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Commentary – In The Land of Blood & Honey (Angelina Jolie Interview)
In terms of Angelina's directing style, I'm glad that she just shot it straight, it's clean and authentic. She didn't try to be an auteur, no gimmicks, nothing vague or highbrow. And as a side note: each scene was shot twice; once in English and another in the language of the region, creating two versions of the film...
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TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
Same goes true for the characters of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, these are trained agents for goodness sakes, yet they lose their tempers over disloyalty, are thrown off course by the opposite sex, breakdown when accused of double-crossing, risk plans for friendship, are haunted by sentimental items and the one that got away...
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Commentary – Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
by Le Anne Lindsay, Editor I remember nothing of the plot of the first Sherlock Holmes movie, but it didn’t seem to impede my enjoyment of the 2nd installment of this sleuthing franchise, directed by Guy Ritchie and starring my love, Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows also features one of my favorites from the series Mad Men (Jared Harris/ Lane Pryce) in the role of Holme’s nemesis, Dr. Moriarty; along with the official Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Noomi Rapace. The same elements used in the first film, work to make this fast-paced, studio vehicle equally or perhaps more fun: Downey carrying the…
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Commentary – YOUNG ADULT
Young Adult screening was courtesy of The Philadelphia Film Society’s Sneak Preview Series. I’m certain Patton Oswalt (Spence from King of Queens) never in his wildest dreams thought he’d ever in this lifetime get a chance to have a love scene with Charlize Theron. His romance with Rachel Dratch on the TV series was most likely more romantic action then he’d ever thought to see as a character actor. Surprisingly, it’s the chemistry between these two actors which allows Young Adult to find its footing and like-ability. The movie is written by Juno screenwriter, Diablo Cody, who seems to have a knack for making geeks look desirable. We meet Mavis…
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Commentary – J. Edgar
He was a mysterious figure in American history. His personal life was always shrouded in mystery … He was this bulldog figure, the face of the FBI, and he changed our country in a time of great lawlessness. Bank robbers were going from state to state becoming local heroes; he cleaned up all that mess. Got rid of the Commies and Bolshevik invasion while single handily creating this new federal police force. He was part of modern forensics and identifying everybody in our country. But then there were all those salacious rumors that you heard about him too. So it was very exciting to see somebody’s (Clint Eastwood) very specific…