James McTeigue’s The Raven, a thriller set in Baltimore during the last days of Edgar Allan Poe’s life, is a handsome-looking thing, with fairly grand period costumes and reasonably lavish sets. So much for production values: In every other way the picture is stiff and unyielding, hampered by a clumsy plot and diorama performances. The whole thing has the feel of a second-rate living-history exhibit.
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In this week's The Raven, John Cusack brings 19th century author Edgar Allan Poe to life in a mystery-thriller that envisions Poe locked in a battle of wills against his biggest fan: a serial killer murdering in the style of Poe's most twisted stories. The piece is a paradox in itself, literary-minded meta-meditation masquerading as a pulpy mainstream entertainment; between genre beats and moments of Sherlock Holmesian heroism, Cusack and director James McTeigue leave provocations to be found or ignored, depending on your inclination. Whether or not audiences choose to dive in, Cusack just hopes they take the film on its own merits: "If you want a very different, quiet, Masterpiece Theater version of this, someone will go make that movie. But this is what we made. We made a dream about Poe."
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John Cusack dives into the twisted psyche of 19th century author Edgar Allan Poe in this week's The Raven, a fictional adventure-mystery that blends the writer's real life with the kind of dark, macabre tales he wove -- and Movieline has your chance to catch it before it opens on April 27! Enter Movieline's 10-word review contest (critiquing any film from Cusack's nearly three-decade career) and you could win a pair of tickets to the Los Angeles premiere and after party for the film. So turn on the hot tub time machine and crank up the high fidelity, tapeheads and grifters and America's sweethearts, because, um, the cradle will rock over Broadway. Or something. It's a sure thing! Oh, just say anything... [UPDATE: Contest is now closed. Thanks for playing! Winner will be announced shortly.]
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