Screen

So choose one, Seth

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It would be easier to shrug off writer/director/actor/egomaniac Seth McFarlane’s blatant racism and misogyny if he was funny or had a point. Alas, he isn’t and he doesn’t. A Million Ways to Die in the West is McFarlane’s laborious love letter from himself to his own ...

MacGyver in space

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Time to wax nostalgic: Once upon a time, many congressional sessions ago, America dreamed of space. Instead of aircraft-carrier saber rattling, international tension was ratcheted in a contest to see who could invent more, reach further. The country was gripped with ...

reel to reel | Week of Dec. 29, 2011

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The Adventures of Tintin See full review Page 39. Rated PG. At Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked The chipmunks’ third digitally animated turn on the big screen parks the guys, their three Chipette counterparts and their ...

Quirking on something different

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To alter a phrase from Twain — who probably won’t mind because he’s dead — writer/ director Wes Anderson repeated history until he figured out how to rhyme. Barring a brief foray into stop-motion animation, Anderson’s oeuvre for the last decade redundantly hit the ...

Control-Z Cruise

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Every time Tom Cruise, the greatest modern matinee idol, makes a new movie, everybody rushes to fuse artist and art and spews out some variation of “I just don’t like him anymore.” America’s collective moral stance seems to be that we should never forget that someone...

Reel to reel | April 26, 2012

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21 JUMP STREET Two young police officers and ex-classmates go undercover at a local high school to investigate a dangerous drug ring. Rated R. At Century and Colony Square. — Los Angeles Times/MCT AMARCORD This foreign language Oscar winner is a semi-...

Carano lacks punch

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In terms of its title, Haywire doesn’t quite go there; it’s more “Haywire-ish.” But it’s eccentric, and the on-screen violence is sharp and exciting — brutal without being either subhumanly sadistic or superhumanly ridiculous...

Not far enough

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There’s an unexpected wistfulness, a bittersweet undercurrent to Going the Distance that could not have been in the script. This romantic comedy co-starring Drew Barrymore and longtime beau Justin Long was finished just as the real life couple was splitting up. For ...

Reel to reel | Week of December 13, 2012

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ANNA KARENINA...

It (almost) never works

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Since American media sexualizes almost everything except sex, Hollywood romantic comedies about two people making hey-hey without any big plans for any big future rarely come easily or operate from a spirit of carnal delight. The strain of being hip and loose, yet ...

Liveaction Oscar shorts a big deal

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Start small. That’s the guiding dictum for everything from biological evolution to filmmaking. The live-action shorts that mark the start of most directors’ careers rarely see the light of day outside of specialized festivals; that is, except for the lucky bunch ...