And a Movie

New ‘Sherlock Holmes’ is Elementary

Robert Downey Jr. returns for his diverting yet stale second outing as the iconic detective.

If it works the first time around, why not repeat it again and again until it doesn’t work anymore? That is the singular philosophy driving modern Hollywood, and it has been all-too-apparent during this past year of sequels, many of which failed to deliver at the box office. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why.  People love movies that take gambles and explore fresh terrain. Iron Man was a standard superhero vehicle, but it became grand entertainment under the direction of Jon Favreau, who elicited a career-rejuvenating turn out of his leading man, Robert Downey Jr. The actor’s dry wit and motor mouth delivery made him utterly impossible to resist, yet it was the character’s poignant ties to Downey Jr.’s own troubled past …

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DiCaprio Delivers 'J. Edgar' in a Dress

Director Clint Eastwood paints a provocative portrait of the man behind the monster.

Say a word long enough and it starts to lose its meaning. The word “genius,” for example, has been misused to an excessive degree. So has the word “Hitler,” which is often uttered by political pundits to describe their reviled foes. And in the days following 9/11, “terrorist” has taken on a wide variety of definitions. It has been branded upon everything from religious zealots and environmental activists to the President of the United States. For FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, the magic word was “communism.” He freely attached it to people who didn’t live up to his warped moral standards, and kept blackmail files for each of his enemies. He could’ve easily kept one for himself. Hoover’s repressed homosexuality was the greatest irony in his …

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‘Paranormal Activity 3’ is Abnormally Scary

Third installment in this low-budget horror franchise is another technical marvel.

One of the greatest triumphs of independent filmmaking over mainstream franchises took place in Fall 2009, when micro-budget indie Paranormal Activity stole the box office crown away from Saw VI. Instead of relying on gore effects to produce easy shocks, first-time feature director Oren Peli found ingenious, deceptively simple ways to generate a sense of nightmare-inducing unease. The straightforward premise about a young couple terrorized by an unseen demons could’ve easily fallen victim to clichés, but Peli allowed the horrors to unfold in front of a stationary mounted camera. This minimalist technique proved to be enormously effective, playing on the audience’s paranoia of every odd noise, subtle movement and inexplicable shadow.  It …

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And a Movie

‘Cars 2’ Proves Franchise Should be Junked

Pixar crashes in this mediocre sequel that offers little for the target audience - children.

Since 1995’s game-changing masterpiece, Toy Story, Pixar Animation Studios has had one of the most extraordinary track records in cinema history, producing one unforgettable gem after another. The superior quality of its inventive animation was nearly always equaled by the ingenuity of its scripts. Yet in the last few years, Pixar’s once immaculate reputation has begun to tarnish ( the company became part of the Disney empire in 2006). I wasn’t a huge fan of Up, the seismically overrated fantasy from 2008 that paired a cantankerous widower with a precocious Boy Scout. The setup held enormous promise, and included an achingly poignant prologue that caused audiences to tear up a mere 10 minutes into the picture. Yet it became increasingly …

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