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Artistic direction and animation: * * * *

Story: * *

Overall review: * * 1/2

Coraline is a beautifully-animated film that suffers from a macabre story. My 8-year old hid under his coat for the entire second half of the movie. The movie audience seemed frozen (I heard maybe one laugh throughout the entire film) and uninvolved.

But the stop-motion animation is superb and makes "Wallace and Gromit" look like child's play. I'd never seen stop-motion -- an animation technique that involves moving models or puppets frame by frame (it takes 24 frames for one second of film) -- where the camera was moving around as well. I'd be curious to see how they did that.

I'd think twice before bringing the kids to this one.

Labels: film

AndyO review: * * 1/2

The idea of Swing Vote is a good one: What would happen if a presidential election came down to one person's vote? In this case, that person is Bud Johnson (Kevin Costner), a kind of village idiot who's in way over his head but is too dumb to know it. Part of this character works, but in the end I found him too simpleminded and stereotypical. If he'd been less of an "ugly American," this could have been a much more interesting (and perhaps great) film.

While it's funny to watch the two presidential candidates cater to Bud's comments (the conservative candidate abruptly moves to support Gays and Lesbians in the military), it's too far-fetched to suspend disbelief. The two advisors to each candidate, Stanley Tucci and Nathan Lane, have the thankless role of pushing their candidate where they don't want to go -- another cliche that could have been written in a less melodramatic way. 

Of course the great find in this film is Madeline Carroll, who plays Johnson's daughter Molly. She's been forced to grow up and become wise beyond her years -- thanks to her two immature, self-centered parents. And in many ways the film is about her and the way her integrity changes the other characters.

In the end, I'm left thinking about what this film might have been like under the direction of Aaron Sorkin, the creator of The West Wing TV show and the film The American President. We'll never know.

Released: 2008


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Swing Vote

Kevin Costner, Paula Patton, Dennis Hopper, Stanley Tucci, Judge Reinhold, Richard Petty,

Labels: film

AndyO review: * * *

Inkheart smartly combines a fresh twist on the metafiction theme that I've seen in films like Zelig, Stranger Than Fiction, and Adaptation, and fantasy films like Harry Potter and The Spiderwick Chronicles. It's also a good family film, although it does contain some frightening images.

This film also includes nice performances by Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, and Wimbledon) and Academy Award-winner Helen Mirren (The Queen).

Released: 2008


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Inkheart

Brendan Fraser, Eliza Bennett, Paul Bettany, Rafi Gavron, Steve Speirs, Stephen Graham,

Labels: film

AndyO review: * * *

Released: 2008


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"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"

Thomas Dekker, Richard T. Jones, Brian Austin Green, Shirley Manson, Summer Glau, Lena Headey,

Labels: TV

Once I start watching Lost, it's hard for me to stop. Simply an amazing show.

Released: 2004


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"Lost"

Naveen Andrews, Jorge Garcia, Daniel Dae Kim, Evangeline Lilly, Emilie de Ravin, Harold Perrineau,

Labels: TV

AndyO review: * * 1/2

Released: 2009


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The Pink Panther 2

Steve Martin, Emily Mortimer, Alfred Molina, Aishwarya Rai, Lily Tomlin, Johnny Hallyday,

Labels: film

AndyO review: * *

Released: 2009


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Paul Blart: Mall Cop

Kevin James, Jayma Mays, Shirley Knight, Peter Gerety, Adam Ferrara, Adhir Kalyan,

Labels: film

AndyO review: * * * *

Released: 2008


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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Cate Blanchett, Faune A. Chambers, Donna DuPlantier, Earl Maddox, Jason Flemyng, David Jensen,

The guy at Game Stop talked me into buying a used copy of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Of course, I'd heard great feedback from a bunch of sources. But I have to say this is one of the best Star Wars games I've played in a while. Getting to use the Force in so many bad ways is a lot of fun!

Labels: videogame