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Opus 2025
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
I really wanted to like this! I saw that the NY Times totally panned this film, and hoped I'd disagree with them (Ayo Edebiri! John Malkovich! Juliette Lewis! Murray Bartlett! etc. etc.) but that was sadly not the case. Best way I can describe this is strong Blink Twice vibes, in the sense that there's a very obvious tone of dread right from the start, and then all your suspicions are correct. Seems like they're killing people? Well, they are!!…
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Imitation of Life 1934
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
I knew I was going to like this film from the opening shot of the duck in the water.
I watched the 1959 Imitation of Life a couple years ago, and liked it, although it was perhaps a bit too melodramatic for me. In contrast, this earlier retelling has a lot less drama. In fact, Claudette Colbert's Bea has a pretty great life for like 80% of the story. I kept wondering when the conflict would happen!
Thankfully, we do…Translated from by
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Heat Lightning 1934
I know this was good because I ate dinner right after watching it, and couldn't stop thinking about Aline MacMahon's Olga, hoping that she was going to be OK!
I've seen MacMahon in many films before (including many of our GRGJ picks), and I'm always happy when she shows up, but this felt like the first time I'd seen her in a meatier role: Olga has a job supporting herself as a car mechanic, a naive younger sister she has…
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20,000 Days on Earth 2014
I think this movie could be perceived one of two basic ways: 1. An affecting and poignant discussion of creativity and how it feels to lead the life of a person who has (successfully) committed himself to his craft, or 2. a bombastic, pompous mockumentary that is trying hard to be profound.
I found it to be the former, maybe because I am BIG fan of Nick Cave. I liked the universality of the story, and the fact that you…
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