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Captain America: Will These Marvel Spinoffs Never Cease?
Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby for Marvel Comics in 1941, Captain America was among the first…
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A Little Help: Jenna Fischer Is Trapped on Long Island
“Suburban malaise,” they call it, and it’s the reason why Long Island dental hygienist Laura (Jenna Fischer) self-soothes…
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Phase 7: Neighbors Battle Neighbors
Nicolás Goldbart’s Argentine thriller begins on an innocuous note: a young married couple, as if stepped from an…
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Pianomania: 88 Keys, Infinite Tones
A courtier, errand boy, master sound technician, and Steinway rep all rolled into one, Stefan Knüpfer has the…
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Terri: Can John C. Reilly Save This Teen?
Directed by Azazel Jacobs, Terri concerns an obese 15-year-old, a de facto orphan, living in a ramshackle home…
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Putty Hill: Dead-End Kids in Baltimore
Sharing the narrative opacity and marginal milieu of its 2006 predecessor Hamilton, this assured feature-length follow-up from Matt…
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A Better Life: Down and Out in East L.A.
Pitched to tug at even Arizona governor Jan Brewer’s heartstrings, A Better Life takes on the combustible topic…
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Passione: John Turturro’s Pseudo-Musical
In his fourth film as director (and his first documentary, billed as a “musical adventure”), John Turturro plays…
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2: A Triumphant Finale
Bespectacled Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) squares off against amphibian-faced Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) in this magnificent finale of…
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The Last Mountain: Environmental Ruin in West Virginia
A grueling barrage of geologic plunder, union-busting, sociopathic official indifference (hey, why not put a toxic-sludge lake next…
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City of Life and Death: The Rape of Nanjing, Recounted Again
Lu Chuan’s City of Life and Death has the title and the feel of a monument. This wide-screen,…
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The Big Uneasy: Hurricane Katrina Re-Examined, From the Levee Side of the Storm
Written and directed by New Orleans resident Harry Shearer, The Big Uneasy illustrates in detail what many folks…
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Trollhunter: Back From SIFF, a Deadpan Norwegian Monster Movie
Alleged to be compiled from found college-project footage from a group of missing students, Trollhunter begins as an…
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Horrible Bosses: Oh, Jason Bateman, We’ll Almost Forgive You This One
Director Seth Gordon’s ensemble comedy is about how our tough economic times have destroyed white-collar, white-male masculinity. Three…
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I Want to See: Catherine Deneuve Plays Catherine Deneuve While Driving Through Lebanon
A famous French actress (Catherine Deneuve) visiting Beirut takes a trip to south Lebanon to see the damage…
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Vincent Wants to Sea: A German Road Movie for the Haldol Generation
Here’s one solution to the high cost of mental-health care: Let the patients steal their shrink’s car and…
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Larry Crowne: Tom Hanks Loses His Job. Julia Roberts Does Her Angry Thing Again
For a movie called Larry Crowne, it sure is tough to get a solid read on the character…
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A Useful Life: Death and Life at a Uruguayan Cinema
From the Columbia City Cinema to the Uptown, smaller cinemas have been closing all around Seattle. And though…
Film
Steam of Life: Sauna Confessions From Finland
When was the last time, in a non-sexual context, that you saw a friend naked? Showering together after…
Film
Cracks: Heavy Breathing at an English Boarding School
As boarding-school bodice-rippers go, this assured debut by British director and girls’-school alumna Jordan Scott fairly bursts with…