Tom Cruise’s sci-fi adventure, “Oblivion,” arrives on home video this week, and its story similarities to Pixar’s “WALL-E” has triggered another installment of America’s third favorite Coeur d’Alene Press recurring entertainment feature – Cage Match! The protagonists of both “Oblivion” and “WALL-E” are tasked with cleaning up the mess left by apocalyptic calamities. In “WALL-E,” […]
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The year in cinema shouldn’t really be gauged by its highs and lows, as there will always be a few terrible movies and a few great ones. The state of Hollywood is best measured by everything in between – the movies that range between pretty good and utterly forgettable. Thankfully for 2012, the scale tips
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Vampires, fire skulls and Katherine Heigl are responsible for an assortment of Dumpster-worthy movies in 2012. But consider the silver lining – many of the people involved in these train wrecks found success in other, better movies this year. So don’t cry for Channing Tatum or Abraham Lincoln until we run down the best movies
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Ever since “Jaws” terrified audiences back in 1975, summer has been the go-to season for event-level filmmaking. And in many cases, extinction level events like asteroids and malevolent aliens are the focus. From May through August, there’s at least one new, expensive blockbuster every week. Not all are created equal. Many make money, but only
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Marilyn Monroe. J. Edgar Hoover. Margaret Thatcher. Three iconic figures in three notable biopics released last year. Let’s see what happens when we throw them into a cinematic steel cage match to the death. Move over, Katniss Everdeen. It’s the Iron Lady wielding an iron battle-axe. The Contenders Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe in “My
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We can have our good values and we can have our dignity, but sometimes we just need a paycheck. This is most true in Hollywood, where even the most respected actors and filmmakers work on a project for the sole purpose of banking a few million bucks. Some actors, however, seem perfectly content taking money
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I’m a firm believer that good movies are relatively easy to find, and of the 108 movies I saw from 2011, I enjoyed quite a few of them. I just didn’t love very many. North Idaho has yet to receive late season standouts like “The Artist” or “A Separation.” Still, the calendar year hasn’t been
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It could have been much worse. Of all the 2011-released movies I saw this year (a little more than a hundred), most fell into the “merely OK” category. Like many of you, I chose not see some of the year’s obvious clunkers, like Adam Sandler’s cross-dressing “Jack and Jill” or the new “Chipmunks” movie. And,
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“The Social Network” and “The King’s Speech” will ultimately duke out for the year’s top prize, but there are other nominations and categories to consider. Here are my predictions, as well as a few long-shot picks that deserve more respect. Official predictions are in bold. Best Picture If there were only five nominees, it’d be
2011 Oscar Nomination Predictions Read More »
Years from now, esteemed film scholars will decide the true great films from 2010. Until then, critics’ awards and Top 10 lists only give us an impulsive view of cinema in the past year. A Best-of list so soon after the new year can only be a gut feeling. With limited time and opportunity for
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