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Django Unchained 2012
"DJANGO UNCHAINED allows our hero to continually evolve. With each subsequent situation he gets into, he is forced to adapt. While his arc is ultimately one of revenge, it isn’t a vengeance that will come easily.
It doesn’t take much for Django to tap into the hostility he has built-up as a former slave, but what does take a bit of doing is Django’s sense of patience. It’s moments like the dinner with Calvin Candie that really emphasize both how much patience Django is required to exert, and how well Jamie Foxx embodies it..."
Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/djangounchained/
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The Avengers 2012
"In every sport except baseball, franchises that stack their roster as an all-star team rarely succeed. The reason or this is simple; when you get that much ego in one place, that many personalities used to being "the man", nobody knows how to play their role. These teams become plagued by squabbling and ultimately fail. It's only in every member of the team understanding how to play off the ball that the team can win. When this happens, everyone understands…
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The Dark Knight Rises 2012
"Everything about this film – from its megalomaniacal plot to it’s IMAX presentation – is about doing something grand. Studios are known to do this with franchises, but not know when to say “when”, and because of that, they drive properties into the ground with overabundance. With THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, Christopher Nolan has used the studio’s goodwill to map out a deliberate and methodical movie, but on the largest scale seen since THE LORD OF THE RINGS..."
Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/darkknightrises/
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Skyfall 2012
"It seems inevitable that every hero the public raises up on its’ collective shoulders is bound to topple and fall to the ground. Equally inevitable is the way that fall will increase our fascination with them. For some reason, we want to worship idols, but not Gods. So when a hero suddenly shows that they are like us after all – prone to disillusionment, pain, and age - that’s the moment that we care most about them.
That’s the moment that we want to see them rise..."
Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/skyfall/
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Looper 2012
"This is a movie that wants us to think about the future. When we make the selfish decisions that humans so often make, we end up causing ripples, and affecting people in ways we don’t intend or understand. In our minds, we might think we’re helping ourselves, or even helping others…but the truth sometimes is that we’re just setting some unfortunate events in motion. Try as we might, there’s just no going back and fixing things.."
Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/looper/
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Argo 2012
"ARGO is a film that is all about the viewing experience, and less about trying to reinvent the wheel. Perhaps the greatest evidence of that comes with its subject matter; a 33-year-old story that many in the audience know the end of. The story isn’t so much “Will the hostages escape?” so much as it is “What will happen when they make their escape?”. Because of this, the whole experience comes down to execution. Again, I don’t think the execution…
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Inception 2010
"Many of the set pieces for INCEPTION are amazing to behold, and the knowledge that so very many of them were practical effects only heightens the experience. While I have refrained from the Christopher Nolan love-fest that has been buzzing for the last few weeks, I must indeed hand the man credit. There are many lesser talents in Hollywood who would see these ideas in a script and immediately think “digital effects”. To see real actors on real sets do what we see them do is becoming very scarce in Hollywood…and it takes some real guts to pull it off..."
Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/inception/
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Silver Linings Playbook 2012
"SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK is a reminder of what’s possible. The things we want might be out of reach, that doesn’t mean that good things can’t still come from reaching anyway. In that same vein, the film itself is a reminder that no film should be content to stay within its margins. Sure, it can label itself as funny, or scary, or romantic, or thrilling, and fight within the weight class of its choosing. Or, it can aim to transcend its…
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Silver Linings Playbook 2012
"SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK is a reminder of what’s possible. The things we want might be out of reach, that doesn’t mean that good things can’t still come from reaching anyway. In that same vein, the film itself is a reminder that no film should be content to stay within its margins. Sure, it can label itself as funny, or scary, or romantic, or thrilling, and fight within the weight class of its choosing. Or, it can aim to transcend its…
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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 2012
"When I first read Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings books, a co-worker asked me if I had read The Hobbit. When I told him “no”, he told me to stop there and read The Hobbit before going any further. I shrugged him off, thinking that the book could probably wait, and would read just as wonderfully after the trilogy as it would before.
I was wrong. Coming to the book afterwards felt like a letdown…and I’m starting to get the feeling that I’m in for that feeling again..."
Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/anunexpectedjourney/
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Prometheus 2012
"PROMETHEUS has no interest in playing things straight, so if you are looking for a flat-out prequel to Ridley Scott’s ALIEN, you’d best move along. This film doesn’t want to fill in every detail of what Dallas, Kane, and Lambert found in that chamber after disembarking The Nostromo. Instead, what PROMETHEUS wants to do is expound the original horror story, and turn it into a conversation that is far more vast…one about spirituality, existentialism, science, and faith...."
Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/prometheus
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Moonrise Kingdom 2012
"At the epicentre of all the kookiness and nostalgia of MOONRISE KINGDOM is a wonderful retelling of a particular moment in our collective adolescence: The moment when anything seems possible. It’s a moment that comes regardless of the fact that you have no money, are socially awkward, and wildly inexperienced. When this moment comes – and it usually comes when one falls in love – it feels as though the rest of the world has fallen away. No plan is too crazy, no move is too daring. I repeat: anything is possible..."
( Full review @ www.thematinee.ca/moonrisekingdom/ )
