Starring: Bela Lugosi, George Zucco, John Carradine

Voodoo Man / Return of the Ape Man

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In Brief: Bela Lugosi's last two films for Monogram Pictures make for a heady double dose of Poverty Row insanity that makes for an existential cinematic experience. In Voodoo Man, the "Master of Horror" tries to bring his alarmingly ambulatory "dead" wife back to life with the aid of gas-station owner and part-time witch doctor…
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez, John Hillerman

Chinatown

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In Brief: The first true neo-noir is still the best. Roman Polanski's Chinatown (1974) is that rare thing — an homage that actually transcends the genre it salutes. Everything about the film feels just right — from the casting (who but Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway and John Huston can you imagine in the leads?) to…
Starring: Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard

Lee Daniels’ The Butler

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The Story: Fact-based drama about the man who served as White House butler from Ike to Reagan. The Lowdown: Lee Daniels feels constrained with a PG-13 rating, but his film still resonates with honest emotion and solid filmmaking that manages to pack more than 80 years of story into two hours without feeling rushed.
Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Morris Chestnut, Christopher Mintz-Plasse

Kick-Ass 2

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The Story: More inexplicable fancy-dress vigilante doings. The Lowdown: Ugly, mean, unpleasant and tedious. There is nothing to recommend this.
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Sally Hawkins, Alec Baldwin, Bobby Canavale, Peter Sarsgaard, Louis C.K.

Blue Jasmine

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The Story: A woman whose husband left her widowed, with nothing but the wreckage of his illegal financial empire — and a lot of high-toned notions — finds her life spinning out of control. The Lowdown: A rich, beautifully crafted and intricate film from Woody Allen that qualifies as essential viewing.
Starring: Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire

That’s Entertainment, Part II

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In Brief: Another two-hour commercial for MGM that continues the attempt to rewrite the history of movies as the history of MGM. The new footage by Gene Kelly is appallingly cheesy, and the clips are a mixed bag (kind of the movie equivalent of B-sides) that seem to have been edited with a meat cleaver.…
Starring: Johannes Krisch, Irina Potapenko, Andreas Lust, Ursula Strauss, Johannes Thanheiser

Revanche

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In Brief: Oscar-nominated crime drama — and character study — from Austria, Revanche (2008) is one of those films that never made it onto local screens. It's the sort of compelling film that just isn't an easy sell — a fairly grim examination of a botched bank robbery that was meant to provide a new…
Starring: William Powell, Kay Francis, Helen Vinson, Hardie Albright, Alan Mowbray

Jewel Robbery

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In Brief: Scintillating, sophisticated heist comedy that finds both its stars — William Powell and Kay Francis — and its director (the undervalued William Dieterle) at the height of their powers. Deliciously Pre-Code and every inch adult entertainment (in the best sense) about a slick jewel thief and the bored rich woman who encounters him…
Starring: Tod Slaughter, Sylvia Marriott, Hilary Eaves, Geoffrey Wardwell, Hay Petrie

Crimes at the Dark House

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In Brief: The great Tod Slaughter has a go at Wilkie Collins' novel The Woman in White, which is transformed here into one of the British horror star's typical blood-and-thunder "strong meat" melodramas. That means that no virgin is safe and no deed too dirty. Though Crimes at the Dark House (1940) is nothing new…
Starring: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Diego Luna, Wagner Moura

Elysium

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The Story: In 2154, there's what's left of earth and there's Elysium — a paradise for the wealthy. And it's a paradise one man must penetrate if he's to survive lethal radiation poisoning. The Lowdown: It hits more than it misses — not in the least because Elysium has more on its mind than any…
Starring: Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman, Erin Moriarty

The Kings of Summer

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The Story: Three boys decide to run away and build a house of their own in a secluded spot in the woods. The Lowdown: Nicely observed coming-of-age story with a real feel for early adolescence and a keen sense of summer in the woods. It works best before too much plotting sets in, but its…
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Will Poulter, Emma Roberts, Ed Helms, Nick Offerman

We’re the Millers

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The Story: A drug dealer agrees to smuggle a load of marijuana out of Mexico to square himself with his supplier. The Lowdown: Modestly funny in a blandly predictable manner. It's the movie version of the hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold and just as unbelievable.
Starring: Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton, Steven Berkoff, Rufus Sewell

The Tourist

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In Brief: It has a critically acclaimed director (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck), two big stars (Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie), glamorous locations — and yet almost nothing about The Tourist works. Inert and indifferent, The Tourist squanders an amazing amount of talent on a lame story that nobody seems to care about. Depp and Jolie…
Starring: Carl Brisson, Victor McLaglen, Jack Oakie, Kitty Carlisle, Duke Ellington and His Orchestra

Murder at the Vanities

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In Brief: A purely delightful pre-Code oddity, Paramount's Murder at the Vanities (1934) is all but unknown today — not in the least because it got very little TV play, thanks to its skimpy costumes and the song "Marihuana." It's a backstage murder mystery that unfolds in real-time during a musical revue. Director Mitchell Leisen…
Starring: Tom Stadnick, Mara Breindel, Jon Rutland, TJ Lee, Ashley Summerow

Ringside Rosary

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In Brief: Despite being constrained by budget and (as is often common with local productions) going on too long, Jack Eagen's Ringside Rosary is one of the more interesting films to come along from Asheville filmmakers. Surprisingly violent and even more surprisingly uncompromising, it's a film that proves that budget can be largely overcome by…
Starring: Nora Swinburne, Esmond Knight, Arthur Shields, Patricia Walters, Radha, Adrienne Corri

The River

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In Brief: While it scarcely scales the heights of Jean Renoir's finest works, The River remains a fascinating minor footnote in his career. The story — about three girls growing up in Bengal, India, experiencing first love (unfortunately with the same man) — is slight, and the acting is on the hit-or-miss side. Yet Renoir…
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard, Juno Temple, Sharon Stone, Robert Patrick, Chris Noth

Lovelace

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The Story: Biopic of porn star Linda Lovelace. The Lowdown: Well-made, but ultimately rather simplistic and tepid biopic of the once-notorious star. Good performances and occasional bits of insight make it worthwhile, but it never becomes essential viewing.
Starring: Hank Azaria, Neil Patrick Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Jayma Mays

The Smurfs 2

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The Story: Gargamel kidnaps Smurfette and the others have to rescue her. The Lowdown: It's the same as the first one, only even less inspired, if you can believe it.