When "Scandal" debuted last spring, its premise seemed clear-cut and comfortable.
The oddball romances "Moonrise Kingdom" and "Silver Linings Playbook" picked up five nominations each Tuesday to lead the Spirit Awards honoring independent film.
Liam Neeson's "Taken 2" has defended its box-office title with a narrow win over Ben Affleck's "Argo."
Writer-director Martin McDonagh ("In Bruges") wants to have his darkly comic cake and eat it too with "Seven Psychopaths," a gory bucket of blood that uses its postmodernist structure to hint at a deeper, counterintuitive meaning – maybe even a moral.
In his second movie, the Irish playwright Martin McDonagh has mangled together a comic, self-aware revenge flick that's half Guy Ritchie, half Charlie Kaufman.
"Argo" _ A movie about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis probably doesn't sound like it would be a laugh riot _ or should be _ but that's just one of the many ways in which this is a glorious, gripping surprise. Directing his third feature, Ben Affleck has come up with a seamless blend of detailed international drama and breathtaking suspense, with just the right amount of dry humor to provide context and levity. He shows a deft handling of tone, especially in making difficult transitions between scenes in Tehran, Washington and Hollywood, but also gives one of his strongest performances yet in front of the camera as the film's star. It's exciting to see the confidence with which Affleck expands his ambition and scope as a filmmaker. "Argo" reveals his further mastery of pacing and storytelling, even as he juggles complicated set pieces, various locations and a cast featuring 120 speaking parts. And the story he's telling sounds impossible, but it's absolutely true (with a few third-act tweaks to magnify the drama). When protestors stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 people hostage, six employees sneaked out a back door and sought refuge at the home of Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor (Victor Garber). Longtime CIA operative Tony Mendez (Affleck) comes up with a crazy scheme to rescue them: He'll fly to Tehran, pretend that they all entered the country together to scout locations for a schlocky sci-fi movie called "Argo," then walk right out the front door with them and fly home. Bryan Cranston, John Goodman and Alan Arkin are among the excellent supporting cast. R for language and some violent images. 120 minutes. Four stars out of four.
Within the first five minutes of the History channel documentary "Gettysburg," a Union soldier splits open the skull of a Confederate with his rifle stock. Blood erupts from the battle wounds, splattering the camera's lens.
Within the first five minutes of the History channel documentary "Gettysburg," a Union soldier splits open the skull of a Confederate with his rifle stock. Blood erupts from the battle wounds, splattering the camera's lens.
"Source Code" opens with confusion: Capt. Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up, face pressed against the window of a commuter train. He doesn't know where he is, or how he got there. When he looks in the bathroom mirror, the face he sees is not his own. Yet no one else seems to think anything is amiss. Indeed, Christina (Michelle Monaghan), the attractive woman sitting across from him, appears to be in the middle of a perfectly normal conversation with him.
