Josh Bell
Story Archive
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Screen
James Franco celebrates a famous failure in ‘The Disaster Artist’
Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017 The Room is one of the worst movies ever made … or maybe one of the best bad movies.
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A&E
Country cavalcade: Delving into the many concert options during NFR
Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017 From Gary Allan to Jamey Johnson to Alabama and beyond.
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Noise
Chris Stapleton’s ‘From a Room: Volume 2’ plays like a solid odds and sods
Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017 The nine tracks include a couple of covers and a reworked song from his old bluegrass band The SteelDrivers.
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Screen
A student discovers terrifying abilities in ‘Thelma’
Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017 Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier’s fourth feature is his best.
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A&E
Five thoughts: Kelly Clarkson at the Joint (December 3)
Monday, Dec. 4, 2017 The soul influence extended to older favorites, with the horn section augmenting “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” and “Since U Been Gone."
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Screen
The Breadwinner animates a story of hardship and hope
Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017 The movie confronts the harsh realities of life for Parvana and her family without flinching.
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A&E
Three reasons to catch Kelly Clarkson at the Joint
Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017 It will be one of the first opportunities to hear playful lead single “Love So Soft” and brassy empowerment anthem “Whole Lotta Woman” live.
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Screen
Carnage wears a unicorn horn in the half-baked ‘Happy!’
Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017 The more it strains to be edgy and shocking, the more laughable it becomes.
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Screen
Pixar mostly succeeds with the gorgeous ‘Coco’
Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017 It’s a welcome original story from a studio that has been a little too focused on mediocre sequels in recent years.
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Screen
‘Three Billboards’ can’t help overstating its case
Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017 Writer-director Martin McDonagh’s third film has more genuine humanity than his first two, but the British playwright still overwrites nearly every line of dialogue.
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Screen
A stand-up star is born in ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’
Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017 It takes a special kind of talent to handle the lightning-fast patter of Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino.
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A&E
Five thoughts: Guns N’ Roses at T-Mobile Arena (November 17)
Monday, Nov. 20, 2017 The band played for a marathon three and a half hours, ending right around the time one of their concerts might have started back in the ’90s.
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Screen
‘Justice League’ delivers minor comic-book competence
Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017 The action is rote, the special effects are surprisingly poor and the character interactions are only occasionally entertaining.
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Screen
‘The Punisher’ and ‘Runaways’ mark Marvel’s latest uneven TV efforts
Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017 So far neither captures the excitement and creativity of the best Marvel movies (or comic books).
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Screen
‘Lady Bird’ tells a smart and funny coming-of-age story
Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017 The title character is the kind of role writer/director Greta Gerwig might have played a decade ago.
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Screen
Netflix’s ‘Godless’ stretches its simple Western story until it breaks
Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017 Like too many prestige TV shows, the seven-episode limited series is basically a feature film dragged out over multiple episodes.
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Screen
There’s no mystery left to ‘Murder on the Orient Express’
Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017 Part of the problem is the general fustiness of Poirot’s adventures, which are often more like word problems than narratives.
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Screen
‘Wonderstruck’ uses movie magic to convey childlike astonishment
Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017 The story takes place during two eras, both of which filmmaker Todd Haynes re-creates with the look of movies that were released contemporaneously.
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Screen
Teenagers kill for likes in ‘Tragedy Girls’
Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017 At its best, it’s a smart, cynical high school satire, but at its worst it’s merely cynical.
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Screen
The Florida Project explores the lives of Orlando’s forgotten
Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017 Although the inexperienced cast and extensive improvisation give the movie a gritty naturalism, it isn’t depressing or pessimistic.
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A&E
Thor returns in the colorful, funny 'Ragnarok’
Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017 Director Taika Waititi gets to play with the established MCU format a bit, without deviating significantly from what Marvel movies do best.
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Screen
‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer’ tells a dark but unaffecting story
Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017 It’s a sort of modernized folk tale with all of the unsparing brutality of an unfiltered Brothers Grimm tale.
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Noise
Weezer slides back into glossy pop with ‘Pacific Daydream’
Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017 “Feels Like Summer” sounds like Maroon 5’s recent dance-pop efforts.
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Screen
Netflix’s ‘Alias Grace’ explores the mind of a notorious murderer
Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017 The six-episode show gradually questions its own narrative integrity, turning into a story about the unknowability of events whose participants have conflicting views on the truth.
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Screen
The first-ever Sin City Horror Fest makes a promising start
Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017 Starting up any new film event, especially in Las Vegas, is an uphill battle.
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Screen
There’s nothing worth watching in the dull ‘All I See Is You’
Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017 Director Marc Forster uses ominous sound cues and skewed camera angles to create an atmosphere of low-level dread.
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Screen
Soldiers struggle to readjust in ‘Thank You for Your Service’
Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017 It’s an admirable effort that never quite transcends its hokey educational trappings.
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Noise
Kelly Clarkson shakes up her approach on ‘Meaning of Life’
Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017 The highlight is the attitude-filled “Whole Lotta Woman,” featuring members of Earth, Wind & Fire.
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A&E
Screen screams: What to watch over the Halloween weekend
Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017 The Sin City Horror Fest, Stranger Things Season 2 and more.
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A&E
Five thoughts: Nine Inch Nails at the Joint (October 20)
Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017 The show never felt rushed, and the band never sounded anything but polished, whether on new songs or slightly tweaked versions of old favorites.
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Screen
Disjointed crime thriller ‘The Snowman’ should be left out in the cold
Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017 Michael Fassbender plays Harry Hole, a brilliant but self-destructive Oslo police detective
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Screen
‘Only the Brave’ fails to translate real-life heroism into effective cinema
Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 The tribute to the firefighters who died in 2013’s Yarnell Hill wildfire is honorable and well-intentioned.
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Screen
Stephen King story ‘1922’ explores murder in the heartland
Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 It’s a solid, straightforward thriller that gets the job done without much fuss.
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Screen
Watergate whistleblower Mark Felt gets a dull biopic
Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 Known for decades only as “Deep Throat,” he revealed his identity in 2005.
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Screen
Noah Baumbach delivers another sharp, witty dramedy with ‘The Meyerowitz Stories’
Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017 Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller play brothers who’ve been messed up in different ways by their overbearing, narcissistic father (Dustin Hoffman).
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Screen
The entertaining ‘Marshall’ makes for a better courtroom drama than a biopic
Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017 The entire arc of Marshall’s life probably deserves a lengthier and more sophisticated treatment, but this minor episode still makes for an appealing primer.
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Screen
Horror movie ‘Happy Death Day’ makes the most of its goofy premise
Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017 A spoiled sorority girl relives the day of her own murder multiple times.
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Noise
Billy Corgan adopts his full name for the forgettable ‘Ogilala’
Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017 It’s an improvement over 2005’s muddied, electronic-heavy solo debut, at least.
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Screen
‘Professor Marston’ explores the kinky origins of a comic-book icon
Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017 Wonder Woman is a bondage fantasy of sorts, but Robinson depicts the characters’ interest in BDSM in a positive, understanding way.
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A&E
‘Blade Runner 2049’ infuses sci-fi with style and philosophy
Friday, Oct. 6, 2017 Anyone looking for an action-packed sci-fi blockbuster will instead find a slow rumination on what it means to be human.
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Screen
Cutesy biopic ‘Victoria and Abdul’ lets its subjects down
Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017 The screenplay by Lee Hall treats the dynamic like something out of Perfect Strangers, with goofy fish-out-of-water comedy.
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Screen
Kate Winslet and Idris Elba get lost in ‘The Mountain Between Us’
Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017 They don’t have enough chemistry to justify the kind of sweeping, fateful love that the film tries to convey.
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A&E
Tom Cruise plays a freewheeling smuggler in ‘American Made’
Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017 It’s fun to watch at first, thanks largely to one of Cruise’s most purely enjoyable performances in a while, but it eventually becomes repetitive.
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Screen
Comparing new comic book-based series ‘Marvel’s Inhumans’ and ‘The Gifted’
Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017 The Gifted’s pilot is fast-paced and exciting, with several intense chase sequences and some smartly deployed special effects.
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Screen
‘Battle of the Sexes’ entertainingly re-creates a tennis landmark
Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017 Emma Stone and Steve Carell give such charismatic performances, it’s hard not to get caught up in the spectacle of it all.
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Screen
‘Will & Grace’ makes an unfortunate return to TV
Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017 When it premiered in 1998, it was groundbreaking for its matter-of-fact depiction of the friendship between a gay man and a straight woman.
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A&E
Shania Twain’s ‘Now’ sounds out of touch
Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017 Single “Swingin’ With My Eyes Closed” could be a Smash Mouth B-side.
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Screen
‘Kingsman’ returns with the loud, tiresome ‘Golden Circle’
Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017 It features the return of Colin Firth as Eggsy’s mentor Harry Hart, despite having been shot point blank in the head and left for dead in the first movie.
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‘Law & Order’ takes on ‘The Menendez Murders’ in familiar procedural style
Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017 Already depicted in two 1994 network-TV movies, a recent Lifetime movie and numerous newsmagazines, the case has little new material to explore.
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Screen
‘The Lego Ninjago Movie’ shows the animated franchise’s weak spots
Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017 Three movies in, the once-unexpected has become formulaic, and the pop-culture quips has started to run thin.