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Lucky Louie, Ep. 1.08, “Get Out”

Lucky Louie tackles some fairly dark subjects in its first season. Racism, misogyny, and homophobia are just a few topics the show uses as sources of humor (and for which I’ve called it out in this space for handling poorly). That being said, it’s at least had the decency to avoid rape, which it was hard to imagine the series being any more deft at handling.

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Last Week On Late Night, 7/20/15: Conan says teens don’t like weed, and John Oliver says Americans need to eat more food

The summer is a confusing time for late night shows. With vacation time, shows are often off, then on, seemingly at random. When shows do air, there’s fewer dangerous animals on, and more affect-less athletes. And yet, some really funny things happen on late night during these lesser watched months. Jimmy Fallon nearly lost a hand, …

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Philosophy Is Dangerous in ‘Irrational Man’

Cinema’s obsession with the idea of a perfect murder is quite grotesque. The macabre fascination only cements what Francois Truffaut once said, “Film lovers are sick people.” Perfect murders are a form of intellectual freak show, and Irrational Man, Woody Allen’s newest feature, tackles on the visual and physical allure of taking a person’s life. …

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Woody Allen doesn’t watch ‘Mad Men’ and regrets Amazon streaming deal

Well we know that someone isn’t losing sleep over what will happen to Don Draper and company during the series finale of Mad Men this week. In an interview on Thursday with Deadline, acclaimed writer/director Woody Allen opened up about his move from movies to television after he signed a deal with Amazon earlier this …

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New Projects: ‘Robin Hood’, ‘Battle of the Sexes’, and ‘Russ and Roger Go Beyond’

There must be something fashionable to the idea right now of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Hollywood now has four Robin Hood movies in production, more than anyone really needs, perhaps even the poor. Tuesday Deadline reported that Warner Bros. had “quietly” put a new Robin Hood movie into production, this …

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New Projects: Chris Pratt gearing up for bootlegging drama ‘The Real McCoy’

You might’ve used the expression “The Real McCoy” and not actually known where it came from. Colloquially it refers to something being authentic, or the real deal. In fact, if someone were to name their movie after it, you might presume it was just a romantic comedy. Well, now super-mega-star Chris Pratt is set to star …

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The Hype Cycle: Oscar Nominations One Week Removed

One week removed from the Oscar nominations, we’re still recovering from #OscarsSoWhite-gate, and the consensus seems to be that if only the Legos were white instead of yellow they would’ve been nominated after all. But really the conversation has started to move toward Hollywood rather than the Oscars, and how as a whole institution we …

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2014: A Look Back at Three Big Hollywood Roles for Three Young Women

2014 was a good year for women in film. Recently, it was revealed that the top ten most searched stars on IMDB this year were all women. This on its own might not mean much, given the off-screen personas of today’s women and the fascination with their personal lives. Coupled with a careful examination of …

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‘Birdman’ soars high with stellar performances and brazen cinematography

The cast and crew, fly high in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), directed by visionary Alejandro González Iñárritu. Michael Keaton stars as Riggan Thomson, a washed-up actor who never bounced back from his peak stardom days as part of a 1990s superhero franchise, and who is desperate to gain back some spark for his faded career. Riggan attempts to jolt himself back into the limelight through the triple threat of writing, directing and starring in a Broadway adaptation of Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.

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NYFF 2014: Grandeur Delusions – ‘Birdman’

His use of natural lighting, the gorgeous compositions he creates often on the fly, those long takes. This is what we talk about when we talk about Emmanuel Lubezki, the Mexican cinematographer responsible for such arresting imagery in the films of Terrence Malick (The New World, The Tree of Life, To the Wonder), Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Y tu mamá también, Gravity), the Brothers Coen (Burn After Reading), and Alejandro González Iñárritu (“Anna”, a short in the anthology To Each His Own Cinema). He is the only cinematographer in recent memory, possibly next to Roger Deakins, that pushes the form to its limits and has name recognition for such. The naturalistic beauty of The Tree of Life was nothing compared to the – wait for it – physics-defying work in Gravity. And here he is again, using a simulated long take for Iñárritu’s Birdman. “But isn’t it just a gimmick?”, you might ask. Well, yes. And that’s probably the point.

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The Hype Cycle: Toronto, Telluride and Venice Oscar buzz (Part 1)

The Hype Cycle is News Editor Brian Welk’s roundup of industry news, reviews and predictions of everything Oscar, boiled down into weekly power rankings of the buzziest and most likely contenders in this year’s awards season. The Toronto International Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award has been one of the most reliable barometers for both Best …

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Telluride 2014: ‘Birdman’ is a mad, rambling masterpiece about egotism and salvation

Birdman is highly reminiscent of Noises Off, a play by Michael Frayn, about the insanity of actors as they weave in and out of doing scenes live in front of an audience on-stage. The unpredictable actor Mike Shiner (Edward Norton) throws Riggan Thomson’s life even more into chaos by his refusal to bend to his wishes. Emma Stone plays Sam, Riggan’s recovering addict daughter who has long been put on the back-burner by her dad. Stone and Norton’s challenging forces irritate but eventually bring Riggan face to face with some hard truths about himself.

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‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ too overloaded with new characters to rise above mediocrity

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Jeff Pinkner Directed by Marc Webb USA, 2014 The distinct whiff of chaos pervades The Amazing Spider-Man 2 from its first scene, both narratively and visually. Because its director and writers aren’t likely intending on this sequel to a reboot to feel persistently, unavoidably …

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‘Zombieland’ a hilarious, entertaining and crucially intelligent satire

In the midst of a horrific zombie apocalypse that has put paid to much of civilization, an action survivor anti-hero attempts to make an escape from a parking lot with a small crowd of diseased flesh devourers in hot pursuit. He reaches his car, but in his haste drops his keys to the ground, losing vital time.

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‘The Croods’ a decent, if forgettable DreamWorks Animation entry

The Croods Directed by Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders Written by Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco USA, 2013 The Croods is unmistakably a DreamWorks Animation film, something fitting with their recent output. The company has been churning out decent, if unmemorable animated films when not delivering pop-culture-heavy Shrek-like stories. And this new movie, about a …

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‘The Croods’ is by-the-numbers blandness with only a few fleeting charms

The Croods Written and directed by Chris Sanders and Kirk De Micco USA, 2013 2010’s How to Train Your Dragon is arguably Dreamworks Animation’s creative high point to date, and was directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, the team behind Lilo & Stitch, one of the best hand-drawn animations from Disney since their 90s …

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‘Movie 43’, a comedy anthology with a large ensemble of talent, releases a full segment online

Movie anthologies have seen a rise in recent years, with several filmmakers collaborating on a series of short films, often with a common theme running through them, such as all being set in the same city, or all belonging to the same genre. The latest addition to this entry is Movie 43, which features a …

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‘Gangster Squad’ an empty and ultraviolent stab at making ‘L.A. Confidential’ for a new generation

Gangster Squad Directed by Ruben Fleischer Written by Will Beall USA, 2013 At some point, an excess of style only serves to emphasize the hollowness of a story. A director like Martin Scorsese knows how to weave a sprawling tale of vice and amorality while juicing up the proceedings with verve and panache. On the …

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Nominations for 85th Academy Awards, honouring the best of cinema in 2012, have been announced

With the change of the calendar has come a flurry of awards and nominations for the year in film. The Producer’s Guild, Director’s Guild, and Writer’s Guild have announced their selections for the best efforts in various categories, and the Golden Globes, having already made their nominations, are set to air the awards ceremony on …

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‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ is merely a passable restart to a recognizable franchise

The Amazing Spider-Man Directed by Marc Webb Written by James Vanderbilt and Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves USA, 2012 Here’s a fun game: clear your mind of all memories associated with seeing the Spider-Man trilogy directed by Sam Raimi. How quickly can you do it? Having some trouble wrapping your head around the concept? Who …

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