Saturday movie review: A Hologram for the King

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Tom Hanks in a black comedy? Yes!

Tom Hanks playing a frustrated, sometimes bitter man who has lost his home, his wife and is pretty darn close to losing his job, too? Yes!

Tom Hanks portraying a middle-aged businessman trying to find himself... in Saudi Arabia? A man struggling to function in a foreign culture with foreign customs then falling for a woman borne into — and committed to — said culture and customs? Yes!

a hologram for the king movie

Hanks masterfully (could he do it any other way?) covers all of the above and more in the offbeat — and far from typical Hanks — A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING, a dramedy based on Dave Eggers' 2012...

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Saturday movie review: The Family Fang

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Jason Bateman is an amazing director. His most recent go at the role, THE FAMILY FANG, confirms his name should be prominently and permanently emblazoned across an on-set Director chair.

That's it. That's all you need to know about THE FAMILY FANG. End of review.

the family fang

Okay, okay. You deserve to know more about THE FAMILY FANG. And Jason Bateman deserves for you to know more about the quiet, quirky, independent film he directed. And stars in. With Nicole Kidman. And Christopher Walken. And Maryann Plunkett, who...

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Saturday movie review: Cake

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Five minutes into CAKE, I asked my husband, who was watching along with me, if watching it was going to give him nightmares. Jim chuckled and said, "I was wondering the same thing." 

We had the exchange not because CAKE is a scary movie and my husband is a chicken, but because CAKE is about chronic pain and my husband has suffered from such for more than a decade. He managed to watch it all the way through, though, with nary a nightmare that night.

Cake movie

CAKE, starring Jennifer Aniston in a dark, powerful role, is about...

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Saturday movie review: Birdman

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I just might be the only movie reviewer in the country that doesn't think BIRDMAN should be included on the list of Best Picture nominees for this year's Academy Awards. A quick Google of the film results in endless accolades for the movie. Sure, I thought the acting was fabulous, the filming genius. But Best Picture? Nah... not in my mind.

Birdman movie

BIRDMAN—subtitled OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)—is a black comedy starring Michael Keaton as...

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