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| A Pair of Very Personal Debuts
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For documentary filmmakers Irene Taylor Brodsky and Ben Byer, an intimate personal knowledge of disability and disease has translated into success on the film festival circuit.
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| Better Romcom Than Red
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After several successful attempts at subverting genre with the theme of masculine amorality, playwright-filmmaker David Mamet falls flat on the mat with Redbelt.
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| Defiling the Auteur Theory
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Though not quite a video store clerk turned filmmaker on the level of Quentin Tarantino, Portland, Oregon moviemaker James Westby continues to do his best to stock the New Releases section.
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| Forgetting the Macho Man
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At $400 million and counting, the partnership between Universal Pictures and Judd Apatow looks set to easily pass the half-billion mark this spring with yet another comical look at the imperfections of man.
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| Film Appreciation 101
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The trick to enjoying Daniel Waters and Winona Ryder’s reunion flick is to expect a comedy-drama nowhere near as great as their 1989 counterculture classic Heathers.
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| Kar Wai's Bland Piece of Pie
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Despite strong performances from Norah Jones and Jude Law, Wong Kar Wai’s eighth film just kind of sits there, like a piece of pie that’s been left too long inside a café’s glass case.
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| Serenading the Seventies
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Since writer-director Billy Ray cites The Godfather and All the President’s Men as two of his all-time favorites, perhaps it’s no surprise that his own dramatic film work has the feel of classic 1970’s American cinema.
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| Carnahan's Radioactive Platypus
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Filmmaker Joe Carnahan is the first to admit that his crime thriller Smokin’ Aces, new this week on DVD, is one bizarre beast.
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| Fun and Funnier
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Bobby Farrelly is pretty pleased with his latest effort, The Ringer. But the DVD he really wants you to rent is the Adam Sandler-produced Grandma’s Boy.
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| It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, Eh
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The story behind the 1980 Jamie Lee Curtis version of Prom Night is far more interesting than the one Screen Gems wouldn’t let us see in advance of today's release.
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| The Canon of Clooney
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After stumbling through a predictable Hollywood game plan, George Clooney has repeatedly found the end zone with his own mix of standard and loopy plays.
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| The Everyman Show
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Slowly but surely, Adam Carolla has wedged his way into the media space formerly ruled by Roseanne Barr and Tim Allen.
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| Working with Scorsese
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Though L.Q. Jones had only three scenes in Martin Scorsese’s 1995 drama Casino, they were enough to make him a major fan of the filmmaker.
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| A Signal from the Deep South
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For three Atlanta filmmakers, the road to cataclysmic horror began with a surrealist-inspired local experiment.
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| Guy Maddin's Brain Power
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For a lot of folks in Guy Maddin's home and native land of Canada, tonight will provide the first opportunity to catch the deepest expression yet of the filmmaker’s love of show business and melodrama.
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| Darwin Finds Missing Link
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A year and a half ago, The Darwin Awards was the toast of Sundance. Then it was simply toast. But a couple of theater owners are giving the film an unlikely new push.
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| The Jilting of Japanese Baseball
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In the shadow of the sports dramas Glory Road, Invicible and now Pride, Audience Award winning filmmaker Desmond Nakano strikes out with Warner Bros.
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| A Delightfully Kinky DVD
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American audiences may perhaps never be able to pronounce the name of British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor. But on the heels of The Inside Man, a British import celebrates his inside woman.
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| The Thriller from Manila
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Remember all that fuss about Robert Rodriguez making El Mariachi for only $7,000? Columnist Pam Grady takes a look at three refreshing alternatives to The Break-Up.
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| Maddened by Maddin
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Ingrid Rossellini is upset that her sister Isabella's extravagant valentine to their late father should accompany Robert Rossellini's rigorous work. Columnist Pam Grady speaks with the man in the middle, Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin.
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| A Duck Destined for DVD
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Even though the acclaimed Mexican import Duck Season has flown past very few American moviegoers, it has already exceeded its first-time director’s modest expectations.
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| Bringing Down Berlin
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Long before The Brown Bunny bent Cannes out of shape, a German film about the Vietnam war kicked the 1970 Berlin International Film Festival to the curb.
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