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Leonard Maltin

The Words

  • By Leonard Maltin
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  • September 7, 2012 2:19 PM
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  • 4 Comments
There’s a compelling idea at the core of 'The Words', especially as acted out by Bradley Cooper and the incomparable Jeremy Irons, but it’s nearly extinguished by the material that surrounds it, sorry to say. The premise is solid: a struggling writer chances upon a long-lost manuscript and publishes it as his own.

People Like Us—movie review

  • By Leonard Maltin
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  • June 29, 2012 1:45 AM
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  • 4 Comments
Alex Kurtzman has an imposing list of writing and producing credits, mostly with his partner Roberto Orci, including such commercial hits as the 'Transformers' movies, the reboot of 'Star Trek', and 'Mission: Impossible III'… but for his directing debut (written with Orci and Jody Lambert) he has chosen an intimate story about a uniquely dysfunctional family, inspired by incidents in his own life.

Cowboys & Aliens: movie review

  • By Leonard Maltin
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  • July 29, 2011 4:29 AM
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  • 7 Comments

As its title indicates, this is a strange cross of movie genres, and lest any viewers get antsy, it doesn’t allow much time to pass before we first encounter UFOs in the Old West. The film takes its time unraveling the rest of the story, leading us along a trail with no clear destination in sight, at first. (Could that have something to do with the six A-list writers who worked on the screenplay, which was inspired by Scott Michael Rosenberg’s graphic novel?) All we know is that there’s been an alien invasion, and neither the cowboys nor Indians know how to deal with it.

Director Jon Favreau earns his Western bona fides with a sharp eye for casting and locations. The first characters we see, after Daniel Craig, are a trio of authentic-looking cowboys played by Western veteran Buck Taylor and his two sons; thus, the movie looks and feels right from the very start. Cinematographer Matthew Libatique offers panoramic views of the beautiful and—