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The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 / **1/2 (R)
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"The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" (R, 106). Denzel Washington and John Travolta in a remake of the 1974 film that takes place in a less interesting New York City, with less juicy characters and hyperkinetic special effects that can 't be believed. Directed by Tony Scott. Two and a half stars
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Away We Go / ***1/2 (R)
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"Away We Go" (R, 97 minutes). Verona and Burt (Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski) are 30-somethings with a bun in the oven, ready to abandon their Impoverished Student lifestyle and settle down to grown-up lives. They engage in visits to family and friends in the U.S. and Canada, doing some lifestyle comparison shopping, in a whimsical, charming, sometimes heart-tugging movie of both edge and charm. Written by the novelists Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, directed by Sam Mendes ("American Beauty"). Three and a half stars
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Imagine That / **1/2 (PG)
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"Imagine That" (PG, 107 minutes). Eddie Murphy teams with the charming 7-year-old Yara Shahidi to play a desperate investment adviser who relies on Wall Street advice from her imaginary friends. Thomas Haden Church is his rival, an American Indian broker who relies on native wisdom for his insights. Pleasant, amusing, but too predictable for grown-ups and not broad enough for children. Two and a half stars.
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Tulpan / **** (No MPAA rating)
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"Tulpan" (Unrated, suitable for teenagers, 100 minutes). A deadpan comedy about an unmarried young man searching for a bride on the desolate steppes of Kazakhstan. Life in this outpost is astonishing; nothing can be seen to the distant horizon in every direction. it is hard, yet filled with humanity and humor, and the film is richly enjoyable. Winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes 2008. Four stars.
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Enlighten Up / *** (No MPAA rating)
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"Enlighten Up" (Unrated, 82 minutes). Director and yoga practitioner recruits Nick Rosen, downsized journalist, to go on a six-month search for the secrets of yoga in America and India. Many fascinating yoga instructors, fabulous India locations, not much excitement. Nick is really too laid back to get into yoga, if such a thing is possible. Pleasant enough. 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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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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Drag Me to Hell / *** (PG-13)
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"Drag Me to Hell" (PG-13, 99 minutes). A sometimes funny and often startling horror movie. That is what it wants to be, and that is what it is. Alison stars as a sweet young bank loan officer who makes the mistake of saying no to an old gypsy woman with a blind eye and leprous fingernails. Directed by Sam Raimi of the "Spider-Man" movies. Three 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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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: Who you calling a robot?
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Q. You refer to the dogs in “Up” as robotic. I believe the dogs were just normal dogs equipped with special “translating” collars that produced their speech, collars that I took to be inventions of Muntz’s brilliance. I do not recall any explicit reference made either way in the movie, but I think many details support the non-robotic argument: gray-furred dogs, the clear mention of Muntz’s beloved dog pack in the movie’s opening “archival” footage, and the extremely organic animation style of the “Dug” character in particular.
Rob Worman, Minneapolis, MN
A. Apart from Dug, I thought they seemed robotic, but not robots. Imprecise word choice.
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Commentary: YouTube and the Cinnamon Peeler
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One of the richest resources on YouTube is an extraordinary channel named SpokenVerse. It offers 466 readings of great poems in English, from Shakespeare to today. Their reader is a pleasure to listen to. He makes no effort to "perform," but simply and clearly respects the poetry, with understated emotion when necessary.
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Commentary: A President lands at Normandy
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by Lisa Nesselson
Senior Paris Correspondent
PARIS--Today is June 6th — the 65th anniversary of the bloody but necessary allied landings, code-named D-Day, that turned the water red along the shores of Normandy and turned the tide of WWII.
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