Movie Reviews

Gulliver’s Travels

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The Story: A goofy New Yorker gets sucked down a whirlpool in the Bermuda Triangle and transported to a world of very tiny people in this update of Jonathan Swift's classic. The Lowdown: A pretty unfunny film that might rise to the heights of mediocrity if you can handle the overload of Jack Black's usual…

Little Fockers

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The Story: Feeling his own mortality, series regular Jack Byrnes decides to appoint son-in-law Greg Focker as his successor as family patriarch. The Lowdown: A mostly tedious, occasionally tasteless attempt to milk more money out of this tired situational premise. Unfortunately, it will probably succeed in that aim.

The Thin Man

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The Asheville Film Society will screen The Thin Man Tuesday, Dec. 28, at 8 p.m. in the Cinema Lounge of The Carolina Asheville. Hosted by Xpress movie critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther. Hanke is artistic director of the Asheville Film Society.

The King’s Speech

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The Story: The story of Britain's King George VI and his attempts -- with the help of an unorthodox therapist -- to overcome his speech impediment to become the wartime voice of his people. The Lowdown: An improbable subject becomes a magnificently enjoyable and moving film experience that needs to be seen.

True Grit

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The Story: A young girl, a drunken U.S. Marshal and a self-satisfied Texas Ranger pursue the murderer of the girl's father into Indian Territory. The Lowdown: A stunner of an entertaining movie from the Coen Brothers -- one of their best and one of the best films of the year.

How Do You Know

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The Story: A woman whose pro softball career is over has to choose between a pathologically unfaithful pro baseball player and a nice guy who might be going to jail for corporate fraud. The Lowdown: Flat, uninspired, uninvolving, unfunny, unromantic and mostly just unlikable.

TRON: Legacy

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The Story: A young man -- in an attempt to track down his long-lost father -- gets trapped in a digital world. The Lowdown: Short on plot, but heavy on style -- and less corny than the original -- the movie manages to be engaging, thanks, in part, to a good performance by Jeff Bridges.

Black Swan

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The Story A ballerina in a Lincoln Center opera company lands the lead role in a production of "Swan Lake" -- and the experience threatens her sanity. The Lowdown: A rewarding, disturbing, full-blooded essay in psychological horror of a kind we rarely see -- and one of the best films of 2010.

The Fighter

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The Story The real-life story of boxer "Irish" Mickey Ward and his rise to fame against all odds -- including the help of his family. The Lowdown: A good, creatively made boxing biopic that never breaks through into actual greatness, despite fine work from Mark Wahlberg and Amy Adams.

The Tourist

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The Story An American tourist meets a mysterious woman on a train and finds himself plunged into a web of intrigue. The Lowdown: It ought to be an effervescent bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne, but this supposed romantic thriller is more flat ginger ale than anything else. Neither the stars nor the scenery can save…