The International: Shish Kabob

Clive Owen and Naomi Watts are almost as unrelenting and ruthless as our Congress in going after Big Banks, but the titular lending institution of this film makes predatory lending sound like a child’s game. And it’s not the mortgages that are toxic, but the actual investigators themselves, when they get too close to the truth. One had better think twice before defaulting on any loans.
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Public Enemies: Persimmon Pudding

Johnny Depp shines in his portrayal of romanticized bank robber John Dillinger, his smile just as disarming as his tommy gun. And the midnight shootout in the hush woods of Wisconsin evokes some fond memories of Midwest Fourth of July fireworks. But the rest is rather lackluster, with a script that paints some of the most colorful thugs of the era with the gray tones of a Sunday obituary for the local dentist.
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Marie Antoinette: Chocolate Crème Brulee with Fresh Raspberries Recipe 🥁🥁1/2

Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette MTV style is a superficial spectacle that seems strangely seduced by the excesses it portrays. The giddy camera gives us plenty of eye candy – gorgeous gowns, sparkling champagne, and iced delicacies, but seems to forget what film making is all about -- the art of telling a story.
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In Search of a Midnight Kiss: Heirloom Tomato Salad with Goat Cheese Recipe

At once contemporary and classic, cynical and sentimental, trashy and tender, this indie film with some serious Austin roots wowed the audiences at its premiere at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival, but be warned. This isn’t your father’s Oldsmobile, and you are in for a bumpy ride if that is what you expect.
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You Don’t Mess with the Zohan: Israeli Eggplant

Adam Sandler doesn’t just push the envelope; he sends it special delivery, and the result is an outrageous satire that serves up as much insight as belly laughs. In spite of its pandering vulgarity, or perhaps because of it, the film gets through to us in ways the preachy ones do not. The humor blasts through our defenses to ideas we might normally reject.
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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Peruvian Flan

His morning stubble is a bit grizzled, but the part time professor can still wield a mighty mean bullwhip and pack a punch when he needs to. And yeah, he’s still terrified of snakes and always coming upon them, as well as pesky dart blowing natives, mega red army ants, creepy corpse ridden catacombs, and some rather nasty foreign agents.
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2 Days in Paris: Jacque’s Parisian Chicken Recipe

If you delight in the casual cruelties of a dysfunctional relationship or cannot wait to peep under the veneer of Parisian sophistication or the chic Manhattan version thereof, then you will probably relish this modern comedy of manners that manages to be an equal opportunity offender in skewering both French and American mores.
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National Treasure: Book of Secrets: Golden Fry Bread

The makers of this film don’t take themselves seriously and neither should you. It’s the Disney franchise’s version of a McDonalds Happy Meal – slick packaging filled with warmed over tidbits of bland, inoffensive fare – and getting about the same appraisal from the critics a the Big Mack does from the American Heart Association. But audiences seem to love it just about as much as they do their burgers and fries, a phenomenon more worthy of analysis than its breezy, insubstantial plot.
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