Arts + Life

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12:57pm

Tue June 11, 2002
Movie Reviews

Windtalkers

In “Windtalkers” Cage’s struggle with his guilt demons dominates the promising topics of a code that was never broken...

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9:59am

Tue June 11, 2002
Movie Reviews

Bad Company

When does a knighted actor collect a paycheck?

When does a knighted actor collect a paycheck?

When he acts benightedly in a cliched spy thriller that is a virtual textbook of Hollywood expectations, right down to the scruffy mid-eastern terrorists and the oversized red digital readout on a nuclear bomb.

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4:57pm

Thu May 30, 2002
Movie Reviews

Enigma

When "Enigma" is real, it’s good intrigue...

My favorite Michael-Apted directed work is "Thunderheart," the tragic tale about struggles between the FBI and Indians in the Dakotas in the 70's. His recent "Enigma" again treats history, this time the British breaking of the Nazi secret code in WWII at Bletchley, the busy estate of British decrypters.

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2:04pm

Thu May 30, 2002
Movie Reviews

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

The beauty shop of "Steel Magnolias" now looks like a warm, funny place to me and tiny Chickapenn Parish much more original than I originally thought...

If you’re a daughter yet to figure out your crazy mother, then see "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood." You may realize you're not alone, and your mother may be saner than you thought.

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10:16am

Tue May 28, 2002
Movie Reviews

The Sum of All Fears

Leave your disbelief at home and enter a fantasy world a little bit closer to reality than most of us would like...

When I don't carp about the narrative logic or continuity of a film, it just may be I liked it well enough I was willing to suspend my disbelief. Enter the new Jack Ryan in another Tom Clancy adaptation, "The Sum of All Fears."

Let me carp first:

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4:07pm

Fri May 24, 2002
Movie Reviews

Happy Accidents

For "Happy Accidents," Time is just the beginning...

In "Happy Accidents," Ruby (Marisa Tomei) falls in love with Sam (Vincent D'Onofrio), an alleged visitor from the year 2470. Ruby, in deep analysis, says, "I am willing to find a balance between my own needs and my concern for others." She's a bit of a flake and he's just plain out there.

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9:01am

Fri May 24, 2002
Movie Reviews

Insomnia

You'll not pause or sleep in this satisfying thriller...

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11:00am

Sat May 18, 2002
Movie Reviews

Time Out

Far from America and the easy resolutions of disaffected workers, "Time Out" is a respectful treatise on the wages of anomie and lies...

In Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," Marlow says there is "a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies." The French film "Time Out" is about Vincent, who lies by claiming to be employed while he is not and carrying this lie to an extreme that endangers his family and friends.

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3:58pm

Mon May 13, 2002
Movie Reviews

Hollywood Ending

"Hollywood Ending" may start out looking like Woody's going to crash and burn again, but stay with it because... well because you're going to love its Hollywood ending.

Woody's back and sizzling in "Hollywood Ending." Though die-hard Woody fans may think I exaggerate, I think he's never been better. Relying more on sight-gags and slap-stick shticks than ever before, his quick-quips and sharp dialogue sparkles like an opening night on the Great White Way.

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1:41pm

Sat May 11, 2002
Movie Reviews

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

The Force is still with us...

George Lucas has brought us back to the energy and imagination of the two original Star Wars adventures with his new "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones." Although recently, especially with "Phantom Menace," he seemed to be merely creatively cloning, this installment has some of the wit and character development of those earlier episodes.

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9:02am

Wed May 8, 2002
Movie Reviews

The Triumph of Love

Move over Kenneth Brannagh, Clare Peploe and Bertolucci are after your corner on the market for European theatrical classics...

"The Triumph of Love" is a fun-filled return to the French classics of the 18th century with Clare Peploe's cinematic revival of Marivaux's comedy of manners. Her famous film director husband, Bernardo Bertolucci, co-wrote the script.

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4:41pm

Sat May 4, 2002
Movie Reviews

Spider-Man

McGuire and Dunst glory in their vulnerability and set out to prove superheroes (and their girlfriends) can fall in love, nail villains to the wall, and still be tough enough to cry.

Hooray, Hooray it's the first of May and the summer's first blockbuster has already swooshed in to the local multiplexes!

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3:32pm

Wed May 1, 2002
Columns

What Happened? : The Story of Every Band I've Ever Liked

Records that once shined so brightly in your collection are now blemishes to your coolness...

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4:54pm

Tue April 30, 2002
Columns

Summer Celluloid

"It's Movie Time" previews this summer's coming attractions...

When WCBE's "It's Movie Time" film critics John DeSando and Clay Lowe were asked to do a feature on what they were looking forward to seeing at their favorite art houses and multiplexes this summer, here's what they suggested might be worth catching. As might be expected they have asked that they not be held responsible for their miscalculations.

BLOOD WORK

DeSando's Choice

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11:01am

Tue April 30, 2002
Music

Bad Moon Rising…

Beware the full moon, Hives and White Stripes -- long live the Bloooooozze Exxploshhhun!

Since Jon Spencer surfaced last with the genre busting, hip-hop infused Acme, the blooze is suddenly in vogue having been dusted off and painted with White Stripes. Now is the the perfect time for the master to reclaim his throne from the young upstarts who have stolen his thunder.

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9:31am

Tue April 30, 2002
Movie Reviews

L'Anglaise et le duc

Erich Rohmer uses the latest in digital technology to tell the tale of a Scottish upper class lady who gets caught in Paris during the outbreak of the French Revolution...

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11:14am

Fri April 26, 2002
Movie Reviews

The Cat's Meow

This film depicts "the whisper heard most often," a tale of murder not quite so foul as foolish...

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9:26am

Fri April 26, 2002
Music

Badly Drawn Boy

Nick Hornby and Badly Drawn Boy -- a match made in Restoration Hardware heaven...

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2:39pm

Wed April 24, 2002
Movie Reviews

Crush

Andie MacDowell is "better than sausage"...

If I told my buddies I was having an affair with a woman seriously younger than I, I don't think they would endanger the young woman or their own friendships just to derail my temporary insanity. Welcome to the film "Crush."

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11:53am

Tue April 23, 2002
Movie Reviews

Murder By Numbers

Bottom line. How much you enjoy this movie depends upon how you feel about Sandra Bullock...

"Murder by Numbers" is a Sandra Bullock showcase that has all the window dressings of an Alfred Hitchcock thriller. A spooky abandoned house on the edge of a precipitous cliff. The Pacific Ocean boiling like a cauldron below. A law enforcement officer haunted by her past -- think Jimmy Stewart in "Vertigo," then digitize in Bullock.

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