50/50 Those are the odds of Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) beating cancer. Good thing writer Will Reiser and director Jonathan Levine crafted a movie that’s funny and sad in exactly that ratio. Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen (as the best friend) play well off each other. (MJS) Attack the Block Joe Cornish injects fresh energy into the […]
Matt Semansky
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The Devil Inside: It’s hard to believe we need a place called hell
It’s tempting to call this the nadir of both the demonic possession and found-footage horror sub-genres, but one suspects there will always be filmmakers willing to dig deeper craters. For now, director William Brent Bell claims the dubious record for futility with this inept fusion of Exorcist rehash and shaky-cam gimmickry. A “documentary” camera follows […]
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The Adventures of Tintin action-packed but deficient
Steven Spielberg uses motion-capture animation and a script based on the Hergé comic books to get back into the family blockbuster ring, revealing a surprising degree of rust along the way. The opening act, in which he introduces us to boy reporter Tintin (Jamie Bell) and his quest to find a treasure lost in a […]
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The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo‘s ferocious grip
Preceded by Stieg Larsson’s novels and the Swedish film series, Hollywood’s first Girl film mostly meets its great expectations. The dark material suits director David Fincher, who has a unique ability to draw audiences in without much action or emotional insight. Here, his trademark visual gloom washes over Daniel Craig as a disgraced journalist trying […]
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Top 11 of 2011
Settle in and read our critics’ picks of the year. Learn about yourself and our writers in the process. Possibly a two coffee read and at least one of those coffees should have whiskey in it. MUSIC BOOKS DVDS VIDEO GAMES THE LOT OF IT
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Best DVDs of 2011
Carsten Knox Coast writer since 2003 Bobby Fischer Against the World (Mongrel) Directed by Liz Garbus Once upon a time, chess champions were famous. This doc follows the chaotic life of the biggest ever, and how pressure to compete drove him off the rails. Bruce Springsteen, The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge […]
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Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows chokes in the homestretch
Robert Downey Jr.’s ability to simultaneously serve as an action hero, a serious dramatist and a sly comedian has driven his two big-budget franchises, Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes. Downey brings all his talents to bear again here as the brilliant sleuth pitted this time against his most famous nemesis, Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris), who’s […]
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Machine-tooled, pro-grade Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol
{image-1] Big, loud and proud, the fourth movie in the Mission:Impossible series delivers exactly what it promises. Tom Cruise and his fellow secret agents are forced undercover after they’re blamed for a Kremlin bombing and have to find the real culprit, a nuclear terrorist (Michael Nyqvist) bent on reheating the Cold War. Of course, this […]
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Matt Semansky’s Top 11 DVDs of 2011
Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest (Mongrel) Directed by Michael Rapaport Carlos (Mongrel) Directed by Olivier Assayas Daydream Nation (eOne) Directed by Michael Goldbach Everything Must Go (Maple) Directed by Dan Rush Will Ferrell straps on his serious face and succeeds as an alcoholic left jobless, wifeless and alone on […]
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The Sitter never stands up
Now that he’s proven himself with meatier fare like Cyrus and Moneyball, Jonah Hill suddenly seems underserved by lowbrow comedy. That’s certainly the case in this misfire directed by David Gordon Green, which re-imagines Adventures in Babysitting with Hill’s profane slob in the Elisabeth Shue role. While taking care of a socially awkward tween (Max […]
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No champagne for New Year’s Eve
Oh shit. Garry Marshall seems to have concocted a plan for his twilight years in the director’s chair: an annual collaboration with screenwriter Katherine Fugate and an army of celebrities wherein an already-overhyped holiday gets ground into saccharine mush. This one follows the same template as last year’s Valentine’s Day, with multiple rom-com storylines acted […]
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Arthur Christmas plucky fun
Sarah Smith’s animated feature begins with an exhilarating presentation of Santa’s worldwide Christmas Eve gift drop as a high-tech military mission overseen by the bearded one’s humourless son and heir apparent, Steve (Hugh Laurie). Meanwhile, Steve’s good-hearted but clumsy brother Arthur (James McAvoy) just tries to stay out of the way. But when Steve’s operation […]