movie buzz

opening wide today: ‘We Own the Night,’ ‘Elizabeth: The Golden Age,’ ‘Michael Clayton,’ ‘The Final Season,’ ‘Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married,’ ‘Across the Universe’

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We Own the Night That thin line between cops and criminals goes right down the middle between “brothers” Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg. They’re fighting over drugs and clubs in 80s New York now, but I’m looking forward to their brawl over Best Supporting Oscar nods come January. (my review is here) Elizabeth: The Golden … more…

the sick ‘Saw IV’ Chamber of Torture promo

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I’ve gotten into arguments with other critics who don’t like the term torture porn — they think it’s demeaning to the films it is deployed against, which astonishes me, because I can’t imagine how mere words describing the content of a movie could be more demeaning than the content itself. And I think here we … more…

my week at the movies: ‘Lars and the Real Girl’ (finally), ‘Rendition,’ ’30 Days of Night,’ ‘Jimmy Carter Man from Plains’

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Slow week for me. I finally caught up with Lars and the Real Girl [opens limited October 12] today after technical difficulties scuttled a screening a couple of weeks ago. Turns out it’s a wonderful and deeply emotional little movie, all the yuckiness about Real Dolls aside. Ryan Gosling is amazing, and without question one … more…

the problem with Hollywood? women, says Warner Bros. exec

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Nikki Finke posted this atrocious news at her Deadline Hollywood Daily on Friday: This comes to me from three different producers, so I know it’s real: Warner Bros president of production Jeff Robinov has made a new decree that “We are no longer doing movies with women in the lead”. This Neanderthal thinking comes after … more…

opening wide today: ‘Feel the Noise,’ ‘The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising,’ ‘The Heartbreak Kid,’ ‘The Jane Austen Book Club’

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Feel the Noise It’s a grand epic of the love story of an aspiring rapper and a hottie dancer, spanning the streets of the South Bronx and the nightclubs of Puerto Rico. Not starring Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson. (not screened for critics, and I’m giving it a pass) The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising … more…

should a movie critic be America’s top pundit?

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Forbes.com has rated the pundits, and guess who comes out on top? While the results show that plenty of cable talking heads like Bill O’Reilly, Lou Dobbs and Geraldo Rivera score highly, the most powerful pundit in America is veteran film critic Roger Ebert, who appeals to 70% of the demographic and whose long career … more…

my week at the movies: ‘We Own the Night,’ ‘American Gangster,’ ‘The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising,’ ‘Reservation Road,’ ‘Redacted’

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I’m swamped with other stuff at the moment, so I could be seeing a lot more movies than I am this week. But there’s some choice stuff here. Like We Own the Night [opens wide October 12], written and directed by James Gray, who made the underappreciated The Yards. I’m getting a little bit of … more…