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Film Review – Friends with Kids

I don’t know why it is so hard to make a good romantic comedy anymore. I want to laugh. I want to watch nice, funny people fall in love. Instead, I get unfunny, stupid crap that hurts me. For every one Easy A, I get twenty The Bounty Hunter. I don’t want Valentine’s Day. I want The Philadelphia Story. I want Say Anything, dang it! But instead—somewhere between crap and awesome—I get Friends with Kids. It has a great cast and a decent writer/director behind it, but it’s not nearly as good as it should be. It doesn’t suck, but it doesn’t have any magic. (Did I forget to say I want magic?)

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Top 5 – Directorial Debuts

Another Top 5 segment from The MacGuffin. This time Allen and Brandi share their top 5 directorial debuts.

This segment is also available on Stitcher, iTunes and YouTube. The audio version can be downloaded directly from here. After you’ve watched the video please vote in our poll and share which one you think is the best.

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Interview – Chris Kentis/Laura Lau – Silent House

Spencer interviews directors Chris Kentis and Laura Lau from .

This segment is also available on Stitcher, iTunes and YouTube. The audio version can be downloaded directly from here.

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An Appreciation – L.A. Confidential

“Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush.”

So says reporter Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito) at the end each of his articles in the tabloid paper Hush-Hush. While Sid works as a supporting character in Curtis Hanson’s masterful crime drama L.A. Confidential (1997), his part is essential in establishing and maintaining the tone and style of the piece. There is a reason why Sid is the main narrator, setting up the story and guiding us through its intricate twists. He is representative of the ever-growing fascination the public has with scandal and sleaze news, especially when it deals with the glitz and glamour of 1950s Hollywood. While that kind of journalism seems to dominate mainstream media today, Sid is a symbol of its birth. In a time when Hollywood and the movie industry were in their so-called “golden age,” this movie peers beneath those layers toward its seedy underbelly in gritty fashion.

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Film Review – Project X

People are always complaining about lack of truth in advertising. Some of the most common culprits are movie trailers. Frequently, film studios have marketing divisions (with no connection to the production) put together trailers that ineffectively convey what the movie is about. In the case of the Project X, this isn’t a problem. The film is essentially an elongated version of the trailer, which is essentially a music video. That makes perfect sense, as Nima Nourizadeh is making his feature length debut after coming from a music video background (joining the ranks of directors such as David Fincher, Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, and Michael Bay). There is certainly an element of style over substance, but if you’ve seen the trailer you are going to get exactly what you expect.

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Film Review – The Lorax

With another year well underway, do you know what time it is? Why, time for another Dr. Seuss adaptation, of course! This go-around, the studio that brought us the highly popular Despicable Me (2010) is back with The Lorax (2012), directed by Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda and written by Ken Daurio. Now, to be completely honest with you, this particular story was not one of the Dr. Seuss books that I held very close to my heart; I was more of a How The Grinch Stole Christmas, The Cat in the Hat, and Green Eggs and Ham kind of a kid. I was slightly aware of what the story was about—regarding an imaginary creature and his attempt to stop a number of trees from being chopped down—but other than that I have to admit I walked into the movie with a pretty clean slate. A number of recent Dr. Seuss film adaptations have turned out fairly unmemorable, to put it nicely—would this one actually break ground?

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Film Review – Kill List

Kill List starts off with a subtle air of tension. Jay (Neil Maskell) is currently unemployed, with a wife and child. We soon learn he hasn’t had a job in over a year, and the last one he did have did not go well. His wife Shel (MyAnna Buring) is unhappy and the two are not getting along. One night while Jay’s closest friend Gal (Michael Smiley) and his girlfriend are over for dinner, Shel’s and Jay’s feelings clash in an explosive argument. The situation leaves a rather bad taste in the mouth of Gal’s girlfriend Fiona (Emma Fryer) concerning her opinion of Jay. In response, she takes action that is directly responsible for what is going to happen to Jay.

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Top 5 – Sidekicks

Another Top 5 segment from The MacGuffin. This time Allen and Brandi share their top 5 sidekicks.

This segment is also available on Stitcher, iTunes and YouTube. The audio version can be downloaded directly from here. After you’ve watched the video please vote in our poll and share which one you think is the best.

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An Analysis – Confessions of a Twilight Watcher

Ok, fine. I admit it. I watch the Twilight movies and enjoy myself. I know I should be ashamed, but I’m really not. (That is a horrendous lie. Whenever my friend Sarah outs me on Facebook, I get all snippy with her. She just has no shame.) They are kind of horrible, but they are also awesome. I like over-the-top craziness, and these films deliver in that area. I also enjoy a dramatic teen romance, bad acting, and adult men pretending to be teenagers that sparkle. What’s not to like here? On occasion, I have been genuinely moved, relived some of my own teenage feelings, and teared up. Twilight has a lot of haters, but the films still keep getting watched, so they must be offering up something that some girls and women want.

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Interview – Kirby Bliss Blanton/Alexis Knapp – Project X

Spencer interviews actresses Kirby Bliss Blanton and Alexis Knapp from Project X.

This segment is also available on Stitcher, iTunes and YouTube. The audio version can be downloaded directly from here.

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