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Casual, Ep. 1.01 and 1.02, “Pilot” and “Friends”

Michaela Watkins has long been stealing scenes on television. She was the best wife on Trophy Wife, no small feat when your competition is Malin Akerman and Marcia Gay Harden. She managed to stand out among a powerhouse ensemble on Wet Hot American Summer and stole scenes from actors like Jeffrey Tambor and Bradley Whitford in the best episode of Transparent.

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‘Men, Women & Children’ is an ambitious mess

Ambition can be the enemy of precision. With its multiple storylines and subplots, there is no denying the overarching ambition of Jason Reitman’s Men, Women & Children. What seems to be missing, however, is the attention to detail required to craft a rewarding and engaging film. The good ideas are undermined by ‘Young Adult’ clichés, and the interesting stories aren’t given enough time to flourish. The end result is a messy little film that doesn’t offer enough insight to warrant enduring the melancholy.

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‘Labor Day’ a rare misfire from Jason Reitman, Kate Winslet, and Josh Brolin

Labor Day Written and directed by Jason Reitman USA, 2013 It’s all too fitting that, at one point midway through Labor Day, two of the lead characters are sitting in front of a TV, watching a network broadcast of Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This film’s writer-director, Jason Reitman, no …

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‘Labor Day’ Movie Review – gracefully balances danger and tenderness

Labor Day is far darker and perilous than writer/director Jason Reitman’s previous fare. Illness, broken hearts, and tragedy take center stage. Characters are not coddled and nothing feels ironic. Judging from this outing, drama may suit Reitman better than the snappy, sardonic exchanges we’ve gotten used to from him. Kate Winslet plays Adele, a woman long ago drained of love for the world, raising a son that wants to believe that a pure, transformative and truly supportive love exists for his mother. Into their lives enters Frank (Josh Brolin), an escaped convict who takes them hostage and back to their home to wait out the heat from the cops. Brought together by circumstance, what develops between the three of them is something surprising, rich, and strange.

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Jason Reitman’s Anonymous Narcissists

Thank You For Smoking Directed by Jason Reitman Written by Jason Reitman, based on the book Thank You For Smoking by Christopher Buckley imdb, USA, 2005. Juno Directed by Jason Reitman Written by Cody Diablo imdb, USA, 2007. Up in the Air Directed by Jason Reitman Written by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, based on the …

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‘Young Adult’ finds Cody and Reitman torching indie quirk and sentimentality

Young Adult Written by Diablo Cody Directed by Jason Reitman USA, 2011 Four years later, is there any doubt that Juno is now a dirty word? Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody’s first collaboration, which turned the latter into a household name thanks to her unlikely career path, can also retrospectively seen as presaging a particular …

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Watch the hour-long Hollywood Reporter’s Directors Roundtable, which might leave a sour taste in your mouth

Every year at award season, The Hollywood Reporter invites several handpicked actors, actresses and directors who they feel represented some of the best work in the film industry. This year’s director’s roundtable gathered The Descendants‘ Alexander Payne, Beginners‘ Mike Mills, Shame‘s Steve McQueen, Young Adult‘s Jason Reitman, Moneyball‘s Bennett Miller and The Artist‘s Michel Hazanavicius …

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Best Soundtracks Of 2011

This is a list of our favourite soundtracks of 2011. We are currently working on a list of the best original scores, which should be posted sometime before the end of the year. It hasn’t been the greatest year for movie soundtracks, but I can say that the top five have been spinning in my …

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Kathryn Bigelow has become the first woman to win the DGA award for Outstanding Direction

Kathryn Bigelow has become the first woman to win the DGA award for Outstanding Direction of a Feature Film with The Hurt Locker, defeating James Cameron’s Avatar. This award makes her the frontrunner in the 2009 Oscar race. Louie Psihoyos also won Best Documentary for The Cove, his ourstanding film which in using state-of-the-art equipment …

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