Screen

‘Saint John of Las Vegas’ has comedic timing

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In "Saint John of Las Vegas," the hero's name is John "Alighieri," his job mentor is "Virgil," and the adversary they meet up with is "Lou Cipher...

‘(Untitled)’ too repetitive

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The new comedy (Untitled) has the punctuation and the thinness of a gallery wall label. It wanders the exhibition spaces, lofts and performance venues of Chelsea and other parts of Manhattan, eavesdropping on the narcissistic mutterings — funny, some of them, now and...

These guys have all the fun

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Somebody asked me, what would be a dream project of yours?” director Douglas Tirola recounts. “I immediately had this vision of a book on my shelf at home that I have had since I was a teenager — the 10th anniversary collection of National Lampoon...

’44 Inch Chest’ has very little on its mind

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Like "Reservoir Dogs" with a Cockney bark — but without Quentin Tarantino's...

No-town music

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At its worst, cinema verite is aimless pretense masquerading as artistic intent. At its best, it is Detropia, a documentary that adds soul to statistics, going inside the implosion of a once-proud city using a sprawling, haunting approach. That isn’t to say that ...

Singing on the ice

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I admired much of the original Happy Feet (2006), but five years later, I’m still considering suing its makers for emotional distress...

Losers, yet fun

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Is there something written that good, enjoyable films have to make sense, be internally consistent and not have dumb continuity gaffes? I hope not, because that perfectly describes my reaction to The Losers, yet another Hollywood film based on a graphic novel. This...

From flood to film

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Lyons has a new man in town and he’s starting up a film festival. That man is Jake Fink. Fink spent 15 years as a journeyman on film sets, starting out as a production assistant in New York City, before moving on to work for the NHL. A project on alien abduction got ...

Strangled love

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Set in Scranton, Pa., and Brooklyn, N.Y., Blue Valentine depicts a working class marriage hanging by threads of resentment, contempt and love, a very tricky braid to unravel. At its best, the drama captures little bits and pieces of a relationship, the telltale signs...

When the system fails

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The first 15 minutes of Kirby Dick’s new documentary, The Invisible War, contain a staggering opening salvo...

Comedy, with flashes of Hughes

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The ghost of John Hughes smiles upon Easy A, a film that freely and giddily borrows from and pays tribute to Hughes’ famous Holy Trinity of ’80s teen angst comedies...

Royal triumph

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Imagine you’re second in line for the throne of England, right behind your selfish, womanizing brother, your father the King is in ill health, and you have a terrible stutter. Your father despises you for the impediment, your country is poised to enter World War II, ...