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Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time / ** (PG-13)
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"Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" (PG-13, 116 minutes). Monumentally goofy swashbuckler about an urchin who becomes a prince, his father the king, his brothers, his evil uncle, and a beautiful princess who posses a push-button Dagger of Time. Shots of the actors are incorporated cleverly into incomprehensible special effects. Two stars.
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Sex and the City 2 / * (R)
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Some of these people make my skin crawl. The characters of "Sex and the City 2" are flyweight bubbleheads living in a world which rarely requires three sentences in a row. Their defining quality is consuming things. They gobble food, fashion, houses, husbands, children, vitamins and freebies. They must plan their wardrobes on the phone, so often do they appear in different basic colors, like the plugs you pound into a Playskool workbench.
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Survival of the Dead / ** (R)
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For the purposes of watching ?Survival of the Dead,? I'm perfectly willing to believe in zombies. It's a stretcher, however, to believe in an island off the coast of Delaware where life looks like outtakes from ?Ryan's Daughter,? everyone speaks with an Irish accent, and there's a bitter feud between those who believe in capital punishment for zombies, and those who call for their rehabilitation and cure.
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The Father of My Children / ***1/2 (Unrated)
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"Father of My Children" (Unrated, 110 minutes). A workaholic French producer juggles projects and money and attempts to complete a troubled film by a perfectionist director, all the while trying to be a loving husband and father. The film is centered close to the heart of his family, and isn't about showbiz so much as work, love and duty. Evocatively acted. Winner of the special jury prize in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes 2009. Rating: Three and a half stars
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Mother and Child / ***1/2 (R)
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"Mother and Child" (R, 126 minutes). The story of three women who desire children. Annette Bening thinks she doesn't, but envies the child of her maid. Kerry Washington wants to adopt. Naomi Watts thinks she prefers sex and power to commitment. Rodrigo Garcia's sensitive interlocking stories make no general comment about motherhood, but prefer to consider the specifics of these lives. With a surprisingly vulnerable performance by Samuel L. Jackson. Three and a half stars.
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