Liza Minnelli, Debbie Reynolds

  In Brief: Riding in on the last of the late 1960s/early 1970s nostalgia wave, That's Entertainment positioned itself as a documentary about the Hollywood musical. In truth, it was a two-hour commercial for MGM that presented one seriously skewed version of film history. That's not to say the film doesn't include some pretty impressive (and more than a few clunker) musical numbers — all culled from the MGM library — but it presents a very small fragment of the movie musical genre as if it was the whole story.

  4 comments

  49 views

• The Ladykillers (R)

  

  

  MOVIES

  Ken Hanke | 1 day ago

  Genre: Comedy

  Director: Joel and Ethan Coen

  Starring: Tom Hanks, Irma P. Hall, J.K. Simmons, Marlon Wayans, Tzi Ma

  b>In Brief: The Coen Brothers' much misunderstood reimagining of the 1955 Ealing Studios Comedy of the same name finds Tom Hanks taking on the role originated by Alec Guinness — and making it his own. That's much the same thing the Coens did with the film — adhering to the basics of the story about a group of not-very-adept criminals using the home of an unsuspecting little old lady as their base of operations, while creating something completely fresh and original. It deserves another chance.

  6 comments

  78 views

• Godzilla Raids Again (NR)

  

  

  MOVIES

  Ken Hanke | 1 day ago

  Genre: Sci Fi

  Director: Motoyoshi Oda

  Starring: Hiroshi Koizumi, Setsuko Wakayama, Minoru Chiaki, Takashi Shimura

  In Brief: It's the first Godzilla sequel and, despite the fact that it was rushed to cash in on the original film so that it was in theaters within four months of Godzilla, it's still a reasonably good entry. It's also the last of the series that can be taken seriously — at least sort of seriously. As far as Japanese giant monster pictures are concerned, Godzilla Raids Again is something of an essential.

  0 comments

  50 views

• House of Good and Evil (NR)

  

  

  MOVIES

  Ken Hanke | 1 day ago

  Genre: Psychological Horror

  Director: David Mun

  Starring: Rachel Marie Lewis, Christian Oliver, Marietta March, Jordan Rhodes

  In Brief: This year's feature film winner of the Twin Rivers Media Festival marks the first time a horror movie has taken the prize. But David Mun's House of Good and Evil isn't your typical horror film. Rather, this is psychological horror about a couple trying to get their lives — and marriage — back on track in the wake of a tragedy by moving into an isolated old house in the country. What happens there isn't at all what they expect. Not everything in the films works — it goes on too long and it cheats a bit — but it's a well-acted, good-looking film that plays up atmosphere more than shocks.

  0 comments

  77 views

• Walk Don't Run (NR)

  

  

  MOVIES

  Ken Hanke | 1 day ago

  Genre: Comedy

  Director: Charles Walters (High Society)

  Starring: Cary Grant, Samantha Eggar, Jim Hutton, John Standing, Miiko Taka

  In Brief: Pack Memorial Library concludes its Cary Grant series with — appropriately enough — Grant's last film, Walk Don't Run. It's an agreeable enough remake of George Stevens' 1943 comedy The More the Merrier — moved from crowded wartime Washington to crowded Tokyo during the 1964 summer Olympics. The problem with it — from a box office standpoint — was that audiences wanted Cary Grant as a leading man, and what they got was Grant as a middle-aged businessman playing matchmaker for Jim Hutton and Samantha Eggar. It just wasn't a popular idea, though it plays better now as a lesser tier Grant picture.

  0 comments

  47 views

• Star Trek Into Darkness (PG-13)

  

  

  MOVIES

  Ken Hanke | 1 day ago

  Genre: Science Fiction

  Director: J.J. Abrams (Star Trek)

  Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Benedict Cumberbatch, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg

  The Story: Kirk and the rest of the Enterprise crew of the are sent on a mission to deal with a terrorist out to destroy Starfleet. The Lowdown: The plotting gets clunky and the action could be handled more effectively, but the characters — improved from the first film — keep this Star Trek entry mostly worth watching.

  6 comments

  117 views

• Java Heat (R)

  

  

  MOVIES

  Ken Hanke | 1 day ago

  Genre: Action

  Director: Conor Allyn

  Starring: Kellan Lutz, Mickey Rourke, Ario Bayu, Frans Tumbuan

  The Story: A young American of dubious truth joins forces with a Muslim police detective to take down a crime lord and the terrorists he's helping. The Lowdown: An impossibly convoluted story, a pair of likable leads, a nasty villain and some solid action scenes make this OK, but ultimately not terrific. On its own aims, it's not bad.

  4 comments

  67 views

• Gimme the Loot (NR)

  

  

  MOVIES

  Justin Souther | 8 days ago

  Genre: Drama

  Director: Adam Leon

  Starring: Tashiana Washington, Ty Hickson, Meeko, Zoë Lescaze

  The Story: Two small-time graffiti artists concoct a plan to tag the large, mechanized apple at the Mets’ Citi Field, but must scrounge up $500 to make it happen. The Lowdown: A small, natural-feeling indie flick with a ton of heart.

  5 comments

  162 views

• The Great Gatsby (PG-13)

  

  

  MOVIES

  Ken Hanke | 8 days ago

  Genre: Drama

  Director: Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!)

  Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Elizabeth Debicki, Isla Fisher

  The Story: Film version of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. The Lowdown: A big, daring, audacious interpretation of the novel that brings it to life in ways you probably never dreamed possible. It's every inch a Baz Luhrmann film, so that will probably tell you a lot. You may not like it, but I'm calling it a must-see. Truly visionary filmmaking is so rare.

  12 comments

  433 views

• No (R)

  

  

  MOVIES

  Ken Hanke | 8 days ago

  Genre: Historical Drama

  Director: Pablo Larraín (Post Mortem)

  Starring: Gael García Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Luis Gnecco, Néstor Cantillana, Antonia Zegers

  The Story: Fact-based drama about the campaign to overthrow Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet at the ballot box — and the marketing campaign that made it happen. The Lowdown: Funny, suspenseful, compelling entertainment that may only tell part of its historical story, but does so brilliantly.

  3 comments

  194 views
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