Films to recall, films to forget
My movie heroine of 2009? Director Kathryn Bigelow, whose drama "The Hurt Locker" easily made my top 10 of the year and whose mastery of complicated action sequences and even...
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Another nail in the rom-com coffin
'Did You Hear About the Morgans?' Zero stars Pure, communal silence can be a wonderful thing, and if you haven't experienced any lately, I commend you to see the first...
Not quite perfect
?BROKEN EMBRACES' ***1/2 Sleek and swank, Pedro Almodovar's latest movie, "Broken Embraces," is destined to be overlooked come awards time. Almodovar's talent and interests are those of a mellow craftsman...
They’re young, in love and in charge of the U.K.
'The Young Victoria' **** "The Young Victoria," starring Emily Blunt as the 18-year-old queen of England circa 1837, is such a rich pastiche of first love, teen empowerment, fabulous fashion...
Unlikely participants populate love triangle
'Cloud 9' *** We live in a country fed by an entertainment machine that comes with two settings, typically. For example? Stories in which senior citizens engage in any sort...
James Cameron crafts an almost-epic in blue
'Avatar' *** The following is a capsule version of Michael Phillips' review of "Avatar." For the full review, visit chicagotribune.com /talkingpictures. The first 90 minutes of "Avatar" are pretty terrific...
World of artifice, not reality
'Mammoth' ** A butterfly flaps its wings, and somewhere in the world another phony-baloney "Babel"-style tale of global connectedness and human failing gets the green light. In New York, a...
Album well-crafted, but Keys doesn’t let ‘Freedom’ ring
Alicia Keys, 'The Element of Freedom' *** (out of 4) On her fourth studio album, "The Element of Freedom" (RCA), Alicia Keys revisits "Empire State of Mind," the hit single...
Cameron’s blue heaven
'Avatar' *** Blue is the new green, if the billion-or-more box-office predictions come true for James Cameron's first feature since "Titanic" 12 years ago. So. How is it? Does it...
Year’s most irresistible albums
More than 100,000 albums were released this year. What were the best? No one's list is definitive because no one could've possibly listened to them all. And, as always, this...