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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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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What other film offers as much in the way of visual detail and intrigue with such static, humdrum visuals actually presented?
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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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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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Matthew Lessner‘s new film and first feature, “The Woods,” envisions the fall of the current society and creation of a new one, helmed by the a group of misguided and inept twenty-somethings. Some films march quickly through their paces, hit their plot points, allow their characters to change through fast cuts and dialogue driven action […]
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This review of “The Illusionist” appears on KTKA-49. Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars earlier this year, “The Illusionist” is a beautifully rendered melancholy tribute to a brand of entertainers that has long since passed. Director Sylvain Chomet follows an elderly magician in the declining years of his career. It’s 1959, and television, […]
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