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(500) Days of Summer is a romantic comedy for those who don't often like romantic comedies. Or, to put it another way, it's for those who appreciate the emotions but are unenthusiastic about the clichés and formulas that contribute to the cookie-...

Benghazi. Few words have become more politicized in the last decade than this one, the Libyan city where, on September 11, 2012, two U.S. diplomatic compounds were sacked and four men (including Ambassador Chris Stevens) killed. It became a political...

There's good news and bad news about 2 Fast 2 Furious, the moronic follow-up to The Fast and the Furious and a contender for the worst movie of 2003. The good news is that it's better, albeit marginally, than Freddy Got Fingered. The bad news is th...

The television series 21 Jump Street, like many old shows, is a product of its time. Trying to accomplish a "straight" remake of something so irrevocably tied to the '80s could not be done in 2012; it wouldn't work. When Michael Mann reworked Miami...

There are times when 22 Jump Street is borderline brilliant. Unfortunately, those instances are outnumbered by segments that don't work for one reason or another. On balance, the film has just enough to earn it a recommendation but, with a little t...

It would be possible to form a tragedy from the background inspiration of Ruben Fleisher's 30 Minutes or Less, but the filmmakers have not traveled that route. Instead of fashioning a heartbreaking tale about greed and inhumanity, Fleisher has app...

Whatever else 300 may be, it is destined to become beloved for a group of devotees. The size of that group will determine whether it achieves mainstream acceptance or attains cult status. Distilled to its essence, this is a graphic novel come to li...

Some material is inherently better suited to documentary (rather than feature film) treatment. That’s the case with The 33, a “based on fact” account of the 2010 Chilean mining disaster that riveted news-watching populations worldwi...

Once upon a time, the Western served the function that currently resides within the purview of Science Fiction: use an allegorical approach to explore themes and ideas that might not fit well within the scope of a traditional motion picture. It ha...