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NEW YEAR’S EVE
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Garry Marshall produced this ensemble dramedy that tracks the lives of a number of couples and individuals on New Year’s Eve … stars include Ashton Kutcher, Halle Berry, Robert DeNiro, and Hilary Swank
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THE SITTER
Jonah Hill is a college student under suspension who takes on a babysitting job with an incorrigible bunch of kids … but hey, how bad could it be?
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1. THE HELP:
Based on the best-selling novel, this is a superb film stars Emma Stone as “Skeeter” Phelan, a young woman from the American south, circa 1960, who returns home from college with a desire to write a book … a book that tells the story of American family life from the perspective of “the help, “ … African American women who worked as domestics, who were certainly good enough to raise the children of the white folks, to clean their houses and cook their food … but were not allowed to use the bathroom in the house or to eat with the family. Viola Davis is Aibeleen, the domestic subject, and Dallas Bryce Howard is exceptional as an outcast white woman … socially outcast at least. Rated 14A.
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2. COWBOYS AND ALIENS:
Daniel Craig is the cowboy who shows up with a strange object attached to his hand and no knowledge of who he is. As Jake Longeran, he’s the only one … the townsfolk seem to know him well, as a wanted man … and Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) is the wealthy rancher who runs the town, owns the sheriff, and wants Lonergan dealt with … until something comes out of the night sky festooned with bright lights and weapons unheard of in the old west. It’s an invasion, War of the Worlds-style, and things aren’t going well for the earthlings. A well-told tale with good special effects, engaging characters, and enough action to keep me very satisfied. Rated 14A.
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3. THE DEBT:
Despite a great performance by Helen Mirren, this tale of a trio of Mossad secret agents who conspire to kidnap and move to Israel, a suspected German concentration camp doctor has some great scenes and some chilling references … but a muddy plot with far too much dialogue and not nearly enough action, makes it fall short. It’s well worth watching, but the casting is a little off as is the pacing. I was looking for an action-packed spy thriller … didn’t quite work out that way, but interesting nonetheless. Rated 14A.
- Fall 2010 TV Debut Week - Click to View
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TAKERS:
Despite some serious plot holes, this is a pretty good thriller. Will you see the ending coming? Probably!
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MY WEEK WITH MARYILYN
Great depiction of the making of “The Prince and the Showgirl” with Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe … completely believable!
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THE DESCENDANTS
Marvelous character study with George Clooney as a Hawaiian resident whose wife is in a coma, whose children are acting out in the worst of ways, and who has learned that she had been cheating on him. Excellent!
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