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Ty Burr
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In 'The Impossible,' one family's tsunami saga
** The Impossible A grueling, well-crafted true-life drama that takes one of the worst natural disasters in history -- the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami -- and reduces it to a really bad day at Club Med. Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor are excellent as vacationing Europeans in Thailand, as is Tom Holland as their eldest son. (114 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr) ( 01/03/2013 3:27 PM )
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Movie review: 'Zero Dark Thirty'
**** Zero Dark Thirty Kathryn Bigelow's brilliantly crafted ground-level procedural unfolds over a nine-year-period, from the early days of the war in Afghanistan to the midnight assault on Osama bin Laden's compound. Jessica Chastain plays a CIA agent obsessed with the search; the early torture scenes intentionally make viewers confront their own response. (157 min., R) (Ty Burr) ( 01/03/2013 3:24 PM )
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Movie review: 'Promised Land': more promised than delivered
**1/2 Promised Land Two movies in one: An earnest anti-fracking drama written by costars Matt Damon and John Krasinski, and a nuanced portrait of small-town America by director Gus Van Sant. The first tries not to be preachy but doesn't quite succeed, the second is buoyed by the sympathetic performances. With Frances McDormand and Rosemarie DeWitt. (110 min., R) (Ty Burr) ( 12/28/2012 9:13 AM )
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In 'Not Fade Away,' a Jersey memoir set to music
** Not Fade Away Beware filmmakers who have been carrying dream projects in their heads for decades. This is "Sopranos" creator David Chase's fictionalized memoir of growing up a rock-loving teenager in suburban New Jersey, and it's both achingly affectionate and a terrible mess. John Magaro plays the lead, James Gandolfini is his defeated dad. The soundtrack, naturally, is aces. (112 min., R) (Ty Burr) ( 12/27/2012 2:29 PM )
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Movie review: Apatow's 'This Is 40' hits close to (his) home
**1/2 This Is 40 A "sort-of sequel" to 2007's "Knocked Up" that focuses on that film's supporting characters, Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann), as they grapple with a stalled marriage. Judd Apatow has made a contradiction in terms -- a personal Hollywood comedy -- that has good coarse laughs without ever coming to a point. (134 min., R) (Ty Burr) ( 12/20/2012 2:43 PM )
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Movie review: 'Rust and Bone'
*** Rust and Bone From Jacques Audiard ("A Prophet"), a twisted yet surprisingly ordinary love story about a kickboxing single dad (Matthias Schoenaerts) and a killer whale trainer (Marion Cotillard) whose legs get bitten off. Cotillard's fearsome intensity and the glowing Antibes vibe make it worth seeing. In French, with subtitles. (120 min., R) (Ty Burr) ( 12/20/2012 1:20 PM )
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Movie review: 'Hyde Park on Hudson'
*1/2 Hyde Park on Hudson A work of historical embroidery about Franklin Delano Roosevelt's possible affair with his sixth cousin, Margaret Suckley, this paints the 32d president as both a creepy sexual predator and a heck of a guy. It's as tone-deaf as movies get. Bill Murray is actually quite good as FDR, but Laura Linney gives a defeated performance in an impossible role. (94 min., R) (Ty Burr) ( 12/13/2012 3:30 PM )
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'Hobbit' has striking visuals, slow pace
**1/2 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Title notwithstanding, almost exactly as expected. More Middle-earth -- the first third of Tolkien's prequel story to "Lord of the Rings" -- Peter Jackson's film has lots of sound and fury and not enough narrative momentum. Ian McKellan's Gandalf and (joy) Andy Serkis's Gollum return. The 48 fps digital version playing in some theaters looks like high-end video. With Martin Freeman. In 3-D. (169 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr) ( 12/12/2012 8:10 PM )
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'Wagner & Me' marvels at the composer's musical legacy
** Wagner & Me Beloved British personality and major Richard Wagner fanboy Stephen Fry goes to Bayreuth to marvel at the composer's musical legacy and -- much too gingerly -- come to terms with its anti-Semitic dark side. Fry hears Wagner, but he doesn't really see him. Opera fans will enjoy the backstage access. (89 min., unrated) (Ty Burr) ( 12/11/2012 2:41 PM )
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'Deadfall': Bad. But not bad enough.
*1/2 Deadfall An A-list cast fights a B-movie script and goes down hard. Eric Bana and Olivia Wilde play armed incestuous siblings on the run in wintry northern Michigan; Charlie Hunnam is a young boxer who comes between them. With Kris Kristofferson and Sissy Spacek, both looking embarrassed. Not quite awful enough to be fun. (95 min., R) (Ty Burr) ( 12/06/2012 3:38 PM )
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'Neighboring Sounds' is observant, eerie
*** Neighboring Sounds A slice-of-life drama set in a high-rise neighborhood in Recife, Brazil, this observant, eerie film unfolds like a casual nightmare in the light of day. Writer-director Kleber Mendonça Filho graduates from short films as a talent to watch; somewhere, Luis Bunuel is smiling. With Gustavo Jahn and Maeve Jinkings. In Portuguese, with subtitles. (131 min., unrated) (Ty Burr) ( 12/04/2012 2:30 PM )
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Movie review: 'Killing Them Softly'
***1/2 Killing Them Softly A bleakly comic, brutally Darwinian gangland saga that at times comes close to being this year's "Drive." Writer-director Andrew Dominik jettisons novelist George V. Higgins's Boston settings for a generic urban wasteland during the 2008 economic collapse. Brad Pitt, Scoot McNairy, and James Gandolfini stand out in a cast full of mean, mouthy, small-time thugs. (97 min., R) (Ty Burr) ( 11/29/2012 4:03 PM )
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Movie review: Mahler on the Couch
**1/2 Mahler on the Couch Using the real 1910 meeting between composer Gustav Mahler and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud as a springboard, this intentionally overripe melodrama examines the tormented marriage of Mahler (Johannes Silberschneider) and his hotsy younger wife, Alma (Barbara Romaner). Taken in the right spirit, it's enjoyably ridiculous, with Mahler's music smeared over everything. In German, with subtitles. (98 min., unrated) (Ty Burr) ( 11/29/2012 2:53 PM )
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Luis Buñuel's 'Tristana' makes a welcome comeback
***1/2 Tristana A restored print of Luis Buñuel's 1970 film about a smug old goat (Fernando Rey) and the innocent (Catherine Deneuve) who ruins him. It's not top-drawer Buñuel, but it's a good starting point for newcomers, and the old devil is welcome any time in a movie culture as safe as ours. In Spanish, with subtitles. (95 min., PG) (Ty Burr) ( 11/22/2012 12:29 PM )
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Ang Lee's 'Pi' is a marvel
*** Life of Pi Ang Lee's adaptation of Yann Martel's best-selling novel is a marvel of contradictions: a movie about the magnificence of nature that's largely computer-made, a two-character epic, a 3-D extravaganza that take place inside a 20-foot lifeboat. The movie shouldn't work at all, but it does. Keep kids under 10 at home, though. With Suraj Sharma and Irrfan Khan. (127 min., PG) (Ty Burr) ( 11/21/2012 4:00 PM )
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'A Royal Affair' dresses up nicely
*** A Royal Affair This Danish historical drama about a mad 18th-century king, his wife, and her lover is one of the stodgier entries in the Oscar-season costume parade but also one of the more straightforwardly enjoyable: a crowned-heads soap opera that balances effectively between pomp and melodramatic circumstance. With Alicia Vikander and Mads Mikkelsen. In Danish, with subtitles. (137 min., R) (Ty Burr) ( 11/21/2012 12:48 AM )
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Movie review: 'Anna Karenina'
**1/2 Anna Karenina Joe Wright's adaptation of the Tolstoy classic staggers under the weight of a dazzling, hermetically sealed visual style that fails to connect with our emotions; the entire movie seems to take place in a snow globe. The cast, led by Keira Knightley, is good, although Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Vronsky may be too much the boy-toy. With Jude Law. (130 min., R) (Ty Burr) ( 11/15/2012 5:08 PM )
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'Chasing Ice' against the reality of melting glaciers
*** Chasing Ice A calmly furious documentary about the disappearance of the great northern glaciers and the photographer, James Balog, who captures this silent apocalypse in time-lapse images that balance between beauty and horror. Director Jeff Orlowski gives us more about Balog than we need to know; it's the work that matters. (76 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr) ( 11/15/2012 4:15 PM )
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Fairy tales with painterly settings
**1/2 Tales of the Night The new film from French animation visionary Michel Ocelot ("Azur & Asmar") is a collection of original fairy tales with backgrounds that glow like illuminated manuscripts and characters done in the style of Indonesian shadow puppets. For adventurous kids and graphic arts grad students. In dubbed and subtitled versions; check the MFA website. (84 min., unrated) (Ty Burr) ( 11/13/2012 1:30 PM )
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Movie review: Sean Penn hits right notes in 'This Must Be the Place'
*** This Must Be the Place A charmingly oddball fable about a former rock star traveling across America seeking revenge on an ex-Nazi. In the lead, Sean Penn gives a slyly comic performance: He looks like Robert Smith of the Cure and moves like a latter-day Ozzy Osbourne. It's not close to a great movie but it is a special one. (118 min., R) (Ty Burr) ( 11/09/2012 12:04 AM )
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Movie review: 'Lincoln' makes politics exciting again
Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner -- with help from Daniel Day-Lewis -- tell one of our country's greatest stories using dialogue filled with ideas. ( 11/08/2012 3:52 PM )
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Look for new reviews by Ty Burr and Wesley Morris at the end of each week in multiple formats.
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