Muay Thai action outshines minimal plot


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Ong Bak 2: The Beginning proves that ridiculously awesome and awesomely ridiculous are not interchangeable. Although grand orchestrator Tony Jaa does a striking job with art design and skull-crushing action, the story and one-dimensional characters leave the film soundly in the latter category. It bites to be an overthrown prince. It burns to be captured […]

Morgan’s style proves Hollywood standout


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James Bond and archenemy Ernst Blofeld meet for a tense discussion of global espionage. Their guns are holstered, but their hands are ready to draw. At the emotional high point of the confrontation, we cut jarringly to M giving his reaction to the whole affair. This Bond versus Blofeld scene might sound like a parody […]

Colorful remake pales in comparison


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Welcome to the newest installation of computer-generated animation. Recall the 1980s when American kids would gather around the television to watch Astro Boy, a popular crossover series from Japan that featured a little robot boy with a heart of gold and the ability to kick some poetic justice. Decades later, Astro Boy is back with […]

Suspense film leaves viewers unsatisfied


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Word on the street is that after seeing Paranormal Activity, Steven Spielberg returned to the studio with the DVD in a trash bag. He claimed the door to his bedroom locked by itself after he watched the film. Was it the ghost of Orson Welles, still upset over Spielberg’s adaptation of War of the Worlds? […]

Specter of crimes past continues to haunt LA communities


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On a sleepy August morning, a man sorting through a Buena Park Dumpster found a suitcase stuffed with the mangled remains of a female body. Authorities identified her as Jasmine Fiore, a swimsuit model. They believed that the man she was last seen with — Ryan Jenkins, a contestant and finalist on VH1 reality show […]