 Rating: 3 out of 5 starsGenre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Run Time: 1 hours, 36 minutes, Rated R Starring: Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall, Jim Broadbent, Ciaran Hinds, Julia Stiles, Riz Ahmed, Written by Steven Knight (Redemption, Eastern Promises, Dirty Pretty Things) Directed by John Crowley (Is Anybody There?, Boy A, Intermission) Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall star in your average, run-of-the-mill procedural, Closed Circuit (opening today), a film that feels both familiar and dull all at once.
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 Rating: 4 out of 5 starsGenre: Comedy
Run Time: 1 hour, 33 minutes, Rated R Starring: Lake Bell, Rob Corddry, Alexandra Holden, Eva Longoria, Demetri Martin, Ken Marino, Fred Melamed, Nick Offerman, Tig Notaro, Michaela Watkins, Geena Davis Written & Directed by Lake Bell (feature-film debut) The famous real-life voice-over performer, Don LaFontaine, was known as "The Voice of God." His voice was featured on hundreds of movie trailers, commercials and TV shows before his death in 2008. One of his token lines, "In A World..." - read in a deep and husky voice - started off several trailers to the point that the words became famous. In the new indy-comedy, In A World... (now playing), actor/writer/director Lake Bell pays homage to the late LaFontaine by letting us in on the male-dominated world of voice-over actors.  Rating: 5 out of 5 starsGenre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Run Time: 1 hour, 39 minutes, Rated R Starring: Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson, Masam Holden, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nicci Faires Directed by James Ponsoldt (Smashed, Off the Black) 2013 has been quite a year for the "coming-of-age" movie. Some of the year's best films - Mud, The Kings of Summer and now The Spectacular Now (currently in theaters) - all deal with themes of growing up, finding love and/or discovering some hard truths about what it means to become an adult. Of these three films, The Spectacular Now may be the most layered and unexpected, featuring two of the best performances of the year by two of Hollywood's brightest shining stars.  Rating: 3 out of 5 starsGenre: Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Run Time: 1 hour, 49 minutes, Rated R Starring: Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Martin Freeman, Samantha White, Rose Reynolds, Michael Smiley, David Bradley Written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright Directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) Belly up to the bar and take a swig of The World's End (opening today), my friend! It's unlike anything you've ever tasted and although it may be a bit tough to swallow, it will surely lighten your mood. You may get a bit dizzy the more pulls you take, and there are moments toward the bitter end that will make you want to vomit. Sure, you may not remember anything shortly after, but you'll have one heck of an experience to share with your mates!  Rating: 4 out of 5 starsGenre: Biography, Drama
Run Time: 2 hours, 12 minutes, Rated PG-13 Starring: Forest Whitaker, David Banner, Mariah Carey, Vanessa Redgrave, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo, Alex Pettyfer Written by Danny Strong (HBO movies: Recount, Game Change) Directed by Lee Daniels (Precious, Shadowboxer, the Paperboy) You know a film is going to have cultural significance if Oprah Winfrey signs on to star in it. Sure, Oprah is everywhere, but over the years she has rarely lent herself to acting, first appearing (and scoring an Oscar nomination) in the 1985 drama, The Color Purple. She also starred in Native Son in 1986 and Beloved in 1998 What do these movies have in common? They are all important African-American stories. In Lee Daniels' The Butler(opening today), Oprah once again stars in what is once again an important African-American story.  Rating: 3 out of 5 starsGenre: Action, Comedy, Crime
Run Time: 1 hour, 43 minutes, Rated R Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Morris Chestnut, Clark Duke, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jim Carrey, Augustus Prew Based on the comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. Written & Directed by Jeff Wadlow (Cry_Wolf, Never Back Down) Several characters in Kick-Ass 2 (opening today) can be heard saying, "This is not a comic book, this is real life!" Thus, the Kick-Ass franchise has entered the post Aurora, Colorado and Sandy Hook world. Still a fairly entertaining flick, this sequel to the surprise 2010 hit, Kick-Ass, is much more sympathetic and much more aware of itself. While landing in more politically-correct waters, Kick-Ass 2 loses the unique edge that it possessed the first time around.  Rating: 4 out of 5 starsGenre: Biography, Drama
Run Time: 2 hours, 2 minutes, Rated PG-13 Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Matthew Modine, J.K. Simmons, Lesley Ann Warren, Lukas Haas, James Woods Written by Matt Whiteley (screenplay debut) Directed by Joshua Michael Stern (Swing Vote, Neverwas) It would be easy to dismiss the new biopic, Jobs(opening today), as an elongated commercial for Apple. OK, well it is that, too. But with an uneven yet surprisingly nuanced performance from Ashton Kutcher in the title role, Jobs manages to inspire and inform us about the rise of one of the largest and most successful companies on the planet, by profiling the man who had the intestinal fortitude and vision to create something people didn't even know they wanted  Rating: 1 out of 5 starsGenre: Animation, Adventure
Run Time: 1 hour, 32 minutes, Rated PG Starring (voices of): Dane Cook, Stacy Keach, Brad Garrett, Teri Hatcher, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, John Cleese, Cedric the Entertainer, Carlos Alazraqui, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer Written by Jeffrey M. Howard (Tinker Bell) Directed by Klay Hall (Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure) It would be easy to assume that Planes (opening today) is the latest effort from the famed Pixar Animation Studios, given that its poster, concept and characters immediately invoke Pixar's 2006 film, Cars, and its 2011 follow-up, Cars 2. On the poster for Planes it even says, "From above the world of Cars," implying a connection  Rating: 3 out of 5 starsGenre: Comedy, Drama
Run Time: 1 hour, 34 minutes, Rated R Starring: Paul Rudd, Emile Hirsch, Lance LeGault, Joyce Payne Based on the original story by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson Written & Directed by David Gordon Green (The Sitter, Your Highness, Pineapple Express, Undertow) If you've ever wondered what it was like to camp with Paul Rudd, Prince Avalanche (opening today) is the film for you. There are long, patient shots of him waking up, cooking on the grill, making coffee and taking in the morning air. Of course, that's not all there is to this film, but it's darn close.  Rating: 5 out of 5 starsGenre: Drama
Run Time: 1 hour, 38 minutes, Rated PG-13 Starring: Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Sally Hawkins, Andrew Dice Clay Written & Directed by Woody Allen (Annie Hall, Midnight in Paris, Match Point, Manhattan, To Rome with Love) It's inevitable that when you have such an impressive filmography - spanning decades - that each new film will be compared to the previous ones. Such is the case with a filmmaker like the 77-year-old Woody Allen, who has now written and directed upwards of 40 films, churning them out at an uncanny and unmatched one-a-year rate (he literally has at least directed one film per year since 1977's Annie Hall, skipping only 1982). So is Blue Jasmine(opening today) Woody's best picture of the past decade? Where does it rank up against his best films, like Annie Hall, Match Point or Midnight in Paris? |
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tom santilli movie reviews
Tom Santilli is a professional film critic, TV personality, host and
the Executive Producer of Movie Show Plus.
He also is the featured film critic appearing on WXYZ Channel 7 Action News in Detroit,
and appeared weekly on FOX-2 in Detroit from 2016-2020.
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