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David Ayer’s World War II Chronicle, ‘Fury,’ Is a Violent Mortar Round of a...
Logan Lerman and Brad Pitt in Fury. Another conventional saga about a small, isolated and battered group of GIs fighting the Nazis, the familiar, action-packed Fury does little to suggest an...
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Michael Keaton Is the Sole Redeeming Thing About ‘Birdman,’ Which Isn’t...
Michael Keaton stars in Birdman. An unrecognizable Michael Keaton seems to have aged 40 years since the last time he appeared on the screen, but he’s still the best (i.e., only) reason to suffer...
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Terrence McNally’s Broadway Send-Up, ‘It’s Only a Play,’ Skewers Modern Theater
Megan Mullally and Nathan Lane in It’s Only a Play When Terrence McNally’s show business farce It’s Only a Play originally opened in 1986, the critics didn’t enjoy the overloaded references to the...
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The Movie Was Better: ‘On the Town’ Revival Erases No Golden Memories of MGM...
There are no Gene Kellys to be found in this On the Town. (Photo by Joan Marcus) Purists have always turned their noses up at the snappy, glorious, sparkling and ageless joy of the 1949 MGM Technicolor...
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In ‘Force Majeure,’ Ruben Östlund Explores the Dark Side of Human Survival...
Lives are changed and a marriage is shaken after a critical incident during a five-day ski holiday in the French Alps. Lives are changed and a marriage is shaken after a critical incident during a...
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‘Stonehearst Asylum’ Is the Best Madhouse Movie Since ‘Bedlam’
Ben Kinglsey and Jim Sturgess in Stonehearst Asylum. Just in time for Halloween, a blood-curdling horror called Stonehearst Asylum has arrived to boil your nerves and fry your hair. No silly vampires,...
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Portrait of an Artist: John Hawkes Plays a Tragic Jazz Pianist in ‘Low Down’
A struggling musician is down and out in Low Down Fighting through the pain and tears of a miserable childhood to find inner peace and even a pinch of happiness is the stuff of so many memoirs. From...
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Dream Boat: Sting’s New Musical, ‘The Last Ship,’ Is First-Rate
The cast of The Last Ship, Sting’s triumphant new musical at the Neil Simon Theatre. (Photo by Joan Marcus) Sensational! I usually try to avoid superlatives like that, but if the shoe fits, wear it...
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In ‘Horns,’ Daniel Radcliffe Lands His Worst Role Yet
Horns gives Mr. Radcliffe a chance to stop shaving, gnash his teeth, show off his hairy chest and over-act in a tirade of tantrums and nonstop suffering. In his desperate attempts to prove there is...
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‘Nightcrawler’ Is a Seedy, Sensational Look at the Cutthroat World of TV...
Jake Gyllenhaal, left, stars in Nightcrawler. Aiming at the same thought-provoking, issue-probing indictment of television news as Network, the gripping cynicism of Nightcrawler provides more than its...
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Pizzarelli and Molaskey Bring a Heightened Sense of Maturity to the Café Carlyle
John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey perform their “Grownup Songs.” (Photo by Stephen Sorokoff) Fearing the recent spate of bad bookings and tone-deaf cabaret acts that eschew the kind of sophisticated...
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A Brief History of Stephen Hawking
Felicity Jones as Jane Wilde and Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. A little hope goes a long way. That talisman to live by has been the theme of countless movies about...
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MacLaine and Plummer Can’t Save ‘Elsa and Fred’ From Mediocrity
Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer. Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer. That’s all you need to know, and all a rom-com about senior citizens in love called Elsa and Fred is really about....
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Tommy Lee Jones’ ‘The Homesman’ Strands Three Pioneers in a Western Wasteland
Tommy Lee Jones and Hilary Swank in The Homesman. Cowboys and Indians may equal box-office Ebola, but The Homesman, directed by Tommy Lee Jones, is not your grandma’s typical Hollywood western. It’s a...
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Her Heart Will Go On: Maudlin Melodies Abound in ‘Always Woodstock’
James Wolk and Allison Miller in Always Woodstock. Another week, another benign rock and roll romance. Always Woodstock is about a pretty career girl in New York, slaving away at a dead-end job with a...
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In ‘Foxcatcher,’ Steve Carell and Channing Tatum Give Performances of a Lifetime
Steve Carell plays John du Pont in Foxcatcher. Bennett Miller, the meticulous young director of Capote and the popular baseball film Moneyball, brings his quality of excellence back to front-row focus...
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Doggin’ Around: ‘Wolves’ Is a Fresh and Feverish Entry in the Werewolf Canon
Wolves is about the inner wolf in all of us. Halloween has come and gone, but it’s never too late for a good scare. Personally, I’m through with silly, lovesick vampires. Bring on the werewolves....
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Slumber Party Massacre: ‘The Sleepwalker’ Is a Snooze
The Sleepwalker is directed by Mona Fastvold. A benign bore called The Sleepwalker, directed without a shred of tension by Mona Fastvold (say who?) while falsely masquerading as a “psychosexual...
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John Herzfeld’s ‘Reach Me’ Has No Clue What It’s Grabbing For
Tom Beregenger stars in Reach Me. In the 2014 annals of throwaway flops, save a special place for 95 wasted minutes of drivel called Reach Me. In a clueless attempt to link together an overcrowded...
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Bill Condon’s Updated ‘Side Show’ Is Nothing Short of Electrifying
Side Show is the magnificent revival of the 1997 musical about Violet and Daisy Hilton. (Photo by Joan Marcus) Double the dazzle, double the joy. Double the pleasure, double the fun. Side Show is the...
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