Sherry Coben Archives - Page 3 of 6

An Education (2009) -vs- A Single Man (2009)

January 28, 2010 Sherry Coben 14

Itâ€™s 1962, stylishly retro and way cool. TVâ€™s Mad Men have paved the cultural way for two more stellar entries in the Sex And The Sixties pantheon. With the swinging sixties looming right on the horizon, Los Angeles college literature professor George (Colin Firth) and sixteen year old suburban London student Jenny (Carey Mulligan) fumble their un-merry ways through the rough-and-tumble terrain of love, loss, secrets, and sexual experience. Both lead performances have stirred up considerable Academy Award buzz, but theyâ€™re unlikely to compete head to head anywhere but right here. Dewy Maiden with Distinct Audrey Hepburn Echoes takes on World-Weary Confirmed Bachelor with a Not-So-Secret Secret. The winner? A grateful arthouse (and beyond) audience.
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Bright Star (2009) -vs- Impromptu (1991)

January 26, 2010 Sherry Coben 4

Ah, consumption. That most romantic and cinematic of slow fades. Think Camille. Two wildly talented love objects with fatally bad lungs compete for this particular smackdown crown. Itâ€™s Frederic Chopin versus Bright Star John Keats in a death-baiting battle of ill-fated geniuses, fighting for every breath, playing fast and loose with history, and winning lovely lady hearts as they struggle for ours. I dare you to find two more gorgeous grandees, two saintlier objects of obsession in all filmdom. Go ahead. Iâ€™ll wait here.
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Leap Year (2010) -vs- Youth in Revolt (2010)

January 20, 2010 Sherry Coben 6

Cookie cutter romantic comedy satisfies a too-easily edified audience. No matter how formulaic and tepid the sausage, the factories grind out more product to feed the gaping maw; indie films usually attract a more marginal fringe-ier crew, on the hunt for the original, the untold (or even oft-told) story told in fresh new ways. Pitting a humble little indie versus a major studio wide release makes for an inherently unfair fight and one with a foregone conclusion at the box office, but ticket sales wonâ€™t sway this Smackdown. As â€œLeap Yearâ€ bounds onto virtually every available screen and Quirky Indie-That-Could â€œYouth In Revoltâ€ limps onto a fraction of that number, ask yourself: Is bigger necessarily better? Does conventional beat quirky?
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VOTE NOW: Valentineâ€™s Day Rom-Com Smackdown

January 14, 2010 Sherry Coben 12

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and we are overcome with thoughts of love. Even here at Movie Smackdown, we are not so heartless or cynical as you might think. We wish fervently that […]

Sherryâ€™s Ten Best Films of the Past Ten Years

January 1, 2010 Sherry Coben 0

What a Daunting Task… So Iâ€™ll give you my criteria. Itâ€™s simple really. If the movieâ€™s playing on television as I flip past and canâ€™t stop watching even though I had no plans to do […]

Nine (2009) -vs- Crazy Heart (2009)

December 30, 2009 Sherry Coben 4

The Smackdown Movies about show business multiplyÂ like rabbits, and hereâ€™s a simple explanation. Not only do writers write whatÂ they know — everyone in show business finds show business (and himself)Â endlessly fascinating. Thatâ€™s why theyâ€™re there […]

The Young Victoria (2009) -vs- Sherlock Holmes (2009)

December 27, 2009 Sherry Coben 3

Calling all Anglophiles! Englandâ€™s longest reigning monarch takes on the cleverest subject of her (fictional) realm in this All-Union-Jack Smackdown. Both repackaged and reimagined for the new millenniumâ€™s theatergoing audience — the usually buttoned-up Victoria gets unstuffed and sexed up in a lush period romance/political drama, and Sherlock gets the no-holds-barred no-punches-pulled Guy Ritchie/Joel Silver treatment. Both title characters make formidable contenders for the Smackdown crown; thereâ€™s nothing I appreciate more than a really good makeover.
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