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Stories tagged: movies
Fri., Jan. 15, 2010
Hollywood seems poised for a big 2010
Hollywood may find it tough to match 2009’s record box-office revenue, yet studios have a cast of characters this year to make a run for their money. Among the gang:
Sun., Dec. 20, 2009
Paramount extends trial with Redbox
HOLLYWOOD – Paramount Pictures has put off a decision whether to enter into a five-year deal that’s riled half the Hollywood studios. The Viacom Inc.-owned studio has extended through June …
Fri., Dec. 18, 2009
‘Avatar’ brings James Cameron back in big way
A colossal budget, visionary technology and a down-to-the-wire workload on a film whose fortunes are a real question mark. James Cameron has been here before on little ditties called “Terminator …
Fri., Dec. 18, 2009
Story of ‘Precious’ touches the heart
The first 20 minutes of “Precious” – the full title of which is “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” – are so intense and pitched so high, you …
Fri., Dec. 18, 2009
‘Inglourious Basterds’ offers the unexpected in Tarantino-style
‘Inglourious Basterds’ Quentin Tarantino simultaneously surprises and reverts to form in this film set in France during World War II, which tells the fictionalized story of a special squad of …
Fri., Dec. 18, 2009
Post-apocalyptic world is all about survival in ‘Road’
The end, when it comes, may look a lot like this – gray skies shrouding the ash-covered ruins of civilization. And silence. Not a single child laughing, no dogs barking, …
Fri., Dec. 11, 2009
Disney debuts African-American princess heroine
For most of the last century, the Disney ’toon heroine was as white as, well … Snow White, the studio’s first feature-film superstar, who marked her debut in 1937’s “Snow …
Fri., Dec. 11, 2009
Review: Disney hits all the right notes with ‘Princess’
The last time we heard from the hand-drawn animators at Disney, they offered up the forgettable barnyard tale “Home on the Range.” Thankfully, the spirit of animation maestro Walt Disney …
Fri., Nov. 27, 2009
‘Ninja Assassin’ fails to prop genre
In Japan, where the blades are shiny and sharp and if the fake blood isn’t staining the lens, you’re not trying hard enough, there’ s a rich tradition of sword-and-splatter …
Fri., Nov. 27, 2009
‘Old Dogs’ is no more than mild comedy
Trashing “Old Dogs” is a bit like kicking a puppy. But here goes. The new comedy from some of the folks who brought us “Wild Hogs” is badly written and …
Fri., Nov. 27, 2009
‘Angels & Demons’ needs deciphering
‘Angels & Demons’ Praying for another $750 million absolution at the global box office, the fairly unholy trinity of Tom Hanks, director Ron Howard and “The Da Vinci Code” author …
Fri., Nov. 27, 2009
Review: ‘Boondock Saints II’
“Boondock Saints,” the 1999 film that achieved cult status on DVD, was a ridiculously over-the-top action film about a pair of Irish-American twins who set out with guns and some …
Fri., Nov. 27, 2009
Review: ‘Paris’
Were you forced to cancel your trip to Paris this year? Then hurry, please, to “Paris,” Cedric Klapisch’s intoxicating portrait of a city that, despite (or, more likely, because of) …
Tue., Nov. 24, 2009
Bleak Mount St. Helens provides movie backdrop
With a few cosmetic tweaks, Mount St. Helens provided the right devastation to serve as a backdrop for scenes in John Hillcoat’s film “The Road.”
Sun., Nov. 22, 2009
One more night for Banff Mountain Film Festival
Top shows from the Banff Mountain Film Festival are screening at the Bing Crosby Theater in Spokane.
Fri., Nov. 20, 2009
‘Bruno’ fails to get beyond its crudeness
‘Bruno’ The latest mock-documentary satire from comic provocateur Sacha Baron Cohen is mostly a misfire.
Fri., Nov. 20, 2009
Slick, cute ‘Planet 51’ falls flat
How might a kid – OK, a teenager – protect himself from that dreaded fate described in legions of sci-fi movies (including “The Fourth Kind”): the anal probe? If you …
Fri., Nov. 20, 2009
Filmmaker wisely lets ‘Blind Side’ tell itself
The redemption- minded sports flick “The Blind Side” serves its inspiration straight-up with no twist. Writer-director John Lee Hancock wisely lets the true story of Michael Oher – the African-American …
Fri., Nov. 20, 2009
‘Damned United’ truly a kick
You don’t have to be a soccer expert, or even know all that much about the sport, to get sucked into the competing personalities and personal dramas of “The Damned …
Fri., Nov. 20, 2009
‘The Beaches of Agnes’
“Imagining oneself as a child is like running backward,” says the French filmmaker Agnes Varda in her enchanting new biographical film, “The Beaches of Agnes.” And through the film, she …
Mon., Nov. 16, 2009
Disney debuts black princess in animation
Holly Price Alford is over the moon about Disney’s first black princess. Her 8-year-old daughter is, too, but not because the princess is black. “She understands that this is a …
Tue., Oct. 27, 2009
King of Pop’s last work
Kenny Ortega was responsible for some of Michael Jackson’s biggest concerts, including what were planned to be his comeback shows in London. But in the singer’s final days before his …
Fri., Oct. 23, 2009
Not much bark in ‘Cirque’
With its impressive pedigree, “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant” should have been a show dog. Instead it’s a mutt.
Fri., Oct. 23, 2009
‘Boys Are Back’ packs honesty
Like Steven Spielberg, director Scott Hicks is tuned in to those everyday moments that touch our hearts. You may well cry – I did – at “The Boys Are Back,” …
Fri., Oct. 23, 2009
‘Amelia’ just doesn’t fly
Considering the risks Amelia Earhart took, losing her life in the call of aviation, Hilary Swank and director Mira Nair don’t put much on the line in their film biography …
Fri., Oct. 23, 2009
Latest ‘Transformers’ marked by special defects
‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ There’s so much swirling, relentless action, indistinct robot characterizations and over-caffeinated techies loose on the special-effects machines that this film, in mere seconds, achieves incoherence.
Fri., Oct. 23, 2009
‘Lorna’s Silence’ speaks loudly
Since turning from documentaries to fiction in the mid-1990s, the Belgian filmmaking brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have crafted a series of stunning if bleak dramas about Europe’s outcasts: the …
Fri., Oct. 23, 2009
‘Thirst’ takes vampires to an even darker level
The juvenile heavy-petting of “Twilight” gives way to all-out Korean kink in “Thirst,” a macabre, darkly humorous and at times nauseating vampire tale from the director of “Old Boy,” Park …
Fri., Oct. 16, 2009
Jonze focuses on childhood in ‘Where the Wild Things Are’
The promotional materials for Spike Jonze’s new film adaptation of “Where the Wild Things Are” kick off with this quote from the director: “I didn’t set out to make a …
Fri., Oct. 16, 2009
‘Paranormal Activity’ fun, scary
Some movies are a more shared experience than others, and that’s certainly the case with “Paranormal Activity,” a micro-budget horror flick about things that go bump in the you-know-what in …