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Gabe Leibowitz
Tomatometer-approved critic
www.abovegroundrealty.com
www.filmandfelt.com
Reclaiming the throne
http://www.ecinemacenter.com/SpiritedAway.html
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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ParaNorman (2012) |
An extremely strange blend of genres and styles, ParaNorman somehow manages to pull it off...sort of. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jan 22, 2013
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Rise of the Guardians (2012) |
Alas, a sweet heart and a tender message aren't enough to save Rise of the Guardians from its overly sugary ways. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jan 12, 2013
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The Evil Dead (1981) |
A cult classic of the highest order, Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead is the rare 80′s movie that actually feels worthy of its lofty reputation; relatively, anyway. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jan 06, 2013
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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) |
Should more than satisfactorily scratch the itch of those who have waited many long years to see Middle Earth back on screen. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jan 01, 2013
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Wreck-It Ralph (2012) |
Despite being a perfectly entertaining Disney picture, Wreck-it Ralph leaves that nagging taste in the mouth that it could have been so much more. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Dec 30, 2012
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Arbitrage (2012) |
It's appropriate that Arbitrage gets its American release while our country is knee-deep in the fight over the fiscal cliff and the future of our financial institutions. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Dec 30, 2012
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Skyfall (2012) |
Skyfall epitomizes what a Bond movie should be, and its director, for once, justifiably deserves much of the credit. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Dec 30, 2012
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Senna (2010) |
...a surprisingly deft examination of the power of faith... - Film and Felt
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| Posted Feb 05, 2012
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The Ides of March (2011) |
A rehash of a recent political phenomenon dressed up to seem more daring than it actually is. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jan 20, 2012
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The Phantom Tollbooth (1969) |
The animation is clean, with enough pop to do Dictionopolis-and-company justice. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jan 20, 2012
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Win Win (2011) |
There's a real earnestness to the proceedings: if someone had relayed the setup to me via email or over cocktails, I would have bet heavily that we'd be looking at a sappy mess of clichs. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jan 13, 2012
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Bridesmaids (2011) |
I like that Bridesmaids aspires to be more than just a dumb comedy, but that doesn't mean it needs to belabor its point for what feels like eons. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jan 13, 2012
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) |
For the most part, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II picks up right where Part I, the franchise's shining beacon on a hill, leaves off. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jan 13, 2012
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Black Death (2010) |
An entertaining, if by-the-numbers, entry to the sword-and-shield genre, Black Death features lots of blood, disease, and the seemingly requisite Sean Bean. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jan 02, 2012
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Shame (2011) |
The writing barely scratches the surface of what should have been a fascinating subject. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Dec 31, 2011
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A Better Life (2011) |
Each sequence plays out in mind-numbingly cliched fashion: father-son lectures, chin-up resilience-especially the final shot-and a stern message about the heartless anti-immigration movement are depicted in an infuriatingly shallow manner. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Dec 30, 2011
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War Horse (2011) |
The treacle is unyielding, and that's basically a kiss of death for a picture that's working off a script with such potential for hokey melodrama. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Dec 30, 2011
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Young Adult (2011) |
If Up in the Air had a certain cavalier attitude in its direction, Young Adult is downright lazy. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Dec 30, 2011
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Carnage (2011) |
Embattled filmmaker Roman Polanski has always been drawn to the dark sides of humanity, so it's no surprise he'd be drawn to the play "Carnage." - Film and Felt
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| Posted Dec 30, 2011
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Hobo With a Shotgun (2011) |
A cult picture that's completely comfortable in its own skin. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Nov 30, 2011
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The Adventures of Tintin (2011) |
A brisk, charming, enjoyable romp. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Nov 30, 2011
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The Other F Word (2011) |
We do get to see Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers cry, though. That gets some bonus points in my book. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Nov 17, 2011
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Tucker & Dale vs Evil (2010) |
This goofy, over-the-top tale of college students on a camping trip warring with two local West Virginia hillbillies lacks a core identity. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Nov 17, 2011
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The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) |
I never held The Lost World in such high esteem, but I watched it multiple times and always felt it got a bit of a bum rap. After checking it out again fourteen years later, I still feel the same way. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Oct 13, 2011
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The Gay Divorcee (1934) |
The Gay Divorcee offers a terrific mix of wit, humor, and, of course, song-and-dance. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Oct 13, 2011
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Shall We Dance (1937) |
It's about innuendo and devious plots (though, of course, the stories are always essentially backdrops to showcasing the Astaire-and-Rogers show), and while it has plenty of amusing moments and some good musical numbers, it feels stiff at times, - Film and Felt
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| Posted Oct 13, 2011
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The Story of Vernon & Irene Castle (1939) |
It's not exactly a stretch for Astaire and Rogers, but they do the old rags-to-riches angle seamlessly, and the finale is surprisingly touching. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Oct 13, 2011
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The Outsiders (1983) |
Francis Ford Coppola's cheesy, overblown adaptation of S.E. Hinton's wonderful novel captures none of the book's gritty magic. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jul 12, 2011
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Summer (1986) |
It's as if we ourselves are observing life, learning and evolving with Delphine. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jul 09, 2011
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X-Men: First Class (2011) |
Its attributes and weaknesses can be broken down into two categories: the relationship between Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and everything else - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jul 09, 2011
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The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) |
Peter Yates' crime drama is chock-full of wonderful moments, creative framing (especially an intrusion in a bank teller's home early on in the proceedings), and emotional punch. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jul 09, 2011
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Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010) |
An extremely dark, brisk chapter in the Dark Knight's ever-popular screen sagas. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jul 09, 2011
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Gone With the Wind (1939) |
The golden standard for classic Hollywood bombast, this one. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jul 09, 2011
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Room Service (1938) |
With far too many drawn-out chats lacking in any wit or humor, Room Service is close to a total Marx Brothers dud. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jun 29, 2011
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Midnight in Paris (2011) |
As befits Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris. is chock-full of cultural homages: Hemingway and Stein are just a small sample of the legends Allen parades onscreen. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jun 29, 2011
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The Freshman (1925) |
My first foray into the comedic world of Harold Lloyd yielded eerily similar results to my initial exposure to W.C. Fields. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Apr 24, 2011
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Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) |
In many ways, Cave of Forgotten Dreams perfectly embodies the identity that Werner Herzog v. 2000′s has chosen to take on. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Apr 24, 2011
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Smart Money (1931) |
In many ways, the first half of Alfred E. Green's Smart Money can be seen as a stage-setter for John Dahl's game-changing Rounders. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Apr 24, 2011
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The Roaring Twenties (1939) |
A powerful story of wartime bonds and their staying power through the most adverse of circumstances. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Apr 08, 2011
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The Princess of Montpensier (2010) |
Never dull, but it also never takes that step into truly encompassing like the very best genre entries. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Apr 07, 2011
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Meek's Cutoff (2010) |
Meek's Cutoff may not match Reichardt's previous two works in emotional heft, but it continues to cement her as a young director to watch closely. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Apr 06, 2011
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Park Row (1952) |
Another strong, if lesser-known, depiction of the ruthless, cutthroat newspaper industry. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Apr 05, 2011
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Little Caesar (1930) |
Little Caesar makes two classic LeRoy joints that I've found perfectly solid...and thoroughly underwhelming, especially when viewed through the prism of their reputations. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Apr 05, 2011
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The Thing (1951) |
A solid, workmanlike film that holds up better than one would expect. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Mar 13, 2011
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Winter's Bone (2010) |
Winter's Bone certainly has its redeeming qualities, particularly its cinematography and a superb lead performance by Jennifer Lawrence, but man, does it feel EMPTY until a gripping sequence near the end. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Mar 13, 2011
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Hot Fuzz (2007) |
Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright's follow-up to his extremely popular zombie satire Shaun of the Dead (2004), improves on the latter's strong points in every conceivable way while drastically tightening up its weakest elements. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Mar 13, 2011
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Ministry of Fear (1944) |
It's certainly fitting that after filling his German years with ballsy, predictive masterpieces about Nazi rule-by-fear, Fritz Lang would finally make a film that directly involves Nazis. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jan 31, 2011
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The Ghost Writer (2010) |
Polanski's skills are obvious in his compositions and patience, and a nervous energy hovers over much of the picture...yet I consistently felt disengaged, like the pacing was mismanaged. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jan 30, 2011
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The Woman in the Window (1944) |
For much of its brisk running time, The Woman in the Window plays like another balls-to-the-wall gem from the rarely-less-than-masterful Fritz Lang. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jan 30, 2011
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The Karate Kid (2010) |
Zwart's adaptation pretty much fails across the board. - Film and Felt
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| Posted Jan 27, 2011
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