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Melancholia / ***½ (R)
Posted Friday, December 2, at 4:16 PM Lars von Trier's latest opus "Melancholia" is like a symphony imagined on screen, telling an intimate story that spans the cosmic into profound examination of humanity's universal desires and fears. Wow, I'm not sure I could've made it sound less appealing. Like all of Von Trier's work, it is a challenging movie. It's a challenge that yields unique and exquisite reward, however...
J. Edgar / *** (R) "Reputation is an idle and most false imposition, oft got without merit, and lost without deserving." --William Shakespeare, "Othello" Act II, sc. 3. John Edgar Hoover, the man often credited with the creation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, could hardly be accused of being an idle man, but in the eyes of many of his detractors he was best seen as an opportunist, worst as a fraud. ...
A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas / *** (R) New Line Cinema presents a film directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson. Written by Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg. Running time: 90 min. Rated R (for strong crude and sexual content, graphic nudity, pervasive language, drug use and some violence). As I walked into "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas"--the only guilty pleasure movie for which I can remember feeling such high (wink, wink) anticipation--the guy handing out the 3D glasses says to me with obvious disdain, "Do you like Harold & Kumar?" I told him I enjoyed the previous two movies in the franchise. ...
Puss in Boots *** (PG) The globalization of our society is well under way, and DreamWorks Animation's newest feature film is proof of that. When I was a child, the notion of watching a kid's movie where the use of the Spanish word 'leche' was not explained to the dumbfounded American audience was unthinkable. Today, it's easy enough to figure out that Puss in Boots is referring to his glass of milk when he demands his leche using the thick Hispanic accent of Antonio Banderas...
Ryan Gosling drives the show in the new thriller "Drive". FilmDistrict presents a film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. Written by Hossein Amini. Based on the novel by James Sallis. Running time: 100 min. Rated R (for strong brutal bloody violence, language and some nudity)...
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides / **½ (PG-13) The "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy took the series through an entire life of evolution. Beginning with "The Curse of the Black Pearl" as depthless fun that mixed good action sequences, lighthearted humor and somehow mild horror into the mix, the series then morphed into an epic special effects extravaganza that offered criticism about the modern financial world of corporate rule in the form of the East India Trading Company in "Dead Man's Chest". ...
Scream 4 / *** (R) Dimension Films presents a film directed by Wes Craven. Written by Kevin Williamson. 111 min. Rated R (for strong bloody violence, language, and some teen drinking). The truth is I've never found any of the "Scream" films to be all that scary. That doesn't mean I don't think they're good movies. ...
Your Highness / ** (R) Universal Pictures presents a film directed by David Gordon Green. Written by Danny R. McBride & Ben Best. Running time: 102 min. Rated R (for strong crude and sexual content, pervasive language, nudity, and some drug use). Remember getting together with four or five of your closest junior high school friends in your parent's basement, stocking up on Cheetos and Mountain Dew, pulling out your favorite Dungeons & Dragons character to do battle with the beasts of the land, and spending most of your time bitching about how when you're older they'd all understand that you guys had it right all along; and all those parents and jocks who ridiculed you for wasting your time on kids stuff would see that true social skills amounted to nothing compared with knowing how to wield a broadsword with a dice. ...
Sucker Punch / ** (PG-13) Warner Bros. Pictures presents a film directed by Zack Snyder. Written by Snyder & Steve Shibuya. Running time: 109 min. Rated PG-13 (for thematic material involving sexuality, violence and combat sequences, and for language). A girl in an outfit that looks like some sort of sailor's whore house fantasy jumps twenty feet into the air over a giant iron oriental soldier with a Gatling gun. ...
Battle: Los Angeles / **½ (PG-13) What would happen if you took a realistic war film, like Ridley Scott's "Black Hawk Down", and applied the filmmaking and story telling philosophies from that movie to the plotline of an alien invasion movie, like "Independence Day"? You would get Jonathan Liebesman's "Battle: Los Angeles". ...
Rango / ***½ (PG) Every time you see the sun you hear a faint sizzling sound. Someone is diverting the water away from a western desert town. A steel guitar pangs lonesome notes on the soundtrack. Every frame is filled with dust and dirt. Is this Clint Eastwood's long awaited return to the great American film genre, the western? No. It's the first foray by George Lucas's cinematic tech child, Industrial Light & Magic, into the increasingly lucrative CGI animation/family entertainment market...
The King's Speech / **** (R) It's difficult to see the full scope of a movie like "The King's Speech". Upon first glance, it's a personal film that tells the story of a man struggling to overcome the demon of his own speech impediment and the friendship he forms with the man responsible for helping to overcome his defect. This is the level on which "The King's Speech" has catapulted itself into our immediate pop cultural iconography as a treasured entertainment...
TRON: Legacy / *** (PG) Almost 30 years ago the motion picture business was revolutionized by a little movie called "TRON". It was a confusing movie to the public at large with its techno-babble dialogue involving "programs" and "users," but it gave us images unlike any we'd seen before. Many weren't sure what to make of it. Some praised it as revolutionary. If you look back at it today, it may still seem strange, and it certainly won't look like an amazing technical achievement. But, that's what it was...
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 / *** (PG-13) Warner Bros. Pictures presents a film directed by David Yates. Written by Steve Kloves. Based on the novel by J.K. Rowling. Running time: 146 min. Rated PG-13 (for intense action violence, frightening images, and brief sensuality). I've spent a good deal of time thinking about "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1" since seeing it. ...
Megamind / *** (PG) What happens when the supervillain prevails? Find out in the new animated comedy "Megamind". DreamWorks Animation SKG presents a film directed by Tom McGrath. Written by Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons. Running time: 96 min. Rated PG (for action and some language)...
Unstoppable / **** (PG-13) When I first heard about "Unstoppable", the fifth feature film collaboration between star Denzel Washington and director Tony Scott, I didn't think much of it. Their best film together was their first, the submarine thriller "Crimson Tide"; and they've had diminishing quality returns ever since. ...
Let Me In / ***½ (R) I have called the Swedish film "Let the Right One In" the greatest vampire movie ever made. I erroneously omitted it from my list of the top 25 films of the past decade earlier this year. It is one of those pictures that I continually fail to do justice to when trying to describe its greatness in words. Now, comes the American remake, more simply titled "Let Me In". Fortunately, the title is the only major element of the movie that is simplified for American audiences...
The Social Network / **** (PG-13) "How do you distinguish yourself in a population of people who all got 1600 on their SAT?" -- Mark Zuckerberg, "The Social Network" The simple answer to that question is to invent the most innovative and inclusive social media networking website the Internet has seen. ...
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps / *** (PG-13) 20th Century Fox presents a film directed by Oliver Stone. Written by Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff, based on characters created by Stanley Weiser & Oliver Stone. Running time: 133 min. Rated PG-13 (for brief strong language and thematic elements)...
The Town / ***½ (R) Warner Bros. Pictures presents a film directed by Ben Affleck, Written by Peter Craig and Affleck & Aaron Stockard. Based on the novel "Prince of Thieves" by Chuck Hogan. Running time: 124 min. Rated R (for strong violence, pervasive language, some sexuality and drug use)...
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A Penny in the Well  - Blog RSS feed ![[Feed icon]](http://www.theconcordianonline.com/images/icons/feed-icon-14x14.png){kind=icon} - Comments RSS feed - Send email to Andrew D. Wells - Login Andrew is a professionally trained actor and stage director. He was a reporter for the daily newspaper The Marshall Democrat News. He has been critiquing film since Mr. Lucas released the first of his "Star Wars" prequels in 1999.
Hot topics Melancholia / ***½ (R)(0 ~ 4:16 PM, Dec 2)
J. Edgar / *** (R)
A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas / *** (R)
Puss in Boots *** (PG)
Drive / ***½ (R)
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