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	<title>Rainestorm &#187; Movie Reviews</title>
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	<description>A downpour of raves, rants, writings and ruminations</description>
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		<title>Payne and anguish</title>
		<link>http://www.rainestorm.com/2011/12/31/payne-and-anguish/</link>
		<comments>http://www.rainestorm.com/2011/12/31/payne-and-anguish/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:22:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rainestorm</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Focus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Movie Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[about schmidt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[alexander payne]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[George Clooney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[revolutionary road]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sideways]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.rainestorm.com/?p=6703</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There are some films, and more specifically some directors, to which and to whom I devote my time and money against my better judgment. Alexander Payne is one such individual. After the painful but promisingly hysterical Election, he regressed with the irksome About Schmidt before taking a nosedive with the bafflingly adored but loathsome Sideways. This year he again finds himself beloved of critics and only slightly less irritating with the wearisome The Descendants. The common thread throughout is Payne&#8217;s seeming dislike and utter disrespect for the people about whom his stories are told. With his previous films, it was at least apparent he was trying to craft comedy. Here it is uncertain whether the story is comedic or dramatic and he fails either way. Punchlines are set up almost an entire act in advance and when they&#8217;re delivered they either fizzle or arrive flat. The height of humor is star George Clooney running awkwardly down the road in his slip-on shoes. Ha ha. In the film&#8217;s favor are the excellent performances by Clooney as a cuckolded father of two daughters whose wife&#8217;s recent boating accident has left her comatose and dying, and Shailene Woodley as his teenaged eldest. They [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Not so new Zoo revue</title>
		<link>http://www.rainestorm.com/2011/12/30/not-so-new-zoo-review/</link>
		<comments>http://www.rainestorm.com/2011/12/30/not-so-new-zoo-review/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:05:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rainestorm</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Focus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Movie Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cameron crowe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cary grant]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cuba gooding jr.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jerry maguire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[katherine hepburn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[matt damon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[phillipe rousselot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scarlett johansson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[thomas haden church]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.rainestorm.com/?p=6682</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I never drank the Cameron Crowe Kool-Aid. He always seemed a filmmaker hinting at depth and significance without having experienced either. His films suffer from an incurious lack of dynamic range and the only injection of energy they&#8217;ve ever received was Cuba Gooding, Jr.&#8217;s spirited Rod Tidwell in the otherwise puzzling Jerry Maguire. We Bought a Zoo doesn&#8217;t plumb any new depths but it does have an easy charm that is sweetly palatable. Newly widowed father Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon), attempting to escape the ghosts of his amputated marriage, engages his embittered son (of course) and his gleefully fun-loving daughter (likewise) in the titular &#8216;adventure&#8217; that serves as the central metaphor for his fractured and mending family. Maggie Elizabeth Jones carries most of the movie on her adorable little shoulders as Benjamin&#8217;s daughter, Rosie. She&#8217;s a Grinch repellent, there to forestall the prickly grumps who refuse to have a good time, and whenever she&#8217;s onscreen the film brightens considerably. Damon&#8217;s Benjamin is an equally stock sad-sack father but he has an affability and penetrability that are difficult to dismiss. Scarlett Johansson, bless her soul, tries her best as the head zookeeper who inevitably falls for Benjamin, but she cannot escape [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Murky Shadows</title>
		<link>http://www.rainestorm.com/2011/12/29/murky-shadows/</link>
		<comments>http://www.rainestorm.com/2011/12/29/murky-shadows/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:15:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rainestorm</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Focus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Movie Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[guy ritchie]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jared harris]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jude law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[national treasure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nicolas cage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[noomi rapace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rachel mcadams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[robert downey jr.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sherlock holmes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.rainestorm.com/?p=6665</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As I recall, I had zero interest in experiencing Guy Ritchie&#8217;s first interpretation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle&#8217;s esteemed super-sleuth. I nevertheless ventured forth and was, to my surprise, pleasantly entertained in a somewhat passive way. Having thus been indoctrinated, I approached Ritchie&#8217;s follow-up with my expectations lowered and ready for amusement. From the outset, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows seemed more sluggish, the players more detached, even disinterested. The characters barely interacted, merely moved absentmindedly from one inactive action sequence to the next. From Ritchie to stars Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law to guest stars Jared Harris and Noomi Rapace, the cast and crew sleepwalk through the film with the indifferent air of contractual obligation. Even the cinematography was distractingly dark, whether from Philippe Rousselot&#8217;s photography or the auditorium&#8217;s projection lamp I cannot say. The overall veneer was a muddy blue, gray skies merging into brown earth with hardly a distinction between them. Rachel McAdams appears early in a reprise of her Irene Adler from the previous film but she is gone far too soon and her absence from the rest of the film is deeply felt. Should a third movie inevitably result, it&#8217;s a pity we [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Second wind</title>
		<link>http://www.rainestorm.com/2011/12/28/second-wind/</link>
		<comments>http://www.rainestorm.com/2011/12/28/second-wind/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Dec 2011 04:34:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rainestorm</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Focus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Movie Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[007]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[atticus ross]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[daniel craig]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[david fincher]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[james bond]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[niels adren oplev]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rooney mara]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sean connery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trent reznor]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.rainestorm.com/?p=6631</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I found it nearly impossible to watch David Fincher&#8217;s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo without the spectre of Niels Adren Oplev&#8217;s adaptation prodding my expectations. Objectivity became even more strained as events inched ever closer to that scene. The traumatizing effect of its Swedish predecessor clouded the entire first act of the film (a cloud condensed by the Chatty Kathys to my left and the individual below to whom I had to ask — twice — to put his damn phone away). Consequently, I believe I did a disservice to Fincher&#8217;s vision as most of that first act passed by in a haze. When that scene finally arrived it turned out to be several scenes. Fincher mercifully intercuts the sexual brutality inflicted on central heroine Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) with the concurrent mystery that is the true narrative kernel of Stieg Larsson&#8217;s novel. While I cannot say that the editing blunts the violence, it nevertheless gives the audience a chance to breathe. With the unpleasantries disburdened, Dragon Tattoo unfolded more organically. The film itself is a living entity, its pulse quickening and abating in its own biorhythm: Salander&#8217;s motorcycle merging in perfect synchronicity with a train on a parallel [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<title>Guns, guts and gadgetry</title>
		<link>http://www.rainestorm.com/2011/12/16/guns-guts-and-gadgetry/</link>
		<comments>http://www.rainestorm.com/2011/12/16/guns-guts-and-gadgetry/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 17 Dec 2011 00:27:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rainestorm</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Film Focus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Movie Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[007]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[3D]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[action]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brad bird]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brian de palma]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[die hard]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IMAX]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[james bond]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jj abrams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mission impossible]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the incredibles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tom cruise]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.rainestorm.com/?p=6557</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Brad Bird loves James Bond. This was evident in the Sean Connery-era 007 touches he infused into his Pixar hit The Incredibles. It is even more evident in the director&#8217;s recent Mission: Impossible episode (gone is the numerical increment, instead we&#8217;re given an honest-to-god subtitle, Ghost Protocol), an enjoyably absurd spectacle that hearkens back to the legendary British spy&#8217;s Roger Moore period of high-tech gadgets, gizmos and gimmicks. A tongue-in-cheek prison break set to a Dean Martin classic establishes the tone, and the opening credits are themselves a rousing reworking of the 1996 Brian De Palma series launch. It&#8217;s a giddy start that promises much and nearly delivers it, and is almost as nearly undone by the lack of innovation in the screenwriting. Certainly the performances are inferior to the previous three, more wooden than even the deliciously cornball theatrics of part two. They feel almost like rehearsals, as if Bird is fully aware that the stunts and set pieces will be entrusted with the more critical dramatics of the movie. Yet there is a relaxed air that goes far in giving the proceedings room to breathe, everyone cognizant of the absurdities in which they are partaking and deciding this [...]]]></description>
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