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Land of the Lost / *** (PG)
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"Land of the Lost" (PG-13, 93 minutes). Will Ferrell plays a scientist with a scheme for importing fossil fuels from a parallel dimension, and lands in one himself, with Anna Friel, Danny McBride and Jorma Taccone (as a Missing Link). Preposterously goofy. Either you're in the mood, or you aren't. I was. Three stars.
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The Hangover / ***1/2 (R)
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"The Hangover" (R, 100 minutes). A very funny, very raunchy comedy about a disastrous bachelor party in Las Vegas. When the bridegroom (Justin Bartha) disappears, his buddies (Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms) search for him, starting with such questions as: How in the hell do you wake up in a $4,200-a-night suite with a tiger, a chicken, a crying baby, a missing tooth, and a belly button pierce for a diamond dangle? Directed by Todd Phillips. Three and a half stars.
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O'Horten / ***1/2 (PG-13)
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"O'Horten" (PG-13, 89 minutes). A retiring Norwegian train engineer finds himself at wit's end in a delicious deadpan comedy. How can he live without a timetable? Odd Horten finds himself in strange and unanticipated circumstances. Involving, charming in the manner of Jacques Tati. Directed by Bent Hamer. Three and a half stars.
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My Life in Ruins / *1/2 (PG-13)
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"My Life in Ruins" (PG-13, 95 minutes). Nia Vardalos stars as an American tour guide in Greece who lectures to busloads of tourists who are walking clichés. Vardalos has misplaced the infectious charm in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," and literally smiles widely almost entirely through the movie. She has a romance that seems directly from a trashy romance novel. Also with Richard Dreyfuss. One and a half stars.
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Up / **** (PG)
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"Up" (Pg, 96 minutes). Two cranky old men and a plucky kid, a house tied to ballons and a giant airship, a goofy bird and another animated masterpiece from Pixar's Pete Docter ("Monster, Inc."). With the voices of Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer and Jordan Nagai. Rating: Four stars.
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Departures / **** (PG-13)
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"Departures" (PG-13, 130 minutes). A jobless classical musician takes job in "encoffinment," the Japanese ritual preparation of the dead. The film is lovely, moving and wise, and the actors embody their roles--the young man, his fond wife, his wise boss, and the boss's encouraging, quietly sad assistant. directed by Yojiro Takita. Winner of the 2009 Oscar for best foreign film. Four stars.
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Easy Virtue / *** (PG-13)
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"Easy Virtue" (PG-13). A young Brit (Ben Barnes) brings his dashing American love (Jessicsa Biel) home to meet his parents (Kristin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth) with unsettling results. The early Noel Coward play is adapted with wit and style. Three stars.
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Great Movie: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
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by Roger Ebert
The first thing everyone notices and best remembers about "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1920) is the film's bizarre look. The actors inhabit a jagged landscape of sharp angles and tilted walls and windows, staircases climbing crazy diagonals, trees with spiky leaves, grass that looks like knives. These radical distortions immediately set the film apart from all earlier ones, which were based on the camera's innate tendency to record reality.
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Movie Answer Man: How many "The Ends" is too many?
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Q. What is your opinion of the growing trend for filmmakers to include "alternate" endings on their movies' DVD releases? While I'm reasonably comfortable with a different presentation of the ending from that originally conceived (for example, "Training Day"), it seems that to offer a different outcome is an admission of failure on the part of the director. If the movie is well structured, shouldn't the outcome follow inevitably and essentially from the plot and characters depicted? Even in movies famous for the twist in their tales, the ending is compelling at the very least in retrospect (for example, "The Sixth Sense," "The Crying Game," "Memento").
To me, an alternate ending sends the message that the director lacks commitment to or faith in his material. I give a pass here to movies where a director restores his or her preferred ending in a director's cut over one that was handed down by "creative executives" (for example, "Blade Runner"), but I've never felt that watching a movie should be an exercise in choosing the ending that makes you feel most comfortable.
Carl Zetie, Waterford, VA.
A. In the case of a movie not worth taking seriously in the first place, alternate endings can be fun. Otherwise I agree with you.
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