MacGruber
When a screenwriter resorts to making abortion the subject of a joke, Catholic viewers at least can be certain he has hit the comic skids. And so it proves with director and co-writer Jorma Taccone's "MacGruber" (Rogue), the consistently vulgar, intermittently gruesome expansion of a recurring "Saturday Night Live" skit that ...
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MacGruber (CNS)
Machete
Considering that the Arizona Legislature has recently brought the issue of illegal immigration to the fore, the arrival of the ultraviolent "Machete" (Fox), about a Mexican vigilante handy with sharp objects, is nothing if not timely.
In keeping with the grimy exploitation flicks of the 1970s he so admires, writer-director-producer ...
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Machete (CNS)
Machine Gun Preacher
When the hard living Sam Childers (Gerard Butler) is
released from prison in Pennsylvania he is still not ready to reform his wild
life though he has a wife (Michelle Monaghan) and daughter. After he and a
friend almost kill a man, Sam gets a wake up call and becomes a Christian. He
eventually starts ...
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Machine Gun Preacher (SRR)
Machinist, The
Darkly arresting psychological thriller about a skeletal machine operator (Christian Bale) suffering from chronic insomnia, whose fragile psyche is edged toward madness by the presence of a menacing co-worker (John Sharian), and whose only solace is found in the companionship of a sympathetic coffee-shop waitress (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) and a comforting call ...
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Machinist, The (CNS)
Mad City
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Mad City (SAM)
Mad Hot Ballroom
Generally appealing documentary about ethnically diverse New York City elementary school students competing in citywide American Ballroom Theater's "Dancing Classrooms" program, focusing on the intense rehearsals leading up to the finals, which bring success and inevitably for some disappointment. Marilyn Agrelo and Amy Sewell's cinema-verite film would benefit from a glossier ...
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Mad Hot Ballroom (CNS)
Mad Money
Clever, fast-paced caper comedy about three cash-strapped women -- a middle-class housewife (Diane Keaton) whose husband (Ted Danson) has just lost his job, a single mom (Queen Latifah) with two young boys to support, and a dippy but clever young woman (Katie Holmes) -- who join forces to smuggle money out ...
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Mad Money (CNS)
Madagascar
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Madagascar (EDC)
Madagascar
Entertaining animated comedy about a quartet of pampered zoo animals (voiced by Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith) who find themselves shipped back to the wild, where they discover that the jungle is not all its cracked up to be. Directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath ...
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Madagascar (CNS)
Madagascar 3
The Holy Father plays straight man to an amorous lemur in "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted" (DreamWorks).
It's one of dozens of "Bet you didn't see that one coming!" moments, and all in good fun in this fast-moving, animated 3-D adventure, the third installment in the "Madagascar" franchise.
Explaining cartoon silliness ...
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Madagascar 3 (CNS)
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Four animal friends (voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith), stranded on the titular island, try to fly home to their New York City zoo, but land instead on an African savanna where they must continue to adapt to life in the wild. Though occasionally marred ...
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Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (CNS)
Made of Honor
A callous playboy (a charming Patrick Dempsey) comes to realize he loves his longtime best friend (Michelle Monaghan) just when she announces she's engaged to a Scottish lord (Kevin McKidd), and he agrees to be her "maid of honor" in the hopes of dissuading her from the marriage. Paul Welland's formulaic ...
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Made of Honor (CNS)
Madea's Big Happy Family
Tyler Perry's broadly drawn morality plays, which include the stage version of "Madea's Big Happy Family" (Lionsgate), have proven so surefire with their targeted audience as to be critic-proof.
In these earthy, over-the-top crowd-pleasers, insults fly, family problems are solved, children learn to defer to adults and short-tempered Madea (Perry in ...
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Madea's Big Happy Family (CNS)
Madison
Feel-good film set in small-town Indiana which tells the true story of Jim McCormick (Jim Caviezel), a local former boat-racing hero who pulls together and lifts the spirits of his down-on-its-luck town -- which lives and breathes the sport -- when he proposes they make an bid to host an annual ...
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Madison (CNS)
Magdalene Sisters, The
This fictional drama is definitely not for the squeamish, and not simply because of some nudity and physical violence. It focuses on young women in 1960s Ireland who had children out of wedlock, were sexually active (or suspected of being so) or raped. To make up for their sins, the girls ...
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Magdalene Sisters, The (SAM)
Magdalene Sisters, The
Fact-based but manipulative melodrama set in a 1964 Dublin Catholic-run Magdalene laundry where young women are sent by parents or guardians to work in atonement for alleged sins of the flesh, overseen by vicious nuns who physically beat and psychologically abuse them. Eschewing narrative or character development in favor of caricature, ...
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Magdalene Sisters, The (CNS)
Maid in Manhattan
Agreeable if formulaic romantic comedy in which a charming politician (Ralph Fiennes) mistakes a hotel maid (Jennifer Lopez) for a wealthy guest. Appealing performances from the main and supporting cast help director Wayne Wang's familiar comedy of errors go down easily enough despite an autopilot resolution, along the way touching on ...
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Maid in Manhattan (CNS)
Malibu's Most Wanted
An overprivileged, white kid from Malibu who fancies himself as a self-styled hip-hop rapper gets a dose of urban reality in this mindless satire. Directed by John Whitesell, the film, a vapid jumble of mildly amusing comedy sketches, is a misguided attempt to comment on the puzzling sociological phenomenon of silver-spoon ...
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Malibu's Most Wanted (CNS)
Mama
As thrillers go, "Mama" (Universal) is no more than competent. But director Andy Muschietti's film—which he co-wrote with his sister, Barbara, and Neil Cross—can be commended for avoiding gore and for the pro-family conversion in outlook experienced by one of its main characters.
Expanding their 2008 Spanish-language short, whose title was ...
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Mama (CNS)
Mambo Italiano
Strained comedy set in Canada about a young gay man (Luke Kirby) who tries to keep his homosexuality hidden from his traditional Italian-immigrant parents (Ginette Reno, Paul Sorvino), even while he moves in with his childhood friend and now-partner (Peter Miller). Although director Emile Gaudreault's predictable, long-winded film concentrates more on ...
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Mambo Italiano (CNS)
Mama Mia!
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Mama Mia! (SAM)
Mamma Mia!
Lively and colorful adaptation of the popular stage musical, utilizing the songs of Abba, about a bride-to-be (Amanda Seyfried) who invites her mother's (Meryl Streep) three lovers from two decades earlier (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard) to her wedding in Greece after discovering that one of them may be ...
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Mamma Mia! (CNS)
Man, The
Minor action comedy about nerdy middle-aged dental products salesman (Eugene Levy) who's mistaken for a stolen-arms dealer, and becomes the unwilling sidekick of a Detroit-based federal agent (Samuel L. Jackson), whose crooked partner has just been murdered in a sting operation against the bad guys. Director Les Mayfield's film is fitfully ...
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Man, The (CNS)
Manchurian Candidate, The
Pulse-pounding political thriller about a troubled Army officer (Denzel Washington) haunted by nightmares of a combat mission years earlier which may or may not hold the key to shedding light on a conspiracy involving a former member of his platoon (Liev Schreiber) running for vice president of the United States. In ...
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Manchurian Candidate, The (CNS)
Manic
Provocative exploration of the troubled lives of adolescents in a juvenile mental institution. Though chock full of offensive language and violence, director Jordan Melamed's disturbingly raw film addresses important questions about abuse and alienation among today's youth. Recurring graphic violence and incessant rough and sexually explicit language as well as vulgarities. ...
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Manic (CNS)
Manna From Heaven
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Manna From Heaven (SAM)
Manna From Heaven
Fanciful tale in which a Buffalo nun (Ursula Burton) decides that the found money her family and friends benefited from 30 years earlier must be repaid, so they organize a car raffle and ballroom dancing competition to raise the long-spent cash, and in the process reconnect with what is really important ...
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Manna From Heaven (CNS)
Manna From Heaven
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Manna From Heaven (SAM)
Man Apart, A
Testosterone-driven crime drama about a Los Angeles DEA agent (Vin Diesel) set on avenging his wife's murder by taking down the powerful Mexican drug cartel responsible for her death. Directed by F. Gary Gray, who cut his teeth in the content-thin world of music videos, the contrived narrative unfortunately follows the ...
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Man Apart, A (CNS)
March of the Penguins
March of the Penguins
Exceptional nature documentary which details the annual mating migrations of emperor penguins in Antarctica, during which they endure treacherous treks across inhospitable terrain, facing sub-zero temperatures and starvation to ensure the survival of the species. Beautifully directed by Luc Jacquet and narrated by Morgan Freeman, the captivating film is as emotionally ...
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March of the Penguins
March of the Penguins (CNS)
Marci X
Intolerably dreadful comedy about a spoiled Jewish socialite (Lisa Kudrow) who attempts to clean up the act of a notorious gangsta-rap artist (Damon Wayans) in order to appease a right-wing media watchdog bent on destroying her father, the man who owns the rapper's recording company. While director Richard Benjamin aspires to ...
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Marci X (CNS)
Margot at the Wedding
Well-acted though downbeat tale of neurotic short-story writer (a superb Nicole Kidman) and her teenage son (Zane Pais) on the brink of puberty who attend the wedding of her often-estranged sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who's about to marry an out-of-work artist (Jack Black). Writer-director Noah Baumbach's keenly observant drama (interlaced with ...
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Margot at the Wedding (CNS)
Marie Antoinette
Visually sumptuous but dramatically inert biography of France's most celebrated queen (Kirsten Dunst), her arranged marriage to the future King Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman), the lengthy period it took them to consummate their marriage and produce an heir, and her heedless spending and pleasure-seeking, which would infuriate the masses and help ...
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Marie Antoinette (CNS)
Maria Full of Grace
Arresting drama about a young woman from rural Colombia (Catalina Sandino Moreno) who becomes a drug "mule" -- swallowing pellets of heroin to be smuggled into the United States -- in order to support her family. Employing a style of stark realism, writer-director Joshua Marston grafts human drama onto what could ...
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Maria Full of Grace (CNS)
Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School
The wish of a dying man (John Goodman) leads an emotionally scarred widower (Robert Carlyle) to a dance class where he -- and later his fellow bereavement group mates (Sean Astin, Ernie Hudson, David Paymer and Adam Arkin) -- finds fulfillment, and, in his case, love. Director and co-writer Randall Miller's ...
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Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School (CNS)
Marine, The
Empty action adventure about a Marine (wrestler John Cena) fresh from battle in the Middle East whose homecoming gets off to a rough start when he must track down the gang of cold-blooded felons (lead by Robert Patrick) who are holding his wife (Kelly Carlson) hostage. Director John Bonito piles on ...
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Marine, The (CNS)
Marley & Me
Heartwarming, often rambling, but consistently likable true story about a journalist couple (Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston) in West Palm Beach, Fla., who adopt an unruly Labrador whose companionship sees them through the joys and vicissitudes of family life. Director David Frankel's adaptation of John Grogan's best-seller is deceptively plotless, but ...
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Marley & Me (CNS)
Marmaduke
Young children might like "Marmaduke" (Fox), a comedy based on the adventures of the titular comic-strip Great Dane. Adults, on the other hand, are likely to find it about as charming as a bucket of doggie drool.
Director Tom Dey and screenwriters Tim Rasmussen and Vince Di Meglio unload a ...
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Marmaduke (CNS)
Married in America
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Married in America (SAM)
Married Life
Sluggish period melodrama -- based on John Bingham's 1950s' crime novel, "Five Roundabouts to Heaven" -- in which a businessman (Chris Cooper) decides to poison his wife (Patricia Clarkson) believing (wrongly) she'll be bereft without him when he ultimately leaves her for his mistress (Rachel McAdams), not knowing the latter is ...
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Married Life (CNS)
Mars Needs Moms
Vivid animation and a ringing endorsement of the traditional family combine to make the endearing adventure "Mars Needs Moms" (Disney) a film kids can enjoy and parents will appreciate.
But, though suitable for all (a few mild potty jokes aside), director and co-writer Simon Wells' technically accomplished screen version of Berkeley ...
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Mars Needs Moms (CNS)
Martian Child
Delicate, highly unusual story about widowed science fiction writer (John Cusack) who adopts a strange little boy (a perfectly cast Bobby Coleman) who insists he's come from Mars. Director Menno Meyjes sustains a slightly surreal tone throughout which keeps you guessing whether the child is simply delusional or actually an extraterrestrial ...
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Martian Child (CNS)
Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat
In this vulgar film directed by David Raynr, comedian Martin Lawrence delivers raunchy standup monologues in which he blathers on about his trials and tribulations of the past few years. But mainly it is an excuse for Lawrence to mouth off in the most demeaning and depraved manner about sex. Explicit ...
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Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat (CNS)
Marvel's The Avengers
Seemingly destined to haul in wads of cash at the box office, the ensemble adventure "Marvel's The Avengers" (Disney) will not disappoint fans of the comic books on which it's based. But it may prove problematic for the parents of some excited youngsters anxious to ride the juggernaut.
The film has ...
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Marvel's The Avengers (CNS)
Marvin's Room
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Marvin's Room (SAM)
Mask of Zorro, The
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Mask of Zorro, The (SAM)
Masked and Anonymous
Anesthetizing drama set in a war-torn, Third World country under dictatorial rule in which a concert promoter (John Goodman) springs a has-been musician (Bob Dylan) from jail to perform at a benefit concert. With pretentious and self-consciously cute dialogue, director Larry Charles' film lacks cohesion as the ensemble cast meanders through ...
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Masked and Anonymous (CNS)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Lavish high-seas adventure, based on Patrick O'Brian's popular maritime novels, about an intrepid British naval captain (Russell Crowe) who must hunt down and destroy a superior French frigate during the Napoleonic wars. Combining grand swashbuckling spectacle with painstaking attention to detail, director Peter Weir weaves a salty yarn about honor, duty ...
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Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (CNS)
Master of Disguise
Dreadfully dull comedy in which a man (Dana Carvey) who comes from a long line of highly skilled camouflage artists must save his kidnapped father from a dastardly thief planning to steal the world's most precious treasures. Directed by Perry Andelin Blake and co-written by Carvey, the film depends solely on ...
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Master of Disguise (CNS)
The Matador
Profile of 24-year-old David Fandila, one of Spain's most popular matadors, as he pursues his goal of performing in 100 bullfights in a single season, cheered on by fans of the controversial spectacle, but hounded as well by protesters who regard it as primitive and brutal. Filmmakers Stephen Higgins and Nina ...
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The Matador (CNS)
Matador, The
Dark and vulgar black comedy about a mild-mannered traveling salesman (Greg Kinnear) who, while on business in Mexico, befriends a burned-out international hit man (Pierce Brosnan) who later shows up on the Denver doorstep of the former asking for help to get back his killer edge. Directed by Richard Shepard, the ...
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Matador, The (CNS)
Match Point
Hypnotic London-based morality tale of lower-class tennis instructor (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) who marries a young woman (Emily Mortimer) from an affluent family and commences an affair with his brother-in-law's ex-fiancee (Scarlett Johansson). Writer-director Woody Allen is at the top of his serious, as opposed to humorous, form in a superbly acted ...
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Match Point (CNS)
Matchstick Men
Clever shell-game drama about an obsessive-compulsive small-time con artist (Nicolas Cage) whose neurotically routine life unravels when he learns he has a teen-age daughter (Alison Lohman) with a gift for the grift, complicating a potentially lucrative scheme to fleece a heavy-hitting millionaire. Full of triple-dealings and exploiting viewers' fascination for confidence ...
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Matchstick Men (CNS)
Material Girls
Leaden comedy about a pair of spoiled cosmetic heiresses (played by real-life siblings Hilary and Haylie Duff) who, investigating alleged product-related skin damage cases that threaten to sink stocks and tarnish their late father's reputation, suspect that an ambitious rival (Anjelica Huston) -- who wants to buy their company -- is ...
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Material Girls (CNS)
Matrix Reloaded, The
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Matrix Reloaded, The (SAM)
Matrix Reloaded, The
Pretentious sci-fi tale set in the 22nd century about a messianic computer hacker (Keanu Reeves) who leads a band of rebels (including Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss) against the artificial intelligence which has enslaved humans in a virtual-reality world, generated by evil computers bent on destroying mankind. While raising intriguing metaphysical ...
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Matrix Reloaded, The (CNS)
Matrix Revolutions, The
Bloated third installment of the sci-fi trilogy which finds Neo (Keanu Reeves), the computer hacker turned messiah, venturing into the heart of Machine City in order to stave off an assault on humanity's last stronghold by an army of killer droids bent on the extinction of mankind. While full of mind-blowing ...
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Matrix Revolutions, The (CNS)
Matrix, The
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Matrix, The (SAM)
Max Payne
Visually striking but routine revenge thriller about a cop (a stolid Mark Wahlberg) hunting through a snowy New York for the killer of his wife and child two years earlier—with the aid of a Russian mob moll (Mila Kunis) and his old mentor on the force (Beau Bridges)—but finds himself implicated ...
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Max Payne (CNS)
Me Without You
Disquieting drama chronicling the turbulent, symbiotic friendship between two London women (Anna Friel, Michelle Williams) from childhood into adulthood as they experience love, loss and betrayal and finally attempt to form identities separate from one another. Exploring a consuming relationship between codependent opposites, writer-director Sandra Goldbacher captures the difficulties that can ...
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Me Without You (CNS)
The Mechanic
In "The Mechanic" (CBS), director Simon West's violence-fueled remake of the 1972 thriller starring Charles Bronson, a duo of criminals spend their days planning creative ways to kill people for money -- then executing those plans -- and their nights trolling the brothels of their native New Orleans in search of ...
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The Mechanic (CNS)
Mean Creek
Involving drama set in rural Oregon about a group of teenage friends (including Rory Culkin and Scott Mechlowicz), whose plot to teach a schoolyard bully (Josh Beck) a lesson while boating down a river ends in tragedy when their prank springs unintended leaks. Director Jacob Aaron Estes elicits strong performances from ...
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Mean Creek (CNS)
Medallion, The
Pointless martial-arts comedy about a Hong Kong cop (Jackie Chan) who is endowed with superhuman powers by a sacred amulet in order to protect its young guardian from a madman bent on using the talisman's powers for his own evil designs. Failing to satisfy viewers' adrenal glands or funny bones, this ...
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Medallion, The (CNS)
Meet Dave
Whimsical comedy in which the tiny captain (Eddie Murphy) of a human-shaped alien spaceship gains the help of a kindhearted young New York widow (Elizabeth Banks) and her bullied 11-year-old son (Austyn Lynd Myers) in his quest to save his home planet. Director Brian Robbins' film relies entirely on the single ...
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Meet Dave (CNS)
Meet the Fockers
Glossy, good-natured, often intentionally tasteless sequel to "Meet the Parents" as Gaylord Focker (Ben Stiller) and his soon-to-be bride, Pam (Teri Polo), and in-laws (Robert DeNiro and Blythe Danner) drive to Florida to meet his gregarious, unconventional parents (Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman) with predictably farcical results. The chief pleasure of ...
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Meet the Fockers (CNS)
Meet Joe Black
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Meet Joe Black (SAM)
Meet the Robinsons
Animated feature adapted from a William Joyce children's book about a futuristically fanciful family, here decked out with a time-travel plot and a comical villain. Director and co-writer Stephen Anderson and six other screenwriters take certain elements from the book and create a yarn about a kid-genius orphan (voiced by Daniel ...
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Meet the Robinsons (CNS)
Meet the Spartans
Lame satirical comedy in which the king of ancient Sparta (Sean Maguire) leaves his realm in the care of his queen (Carmen Electra) while he leads a small band of warriors against the aggressive ruler of Persia (Ken Davitian). Directors Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer's parody of "300" takes on everything ...
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Meet the Spartans (CNS)
Megamind
At its core, "Megamind" (Paramount) is a parable about an individual's positive nature battling to overcome his negative nurturing.
Director Tom McGrath's generally endearing 3-D animated adventure offers older kids enough worthy lessons about making good use of talents and abilities, and about the dangers of allowing others to define ...
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Megamind (CNS)
Mean Girls
Catty teen comedy about an insecure 15-year-old (Lindsay Lohan), home-schooled for most of her life and raised in the African bush, who gets a crash course in the law of the social jungle when she is thrust into a public high school and gets stung by its reigning queen bee (Rachel ...
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Mean Girls (CNS)
Melinda and Melinda
Only fitfully interesting interwoven stories -- one tragic, one comic -- of a distraught divorcee (Radha Mitchell in both versions) who shows up unannounced at a dinner party, disrupting the lives of the couple and their friends (Will Ferrell, Amanda Peet, Chloe Sevigny and Jonny Lee Miller), and the men with ...
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Melinda and Melinda (CNS)
Memoirs of a Geisha
Beautifully filmed and finely acted adaptation of Arthur Golden's best-seller about a girl (Ziyi Zhang) sold by her family into being a geisha in pre-World War II Japan, and her over-the-years love for a businessman (Ken Watanabe) who bought her ice cream as a child. Director Rob Marshall has crafted what ...
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Memoirs of a Geisha (CNS)
Men In Black
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Men In Black (SAM)
Men in Black 3
A Chinese saying holds that good things come in pairs, while trifectas we know to be rare by definition. And those guidelines, alas, hold true for "Men in Black 3" (Columbia).
This moderately fun but ultimately forgettable outing for the well-established secret alien crime-fighting duo of Agents J (Will Smith) and ...
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Men in Black 3 (CNS)
Men in Black II
Fairly entertaining sci-fi sequel in which a secret government agent (Will Smith) must get his former partner (Tommy Lee Jones) back on the job to stop a diabolical plot masterminded by an alien disguised as a lingerie model (Lara Flynn Boyle) who wants to destroy Earth. Despite a pretty skimpy plot, ...
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Men in Black II (CNS)
The Men Who Stare at Goats
The Army's Cold War-era experimentation with psychic
and paranormal techniques of warfare provides the seemingly outlandish,
yet fact-based premise for "The Men Who Stare at Goats" (Overture).
Director Grant Heslov's adaptation of British journalist Jon
Ronson's 2004 best-seller of the same title registers as a mildly
diverting, though disorganized comedy. But this satiric tale ...
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The Men Who Stare at Goats (CNS)
The Mentalist
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The Mentalist (SAM)
Message in a Bottle
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Message in a Bottle (SAM)
Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, The
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Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, The (SAM)
Messengers, The
Supernatural thriller about a husband (Dylan McDermott) and his wife (Penelope Ann Miller) who relocate their family from Chicago to a creepy North Dakota farmhouse haunted by ghosts of its murdered former residents visible only to the couple's toddler son and teenage daughter (Kristen Stewart), who tries to unravel the property's ...
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Messengers, The (CNS)
Mexican, The
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Mexican, The (SAM)
Miami Vice
Dank reworking of the stylish 1980s TV show as two Miami cops (Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx at less than their best) go undercover for the FBI to infiltrate an international drug trafficking ring from South America, though one of them falls for a glamorous drug smuggler (Gong Li), with identities ...
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Miami Vice (CNS)
Michael
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Michael (SAM)
Michael Clayton
Potent legal drama focusing on a few days in the complicated life of the title character (George Clooney), a "fixer" for a high-powered law firm whose managing partner (Sydney Pollack) dispatches him to deal with the apparent nervous breakdown of the firm's top litigator (Tom Wilkinson) and with its effects on ...
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Michael Clayton (CNS)
Michael Collins
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Michael Collins (SAM)
Michael Jackson's This Is It
It's best to approach the posthumous documentary
"Michael Jackson's This Is It" (Columbia) with limited expectations.
Director Kenny Ortega's energetic, largely unobjectionable
tribute to the controversial "king of pop" is narrowly focused and
entirely worshipful, casting little light on the eccentric, if not
inscrutable, personality of one of the late 20th century's most iconic
entertainers. ...
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Michael Jackson's This Is It (CNS)
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (SAM)
Midnight in Paris
Director/writer Woody Allen’s film opened the Cannes Film
Festival earlier this month and it is indeed one of his best films in a long
time; clever, sharp, entertaining and though not overly self-conscious as
Allen’s films can be, the litany of writers and artists in the film meet
Allen’s cinematic requirement for neurosis.
Gil ...
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Midnight in Paris (SRR)
Mighty Heart, A
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Mighty Heart, A (SAM)
Mighty Heart, A
Tense recounting of the 2002 kidnapping of and frantic search for Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl (Dan Futterman) in Karachi, Pakistan, as seen through the eyes of his pregnant wife, Mariane (Angelina Jolie), also a journalist. Director Michael Winterbottom superbly captures the tumult, and without histrionics (except for one searing ...
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Mighty Heart, A (CNS)
The Mighty Macs
"The Mighty Macs" (Freestyle) is the fact-based story of a women's basketball team from a Catholic college who, through the grit and determination of their rookie coach, got a shot at the national title.
This old-fashioned, family-friendly film is "Sister Act" without the singing, "Rocky" with basketballs, and "The Trouble with ...
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The Mighty Macs (CNS)
Mighty Wind, A
Modest, mock-documentary-style comedy about three washed-up folk groups whose aging members are reunited after decades for a hootenanny concert to commemorate the man who shepherded them to near stardom. Director Christopher Guest plays impresario to a hilariously talented ensemble, including Bob Balaban, Eugene Levy, Michael McKean and Catherine O'Hara, proving that ...
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Mighty Wind, A (CNS)
Mighty, The
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Mighty, The (SAM)
Milk
Solid biographical drama about San Francisco supervisor and gay rights activist Harvey Milk (a fine Sean Penn), his tumultuous rise to office after three failed runs for city and state office, and his 1978 assassination by deranged fellow supervisor Dan White (Josh Brolin). Director Gus Van Sant brings an almost cinema ...
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Milk (CNS)
Milk & Honey
Low-budget drama which takes place over the course of one night about a middle-aged Manhattan couple -- both guilty of infidelity -- whose strained marriage is tested when an argument sparked by an embarrassing episode during a cocktail party drives the husband (Clint Jordan), an emotionally troubled stockbroker recovering from a ...
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Milk & Honey (CNS)
The Mill & The Cross
Inspired by a book-length study of Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel's "The Way to Calvary," director Lech Majewski has created an absorbing blend of art history and feature filmmaking.
In "The Mill & The Cross" (Kino Lorber), Polish-born Majewski re-imagines Christ's passion, dramatizes a dark episode in the history of the Catholic ...
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The Mill & The Cross (CNS)
Million Dollar Baby
Dark-edged drama about an ornery old-school trainer and manager (Clint Eastwood) who finds personal redemption in molding a scrappy but determined female boxer (Hilary Swank) into a contender, only to have his efforts implode in tragedy. What starts out as a formulaic, Rockyesque fight film takes a disturbingly downbeat turn, becoming ...
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Million Dollar Baby (CNS)
Million Dollar Baby
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Million Dollar Baby (SAM)
Millions
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Millions (SAM)
Millions
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Millions (SAM)
Millions
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Millions (EDC)
Millions
Disarming fable about 7-year-old Damian (Alex Etel), enthralled by the lives of the saints, who finds a stash of stolen money and, believing it is from God, tries to do good with it by giving it to the poor with the help of 9-year-old brother Anthony (Lewis McGibbon), all the while ...
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Millions (CNS)
Man in the Iron Mask
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Man in the Iron Mask (SAM)
Mind the Gap
Patchwork drama involving the intertwined stories of five strangers -- a crotchety Jewish widower (Alan King in his final film) on a personal quest, a single dad (Eric Schaeffer) dealing with his mortality, a street performer (Jill Sobule) with a heart condition, a North Carolina woman (Elizabeth Reaser) taking care of ...
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Mind the Gap (CNS)
Mindhunters
Ludicrous thriller about FBI profilers-in-training (Jonny Lee Miller, Kathryn Morris, Christian Slater, Will Kemp, Eion Bailey and Patricia Velasquez among them) and a Philadelphia cop (LL Cool J) along for the ride, on a desolate island where they are to participate in an exercise concocted by their borderline sadistic supervisor (Val ...
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Mindhunters (CNS)
Minority Report
Engrossing murder mystery set in 2054, when future crimes can be detected before they are committed, in which a pre-crime police detective (Tom Cruise) is accused of an imminent murder and, in attempting to prove his innocence, discovers a flaw in the system. Seeped in futuristic atmospherics, director Steven Spielberg combines ...
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Minority Report (CNS)
Minority Report
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Minority Report (EDC)
Miracle
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Miracle (SAM)
Miracle
Inspirational crowd-pleaser which tells the real-life Cinderella story of the U.S. Olympic hockey team's against-all-odds victory over their much-vaunted Russian rivals at the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., and the coach (Kurt Russell) whose uncompromisingly winning attitude…More
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Miracle (CNS)
Miracle of St. Anna
Powerful World War II drama about a kindhearted African-American soldier (Omar Benson Miller) who, together with three others from his segregated unit (Derek Luke, Michael Ealy and Laz Alonso), becomes trapped behind enemy lines in Italy where they must rely on a sympathetic villager (Valentina Cervi) and a partisan leader (Pierfrancesco ...
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Miracle of St. Anna (CNS)
Mirror Mirror
"Who's the fairest one of all?" The answer may surprise you in "Mirror Mirror" (Relativity), a fresh live-action take on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."
This go-round, the handsome prince is the center of attention, as the wicked queen and her lovely stepdaughter stage a ...
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Mirror Mirror (CNS)
Mirror, Mirror
This fantasy romantic version of the fairy tale is based on
“Snow White” collected and published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. But be sure
to set aside all previous telling in movies, television, video games and
fiction. This new imagining of the tale is a visual and melodic fusion of east
and west that ...
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Mirror, Mirror (SRR)
Mirrors
Clunky, contrived horror tale in which an ex-policeman turned security guard (Kiefer Sutherland) finds himself, his estranged wife (Paula Patton) and their children (Cameron Boyce and Erica Gluck) endangered by the demons who inhabit the many mirrors of the burned-out New York department store where he works. Except for one over-the-top ...
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Mirrors (CNS)
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
Likable follow-up to the original "Miss Congeniality" (2000) with FBI agent Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock), this time teamed with a hostile and reluctant partner, Sam Fuller (Regina King), sidestepping her new role as celebrity front person for the agency and going back into action to discover the whereabouts of her pal, ...
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Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (CNS)
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
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Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (SAM)
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Colorful though uneven comedy taken from Winifred Watson's 1938 English novel about a prim governess (a fine Frances McDormand) who, after being unfairly fired, blossoms as the social secretary to a flighty American actress (Amy Adams), helping her sort out the three men in her life: her musical accompanist (Lee Pace), ...
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Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (CNS)
Miss Potter
Charming, beautifully crafted story of "Peter Rabbit" author Beatrix Potter (Renee Zellweger) and her bittersweet romance with the awkward young publisher of her books (Ewan McGregor), under the disapproving eyes of her class-conscious parents (Barbara Flynn and Bill Paterson) in turn-of-the-century England. The script, music, production design and cinematography, and sensitive ...
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Miss Potter (CNS)
Miss Potter
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Miss Potter (SAM)
Missing, The
In this film set in New Mexico Territory in 1885, a prairie healer (Cate Blanchett) must enlist the help of her estranged father (Tommy Lee Jones), who abandoned his family to live among Apaches, in order to rescue her daughter from a band of desperadoes led by a vicious Indian witch ...
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Missing, The (CNS)
Mission Impossible
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Mission Impossible (SAM)
Mission Impossible 2
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Mission Impossible 2 (SAM)
Mission Impossible III
Third installment in the franchise which finds secret-agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team of spies (Ving Rhames, Maggie Q and Jonathan Rhys Meyers) battling a ruthless arms dealer (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who kidnaps Ethan's fiance to get back the doomsday device they snatched from him. As popcorn entertainment, director ...
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Mission Impossible III (CNS)
Mission to Mars
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Mission to Mars (SAM)
Mission, The
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Mission, The (SAM)
Mission: Impossible III
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Mission: Impossible III (SAM)
Mist, The
Technically skillful but relentlessly pessimistic horror tale in which an unnatural fog, alive with murderous mutant animals, descends on a small Maine town, leaving a representative sampling of the locals trapped in a grocery store, where a courageous but sensible movie-poster artist (Thomas Jane), accompanied by his son (Nathan Gamble) and ...
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Mist, The (CNS)
Mister Foe
Offbeat but well-made and strangely affecting Scottish coming-of-age tale about a voyeuristic teen (an excellent Jamie Bell). Deeply troubled after the drowning death of his mother, he leaves his father (Ciaran Hinds) and stepmother (Claire Forlaini), whom he suspects of poisoning his mother, and takes a kitchen job at an Edinburgh ...
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Mister Foe (CNS)
Man of the House
Dull and unfunny story of a divorced Texas Ranger (Tommy Lee Jones) who goes undercover with five cheerleaders to protect them after they witness a murder, and before long the girls are grooming him for a date with a college professor (Anne Archer), and helping him rescue his semiestranged daughter (Shannon ...
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Man of the House (CNS)
Man of the Year
Political satire about an idealistic comedy TV talk-show host (Robin Williams) who runs for president and wins, eventually falling for a software analyst (Laura Linney) on the lam after discovering that the unlikely election results were due to a program glitch in her company's computerized voting machine. Director Barry Levinson never ...
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Man of the Year (CNS)
Moliere
Engaging tale that speculates about what might have happened when actor and aspiring author Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (Romain Duris), who would become the playwright Moliere, disappeared from Paris in his youth, showing him enlisted by a wealthy businessman (Fabrice Luchini) to help him seduce a potential mistress, though the playwright ends up ...
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Moliere (CNS)
Moll Flanders
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Moll Flanders (SAM)
Momento
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Momento (SAM)
Man on Fire
Dark and depraved revenge tale about an ex-soldier of fortune turned professional bodyguard (Denzel Washington), who unleashes his lethal fury on a ring of Mexican kidnappers after they abduct the little girl (Dakota Fanning) he has been hired to protect. As directed by Tony Scott, the film poses interesting questions concerning ...
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Man on Fire (CNS)
Man on a Ledge
When an ex-cop is falsely convicted of stealing a multimillion-dollar diamond and sentenced to 25 years in jail, there's just one course for him to follow: Break out of prison, check in to Manhattan's landmark Roosevelt Hotel, order lobster—then clamber out onto a cornice hundreds of feet above street level.
Such, ...
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Man on a Ledge (CNS)
Man on the Train
Bittersweet French tale of a world-weary bank robber (Johnny Hallyday) and a retired poetry teacher (Jean Rochefort) who meet by chance and discover they wish they could trade places. Director Patrice Leconte gets wistful, nuanced performances from the twosome and infuses the story with melancholy humor that underscores its themes of ...
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Man on the Train (CNS)
Mondays in the Sun
Complex character study of five dock workers (including Javier Bardem) who, after being laid off, cling to each other's friendship as they try desperately to hold onto their dignity while looking for employment. Director Fernando Leon de Aranoa's moving tale explores the complicated relationship among men, work and identity with a ...
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Mondays in the Sun (CNS)
Moneyball
Those who believe America's national pastime is more resistant to the corrosive effects of money than other pro sports will find equally persuasive ammunition and counterargument in "Moneyball" (Columbia).
Based on Michael Lewis' 2003 book about baseball's Oakland Athletics, this thinking person's sports flick identifies how big bucks have negatively affected ...
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Moneyball (CNS)
Mona Lisa Smile
Problematic drama set in 1953 about a free-spirited Berkeley grad (Julia Roberts) who lands a position teaching art history at a conservative all-girls New England college where she locks horns with the rigid faculty over her unorthodox methods, while empowering her students (including Kirsten Dunst and Julia Stiles) to free themselves ...
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Mona Lisa Smile (CNS)
Monsieur Ibrahim
Tender tale set in Paris in the early 1960s about a motherless young Jewish boy (Pierre Boulanger) abandoned by his father, who finds an unlikely surrogate in a kindhearted, elderly Muslim grocer (Omar Sharif). Buttressed by nuanced performances from both ends of the life spectrum, director Francois Dupeyron's beautifully crafted film ...
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Monsieur Ibrahim (CNS)
Monsieur Lazhar
This
Oscar-nominated film from Canada
is the story of an Algerian refugee in Montreal
who becomes a teacher to a seventh-grade class after their teacher commits
suicide.
With no options the
principal hires Mr. Lazhar who steps into the classroom of children who are
still in shock and deftly leads them through the rest of ...
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Monsieur Lazhar (SRR)
Monsieur Vincent
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Monsieur Vincent (SAM)
Monster
Fictionalized drama about real-life serial murderer Aileen Wuornos (Charlize Theron), executed in Florida in 2002 for the death of six men, and her dysfunctional love affair with a young lesbian (Christina Ricci). In sympathetically portraying Wuornos, first-time writer-director Patty Jenkins walks a fine line between telling a fact-based story and justifying ...
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Monster (CNS)
Monster House
Macabre computer-animated fairy tale about a trio of suburban kids (voiced by Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner and Spencer Locke) who set out to investigate the haunted happenings of an eerie old house that comes to life to terrorize their neighborhood. The film is full of wildly imaginative visuals; director Gil Kenan ...
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Monster House (CNS)
Monster-in-Law
Lightweight comedy about a bride-to-be (Jennifer Lopez) who locks horns with her prospective mother-in-law (played intentionally over-the-top by Jane Fonda) after finding out that the latter is trying to derail her upcoming wedding to the woman's doctor-son (Michael Vartan). Directed by Robert Luketic, the film marks the first acting appearance by ...
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Monster-in-Law (CNS)
Monster's Ball
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Monster's Ball (SAM)
Monsters vs. Aliens
Affable animated comedy-adventure in which a trio of kindly monsters (voices of Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie and Will Arnett) led by a once-ordinary woman (voice of Reese Witherspoon) who became a giant after being struck by a meteor, are released from government captivity in the custody of a gung-ho general (voice ...
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Monsters vs. Aliens (CNS)
Monte Carlo
"Monte Carlo" (Fox) is the flimsiest of teen-girl romantic fantasies based on the sturdiest of ancient tropes, the mistaken-identity plot.
While Selena Gomez, the Disney Channel star at the heart of this overly long but inoffensive enterprise, is no comedic actor, her devoted fans are unlikely to notice.
Director Thomas Bezucha, ...
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Monte Carlo (CNS)
Moonlight Mile
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Moonlight Mile (EDC)
Moonlight Mile
Disjointed study of a 1973 Massachusetts family grieving the death of a murdered daughter and exploring the entangling relationship binding the girl's fiance (Jake Gyllenhaal) and her parents (Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon). Writer-director Brad Silberling's drama offers moments of honest emotion and even humor but strong performances are mired by ...
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Moonlight Mile (CNS)
Morning Glory
It's no surprise that the newsroom comedy "Morning Glory" (Paramount) brings to mind the classic sitcom "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and the 1987 feature film "Broadcast News." Both were created by James L. Brooks, who wasn't involved in this project but whose influence is keenly felt.
While "Morning Glory" ...
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Morning Glory (CNS)
Mostly Martha
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Mostly Martha (EDC)
Mostly Martha
Tasty German romantic comedy in which the orderly world of an uptight professional chef (Martina Gedeck) is turned upside down when she becomes the caretaker of her orphaned niece (Maxime Foerste) and the restaurant where she works hires a boisterous Italian sous-chef (Sergio Castellitto), leading to amorous possibilities. Although not the ...
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Mostly Martha (CNS)
Mother
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Mother (SAM)
Motorcycle Diaries, The
Compelling but hagiographic drama set in 1952 South America chronicling the continent-crossing odyssey of Ernesto "Che" Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal), then a 23-year-old medical student, and his best friend (Rodrigo de la Serna), during which they witness the poverty of the indigenous people, awakening in Guevara a social conscience which would ...
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Motorcycle Diaries, The (CNS)
Moulin Rouge
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Moulin Rouge (SAM)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Excessively violent -- not to mention dull and unfunny -- action comedy about a couple (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) living an ordinary suburban life, each -- unbeknownst to the other -- a hired assassin working for rival organizations, and who, upon learning the truth, stop at nothing to try and ...
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Mr. & Mrs. Smith (CNS)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
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Mr. & Mrs. Smith (SAM)
Mr. 3000
Crowd-pleasing baseball comedy about an aging, self-absorbed all-star (Bernie Mac) who comes out of retirement after nine years when an error discovered in the recordkeeping shows he is three base hits shy of 3,000, a career milestone without which he won't get into the Hall of Fame. Director Charles Stone III ...
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Mr. 3000 (CNS)
Mr. Bean's Holiday
The perennially pleasing Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) wins a trip to the French Riviera, but before reaching the beach he manages to complicate the lives of a Russian film critic (Karel Roden), the critic's young son (Max Baldry), a self-obsessed movie director (Willem Dafoe) and a charming French actress (Emma de ...
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Mr. Bean's Holiday (CNS)
Mr. Brooks
Sleekly shot thriller in which a daytime executive/nighttime serial killer (a subtle Kevin Costner), being blackmailed by a blood-lusting photographer (Dane Cook), suspects his own daughter (Danielle Panabaker) of homicidal tendencies while a gritty police detective (Demi Moore) doggedly seeks to nail the guilty party. Co-writer and director Bruce A. Evans ...
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Mr. Brooks (CNS)
Mr. Holland's Opus
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Mr. Holland's Opus (SAM)
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
Wholesome, well-meaning but only moderately charming tale about a magical toy store run by a 243-year-old eccentric (Dustin Hoffman), his young assistant (Natalie Portman), a 9-year-old boy (Zach Mills), and their new stuffy accountant (Jason Bateman). There are too many holes in writer-director Zach Helm's basic premise even for a fantasy, ...
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Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (CNS)
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Have you ever wondered, in your idle moments, what it might be like to keep six pet penguins in a swanky New York City apartment? Well, of course you have.
Thankfully, the long-overdue answer to that burning question is provided by the routine, but generally kid-friendly comedy "Mr. Popper's Penguins" (Fox). ...
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Mr. Popper's Penguins (CNS)
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Imagine if you were an only child and your father was seldom
at home because he was wandering the earth looking for adventure. He would call
or write, but eventually as you grew up, you almost forgot him.
This is the case of Mr. Popper (Jim Carrey). He is a hotshot
Manhattan real ...
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Mr. Popper's Penguins (SRR)
Mr. Woodcock
Needlessly crass, but sporadically entertaining comedy in which a best-selling self-help writer (Seann William Scott) returns to his hometown to receive an award, only to discover that his mother (Susan Sarandon) is dating the harsh gym teacher (Billy Bob Thornton) who terrorized him in junior high school, and assisted by a ...
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Mr. Woodcock (CNS)
Mrs. Brown
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Mrs. Brown (SAM)
Mrs. Henderson Presents
Patriotic true-life story of a wealthy widow (Judi Dench) who refurbishes London's dilapidated Windmill Theatre, and with the help of an artistic manager (Bob Hoskins), decides to produce topless musical revues -- with the showgirls remaining stationary by order of the Lord Chancellor (Christopher Guest) -- to entertain the troops during ...
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Mrs. Henderson Presents (CNS)
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont
A terrific performance by Joan Plowright is reason enough to catch this low-key British charmer about an elderly matron who moves into a shabbily genteel London hotel, and just when she's abandoned by her uncaring daughter and grandson and appears to be facing a dead-end existence, she is befriended by a ...
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Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (CNS)
Mud
Set in rural Arkansas, along the banks of the Mississippi, writer-director Jeff Nichols' leisurely coming of age story "Mud" (Lionsgate/Roadside) owes an obvious debt to Mark Twain's classic tale "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."
Realistically updating some of the most famous passages of Twain's iconic story, Nichols' script uses the template ...
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Mud (CNS)
Mulan
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Mulan (SAM)
Multiplicity
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Multiplicity (SAM)
Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The
Lavish but lightweight adventure sequel in which an archaeologist (Luke Ford) joins forces with his explorer father (Brendan Fraser) and scholar mother (Maria Bello) to prevent the titular resurrected ruler (Jet Li) from reviving his terracotta legions to tyrannize the world, while falling for the immortal maiden (Isabella Leong) who holds ...
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Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The (CNS)
Munich
Riveting but morally fuzzy political thriller inspired by real events about a team of Israeli assassins (led by Eric Bana) assigned to hunt down and assassinate 11 Palestinians who supposedly had a hand in the slaughter of Jewish athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. With its problematic revenge theme, director Steven ...
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Munich (CNS)
The Muppets
It has been twelve long years since there has been a Muppet
movie. Walter (voice of Peter Linz), a
new Muppet and a huge fan of the Muppets, the world’s biggest Muppet fan, and
his “brother” Gary (Jason Segel) and his girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) plan a
trip to Hollywood.
They visit the Muppet ...
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The Muppets (SRR)
The Muppets
Jim Henson's singing, dancing, wise-cracking band of puppets returns to the big screen in "The Muppets" (Disney), an old-fashioned and genuinely funny homage to a simpler age of wholesome family films.
Refreshingly restrained when it comes to the toilet humor and rude behavior so often spoon-fed to young filmgoers these days, ...
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The Muppets (CNS)
Muse, The
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Muse, The (SAM)
Music and Lyrics
Likable, if featherweight, romantic comedy about a has-been 1980s pop star (Hugh Grant) commissioned to write a song for a reigning pop diva (Haley Bennett) and discovers that his plant lady (Drew Barrymore) has a talent for lyrics, so he enlists her help, and they fall in love in the process. ...
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Music and Lyrics (CNS)
Music of the Heart
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Music of the Heart (SAM)
Must Love Dogs
Amiable but uneven comedy about a recently divorced teacher (Diane Lane) whose well-meaning family runs a personal ad on her behalf that brings her into contact with a lonely boat-builder (John Cusack) in similar straits, but the possibilities of romance are complicated by the woman's attraction to the handsome father (Dermot ...
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Must Love Dogs (CNS)
Man Who Wasn't There, The
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Man Who Wasn't There, The (SAM)
Man Without a Past, The
Droll Finnish tale in which a man (Markku Peltola) who was mugged stumbles out of a Helsinki hospital without any memory, money or ID to live among kindly poor folk where he meets a prim Salvation Army worker (Kati Outinen) but eventually discovers his unwanted identity. Writer-director Aki Kaurismaki observes his ...
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Man Without a Past, The (CNS)
My Baby's Daddy
Standard male-incompetence comedy about three lifelong buddies (Eddie Griffin, Anthony Anderson and Michael Imperioli) from the streets of South Philly, whose girlfriends all announce that they are pregnant at the same time, forcing them to give up their hard-partying bachelor ways and become responsible adults. Directed by Cheryl Dunye, the film's ...
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My Baby's Daddy (CNS)
My Best Friend (Mon Meilleur Ami)
A ruthless, self-centered antiques dealer (Daniel Auteuil) must prove to his disbelieving business partner (Julie Gayet) that he has a best friend, but after learning that none of his acquaintances consider him a friend, he decides that a good-natured cab driver (Dany Boon) may fit the bill. Director and co-writer Patrice ...
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My Best Friend (Mon Meilleur Ami) (CNS)
My Best Friend's Girl
A spurned lover (Jason Biggs) pays his best friend (Dane Cook) to take his ex (Kate Hudson), a seemingly conservative lawyer, on a date so traumatizing she'll flee back into his arms, but his scheme has unpredictable results. Long before its romantic and altruistic climax, director Howard Deutch's comedy detours into ...
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My Best Friend's Girl (CNS)
My Best Friend's Wedding
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My Best Friend's Wedding (SAM)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
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My Big Fat Greek Wedding (SAM)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
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My Big Fat Greek Wedding (EDC)
My Bloody Valentine 3-D
Risible, gore-saturated horror tale in which the sheriff (Kerr Smith) of a small mining town suspects his wife's (Jaime King) old flame (Jensen Ackles) of committing a series of ax murders around Valentine's Day. Director Patrick Lussier's slipshod updating of the "O"-classified 1981 film of the same title (minus the 3-D) ...
|
My Bloody Valentine 3-D (CNS)
My Blueberry Nights
Noted Chinese director Wong Kar Wai's English-language debut tells of a young woman (singer Norah Jones in her movie debut) who, abandoned by her boyfriend, finds solace with an empathetic diner owner (Jude Law), after which she embarks on a cross-country odyssey of self-discovery encountering an alcoholic cop (David Straitharn), his ...
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My Blueberry Nights (CNS)
My Boss's Daughter
Train wreck of a comedy about a milquetoast office worker (Ashton Kutcher), who, in order to ingratiate himself with his despotic boss' daughter (Tara Reid), volunteers to housesit their home for a night, during which everything that could go wrong does. Full of forced, lewd humor, this pointless and witless affair, ...
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My Boss's Daughter (CNS)
My Brother Is an Only Child
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My Brother Is an Only Child (SAM)
My Life in Ruins
Cotton-ball-soft romantic comedy about a travel guide in Greece (Nia Vardalos) who learns to absorb the spirit of the Greek islands in order to enjoy life and find romance with—who else?—a handsome Greek (Alexis Georgoulis). Director Donald Petrie and screenwriter Mike Reiss duplicate the slow, ambling formula of Vardalos' monster hit, ...
|
My Life in Ruins (CNS)
My Life Without Me
A 23-year-old terminally ill wife and mother (Sarah Polley) examines her life when faced with only a few short months to live, secretly preparing her family for her absence while realizing unfulfilled dreams. Writer-director Isabel Coixet's three-hankie tearjerker takes an unflinching look at young life and the prospect of death, but ...
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My Life Without Me (CNS)
My Sister's Keeper
Generally well-acted if sometimes soggy family drama about a strong-willed mother (Cameron Diaz excellent in a not-always-likable part), in denial about her teenage daughter's (Sofia Vassilieva) losing battle with cancer; the loving but conflicted father (Jason Patric); and sister (Abigail Breslin), who hires a lawyer (Alec Baldwin) for "medical emancipation" so ...
|
My Sister's Keeper (CNS)
My Soul to Take 3-D
Wes Craven, the horror auteur best known for unleashing Freddy Krueger in 1984's "A Nightmare on Elm Street," is back at it with another, much less memorable bogeyman. There's little chance the slasher behind the mayhem in "My Soul to Take 3-D" (Universal) will enter the horror movie pantheon, let alone ...
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My Soul to Take 3-D (CNS)
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Lovelorn New York architect (Luke Wilson) dates bespectacled art gallery assistant (Uma Thurman) who is actually super heroine G-Girl, though when the romance fizzles, she uses her powers to wreak havoc on him and his new girlfriend (Anna Faris), while an archvillain (Eddie Izzard) hopes to rid her of her superpowers. ...
|
My Super Ex-Girlfriend (CNS)
My Week With Marilyn
Nearly 50 years after her 1962 death, Marilyn Monroe continues to fascinate, with every detail of her often troubled life and loves endlessly dissected and analyzed. The latest treatment is "My Week With Marilyn" (Weinstein), a behind-the-scenes story of the making of one of Monroe's least successful films, "The Prince and ...
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My Week With Marilyn (CNS)
My Week With Marilyn
A few years ago
I was at a lecture by film critic, academic and historian Richard A. Blake, SJ,
at the University of Dayton. (In 2000 he published “Afterimage: The Indelible Catholic Imagination of Six American Film
Makers”, a book every film student would do well to read. Blake also reviews
films for “America” magazine.)
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My Week With Marilyn (SRR)
Mysterious Skin
Powerful, at times graphic, story of how being sexually abused as youngsters altered the lives of two teenagers: one (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) becoming a hardened male hustler, the other (Brady Corbet), with no specific memory of his abuse, so traumatized he believes he may have been abducted by aliens as a child. ...
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Mysterious Skin (CNS)
Mystic River
Provocative, morally ambiguous tale of three former childhood pals contentiously thrown together after the daughter of one (Sean Penn) is murdered, the second (Tim Robbins) becomes a suspect and the third (Kevin Bacon) is the homicide detective on the case. Directed by Clint Eastwood from Dennis Lehane's best seller, the intense ...
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Mystic River (CNS)
Mystic River
Three 11-year-old boys are playing hockey in the street of a working-class neighborhood of Boston in the 1970s. When they lose their puck, they take turns writing their names in the wet cement of the sidewalk. A strange car comes down the street and a man, whom the boys assume is ...
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Mystic River (SAM)
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