Lights Camera Jackson

Movie Reviews, Entertainment News and Views from Lights Camera Jackson

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‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’ Review

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Four years ago Morgan Freeman received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for playing legendary South African activist Nelson Mandela in the rugby-based film, “Invictus”. Now, Idris Elba takes-on the task of playing the iconic figure in “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”, which is based on Mandela’s autobiography. This is a full-on life story. The movie […]
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‘Philomena’ Review

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“Philomena” is based on the true story of one woman’s quest to find the son who was taken from her when she was a young, unwed mother. Dame Judi Dench, best known for her Oscar winning eight minutes in “Shakespeare in Love” and as 007’s assistant, M, in the last seven Bond movies, shines in […]
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‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ Review

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2012’s blockbuster film, adapted from the blockbuster book, “The Hunger Games”, grossed over $400 million and ignited the career of star Jennifer Lawrence. Now an Oscar winner (and a nominee again this year for her performance in David O. Russell’s period crime drama “American Hustle”), Lawrence is “on fire” in Hollywood right now. And she’s […]
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‘The Wind Rises’ Review

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Director Hayao Miyazaki’s latest addition to his wonderful resume of animated films, which he claims are for children but are loved by fans of all ages, deserves to be remembered for a lot of reasons. But, sadly, “The Wind Rises”, will likely best be remembered as Miyazaki’s 11th and final film. At 72, he says […]
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‘The Book Thief’ Review

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I did not expect, in the first minute of “The Book Thief”, that I would be reminded, rather heavy-handedly, of the fact that we all are going to die. This cheerful beginning is just the first of a series of drops from the voiceover narrator, aka: “Death” throughout the film. And all of them are […]
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‘All Is Lost’ Review

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The pitch meeting for “All Is Lost” must’ve gone something like this: “Robert Redford…in a boat for 90 minutes…lost at sea…and he may have a chance to win his first acting Oscar.” And obviously it worked. This film is a floating one-man show. Redford is the only performer seen on screen for the entire movie, playing the only […]
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‘Thor: The Dark World’ Review

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“Thor: The Dark World” is the latest Marvel superhero blockbuster. However, while our main character wears a cape and fights evil-doers, and the word ‘Dark’ is in the title, this is essentially a romantic comedy. Let me re-phrase that: a BAD romantic comedy. After Anthony Hopkins’ long, unnecessary intro about the evil Dark Elves, his […]
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‘Ender’s Game’ Review

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At one point in “Ender’s Game” Harrison Ford tells young protagonist Ender (played by “Hugo”‘s Asa Butterfield), “You will be remembered as a hero.” Well, I will remember this movie, about a teenage boy recruited to lead a military force in a battle against evil aliens, as one of the biggest wastes of time at […]
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‘Enough Said’ Review

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The late James Gandolfini shines in the romantic comedy “Enough Said”, which is the next-to-last film of his outstanding career and one that belongs near the top of his acting credits. Gandolfini stars as Albert opposite Julia-Louis Dreyfus’s Eva. They are both divorced, middle-aged parents of daughters who will soon be heading off to college. […]
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‘Captain Phillips’ Review

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I’d probably seen the second trailer for “Captain Phillips” 50 times before the film’s release. That’s no exaggeration. Every scene, every line was engraved in my mind. It’s too bad the trailer gives away far too much, but that’s true of practically all of them. In the case of “Captain Phillips”, since it is based […]
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