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‘The Homesman’ sees Tommy Lee Jones direct the weirdest western in quite some time

Set during the pioneer era, The Homesman subverts the usual trajectory of westerns set in this time by instead focusing on a journey from what will eventually become Nebraska territory in the West to more Eastern Iowa, wherein defeat via the frontier is a primary concern, whether it be a defeat of the mind, body, soul, or all together. Director Tommy Lee Jones’s last theatrically released film was The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005), a contemporary neo-western with shades of Sam Peckinpah in its flavour. The Homesman may have the set dressing of a more traditional, old-school genre entry, but this film, adapted from Glendon Swarthout’s 1988 novel, is much more offbeat than one might expect.

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These ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ should stay in the sewer

With so many action franchises vying for our attention, rolling out an unimaginative blockbuster simply isn’t acceptable. Show us something different, something we haven’t seen before. Take the time to create a story populated by interesting characters, with identifiable goals and genuine emotions. It’s baffling that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was unable to muster any of these things. That it was too lazy to construct a proper story, yet motivated enough to include an entire scene dedicated to promoting Pizza Hut perfectly illustrates what a cynical cash grab this movie is. Back to the sewers with you!

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Steven Soderbergh Month: The Underneath foretells Soderbergh’s future success

Following the release of Sex, Lies, and Videotape in 1989, Steven Soderbergh was poised for stardom as the darling of the indie scene. He sat at the head table in a push to change the face of cinema. Unlike contemporaries like Tarantino, his predicted rise didn’t happen right away. He followed the popular debut with …

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‘Elysium’ a chaotic, only slightly involving sci-fi follow-up to ‘District 9’

Elysium Directed by Neill Blomkamp Written by Neill Blomkamp USA, Canada, and Mexico, 2013 District 9 offered the promise of a fresh new talent in writer-director Neill Blomkamp. Elysium doesn’t totally squander that promise, but at least raises the disturbing possibility that District 9 may have been a fluke. More likely, Blomkamp will be best …

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The Lone Ranger Misses the Target with Inconsistent Tone and Dull Action

Almost no one expected Pirates of the Carribean to be what it turned out to be. A movie based on a theme park ride? Starring that guy from all the Tim Burton movies and Legolas? And yet, despite all odds, it was a critical and commercial darling and launched one of Disney’s most successful franchises in years.

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‘The Lone Ranger’ an unpleasant, insincere wannabe epic

The Lone Ranger Directed by Gore Verbinski Written by Justin Haythe & Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio USA, 2013 Sincerity is in dire need of being resurrected in modern popular culture. This is not to say that cynicism doesn’t have a place in society, or that naivete should be widely embraced by the masses. But …

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Faux-provocative ‘Wrong’ only serves to aggravate its audience

Wrong Directed by Quentin Dupieux Written by Quentin Dupieux USA, 2012 The new film Wrong, from writer-director Quentin Dupieux, is less a movie and more a feature-length experiment in provocative trolling. If you find the film deliberately, obnoxiously unpleasant, well, you’re just a fuddy-duddy. You can’t accept the intentionally odd tone as being a charming …

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‘Wrong’ Movie Review – an experiment in Kafkaesque storytelling

Wrong Written and directed by Quentin Dupieux USA, 2012 An aptronym, or charactonym, is when a person’s profession or career is aptly expressed by their strangely befitting name. For example, if your name is Anita Baker and you become bread-monger, or if your name is Dan Druff and you become a barber, then this constitutes …

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Fantasia 2012: ‘Wrong”s divisiveness makes it right for some, terribly wrong for others

Wrong Directed by Quentin Dupieux Written by Quentin Dupieux U.S.A., 2012 Two years ago writer and director Quentin Dupieux brought Rubber to Fantasia and the world at large, which told the story of an evil tire which rolled around and killed people. On one side of the film fan community it was hailed as clever, …

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