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Lottery Ticket: Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems
Midway through this teen comedy–cum–wish fulfillment fantasy, the movie’s hero, Kevin Carson, goes on a spending spree. The…
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Two in the Wave: JLG vs. Truffaut
An anniversary present for the French New Wave, this doc gives the gift of received wisdom as it…
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Mao’s Last Dancer: Like an Episode of Dallas, With Ballet
Good films about ballet can be numbered on one hand. And about Chinese dissidents? I’ve still got fingers…
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Patrik, Age 1.5: Homophobia and Tolerance in Sweden
Their new suburban house is lovely, the neighbors friendly, the nursery ready—and now all that Göran (Gustaf Skarsgård)…
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The Switch: When Will Jennifer Aniston Have a Baby?
A loose adaptation of a Jeffrey Eugenides story called “Baster,” The Switch stars Jennifer Aniston as Kassie, who,…
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Get Low: Robert Duvall Is Fixin’ to Die
It’s 1938, and Tennessee hermit Felix Bush (Robert Duvall), in a self-imposed exile for 40 years, decides to…
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The Extra Man: Kevin Kline, Too Twee for Us
Kevin Kline, Paul Dano, and John C. Reilly star in this twee comedy of lonely New York oddballs.…
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Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: Michael Cera Does His Michael Cera Thing Again
For all of Scott Pilgrim‘s adherence to the graphic novels upon which it’s based—the pop-art pows and thwacks,…
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Life During Wartime: Todd Solondz, Again With the Pedophilia?
Daring discomfited viewers to laugh at shame and suffering, and then wonder why we’re laughing, Todd Solondz is…
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Wah Do Dem: Hey, Hipsters, Get Out of Jamaica!
A couple of days before cashing in on a free Caribbean cruise for two, dorky Brooklyn hipster Max…
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The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle: The Feature Debut of Local Director David Russo
Very much to his credit, Seattle film-maker David Russo has never tried to go Hollywood, isn’t part of…
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Waking Sleeping Beauty: Behind the Scenes at Disney Animation
Last fall saw the documentary Walt & El Grupo, about Walt Disney and a team of his most…
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Ready, Set, Bag!: Why Arent Our Safeway Clerks So Cheerful?
If you cast a Christopher Guest mockumentary from real life, played it absolutely straight, and eliminated all ridicule…
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Winnebago Man: Internet Anger Goes Viral
Opening with a deeply sincere “I don’t give a fuck!”, Austin filmmaker Ben Steinbauer’s investigative doc sets out…
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The Concert: Embarrassing Fiddle Twaddle From Russia
Beyond fans of Mélanie Laurent—who furiously fingers a fiddle and wears flashback wigs—The Concert may appeal to those…
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Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child: Live Fast, Die Young
International art star by 23, dead from a heroin overdose at 27, Jean-Michel Basquiat was drawn, in the…
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Farewell: A Spy Movie Desperately in Need of Angelina Jolie
Based on real events near the end of the Cold War, Christian Carion’s well-made but routine French spy…
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The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest: High-Altitude Detectives in IMAX
Everest looks suitably majestic in this IMAX documentary, though five different expeditions on the peak are awkwardly cobbled…
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Behind the Burly Q: Nudies Before They Were Indie
Although now swathed in nostalgic longing/hipster appropriation, the art of burlesque was once a vibrant, multitiered cultural enterprise—escapist…
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Middle Men: Luke Wilson Fills the Insatiable American Appetite for Porn
If the plot of Middle Men sounds familiar—Luke Wilson gets in bed with James Caan, who just wants…