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In Heat: A Writer Struggles To Keep His Cool
School’s out, the sky is blue, and that summer sloth will be cured by just one thing—caffeine, and lots of it. Thus coffee shops are still the hangout du jour in the summertime, a place to chit-chat...
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Rock, Paper, Twitter: Fassbender Gives Good Head In ‘Frank’
There’s a thin line between genius and madness. Or, if Frank is to be believed, no line at all. Frank is the sort of movie that sneaks up on you all at once. If I had, for some reason, walked out of...
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The One I Love Is Strange: Two Movie Marriages Put To The Test
It’s official. 2014 is the year of the doppelganger. I said it before, and I’m saying it again. I may even say it again a time or two before the end of the year, if the trend continues. Two...
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Bread And Circuses: Um, So, Yeah… What The Hell Is ‘Enemy’ About?
Enemy is one of my favorite films of this year. But not everyone feels that way. The film’s surprising and confounding ending has left many scratching their heads, searching for meaning. I know,...
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The Five Best Fucking Film Podcasts
Back in the pre-podcast era (circa 2000 or so), I used to claim that I hated talk radio. “I don’t like people yammering on in my ear!” I claimed. As it turns out, though, I do like people yammering in...
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‘Starred Up’ For What: Jack O’Connell Is The New Tom Hardy
The strong, silent type is a character that goes all the way back to the beginning of cinema… but that’s mostly because those movies were silent. Still, stoic males have been front and center in...
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Dad’s Dead: The Sad, Squabbling Siblings Of ‘The Skeleton Twins’&‘This Is...
“Dad’s dead.” These are the first words of the book This Is Where I Leave You, spoken by Wendy Foxman. How does she say it? “Offhandedly, like it’s happened before, like it happens every day. It can be...
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‘Gone Girl’ Wild: Marriage And Media Are The Real Killers In Fincher’s Latest
Marriage is a contract. We select one person we love and trust, and pledge to continue loving and trusting them until our dying breath. We give them equal stake in all our assets. We promise to be with...
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Tempo Tantrum: J.K. Simmons Drums Up A Terrifying Case Of ‘Whiplash’
Annabelle. Gone Girl. Ouija. It’s no accident that such films are released in October. That’s when audiences are most in the mood to be thrilled and chilled, perhaps even killed, at the movies. Most...
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Hero To Zero: Keaton Returns In ‘Birdman’
What has Michael Keaton been up to lately? I don’t know the answer to that. I know he’s appeared in a handful of movies I haven’t seen (and have no desire to see) such as RoboCop and Need For Speed. He...
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Gone Girls: Ranking David Fincher’s Films From Least To Most Feminist
The secret is out. If you don’t know the main twist in Gone Girl by now, then I feel sorry for you, because you will undoubtedly be spoiled any minute now, given the level of buzz the film has...
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10 Reasons ‘Black Swan’ And ‘Birdman’ Are Actually The Same Movie
Birdman is one the year’s most critically beloved films. It features brilliant performances, breathtaking filmmaking, an off-the-beaten-path score, and unfolds in one long unbroken take (but not...
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‘Rigby’ Goes Down: Marriage Is A Bummer From Both Perspectives
Marriage is hard work. Ben Affleck said it, rather awkwardly, in his Oscars acceptance speech for Argo, allowing us to wonder what hells he and Jennifer Garner had been through that caused him to...
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Media Noche: Jake Gyllenhaal Is Bad News In ‘Nightcrawler’
The media is sleazy. We all know this. Films like Network and To Die For have highlighted the unscrupulous methodology of the news media in a way that, if you didn’t look carefully enough, might even...
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Anti-Gravity: Nolan’s ‘Interstellar’ Is OK To Go
Last year, Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity blew us away. Not everyone loved the film, but most could agree that it was dazzling to behold on the big screen (especially in 3D) and one giant leap forward in...
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Mother Of The Year: Oscar-Caliber Turns In ‘Still Alice’&‘Mommy’
Do you want to cry like a baby? Then boy, have I got a pair of films for you. Julianne Moore is one of the most reliable actresses in Hollywood. I daresay she’s never turned in a bad, or even close to...
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P.A. Confidential: The Myth Of Movie Magic Exposed!
(Throwback Thursday: A glimpse back at my reasonably short-lived days as a production assistant, and what it taught me about making movies. First published in INsite Boston in April 2006.) Astronauts...
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The Gun Show: Tatum, Ruffalo & Carell Brawl In ‘Foxcatcher’
In its most extreme realizations, the American dream means being the best. Foxcatcher is about three men who already are the best, and want to be better. It is the based-on-a-true-story story of Mark...
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These Boots Are Made For Sobbing: Witherspoon Goes ‘Wild’
Much has been made of the weak Best Actress race this year. The Best Actor field is filled to the brim with potential nominees, enough to fill ten slots with worthy performances from 2014. The Best...
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Los Angeles Flays Itself: Cronenberg Tours Hollywood In ‘Maps To The Stars’
If you live in or around Hollywood, you’re likely to see open-top buses filled with tourists, taking a tour of your home like it’s Disneyland. I happen to live near a lot of the attractions on these...
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