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November 20, 2011

Check out the Staff and Editor picks for the Wild Card round of Academy Idol!

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Author: Robert Hamer
November 20, 2011

Read more on Circuit Round-Up (Week Ending 11/20)…

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Author: Michael Ward
November 20, 2011

Truth is…it matters not at all whether any film reviewer praises or pans “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1″, because people are going to flood the cineplexes in droves to see the latest chapter in the cinematic retelling of the Bella Swan/Edward Cullen/Jacob the Werewolf story as it reaches its feverish conclusion.  I have avoided drawing comparisons to the “Harry Potter” franchise thus far in my reviews of the previous “Twilight” films, but the reality is that along with “The Hunger Games Trilogy”, these three literary franchises have, or will have, parallel cinematic lives of their own and for the “Twilight” team, they have opted to go the way of the epic final “Harry Potter” film(s), and therefore, we are having the opening half of the final “Twilight Saga” installment.

They likely shouldn’t have.

Read more on Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (*)…

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November 20, 2011

Directed by Steve McQueen

One of the most sexually explicit films since Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris (1973), Steve McQueen’s Shame parallels that masterpiece in many ways, the most obvious being the stunning performance from Michael Fassbender. Both films explore escape through intense sexual activity, but Brando’s Paul in Last Tango in Paris (1973) was a on a flight from grief following the recent suicide of his Parisian wife, leaving him with far too many questions, wrapped up in so much guilt, forever blaming himself. In Shame, Brandon is not feeling guilt from the death of a spouse, but is being torn apart emotionally by issues from his past that he has not dealt properly with. Much of Last Tango in Paris (1973), if not all, was improvised, with Brando clearly in his element being permitted to create his character as he moved through the film, while Shame was clearly a scripted work, matched to startling images from its filmmaker.

Read more on Shame (****)…

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The Descendants (****)

2nd Review...

November 20, 2011

What does it mean to be a family?  What does it mean to be Hawaiian?  A father?  A husband?  How does one deal with tragedy?  How does one act morally?  Do we have a responsibility to those who have come before us?  Alexander Payne tackles these questions and more in his 5th film ‘The Descendants’, a dramedy about no less than life itself and what we both choose to take with us and what we leave behind.  Ladies and gentlemen…Payne is 5 for 5 with this borderline masterpiece.  This is his best work to date, and that’s really saying something, considering how highly I think of both ‘About Schmidt’ and ‘Election’.  Few filmmakers working today have the deft touch that Payne has for mixing comedy and drama, and here he shows it off like never before.  Never has his topic been more serious, but Payne still perfectly mixes the smiles with the tears…and here you will undoubtedly have both.  His choice of George Clooney to star is both out of the box thinking and perfect casting, as Clooney absolutely owns this role as a parent struggling to understand his children and deserves every nomination or award he’ll receive this year, and there will be quite a few.  The entire cast is great (including Shailene Woodley, Robert Forster, and Judy Greer in nomination worthy parts), and the writing is as good as anything we’ve seen from Payne before.  What really sets him apart this time is his direction.  This could be the year that he takes home the Best Director Oscar that’s alluded him to date he’s that good.  No one else has ever framed Hawaii in this sort of light before.  It’s a magnificent job all around.  I couldn’t agree more with my colleague John Foote.  This is easily one of the best films of the year.

Read more on The Descendants (****)…

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