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Weekend Movie Guide: Number 5 is alive!
But where the hell is Fisher Stevens? | Photo courtesy of Disney
Sooner or later Pixar has to release a dud, right? They can't just keep releasing great film after great film can they? Won't the odds eventually catch up to them? Maybe not. The early critical reception for Wall-E has been nothing short of ecstatic. If you thought the first ten, dialogue-free minutes of There Will Be Blood were pure cinematic brilliance, wait till you see the first thirty, dialogue-free minutes of Wall-E.
Considering that Night Watch and Day Watch were little more than special-effects porn, can one really expect Wanted to be any different? Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman star as part of a league of assassins who recruit the doe-eyed James McAvoy into their secret fraternity. Considering that premise, is there any doubt that Wanted can go ahead and line up for next year's Razzies? And will Angelina Jolie ever go away? Please?
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Any chance of a Brittany Snow love scene? Any chance at all? | Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures
If writer-director Peter Tolan can deliver any of the gold that he mined during his Larry Sanders and Rescue Me days, then Finding Amanda will be a definite winner. The perenially underrated Matthew Broderick (The Freshman and Election are both perfect films) stars as an aging producer who travels to Vegas to convince his niece (the equally underrated Brittany Snow) to enter rehab. Sounds like a grimy, indie winner.
Beastie Boy Adam Yauch returns to the director's chair for Gunnin' For That #1 Spot. Given that the NBA draft was just yesterday, many of the film's stars will be easily recognizable--Michael Beasley, Jerryd Bayless, Donte Green and Kevin Love all compete in the Elite 24 basketball tournament in Rucker Park, Harlem. This doc is a revealing glimpse into the rarefied world of young, elite athletes who are tempted everywhere.
In Red Roses and Petrol, the great Malcolm McDowell stars as the patriarch of an Irish family who are all gathering for his wake. McDowell's character was a bit of a rake during his life so naturally his family leaned to the dysfunctional side. It is at the wake that all the old wounds slowly open and the full measure of his life is finally revealed. Heather Juergensen--wonderful in The Hammer--shines as the youngest sister, Mebdh.
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This work is only possible with community support. Every investigation, service guide, and story is made possible by people like you who believe that local news is a public good and that everyone deserves access to trustworthy local information.
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