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If the devil is in the details, there's a lot of wicked fun in Angels & Demons, the sequel (originally a prequel) to The Da Vinci Code. Director Ron Howard delivers edge-of-your-pew thrills all over the Vatican, the City of Rome, and the deepest, dankest catacombs. Tom Hanks is dependably watchable in his reprised role as Professor Robert Langdon, summoned urgently to Rome on a matter of utmost urgency--which happens to coincide with the death of the Pope, meaning the Vatican is teeming with cardinals and Rome is teeming with the faithful. A religious offshoot group, calling themselves the Illuminati, which protested the Catholic Church's prosecution of scientists 400 years ago, has resurfaced and is making extreme, and gruesome, terrorist demands. The film zooms around the city, as Langdon follows clues embedded in art, architecture, and the very bone structure of the Vatican. The cast is terrific, including Ewan McGregor, who is memorable as a young protégé of the late pontiff, and who seems to challenge the common wisdom of the Conclave just by being 40 years younger than his fellows when he lectures for church reform. Stellan Skarsgard is excellent as a gruff commander of the Swiss Guard, who may or may not have thrown in with the Illuminati. But the real star of the film is Rome, and its High Church gorgeousness, with lush cinematography by Salvatore Totino, who renders the real sky above the Vatican, in a cataclysmic event, with the detail and majesty of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. --A.T. Hurley Stills from Angels & Demons (click for larger image) ...Read More
- Cast: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellan Skarsgård, Pierfrancesco Favino
- Director(s): Ron Howard
- MPAA Rating: Unrated
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- Cast: Ice Cube, Mike Epps, Young Jeezy
- Director(s): Marcus Raboy
- MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
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When your significant other tells you you both need an exit "safe word" before you enter his dad's Christmas gathering, you know you're not in Bedford Falls. But while Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon may not be It's a Wonderful Life's George and Mary Bailey, Four Christmases is a modern holiday classic in its own right. For one thing, every family neurosis and dysfunction have taken root in the four families of Vaughn and Witherspoon's characters, Brad and Kate--and the sleek yuppie façade each has built with the other is about to come tumbling down. There are real belly laughs as the couple unexpectedly has to spend holidays with their four extended family groups. "I don't want to speak ill of your mother on Christmas," growls Howard (Robert Duvall) to son Brad, while Brad's bullnecked ultimate-fighter brothers are rassling everything in sight, "but she's nothing but a common street whore." Brad may cringe, but Kate's own family is about to mortify her in abundant ways, from her randy "Gram-Gram" and about-to-pounce cougar mom Mary Steenburgen ("I feel like a Saudi prince in here," marvels Brad as all of Kate's female relatives drape themselves over him), to the revelation to Brad that Kate used to be--how to put this--a bit on the chubby side. If the plot isn't full of surprises, the quips are nonstop and the acting believable and charming. The supporting cast also includes Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, Jon Favreau and Dwight Yoakam in a memorable turn as the mega-church pastor Steenburgen's character is involved with. It's a comic Christmas blessing, and there'll be no need to say "mistletoe"--at least not till the viewers are home with their own families. --A.T. Hurley...Read More
- Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Vince Vaughn
- Director(s): Seth Gordon
- MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
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Funny People pulls off quite a feat: it examines the sources of comedy and manages to be knockout funny. Adam Sandler plays George Simmons, a successful comedian of Adam Sandler proportions who is diagnosed with a fatal blood disease. Faced with impending death, he recognizes that he has no friends and decides to make a best friend out of an aspiring young comedian named Ira (Seth Rogen, Knocked Up). This lopsided relationship gradually takes on aspects of true friendship as Ira forces George to try to reconnect with the people in his life, including his ex-girlfriend Laura (Leslie Mann, 17 Again). But forging real relationships conflicts with all the impulses that feed George’s comedy: can he truly re-create his life? Funny People has enough raw, no-inhibitions comedy to satisfy Sandler fans, but the core of the movie is far more complex and compelling--and significantly, Sandler rises to it. He, Rogen, and Mann all deliver superb performances, as does the supporting cast (including Jonah Hill, Superbad; Jason Schwartzman, Rushmore; and Eric Bana, Munich). Funny People fits into the ranks of such classics as Hannah and Her Sisters andTerms of Endearment: movies that blend sadness and joy into a vibrant picture of life. --Bret Fetzer...Read More
- Cast: Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana, Jason Schwartzman
- Director(s): Judd Apatow
- MPAA Rating: Unrated
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A fantastical story, relayed in the form of short vignettes by director Robert Rodriguez, Shorts is the story of a magic wishing rock and kids' imaginations gone wild. The film plays a lot like the The Little Rascals (Our Gang) films from the 1920's-1940's: it's made up of short, comical episodes that focus on kids adventures and how imagination drives their play. When a magical rainbow rock falls from the sky and lands in the middle of tech-town Black Falls, a young boy Toe (Jimmy Bennett) discovers that the rock has the power to grant his every wish. The victim of constant bullying, Toe wishes for friends as unusual as himself and ends up with a posse of aliens who protect him while seriously complicating his life. As narrator, Toby quickly stops the film, explaining that his experience is really the middle of the story, and then rewinds repeatedly to relate various encounters between neighborhood kids and the magic rock. Each short is its own journey into a kid's imagination where wishes for everything from a treasure hunt, to a fortress guarded by crocodiles, a super smart baby with telepathic powers, and a booger monster grown from one boy's booger are immediately granted. These fantastical wishes wreak havoc on the entire Black Falls community: the children, the technology obsessed, disconnected Black Box employees, and the tyrannical Black Box boss Mr. Black (James Spader). In the end, the magic rock is a catalyst for change, encouraging kids and adults to work together and inspiring serious reflection regarding one's wishes, dreams, and goals. Rodriguez does a great job of portraying the wildness of kids' imaginations and viewers that delight in over-the-top ridiculousness and the overtly gross will laugh hysterically throughout the film. Unfortunately, those who demand restraint may find it overdone. (Ages 10 and older) --Tami Horiuchi...Read More
- Cast: Kat Dennings, Leslie Mann
- Director(s): Robert Rodriguez
- MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
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IT'S BEEN A DECADE SINCE BEN & ANDREW WERE COLLEGE BAD BOYS. BEN HAS A JOB, WIFE & HOME. ANDREW LIVES AS A VAGABOND ARTIST. ONE NIGHT AT A WILD PARTY, THE TWO GET LOCKED IN A MUTUAL DARE: TO ENTER AN AMATEUR PORN CONTEST BY HAVING SEX WITH EACH OTHER. IT'S NOT PORN: IT'S ART....Read More
- Cast: Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard, Alycia Delmore
- Director(s): Lynn Shelton
- MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
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TEN-YEAR-OLD EDWARD LIVES IN HIS FAMILY-RUN RETIREMENT HOME WHERE HE LEADS A LONELY EXISTENCE UNTIL HE MEETS CLARENCE, A RETIRED MAGICIAN WHO REFUSES TO GIVE IN GRACEFULLY TO OLD AGE. THEY STRIKE UP AN UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP THAT HELPS THEM REMEMBER WHAT MAGIC IS POSSIBLE WHEN LIFE IS LIVED TO ITS FULLEST....Read More
- Cast: Michael Caine, Bill Milner, David Morrissey
- Director(s): John Crowley
- MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
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WHEN THE ROMULAN NERO COMES FROM THE FUTURE TO TAKE REVENGE ON THE FEDERATION, THE NEW RECRUITS OF THE USS ENTERPRISE WILL VOYAGE THROUGH UNIMAGINABLE DANGER TO STOP HIM FROM DESTROYING EVERYTHING THEY KNOW....Read More
- Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto
- Director(s):
- MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
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AS BRUNO TRAVELS THE WORLD IN SEARCH OF FAME, NO ONE - WHETHER THEY ARE CELEBRITIES, POLITICIANS OR EVEN TERRORISTS - WILL BE SPARED FROM HIS SIGNATURE SENSE OF STYLE & HIS WICKEDLY OFF-KILTER MANNER!...Read More
- Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen, LaToya Jackson, Elton John, Paula Abdul, Sting
- Director(s): Larry Charles
- MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
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THE LIMITS OF CONTROL IS THE STORY OF A MYSTERIOUS LONER, A STRANGER, WHOSE ACTIVITIES REMAIN METICULOUSLY OUTSIDE THE LAW. HE IS IN THE PROCESS OF COMPLETING A JOB, YET HE TRUSTS ONE, AND HIS OBJECTIVES ARE NOT INTITIALLY DIVULGED....Read More
- Cast: Isaach De Bankolé, Alex Descas, Jean-François Stévenin, Óscar Jaenada, Luis Tosar
- Director(s): Jim Jarmusch
- MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
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Grab a box of tissues and settle in for a heart-wrenching exploration of illness, morality, and familial bonds in this excellent screen adaptation of bestselling author Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper. When parents Sara (Cameron Diaz) and Brian Fitzgerald (Jason Patric) find out that their daughter Kate (Sofia Vassilieva) has leukemia, they make the difficult choice to utilize the advancements of modern medicine and impregnate Sara with a child genetically ensured to be a donor match for Kate. Throughout the many years of dealing with Kate's illness, the needs of individual family members--including Kate's parents, her brother Jesse (Evan Ellingson), and her sister Anna (Abigail Breslin)--are largely ignored in light of Kate's more serious needs. Still, Kate's sister Anna rarely complains about helping Kate, even when it involves undergoing painful bone marrow aspirations. Recently, however, Anna has had a change of heart and has decided to stand up for her right to have a say in medical procedures involving herself: she's enlisted a lawyer, Campbell Alexander (Alec Baldwin), to help her sue her parents for medical emancipation. The issue is highly emotional and the familial strife is further compounded by the fact that Kate is quickly failing and needs an immediate kidney transplant for even a chance of continued survival. The emotional struggle of dealing with serious illness while trying to meet one's own needs permeates the film, as do the staggering moral dilemmas inherent in the advances of modern medicine. While Picoult's readers may be disappointed that the film doesn't delve as deeply into Anna's and Jesse's characters as the book does, My Sister's Keeper is nonetheless an intensely powerful film bursting with emotion and moral quandary that leaves viewers pondering what lengths they might go to in a similar situation. --Tami Horiuchi...Read More
- Cast: Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Alec Baldwin, Jason Patric
- Director(s): Nick Cassavetes
- MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
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A FAILED MEDICAL EXPERIMENT TURNS A MAN OF FAITH INTO A VAMPIRE.
- Cast: Park In-hwan, Song Kang-ho, Song Young-chang, Shin Ha-kyun, Oh Dal-su
- Director(s): Park Chan-wook
- MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
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