Tag: for your consideration
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For your consideration: Captain Phillips
You know the old saying, “There are three sides to every story. Yours, theirs, and the truth.” Well, we may need to add one. Yours, theirs, the truth, and the Hollywood version. There has been a lot of controversy over the portrayal of Captain Richard Phillips as a hero. Many of his actual crewmembers heavily…
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For your consideration: Lee Daniels’ The Butler
Forest Whitaker stars as Cecil Gaines, who for 34 years served as a butler in the White House. The film is loosely based on the real life of Eugene Allen, who I’m sure was a much more interesting man than the character Cecil Gaines. Lee Daniels’ The Butler tries to cover entirely too much in…
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For your consideration: All Is Lost
All Is Lost is a survival story of one man, played by Robert Redford, who encounters some big trouble on the Indian Ocean and must struggle to survive. The premise may be interesting, a la Cast Away, but I was lost and unimpressed with All Is Lost. There is a good reason why feature-length films…
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For your consideration: Cutie and the Boxer
This documentary shares the love and life of an unusual artistic couple, Ushio Shinohara and his wife Noriko. They first met in 1969. Ushio was a 41-year-old avant-garde artist in New York City. Noriko was a 19-year-old art student who idolized Ushio’s art and passion for his work. Ushio’s work often gained notoriety, appearing in…
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‘American Hustle’ breaks cookie-cutter con movie mold
It’s hard to decide who gives the best performance in American Hustle because each member of the cast brings uniqueness and depth to the story. The collection of con artists and the cops includes Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Jennifer Lawrence, all delivering like the perfect storm of fantastic filmmaking.
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For Your Consideration: Mud
Most would call this a coming of age drama, but Mud is much more than that! Matthew McConaughey stars as Mud, a fugitive who is hiding out on a small island in the Mississippi river. Mud is hopelessly in love with Juniper, played by Reese Witherspoon, and bounty hunters have made it impossible for the…
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For Your Consideration: In a World…
Written, directed and staring Lake Bell, In a World… is a comedy about a struggling vocal coach named Carol who aspires to make it big in the cutthroat world of movie-trailer voiceovers. Carol has got the talent and the desire, but is there any room for her at the top? Her biggest competition is her…
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For Your Consideration: ’42: The Jackie Robinson Story’
You won’t need to be a big fan of baseball to appreciate this film. 42 is about so much more than baseball. This biographical sports film about baseball legend Jackie Robinson will take you back to mid-forties America, when racism and segregation were commonplace. The film does use a lot of dramatic license, but if…
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For Your Consideration: Spring Breakers
This film is listed as a comedy and drama, but the only comedy to Spring Breakers is how bad it is. The premise: a bunch of barely legal girls (Venessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine) desperately want to go on spring break, but they can’t afford it, so they rob a restaurant…
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For Your Consideration: The Spectacular Now
If your best years were in high school, then you might want to re-think your life. The Spectacular Now is a coming of age romance, with a little more meat to it than just “boy meets girl…blah, blah, blah”. The two main characters, Sutter Keely, (Miles Teller) and Aimee Finecky, (Shailene Woodley) are complicated in…
