Josh Tate
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Is there a more captivating actress right now than Rebecca Hall? She alone would get me into the theater to see Please Give. The fact that Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt join her and Nicole Holofcener directs makes it the easiest decision of the weekend. Did we really need another A Nightmare on Elm Street? Seems to me that Jackie Earle Hailey is just being asked to re-do his awesome Rorschach voice from Watchmen. Will...
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When the subject is Andy Kaufman, people seem to divide into two fairly distinct camps: those brilliant few who recognize him as a comic genius years ahead of his time and the fucking idiots who should probably be put to sleep by the government. While Andy Kaufman: World Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion doesn't offer anything new to the devoted Kaufman-phile, it does package it all together nicely. Buy it for a friend or your mom today!...
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Considering the former magnitude of her fame, it was expected that Jennifer Lopez's The Back-up Plan would at least eke out a box office victory this weekend. Nope! The little animated movie that could -- How To Train Your Dragon -- topped the charts for a second consecutive weekend ($15M | $178M), easily beating J-Lo's rancid "romantic comedy" ($12.2M). Date Night continues to chug along nicely despite not being nearly as funny as either The...
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I'm not particularly looking forward to seeing The A-Team -- err, I mean, The Losers this weekend, but it may be the best of a bad bunch. Oceans obviously looks amazingly cool, but I'm not completely on board with it's pro- to neutral position on sharks (aka, the serial killers of the sea). Subtitles will scare away many, but the brave will be rewarded by No One Knows About Persian Cats if they dare to...
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3-D televisions are still a technology of the near-future so everyone who buys Avatar will be watching it in good old-fashioned 2-D. Absent the gloriously immersive world created by James Cameron, will audiences be distracted by the obvious plotting and tinny dialogue? Jeff Bridges should have won an Oscar long before getting one for Crazy Heart (The Fisher King anyone?). While his turn as Bad Blake didn't blow me away, it was a solidly professional...
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The smart money had the fantastic Kick-Ass winning the weekend box-office race after a month of promotion and hot buzz. Good thing people can't bet on movie futures yet, because How to Train Your Dragon experienced a strong surge in its third weekend to best all comers. Thanks to a huge amount of screens and the benefit of premium 3-D prices, the DreamWorks kid pic raked in $20M ($158.6M) to edge Matthew Vaughn's hard-R comic...
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The months-long wait to see Kick-Ass is almost over! Can't wait! May see it twice this weekend. Sure it may be nihilistic and inappropriate (e.g. the obvious sexualization of a pre-teen Chloe Moretz), but God damn if it doesn't feel full of energy and evil wit. Plus, it features good Nic Cage (as opposed to bad Nic Cage). What I won't see is the astonishingly unnecessary re-make of Death at a Funeral. It begs the...
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'Handsome Harry'...Because 'Cutesy Kelly' Was Already Taken | Photo courtesy of Worldview Entertainment There may no longer be a country for old men, but Handsome Harry proves there's still kino for them. Harry plants itself proudly in the old boys' club, where women are no good, sons are all-too-wayward and there's nothing a bottle of scotch won't fix. When retired sailor Harry Sweeney (Jamey Sheridan) receives once-crewmate Tom Kelly (Steve Buscemi)'s dying wish for...
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You know it's a slow day at the DVD counter when the highlight of the week is a Blu-Ray release of a fifteen year-old film. Sure Apollo 13 is a solid flick -- maybe even Ron Howard's best -- but the prospect of seeing it again doesn't particularly get my juices going. As a fan of Richard Curtis, I wish I could recommend Pirate Radio, but the comedy in it just seems a little forced...
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While most of the smart money had the godawful Clash of the Titans repeating as box office champ, it was the scrappy Date Night -- the middling movie that could -- which ultimately won the weekend. The marginally funny "comedy" hauled in $27.1M to best the marginally mythologically accurate Clash ($26.8M | $110.4M). The wonderful How to Train Your Dragon enjoyed a strong third weekend ($25.3M | $133.8M) while Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get...
Stories by Josh Tate
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