The Departed and Other Oscar Heavyweights: Drunken Strawberries

It is awash with blood and gore and a kind of poetic profanity, but somehow this cops and robbers showdown manages to touch upon the vagaries of identity, the complexity of goodness, and the poisonous nectar of evil without missing a beat. Match that with a truly stellar cast that delivers the goods and you’re in for a 2 1/2 hour roller coaster that soars across the screen.
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Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows: Swiss Tart with Pine Nuts Recipe 🥁🥁🥁🥁

"Enough of this lounging about in a purple dressing gown. Forget about filling the pipe with tobacco gleaned from the Persian slipper above the fireplace. And no more tedious interviews with pasty-faced housemaids or sniveling petty thieves. In Guy Ritchie’s 2011 Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows we have an action-filled battle with a worthy adversary, and Holmes is the prey rather than the unruffled predator."

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Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End: Marauder’s Mojito

Like your favorite haunt, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, is comfortably familiar, yet exotic and thrilling all the same. It’s the only third-time-around flick of the summer that doesn’t somehow disappoint, partly because its stellar cast is headed by beloved rogue Captain Jack Sparrow, who insists the audience have as much fun as he does.
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Billu: Indian Rice Pudding Recipe 🥁🥁🥁1/2

If you liked your taste of India from Slumdog Millionaire, then sidle up to the full buffet in this Bollywood tale that is brimming over with sly satire, broad comedy, and bigger than life song and dance. Mix equal portions of schmaltz and humanity and you have all the ingredients that made the big screen what is was in Hollywood’s golden years.

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Kiki’s Delivery Service: Swedish Apple Pie Recipe 🥁🥁🥁1/2

Kiki’s Delivery Service: Swedish Apple Pie Recipe 🥁🥁🥁1/2

Start your summer with the kiddies by joining Japanese master animator Hayao Miyazaki, who creates a delight in his fantasy trip with Kiki, a thirteen year old witch in training who must live on her own for one year. Her flying skills may leave a bit to be desired, but Kiki does have an eye for real estate, choosing a sparkling city “floating in the sea” for her new home.

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Charlotte Gray: Soupe au Pistou Recipe 🥁🥁🥁🥁

I think it is time to give this 2001 World War II film a second look even though the critics and general public were not so impressed with it when it came out. Cate Blanchett is marvelous in the title role as a Scottish girl working with the French Resistance in Vichy France, giving us a woman’s perspective on that hellish time and place.

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