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Arts & Entertainment

Weekend Movie Forecast: <em>Salt</em> Vs. <em>Countdown To Zero</em>

By

Robert Horan

Published Jul 23, 2010

Modified Jul 23, 2010

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"Who is Salt?" This question has been asked countless times in the past month or so by every bus in the MTA fleet. The answer to that question, according to Columbia Pictures, is the new Brangelina sans Brad action movie that comes out today. Salt is a CIA agent who is accused of actually being a Russian spy and so must go on the lam doing crazy illegal things to prove she's innocent... or is she? Columbia did a great job presupposing the fallout of Super-cute, Super-Spy Anna Chapman and one can only guess that she's not Russian at all, but actually the cutting edge of Viral Marketing.Most reviewers are saying that it's dumb but very fun and exciting, with A.O. Scott from The New York Times seeing that as a bad thing, saying: "It all happens in such a frenzy of momentum and on-the-fly exposition that some of the more preposterous elements in the story will strike you only in retrospect, after the helicopter leaps, the elevator-shaft daredevilry and the race-the-clock flirtation with thermonuclear war."Perhaps the most ridiculous scene in Salt has Ms. Jolie walking away unnoticed from the aftermath of a multi-vehicle smashup. I suspect this was meant as a joke, since her magnetism is the film’s foundation and reason for being (even though her role was originally conceived as a vehicle for Tom Cruise). She is the prime special effect, and a reminder that even in an era of technological overkill, movie stars matter."

 

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By

Robert Horan

Published Jul 23, 2010

Modified Jul 23, 2010

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Click on the film stills above for more details and reviews on this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which include: Salt, Countdown To Zero, Life During Wartime, Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, Farewell, Mugabe and the White African, Ramona and Beezus, Spoken Word, andCheech and Chong's Nice Dreams.

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