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Green Zone / **** (R)
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"The Green Zone" (R, 114 minutes) Matt Damon and his two-time "Bourne" director Paul Greengrass team up for a first-rate thriller set early in the war in Iraq. Damon's chief warrant officer finds that U.S. intelligence is worthless, and his complaints lead him to discover the secret conspiracy intended to justify the American invasion. Greg Kinnear is the deceptive U.S. intelligence puppet-master, Brendan Gleeson is a grizzled old CIA hand whose agency has always doubted the stories sabot Saddam's WMD, and Amy Ryan plays a newspaper reporter who served Kinnear as a pipeline. Four stars
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Red Riding Trilogy / **** (No MPAA rating)
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"Red Riding Trilogy." (Unrated, for adults, 302 minutes). An immersive experience based on the infamous Yorkshire Ripper killings and the subsequent revelations about deep corruption in the Yorkshire Police Departments. Brilliantly cast, filmed in segments each offering a distinctive look and feel, beginning with a serial killer and then tangling the investigation with deep-seated local corruption. Not so much about what happens objectively as about its surrounding miasma of greed and evil. Four stars
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The Art of the Steal / ***1/2 (No MPAA rating)
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"The Art of the Steal" (Unrated, 101 minutes). The most valuable collection of modern and impression art in the rod, valued at $250 billion, was intended by its rich collector, Dr. Albert C. Barnes, to reside forever in the Barnes Foundation in suburban Philadelphia. He hired the best lawyers to draw up an iron-clad will to assure that would happen after his death. He specified it not go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which he felt had scorned him and his collection. This absorbing documentary tells the story of how and why his art is in that museum today, the film calls it the "art theft of the century." Three and a half stars
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She's Out of My League / *** (R)
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?She's Out of My League? (R, 106 minutes). A feckless agent for TSA airport security (Jay Baruchel) meets a breathtaking blonde (Alive Eve) who improbably likes him, this despite his friends informing him that she's a perfect 10 and he's maybe a five. Despite unhelpful friends, obnoxious former romantic partners and his unbelievable parents (who welcome of his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend into their home!) the two are essentially sweet and nice, and are rewarded for their goodness. Three stars
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Remember Me / *** (PG-13)
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"Remember Me" (PG-13, 113 minutes). Two 20ish kids, one a sullen rebel son, the other the sweet daughter of a grieving father, fall in love and begin the transformations of their families. Robert Pattinson and Emilie de Ravin play the young lovers, Pierce Brosnan is his rich and distant father and Chris Cooper is her police detective father. The story has undeniable appeal, but unfortunately depends on a late coincidence in an attempt to import profound meaning from outside the terms of the story. Three stars
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The Yellow Handkerchief / *** (PG-13)
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"The Yellow Handkerchief" (PG-13, 102 minutes). Three insecure drifters improbably find themselves sharing a big convertible and driving to New Orleans not long after Hurricane Katrina. William Hurt is a convict just released from prison. Kristen Stewart and Eddie Redmayne are teenage kids running from their lives. It's a road movie formula, but the acting and dialogue evaluates it. The ending is a little obvert the top, but by that point, what the heck? Three stars
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Our Family Wedding / ** (PG-13)
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"Our Family Wedding" (PG-13, 101 minutes). A marriage between an African-American doctor (Lance Gross) and a Mexican-American law student (America Ferrera) runs into difficulties when they meet each other's families, and predictable sitcom dilemma emerge. The trumped-up feud between their fathers (Forrest Whitaker and Carlos Mencia) rings false in every scene, and there's at least one too many fights involving wedding cake. But Americas Ferrara and Lance Gross make a sympathetic couple, and Regina King is winsome as Whitaker's lawyer and secret admirer. Two stars
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Alice in Wonderland / *** (PG)
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"Alice in Wonderland" (PG, 108 minutes). Tim Burton's brilliant re-visualization of Lewis Carroll's fantasy, with Alice (Mia Wasikowska) now grown up, and the mordant denizens of Wonderland still basking in peculiarity. Beautifully drawn and told, except for the third-act surrender to formula action. The 3-D adds nothing, drains color, is a distraction. Three stars.
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A Prophet / **** (R)
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"A Prophet" (R, 154 minutes). An unformed young man is imprisoned, and behind bars he terrifyingly comes of age. A remorseless consideration of the birth of a killer. With Tahar Rahim as the clueless young prisoner and Niels Arestrup as the powerful boss of the gang controlling the prison. Swept the 2010 Cesar awards ("the French Oscars"), won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes 2009, a 2010 Oscar nominee for best foreign film. Directed by Jacques Audiard. Four stars
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Brooklyn's Finest / *** (R)
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"Brooklyn's Finest" (R, 140 minutes). Three cops, three journeys to what looks like doom. They aren't bad guys, precisely, but they occupy a world of such unremitting violence that they're willing to do what it takes to survive. Well-crafted, good performances, but a screenplay that pulls strings little too obviously. Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes. Three stars.
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