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The Woodmans: True Believers in the Church of Art
Precocious, ambitious, and deeply disturbed, photographer Francesca Woodman committed suicide in 1981 at the age of 22; her…
Film
Rabbit a la Berlin: An Accidental Cold War Game Preserve
Rejiggering the history of postwar Germany into a Shel Silverstein–ish fairy tale about bunnies, Bartek Konopka’s quasi-doc spins…
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The Housemaid: Domestic Intrigue in South Korea
Fifty years after Kim Ki-young’s postwar hothouse original, Im Sang-soo attempts a sleek, breathless update to the tale…
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Unknown: Liam Neeson Suffers Identity Theft
To age brutishly is Liam Neeson’s apparent career goal—with Taken, Clash of the Titans, The A-Team, and now…
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Barney’s Version: Paul Giamatti as Lovable Drunk
The late Canadian novelist Mordecai Richler (The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz) was a bellicose practitioner of Jewish fiction…
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Cedar Rapids: John C. Reilly Is the Devil!
Miguel Arteta’s amiable Cedar Rapids is a mild comedy of embarrassment, set in the dark heart of Middle…
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The Eagle: Channing Tatum Discovers the Limits of Rome
Directed by Kevin Macdonald, this adaptation of a 1954 historical novel about second-century Roman legions and youthful derring-do…
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Oscar-Nominated Shorts: Animation and Live-Action
The live-action entries are a diverse mix. The clear winner of the pack is writer/director/star Luke Matheny’s God…
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Justin Bieber: Never Say Never: The Hair! The Tweets! The Brand!
This Bieber movie, a concert experience and origin-myth documentary, is not good—not that it needs to be. It…
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The Taqwacores: Muslim Punks Are Just as Annoying as They Sound
There are all the elements of a terrific spoof in The Taqwacores, which follows a year in the…
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Biutiful: Javier Bardem Is Having a Bad Day
Alejandro González Iñárritu’s first film since he split from screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga, with whom he created the fractured,…
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Sundance Report: Miranda July Gets Over Her Block
The Sundance Film Festival, which ended last Sunday, self-identifies as a “discovery festival,” meaning that it embraces its…
Film
Lemmy: The Metal Icon in a Fawning Documentary
“Lemmy is the baddest motherfucker in the world,” exclaims Dave Grohl in this fawning new music doc. It’s…
Film
Nenette: We Feel Trapped in the Zoo, Too
Stare long enough at Borneo native Nénette, a 41-year-old orangutan who’s lived at the zoo in Paris’ Jardin…
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The Rite: Anthony Hopkins as Prancing Exorcist
The latest of at least a dozen widely released American movies in half as many years with demonic…
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Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster: Donnie Yen Stars in a Tired Sequel
The famed titular Wing Chun martial arts master Ip Man returns to protect Chinese honor in Ip Man…
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Baaria: 50 Years of Village Life in Sicily
There’s a lot of Sicilian history in this episodic opus from Giuseppe Tornatore (whose Cinema Paradiso you either…
Film
Another Year: Mike Leigh’s Study of a Happy Marriage
Some wrongheaded critics have called the happily- and long-married couple at the center of Mike Leigh’s new seriocomedy…
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The Illusionist: Jacques Tati Lives! (As a Cartoon)
Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist breathes life into a celluloid fossil, lovingly animating an unproduced script by the great…
Film
Summer Wars: Avatars Battle in Anime Form
An apocalyptic take on the social network comes from, of all places, Mamoru Hosoda’s childlike, yay-go-team Japanime about…