REVIEW: The Runaways [2010]

“I want to hear you fun girls growl” Welcome to the coming out party for the new, adult Dakota Fanning. The movie may be called The Runaways, after the band for which it depicts, but this is most definitely the Cherie Currie story. When I first heard about the film beginning production, as well as all the hype surrounding Kristen Stewart’s casting as Joan Jett, I really couldn’t have cared less about the project. I chalked it up to being just another ‘making of the band’ tome of sex, drugs,…

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REVIEW: Sex Drive [2008]

“I refuse to be embarrassed by a car that looks like a Trapper Keeper” Not to badmouth American Pie, I actually really enjoyed it and its sequels, albeit less with each installment (and I mean the theatrically released offspring), but I must blame it for the dearth of quality for copycats each year. Sure there are some surprises—Eurotrip, I know, I really liked it, sue me—mixed in with the drivel, it’s just a shame they are so few and far between. Nothing will ever compare to the greats such as…

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REVIEW: The Last King of Scotland [2006]

“Do you have monkeys in Scotland?” What happens when a precocious young doctor gets a feeling of claustrophobia at home and decides to travel the world to bring help while having fun in the process? Kevin Macdonald’s The Last King of Scotland tries to show us the answers in the midst of Idi Amin’s rise to power in Uganda. While not a biopic, the film is also not a narrative fiction of any real weight. Instead this is a tale of a monster through the eyes of someone whose innocence…

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