NYC Film Critic

She’s Out of My League
Directed by Jim Field Smith
Starring Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve, T.J. Miller, Lindsay Sloane
**½

Were it not over-edited and over-scored to within an inch of its life, She’s Out of My League could have been a very charming and very down-to-earth romantic comedy.  As it is, League offers a few modest pleasures, but it’s hard not to spend the majority of its 105-minute runtime picturing the movie it might have been with more conviction and a lot less studio-enforced gloss.

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Mother
Directed by Bong Joon-ho
Starring Hye-ja Kim, Bin Won, Ku Jin and Yoon Jae-Moon
***½

Like the best genre filmmakers, South Korean director Bong Joon-ho understands that a genre picture doesn’t just have to provide solid entertainment–it can also function as incisive social commentary.

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Tales From the Script
Directed by Peter Hanson
Featuring Allison Anders, John Carpenter, Josh Friedman and William Goldman
***

Because the subjects profiled in the new documentary Tales From the Script, directed by Peter Hanson and co-written and co-produced by Paul Robert Herman, tell stories for a living, it shouldn’t be surprising that this behind-the-scenes look at the art and commerce of Hollywood screenwriting is filled with memorable yarns.

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My picks for what will (and should) triumph at tomorrow night’s Oscar ceremony.  Now updated with actual winners.

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Oscar Talk 2010 wraps up in suitably epic fashion with a spirited discussion of the Best Picture and Best Director races, putting particular emphasis on the Avatar vs. Hurt Locker match-up.

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Tim Burton vanishes down his own rabbit hole with his muddled take on Alice in Wonderland.  Read my review here.

The Crazies
Directed by Breck Eisner
Starring Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker
**1/2

As much as I enjoy horror movies, there’s one thing about the genre that frustrates me: all too often, the films require their characters to act like total morons in order for the axe-wielding maniac/possessed toy/ghostly apparition/scaly demon spawn to pick them off one by one.
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