This review originally appears on KTKA-49. The superhero genre gets an injection of good old fashioned patriotism when “Captain America: The First Avenger” hits theaters this weekend. Set during World War II, this Marvel Comics adaptation follows the adventures of a wimpy young man with a good heart who is turned into a muscular super […]
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In the midst of the summer movie season, comic book movie exhaustion and action overload has started to weigh heavily on me. Do we really need another film about a dude in a crazy suit, who punches other dudes in crazy suits? Isn’t there an upper threshold for the number of these films that can […]
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This review of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” appears on KTKA-49. To see how this film fits in with the rest of the series, read all the films ranked in order at Top 8 Harry Potter Movies. It all ends this weekend as “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part […]
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How do you conclude a fourteen-year literary and cinematic legacy? Well if you’re director David Yates and writer Steve Kloves and the movie is “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2,” then you make sure to toe the literary line, not wanting to excite or offend. This results in a film that is […]
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This review of “Horrible Bosses” appears on KTKA-49. “Horrible Bosses” has a very simple concept. Three lifelong friends—played by Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudeikis—go from thinking about killing their abusive bosses to actually plotting their murders. If the movie were a rich character drama or a suspense film, it would explore the dark […]
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“Beginners” is impossible to describe in a way that does justice to this oddly sad, oddly funny, and thoroughly enjoyable film from Mike Mills. It does tell the story of a son dealing with the death of two parents from cancer, the homosexuality of his father, and an exciting and troubled romance. In spite of […]
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This review of “Cedar Rapids” and “Elektra Luxx” on Blu-ray and DVD appears on KTKA-49. When “Cedar Rapids” hit theaters back in February, it barely made a mark at the box office. Maybe it was the fact that most of the movie takes place at an insurance conference in Iowa that kept people away. Or […]
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You might have heard that Tom Hanks’ new film, Larry Crowne, isn’t just an acting vehicle – Hanks also cowrote the script with Nia Vardalos, and he even dircted the picture. None of this is surprising, though, after seeing the film, as Larry Crowne could pass as the standard for an actor-directed film. In it, we follow […]
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This movie review of “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” appears on KTKA-49. The first “Transformers” movie was basically an absurdist teen sex comedy featuring sentient cars that turn into robots and some silly go-for-broke rewriting of American history. Its 2009 sequel was a more serious, more ridiculous, less fun version that lasted 2 ½ hours […]
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I’ll begin with an analogy. Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome (PSAS) is a medical condition, which is marked by consistent unwanted sexual arousal and orgasm. Those of us who don’t have the disease may grin or chuckle and think that PSAS might not be so bad. Those with the disease often describe it as distracting to […]
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This Blu-ray review of “Battle: Los Angeles” and “Tigerland” appears on KTKA-49. “Battle: Los Angeles,” released in theaters earlier this spring and “Tigerland,” a Vietnam-era movie from the year 2000, are both new out on DVD and Blu-ray. At first glance, the only thing they have in common is that they’re both war movies. Granted, […]
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This movie review of “Cars 2” appears on KTKA-49. Since Pixar’s “Cars” was released in 2006, we’ve been able to look forward to a new movie from the premier animation studio in America every summer. Every movie since then has been a huge box office success and has won Pixar the Best Animated Feature Oscar. […]
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With last month’s Bridesmaids becoming that rare surprise success with audiences, critics, and box office alike, many have insisted that the female raunchy comedy is about to get a moment in the sun. Perfectly timed, we have Bad Teacher arriving in theaters today, practically begging to be treated as a litmus test – was Bridesmaids […]
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Stupidity wins the day, as Mater the tow truck (Larry the Cable Guy) gets center stage in Pixar’s latest film, “Cars 2.” This movie takes on big oil and bungled friendships, while the globe-trotting Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) tears up the racing circuit, and Mater finds himself the master of inadvertent espionage. “Cars 2” opens […]
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Eric’s review was posted here already, but I watched “The Tree of Life” this past weekend and was also inspired to write this review: Watching “The Tree of Life,” one sentence kept recurring to me: “Humility is appropriate.” Is that statement with regard to writer and director Terrence Malick? Maybe, but given that he doesn’t […]
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