Movie Review

This movie review of “Green Lantern” appears on KTKA-49. A brash, but talented young fighter pilot pursues romance, faces the biggest challenge of his life, and is forced to grow up and accept responsibility in this high-flying adventure film starring one of Hollywood’s biggest hunks. No, it’s not “Top Gun,” but with its cheesy, synthesized […]

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We are bombarded by moving images in every facet of our lives. There are video screens everywhere. The way in which audio and video are cut together in ads, TV shows, and online marketing these days has created a contemporary film language that’s like shorthand to us. It takes very little effort on our part […]

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Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) can’t make up his mind. He doesn’t know whether he wants to be the hotshot flying ace who always has a clever one-liner; the tortured young man, who still suffers from the loss of his father; or the superhero and the dutiful boyfriend. He better hurry up and decide, because a […]

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If Jim Carrey shows up in your romantic comedy or family film, you should have a hunch that he’s probably living life the wrong way. He could be taking things for granted, ignoring what’s important, or not living life to the fullest. All he needs is a little push, some outside force to give him […]

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This DVD/Blu-ray review of “Just Go With It” appears on KTKA-49. Back in February, when I reviewed the new below-average formulaic romcom from Adam Sandler, “Just Go With It,” I complained about how tired and crammed full of cheap jokes it was. Nothing’s changed there–the unfortunate movie remains the same. And it’s a shame that […]

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This review of “Super 8” appears on KTKA-49. J.J. Abrams channels his inner Spielberg, with help from the blockbuster maestro of the 80s who served as producer, on “Super 8,” a refreshing change of pace for summer flicks. It’s just too bad that Abrams has made such a big deal about not letting any secrets […]

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The signs were all there. No guest would accompany me to the film, the theater was only half full for the screening, I probably should have known, but I decided to give “Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer” a fair shake. I can say having sat through its full 91 minutes, that “Judy Moody” […]

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Woody Allen is back with his yearly cinematic offering. “Midnight in Paris” is a joyful and funny romantic comedy fairytale that follows Gil (Owen Wilson), a screenwriter who pines for a bygone era and a more vibrant artistic time. “Midnight in Paris” showcases Allen’s love of the title city and his love of the 1920s. […]

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One could say that I was intrigued by the hype surrounding “Super 8” I enjoyed the J.J. Abrams’ reboot of the Star Trek franchise in 2009, and I was interested in what he might craft when he turned his creative energies to a kids’ adventure movie. Unfortunately Abrams took a page out his producer, Steven […]

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It’s ironic that writer/director Chris Ordal’s quietly moving “Earthwork” opens its run at Liberty Hall in Lawrence the weekend after Governor Sam Brownback erased the funding for the Kansas Arts Commission, leaving the program with zero budget and no staff or offices. Shot almost entirely in Kansas and based on the true story of Lawrence, […]

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There are movies that make me wish I had the option of the split rock fist, a non-neutral symbol that says this film is as bad as it is good. That’s the way I feel about Matthew Vaughn’s “X-Men: First Class,” and I only grudgingly went with the slightly positive, because I walked out of […]

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Po (Jack Black), the reluctant and obese Dragon Warrior, and his gang of kung fu specialists are called back into action in Dreamworks’ “Kung Fu Panda 2”. The story, which has Po, Tigeress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan) and all the rest chasing the nefarious peacock Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), is thoroughly entertaining if not […]

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Phil (Bradley Cooper), Alan (Zach Galifianakis), Doug (Justin Bartha) and Stu (Ed Helms) are reunited in Thailand for Stu’s wedding to his new bride (Jamie Chung) in this sequel to the surprise box office hit of 2009. Once again things get crazy and a forgotten night leads to a blurry-eyed morning in a hotel room […]

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In her new release “In a Better World” Danish filmmaker, Susanne Bier gives us a tense look into the violent human interactions that surround our daily lives, and forces the viewer to question the civility of our civilized world. The film focuses on two parallel stories, the story of Elias (Markus Rygaard) and Christian (William […]

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