Recent reviews

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  F9 2021

  ★½ Added

  I'll preface this by saying I enjoy this franchise. The first flick is my favorite—it's one I can rewatch any time. Even though it is entirely about illegal street racing and theft—interspersed with gratuitous scenes of scantily clad women—the story has an underlying wholesomeness and "heart" that makes you feel invested in the characters.

  The fifth entry ("Fast Five") is my second favorite. It's straight up fun. This film completes the franchise's pivot from street racing into its current form…

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  The King's Man 2021

  ★★ Added

  I don't fully understand the Kingsman movies. They aren't awful. They aren't great. They feel like movies for kids...that throw in some F-words and sexual innuendo for edginess' sake. They also don't seem to be "that popular": There is no sense that a fandom of its cinematic universe has crept into the mainstream in the same that Harry Potter or Avengers did. And yet more Kingsman movies keep being made. It feels a bit like the studio "keeps trying to…

Popular reviews

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  Last Night in Soho 2021

  ★★★ Added

  Psychological thrillers are the genre where professional filmmakers can indulge in a certain kind of mistake with panache. As the POV character loses their grip on reality, montages are employed to take the viewer along for the ride. Montages are almost always a mistake because they are almost always weak, for two reasons.

  First. Students of storytelling often hear the advice "show don't tell"—because exposition tends to be dull and misses the whole point of the artistic medium. Yet storytellers…

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