The recent revelations about the long history of the American government spying on its citizens through a variety of sophisticated methods make the appearance of the British film “Closed Circuit” especially relevant. Public knowledge and even tolerance of the myriad surveillance devices that observe and report on the actions of millions of people create an […]
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‘Elysium’
After the success of his highly unusual 2009 science-fiction film, “District 9,” Neill Blomkamp now moves into the big time, Hollywood version, with another excursion into the genre, “Elysium.” Instead of a cast of relatively unknown players, the director this time benefits from the luster and the talents of a couple of big stars — […]
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“The Purge”
Like it or not, popular film, like other popular arts, often reflects important currents and significant truths appropriate to its time and place, providing a telling commentary on its cultural context. All those familiar summer blockbusters, for example, suggest some not entirely inspiring notions about the movie-going public’s demand for the constant bombardment of sound […]
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“The Company You Keep”
Despite the passage of time and age, the fading of memory, no matter how many horrors blight the last several decades, the Vietnam War still haunts the American soul. It remains one of those exclusively American tragedies, a wound that may never heal, still a source of anger, guilt, and blame. Robert Redford’s new movie, […]
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“Stoker”
The less you know going into “Stoker,” South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s stylishly macabre horror-tale-cum-family-drama, the more fun there is to be derived from sitting back and letting its mysteries unfold. The film marks the English-language debut of the notoriously bloodthirsty filmmaker behind “The Vengeance Trilogy” (which includes the cult-classic “Oldboy”) and the vampire thriller […]
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“The Call”
Her appearance in “The Call” suggests that Halle Berry, who’s been very busy lately, occupies a position in Hollywood as a kind of female counterpart to those male stars who specialize in action movies. Aside from playing Catwoman, she also serves as one of the charter members of the X-Men in that blockbuster franchise. Most […]
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“Dead Man Down”
In “Dead Man Down,” the new thriller that marks the American feature debut of Danish director Niels Arden Oplev (he directed the original “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”), the filmmaker reteams with his former leading lady, Noomi Rapace, who plays another damaged young woman with a yen for revenge. The film, an odd mishmash of […]
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“Phantom”
This time of year, the odd hiatus that occurs somewhere in between the competing distractions of the holidays, the Oscars, and the anticipation of the new spring crop, often serves as Hollywood’s dumping ground. It’s the place on the calendar where films that have languished on the shelf for one reason or another, films without […]
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“Dark Skies”
Like the movies themselves, the haunted house, a favorite real estate of generations of horror, has come a long way from the gloomy castle or the dark Victorian pile; directors now relocate that spooky domicile to the more recognizable suburbs that proliferate and spread their interchangeable blandness across our great nation. The menace that once […]
