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Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz Meet Cute in High-Octane ‘Knight and Day’
CHICAGO– Whenever there is a audacious and entertaining action thriller like “Knight and Day,” how do the characters stay so calm? Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise are shot at, nearly blown up, asked to...
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TV Review: ‘Covert Affairs’ Puts the Team Back in the CIA
CHICAGO– In an era where America’s budget concerns are front and center, a TV series celebrating the awesomeness of the CIA seems a bit ill-timed. Piper Perabo portrays an undercover operative in the...
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Film Review: High-Level Reboot for ‘Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit’
CHICAGO– Actor Chris Pine should use the term “Rebooter” as his middle name. After taking on the Captain Kirk role in the “Star Trek” series, he now is the latest to portray CIA super spy as “Jack...
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Interview: Director Michael Cuesta on Issues in ‘Kill the Messenger’
CHICAGO– What happens when too much truth is exposed, and those who will feel the backlash from that exposure are too powerful? The new film “Kill the Messenger,” directed by Michael Cuesta, seeks an...
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Film Review: Meet the Press in Illuminating ‘Kill the Messenger’
CHICAGO– When journalists were heroes and exposed those in power for their sins, movies were made like “All the President’s Men.” Gary Webb of the San Jose Mercury News was one of those journalist...
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Film Review: Matt Damon is Fighting Mad in Tense ‘Jason Bourne’
CHICAGO– To come back to a character that everyone thought he had left behind, Matt Damon needed the right creative team. He got it again in co-writer (with Christopher Rouse) and director Paul...
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Film Review: Oliver Stone’s ‘Snowden’ a Lesson for Our Times
CHICAGO– The experience of director Oliver Stone, to look underneath the slimy rocks of government secrecy and bureaucracy, produces an excellent history lesson in “Snowden,” an overview of Edward...
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Film Review: ‘The Accountant’ is a Strange Indulgence for Ben Affleck
CHICAGO– Remember the hilarious video of Ben Affleck during the “Batman v Superman” promotions, his blank stare synched up to the song “The Sound of Silence”? Well, he’s decided to take that expression...
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Film Review: ‘xXx: Return of Xander Cage’ is Action as Phantasm
CHICAGO– The true miracle of “xXx: Return of Xander Cage” – besides constantly breaking the law of physics – was making the sonorous line readings of Vin Diesel almost palatable. This over-the-top...
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Film Review: Gunplay & Violence Fuel Heroics in ‘American Assassin’
CHICAGO– There was another mass shooting (eight dead) in Texas this week, but it was underreported because it didn’t involve “undesirables” and just seemed like another week in America. This blithe...
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Film Review: Keep Your Eye on Jennifer Lawrence in ‘Red Sparrow’
CHICAGO– It is movie star time for JLaw (Jennifer Lawrence) in ‘Red Sparrow,’ because her performance transcends the muddy plot, and her charisma – even with the lowest of low key characters – creates...
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Film Review: ‘Beirut’ is a Superbly Tense Geopolitical Thriller
CHICAGO– The psychological desperation of life-or-death decisions are in play within “Beirut,” the new geopolitical thriller featuring Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”). The various mazes within the story, set...
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Film Review: Tom Cruise Outruns Time in ‘Mission Impossible: Fallout'
CHICAGO– By any reasonable account, Tom Cruise should be entering into a phase in the “Mission Impossible” series not unlike the latter James Bond films of Roger Moore… appearing in closeups and...
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Film Review: Ass Kicker of the Wrong Kind is Downfall of ‘The 355’
CHICAGO– There’s something to be said for a well done ass kicker in January that provides an entertaining distraction from the ice and snow outside. “The 355” is not it, offering a typical quick...
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