Josh Bell
Story Archive
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Screen
Not so fab: 'Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie' tests the limits of nostalgia
Wednesday, July 20, 2016 This movie may test the patience of even the most ardent Ab Fab fans.
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Narrative styles clash in Chinese drama ‘One Night Only’
Wednesday, July 20, 2016 It turns out to be more Nicholas Sparks than Wong Kar-wai.
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‘Collision Course’ proves the ‘Ice Age’ series has run out of ideas
Wednesday, July 20, 2016 It's easily the worst one yet, a lazy, unfocused, cluttered mess.
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Korean zombie movie ‘Train to Busan’ offers disposable popcorn entertainment
Wednesday, July 20, 2016 Compared to much of what Hollywood has been churning out this summer, the South Korean blockbuster is high-quality entertainment.
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The new 'Ghostbusters' offers an appealing update
Wednesday, July 13, 2016 The remake features strong comedy with an impressively talented cast, but eventually ends up overwhelmed by the demands of its large-scale action storyline.
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TV review: HBO's 'Vice Principals'
Wednesday, July 13, 2016 It doesn’t offer much of a twist on the familiar high-school setting, or even on the idea that teachers and administrators are despicable.
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Vegas’ JT Mollner brings his feature-film debut home
Wednesday, July 13, 2016 With Outlaws and Angels, the Vegas native has a burgeoning career as a filmmaker.
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Western ‘Outlaws and Angels’ wallows in sleaze
Wednesday, July 13, 2016 No amount of style can compensate for the aimless ugliness of the story.
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Heartwarming New Zealand comedy ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ is a crowd-pleasing delight
Wednesday, July 13, 2016 It's already the highest-grossing homegrown movie of all time in New Zealand.
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Bryan Cranston goes undercover in the generic ‘The Infiltrator’
Tuesday, July 12, 2016 Has an undercover agent in a movie ever gotten in just deep enough?
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HBO crime drama 'The Night Of' makes its case very slowly
Wednesday, July 6, 2016 The drawn-out, plodding miniseries stretches every one of its meager strengths beyond its breaking point.
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'Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates' unevenly mixes humor and heart
Wednesday, July 6, 2016 Basing a movie on a Craigslist ad leaves a lot of room for embellishment.
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Film review: 'The Secret Life of Pets'
Wednesday, July 6, 2016 It’s a solid summer time-passer as eager to please as an adorable dog wagging its tail.
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‘The Purge: Election Year’ takes the horror series in a slightly more promising direction
Thursday, June 30, 2016 At this rate, the next sequel might turn out to be a genuinely good movie.
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Tarzan makes an underwhelming return
Wednesday, June 29, 2016 Legend is superfluous, an unnecessary addition to the long line of Tarzan stories.
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A guy bonds with a corpse in the bizarre 'Swiss Army Man'
Wednesday, June 29, 2016 Swiss Army Manturns into a Michel Gondry-style whimsical musing on the meaning of life, punctuated by gross-out jokes.
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‘Independence Day’ returns with belated and unnecessary sequel ‘Resurgence’
Friday, June 24, 2016 Independence Day probably doesn’t deserve to be as beloved as it is, but Resurgence is unlikely to inspire anywhere near the same devotion.
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Civil War drama ‘Free State of Jones’ clutters its historical narrative
Thursday, June 23, 2016 It’s a fascinating piece of little-known Civil War lore that, for an hour or so, makes for a solid historical drama.
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Cameron Crowe's 'Roadies' gives music fans a bad name
Wednesday, June 22, 2016 The Showtime dramedy comes from Almost Famous writer-director Cameron Crowe.
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Hong Kong thriller ‘Three’ wraps a tedious medical drama around a great action climax
Wednesday, June 22, 2016 For a few minutes, Three is as kinetic and exciting as any of director Johnnie To’s best-known work. ...
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Print
Five highlights from Amazing Las Vegas Comic-Con
Tuesday, June 21, 2016 Local cosplayer and spokesmodel Vegas PG was on the floor showing off her impressively accurate Power Girl outfit.
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Screen
Sequel 'Finding Dory' places Pixar in familiar territory
Wednesday, June 15, 2016 Nearly everything about the movie hits the right marks, but never goes beyond that.
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Noise
The Red Hot Chili Peppers make a few changes on 'The Getaway'
Wednesday, June 15, 2016 Around half the songs on the album still end up in the mushy mid-tempo middle ground that has been the Chili Peppers’ standard mode for years now.
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Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson team up for the forgettable 'Central Intelligence'
Wednesday, June 15, 2016 The Rock ends up as the comedic highlight of the film.
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The Las Vegas Film Festival wraps up another successful year
Wednesday, June 15, 2016 The fest showcased another strong selection of features (five of them locally connected) and short films.
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‘BrainDead’ awkwardly combines sci-fi and satire
Monday, June 13, 2016 It’s rarely obvious or predictable, and that’s more than can be said for most shows on CBS.
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Noise
Album review: Garbage’s ‘Strange Little Birds’
Wednesday, June 8, 2016 Fans who welcomed the band back on 2012's Not Your Kind of People will find plenty to like here.
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Abra-crap-dabra: 'Now You See Me 2' fails to create the illusion of quality
Wednesday, June 8, 2016 All the visual sleight of hand can’t distract from the movie’s core stupidity.
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Indie dramedy ‘Maggie’s Plan’ is a tonal and narrative mess
Wednesday, June 8, 2016 The worst of the comedy comes from Julianne Moore giving a rare bad performance.
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‘The Conjuring 2’ provides occasional scares but not much of a story
Wednesday, June 8, 2016 A plodding, drawn-out story with momentary excitement.
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Feel-good documentary ‘Dark Horse’ delivers an inspiring sports story
Wednesday, June 8, 2016 Any eventual narrative film based on this story will have a lot to live up to.
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The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles get even more annoying in ‘Out of the Shadows’
Thursday, June 2, 2016 It's the latest step in the TMNT's long evolution into meaningless corporate properties.
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Ego trip: Andy Samberg plays a musical icon in the disappointing 'Popstar'
Wednesday, June 1, 2016 Popstar is rarely boring and never irritating or offensive, but it’s also rarely all that funny.
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Film review: 'Me Before You'
Wednesday, June 1, 2016 So focused on wringing tears from the audience, its marketing campaign includes branded boxes of tissues.
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‘A Bigger Splash’ combines sensuous style with confounding substance
Wednesday, May 25, 2016 Tilda Swinton plays a David Bowie-like rock star in the bewildering drama.
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Film review: 'Love & Friendship'
Wednesday, May 25, 2016 The film is an adaptation of early Jane Austen work Lady Susan.
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'Apocalypse' marks a step down for the X-Men
Wednesday, May 25, 2016 With everything they’ve been through, this latest adventure comes off as an afterthought.
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Crowe and Gosling make for amusingly shabby detectives in 'The Nice Guys'
Wednesday, May 18, 2016 With sharp dialogue, characters and jokes, the film is consistently funny from beginning to end.
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Why are those 'Angry Birds' so angry? The answer is both boring and nonsensical
Wednesday, May 18, 2016 Why must these flightless birds be flung via slingshot at the homes of green pigs?
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Susan Sarandon ages gracefully in 'The Meddler'
Wednesday, May 18, 2016 The Meddler is a sweet, low-key dramedy that shows how maturity and wisdom can arrive at any age.
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'Preacher' drains the life from a classic comic-book series
Wednesday, May 18, 2016 Small-town Texas preacher Jesse Custer has a shady past and the newfound ability to make people do anything he says.
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‘Money Monster’ is a better thriller than an economics lesson
Thursday, May 12, 2016 A hostage situation that plays out on live TV offers plenty of dramatic potential, and the screenwriters capitalize on it well.
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Sizing up the late-night efforts of Jon Stewart’s former 'Daily Show' colleagues
Wednesday, May 11, 2016 From Trevor Noah to Samantha Bee, former Daily Show correspondents have taken over late-night TV.
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'Infinity' biopic goes by the numbers
Wednesday, May 11, 2016 Matthew Brown’s middle-of-the-road flick about Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan could have been about anybody.
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'The Trust' puts a quirky Nicolas Cage in a Vegas-set crime drama
Wednesday, May 11, 2016 A solid choice to dial up on VOD on a slow weekend.
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Captain America and Iron Man face off in the overstuffed 'Civil War'
Wednesday, May 4, 2016 And it's full of setup for future Marvel movies, of course.
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A look at what's next for the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Wednesday, May 4, 2016 MCU's crowded slate of movies and TV series includes Luke Cage, Iron Fist and more.
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Features
2016 Summer Movie Preview!
Thursday, April 28, 2016 This season's cinematic buffet: Avengers, sorority girls, Ninja Turtles, Angry Birds and the Ben-Hur remake you didn't know you needed.
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Key and Peele make a rough transition to movies with 'Keanu'
Wednesday, April 27, 2016 Some terrific comedians simply belong on television, working in shorter, punchier formats.
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television
TV review: Houdini and Doyle
Wednesday, April 27, 2016 The new crime procedural's plotting barely rises above Scooby-Doo levels.