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‘Call Me Lucky’ shines a spotlight on an inspirational story

Call Me Lucky introduces the film’s central figure, Barry Crimmins, to the audience as a government-hating, Catholic church despising curmudgeon. When the documentary heads to upstate New York to chronicle a scruffily bearded, firewood chopping Crimmins, now living in isolation, it makes total sense.

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Ebertfest 2014: Day Two examines loss and the arts

Day Two of Ebertfest began early (9 am), with a discussion panel titled “Challenging Stigma Through The Arts”, which focused on Short Term 12 and its depiction of struggling teens. The panelists, a combination of artists, critics, and social work professionals, explored the connection between trauma, expression, and the arts, as well as the progression …

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Agents of SHIELD, Episode 1.19, “The Only Light in the Darkness” Delivers Darkness, Little Light

“The Only Light in the Darkness” opens with Ward getting patched up by Simmons as he feeds false information to Coulson and the gang. Ward claims that he was too late to stop Hydra from taking over the Fridge and releasing super-villains previously captured by SHIELD, including a villain Coulson captured personally, Marcus Daniels (Patrick Brennan). Hearing this news, Coulson decides to take part of the team to protect Audrey Nathan (Amy Acker), Marcus Daniels’ last target and the woman he called “the only light in the darkness.” She is also Coulson’s mysterious cellist, the last woman he was romantically involved with before the attacks in New York. Agent Koenig (Patton Oswalt) isn’t keen on anyone leaving the secret hide-out, so he forces everyone to submit to a lie-detector test before allowing anyone to leave.

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Agents of SHIELD, Episode 1.18: Wisdom of a Kind “Providence”

In the aftermath of SHIELD’s destruction, Agents of SHIELD splits “Providence” between the remaining members of Coulson’s team trying to figure out what is next and Ward and Garrett heading off to the Fridge for evil plotting and mustache-twirling. At first, Coulson wants to go completely off the grid, but he rethinks this plan when he discovers glowing coordinates on his SHIELD badge. He believes the coordinates are a clue from Fury himself as to where to go and how to find him. May, however, thinks that Coulson isn’t thinking clearly in the aftermath of SHIELD’s demise, and she worries that his decisions are putting everyone else in danger.

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Patton Oswalt’s Star Wars Filibuster from ‘Parks and Recreation’ is essential viewing

This Thursday, stand up comedian and actor Patton Oswalt guest stars on NBC’s beloved Parks and Recreation as a Pawnee, Indiana citizen who tries his best to stop a city council vote with a lengthy filibuster. When asked to talk at length about whatever he wanted by the producers, Oswalt chose to rant about Star …

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‘Star Wars’ Action Figures styled like Russ Meyer Characters

Patton Oswalt has commissioned a series of action figures that blends the world of Star Wars with the look of Russ Meyer movies, and the result is pretty awesome. The creator of the figures is Sillof, an inspiration for Oswalt’s character in Jason Reitman’s Young Adult, and the man also responsible for combining Star Wars …

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Justified, Ep. 4.11: “Decoy” a riveting Western-in-miniature

Justified, Season 4, Episode 11: “Decoy” Written by Graham Yost and Chris Provenzano Directed by Michael Watkins Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX Some of you multiplex-frequenters might have checked out Kim Jee-woon’s The Last Stand this past January, in which a seemingly unstoppable cartel badass has to make his way through a sleepy border town …

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Justified, Ep. 4.09: “The Hatchet Tour” dives into the Givens family myth

Justified, Season 4, Episode 9: “The Hatchet Tour” Written by Taylor Elmore and Leonard Chang Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX First things first: if, like me, the title of this episode conjured visions of a hatchet-wielding baddie (perhaps in Detroit’s employ) making Raylan or Boyd’s life difficult, shutter …

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Justified, Ep. 4.01: “Hole in the Wall” swiftly sets up the show’s latest reconfiguration

Justified, Season Four, Episode One: “Hole in the Wall” Written by Graham Yost Directed by Michael Dinner Airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on FX In a recent blog post summing up the joys of watching Justified, Vulture’s Matthew Zoller Seitz compared the show to Cheers – not because the shows share thematic or structural DNA, …

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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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