Reviews
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‘Top Five’ Review: Chris Rock’s Comedy Is Funny But Flawed
The ambitious film’s moments of greatness make the contrivances and the impossibilities all the more frustrating
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James Rocchi -
‘The Invisible Hand’ Theater Review: It’s ‘Margin Call’ Set Inside a Pakistani Bunker
Ayad Akhtar creates suspense, not from an impending beheading but from what a prisoner teaches his captor about the stock market
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Bradley Cooper in ‘The Elephant Man’ Offers Gorgeous Along With The Beast
With Cooper in the lead, the play takes on new meaning, teaching us what it’s like to be a movie star in ways E! and TMZ never could
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‘The Red Tent’ Review: Lifetime’s Old-Fashioned Biblical Mini Overcomes Confusing Start
Minnie Driver, Rebecca Ferguson and Debra Winger star in this epic story about the traveling sisterhood of the sister wives
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‘The Pyramid’ Review: It’s a Little ‘Indiana Jones’ and a Little ‘Mummy’ — But Mostly Dopey
Three or four decent scares can’t justify the crushing monotony of this horror flick about archaeologists who go barking up the wrong sarcophagus
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‘Miss Julie’ Review: Jessica Chastain Glows in an Otherwise Oppressively Grim Misery Fest
Scandinavian gloom takes over in Liv Ullmann’s shallow take on August Strindberg’s exploration of class and gender, co-starring Colin Farrell and Samantha Morton
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‘Black or White’ Review: Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer Square Off in Uneven Custody Battle
A rousing and fair debate between the little girl’s white grandfather and black grandmother would have lent the film some badly needed dramatic urgency
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‘Still Alice’ Review: Julianne Moore Gives a Harrowing, Haunting Performance
The actress’ work deserves the raves it’s been earning in a powerful examination of a woman facing early-onset Alzheimer’s
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James Rocchi -
‘Wild’ Review: Reese Witherspoon and Her New Survival Drama Are Both Full of Surprises
The actress shows new layers and vulnerability in a film that’s more than just “Eat Pray Love for 127 Hours”
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‘Life Partners’ Review: Gillian Jacobs and Leighton Meester Remain Friends For No Apparent Reason
This arrested-development comedy takes female friendships seriously but strands its miscast leading ladies with the most generic characters possible
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‘Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce’ Review: Bravo’s Fictional Venture Is Hardly Marriage Material
Lisa Edelstein’s new series is obsessed with affluence, and works best when it ventures into dramatic territory
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‘The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies’ Review: Martin Freeman and Company End Trilogy, Provide Fan Service
Peter Jackson gives us more of the same in this franchise-ender co-starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, and Orlando Bloom
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‘Unbroken’ Review: Angelina Jolie’s WWII Saga Is Riveting, But Somewhat Generic
History writ large by a crack team of craftspersons, the results are more awe-inspiring than moving, but the true story of Louis Zamperini definitely makes a heck of a yarn
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‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ Review: Christian Bale Makes a Stiff White Moses in Ridley Scott’s Stolid Epic
It’s the kind of Biblical saga where the actors with the most lines have the most jars of bronzer in their makeup trailer
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‘The Babadook’ Stuns Critics: Nearly Every Review Suggests This Is a Horror Classic
There’s a new boogeyman in town, and he’s apparently worth seeing