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Articles

• The Great Gatsby (PG-13)

  

  

  MOVIES

  Ken Hanke | 5 days ago

  Genre: Drama

  Director: Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!)

  Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Elizabeth Debicki, Isla Fisher

  The Story: Film version of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. The Lowdown: A big, daring, audacious interpretation of the novel that brings it to life in ways you probably never dreamed possible. It's every inch a Baz Luhrmann film, so that will probably tell you a lot. You may not like it, but I'm calling it a must-see. Truly visionary filmmaking is so rare.

  4 comments

  313 views

• Renoir (R)

  

  

  MOVIES

  Ken Hanke | 12 days ago

  Genre: Biographical Drama

  Director: Gilles Bourdos (Afterwards)

  Starring: Michel Bouquet, Christa Theret, Vincent Rottiers, Thomas Doret

  The Story: Biographical drama about the aged painter, his future filmmaker son and the young woman who inspired them both during the summer of 1915. The Lowdown: An almost impossibly beautiful-looking film — one so visually arresting that it more than makes up for the leisurely nature of its approach. Actually, the story itself is much deeper and revelatory than may be suggested at first glance.

  2 comments

  272 views

• Mud (PG-13)

  

  

  MOVIES

  Ken Hanke | 26 days ago

  Genre: Drama

  Director: Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter)

  Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Jacob Lofland, Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Paulson, Ray McKinnon, Sam Shepard

  The Story: Two boys in a small Southern river town help a fugitive fix up a boat for his getaway with the woman he came back for. The Lowdown: An altogether exceptional film about Southern life as seen through the eyes of two boys on what seems to them a romantic adventure. Highly recommended.

  23 comments

  656 views

• The Croods (PG)

  

  

  MOVIES

  Ken Hanke | 03/26/2013

  Genre: Animated Adventure

  Director: Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon) and Kirk De Micco (Space Chimps)

  Starring: (Voices) Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener, Ryan Reynolds, Cloris Leachman, Clark Duke

  The Story: A Stone Age family must learn how to adapt to a drastically changing world that threatens to become — literally — a thing of the past. The Lowdown: Spectacular-looking, exciting and (I dare say) even moving animated film with extremely good voice casting. It's nothing at all like the film the trailer suggests and even though it's not Chris Sanders' earlier Lilo & Stitch or How to Train Your Dragon, it's still very good indeed.

  0 comments

  616 views

• Attack the Block (R)

  

  

  Ken Hanke | 10/11/2011

  Genre: Sci-Fi Horror Comedy

  Director: Joe Cornish

  Starring: Nick Frost, Jodie Whittaker, John Boyega, Luke Treadaway, Alex Esmail, Paige Meade

  The Story: A teenage gang in a London public-housing building team up with a nurse they recently mugged to fight off an alien invasion. The Lowdown: An absolutely perfect film of its kind -- tense, suspenseful, exciting, very funny -- and with an undercurrent of something more.

  5 comments

  2.4K views

• Bottle Shock (PG-13)

  

  

  Ken Hanke | 08/27/2008

  Genre: Fact-Based Comedy-Drama

  Director: Randall Miller (Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School)

  Starring: Chris Pine, Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman, Rachael Taylor, Freddy Rodríguez, Dennis Farina

  The Story: A Brit wine snob with a failing shop in Paris arranges a blind wine-tasting competition between French and California wines -- with an all-French panel of experts. The Lowdown: Based on fact and drowned in TV-movie level dramatic embellishments, this little indie offering has one thing going for it -- Alan Rickman -- and he may be enough.

  7 comments

  2.3K views

• 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (NR)

  

  

  Ken Hanke | 04/02/2008

  Genre: Drama

  Director: Cristian Mungiu

  Starring: Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov, Alexandru Potocean

  The Story: Set in 1987 Romania, a college girl helps her roommate get an illegal abortion. The Lowdown: Bleak, damning social commentary about a repressive society, with compelling drama in the relationship of its two leads.

  6 comments

  2.4K views

• City of Men (R)

  

  

  Ken Hanke | 03/26/2008

  Genre: Drama

  Director: Paulo Morelli

  Starring: Douglas Silva, Darlan Cunha, Jonathan Haagensen, Rodrigo dos Santos, Camila Monteiro

  The Story: Two young men living in the slums of Rio find themselves at odds with warring factions of drug lords. The Lowdown: A frequently intense and powerful drama of friendship and becoming an adult under the worst possible circumstances.

  3 comments

  1.9K views

• Taxi to the Dark Side (R)

  

  

  Ken Hanke | 03/19/2008

  Genre: Documentary

  Director: Alex Gibney

  Starring: Alex Gibney (narrator), Mozzam Begg, Jack Cloonan, Tim Golden, Clive Stafford Smith

  The Story: A documentary about U.S. government use of torture and human-rights violations. The Lowdown: A thoroughly cogent, researched and relevant treatment of a hot-button topic that should be seen by everyone.

  7 comments

  2.1K views

• Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (PG-13)

  

  

  Ken Hanke | 03/12/2008

  Genre: Romantic Comedy

  Director: Bharat Nalluri

  Starring: Frances McDormand, Amy Adams, Ciarán Hinds, Lee Pace, Shirley Henderson

  The Story: An unemployable governess finds a life-transforming position as a social secretary. The Lowdown: Style, wit and likable characters carry the day in this generally lightweight, but not brainless, comedy.

  8 comments

  2.4K views
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