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4.5/10
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Harold and the Purple Crayon
(2024)
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Stacey Yvonne
|
in Carlos Saldanha’s Harold and the Purple Crayon (2024) we learn what happens after “God” goes away. It’s pretty heavy stuff. Too bad it’s told in an insipid, mostly inconsistent tale that’s more full of child endangerment than real substantive plot.
Posted Aug 10, 2024
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7/10
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Deadpool & Wolverine
(2024)
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Joe George
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Deadpool & Wolverine knows exactly what it is... It doesn’t try to please any naysayers. Instead, Deadpool & Wolverine has too much fun mocking, and celebrating, superhero movie history to worry about winning any one over.
Posted Jul 23, 2024
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4/5
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Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
(2023)
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Joe George
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Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget ... feels like a referendum on children's animation, a call for well-crafted kids' movies built on compelling characters, smart themes, and actual jokes instead of cynical, synergistic products.
Posted Jul 20, 2024
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7/10
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Merry Little Batman
(2023)
|
Joe George
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With its vibrant imagination and playful take on the superhero mythos, Merry Little Batman gives every kid just what they wanted for Christmas: a rollicking superhero story about a parent learning to trust their kid.
Posted Jul 20, 2024
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7.5/10
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Dream Scenario
(2023)
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Stacey Yvonne
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Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage) has a pretty great, if not uneventful life, but he yearns for more. His wants aren't completely out of bounds, he wants recognition, respect and the adoration of his family. Who could ask for anything more?
Posted Jul 08, 2024
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7/10
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Saltburn
(2023)
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Stacey Yvonne
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A delicious sort of contradiction in Saltburn sets the tone for the entire film.
Posted Jul 08, 2024
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7/10
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Wonka
(2023)
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Stacey Yvonne
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For decades, children around the world have loved Willy Wonka. And it makes perfect sense; who wouldn't want to worship someone who peddles exclusively in making candy?
Posted Jul 08, 2024
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8.5/10
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Poor Things
(2023)
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Stacey Yvonne
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It's easy to question the legitimacy of Yorgos Lanthimos's Poor Things in the first few minutes. Is it the story of a mad disfigured scientist holding a young woman hostage under the guise of science and fatherhood?
Posted Jul 08, 2024
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10/10
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American Fiction
(2023)
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Stacey Yvonne
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In Cord Jefferson's American Fiction, Thelonious "Monk" Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) is tired. He's a writer of dense books, intelligent and full of meaning and metaphor, but they don't fly off the shelf.
Posted Jul 08, 2024
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9.5/10
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The Color Purple
(2023)
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Stacey Yvonne
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Alice Walker's The Color Purple has enthralled audiences since its release in 1982. The novel led to Walker receiving the 1983 Pulitzer Prize - a first for any African American woman - and has spawned two films and a Broadway musical.
Posted Jul 08, 2024
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10/10
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All of Us Strangers
(2023)
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Stacey Yvonne
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Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers is a film that's nearly impossible to fully explain and just as impossible to stop thinking about. At the end of a recent screening, a friend turned to me and said, "The trailer didn't really prepare me for this!".
Posted Jul 08, 2024
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9/10
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Origin
(2023)
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Stacey Yvonne
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When is the right time to talk about race? Not just about racism, but what the term even means. How did it begin and how can it be ended? These are just a few questions tacked by Ava DuVernay's Origin.
Posted Jul 08, 2024
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9/10
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Stress Positions
(2024)
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Stacey Yvonne
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Writer/director Theda Hammel's newest Sundance feature, Stress Positions is a sharp and layered satire about love in the time of the pandemic.
Posted Jul 08, 2024
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2.5/5
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Madame Web
(2024)
|
Stacey Yvonne
|
After watching Madame Web, viewers may quickly realize they don't have a clue who Madame Web actually is.
Posted Jul 08, 2024
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3/4
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A Quiet Place: Day One
(2024)
|
David Reddish
|
Lovers of cinema will also find solace in seeing a good, old-fashioned creature feature thriller, albeit one with some deeper thoughts buried in the dreck.
Posted Jun 29, 2024
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7.5/10
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The Imaginary
(2023)
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Stacey Yvonne
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"The Imaginary" is one of the most accessible anime films in the Netflix catalog, or perhaps anywhere else. It's the kind of production that lives up to its theme song, "Nothing's Impossible".
Posted Jun 18, 2024
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8/10
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Inside Out 2
(2024)
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Stacey Yvonne
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Ultimately, "Inside Out 2" is about Riley discovering herself and maybe even discovering that she might be more than just one thing. It's a really special movie and I definitely teared up!
Posted Jun 18, 2024
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1.5/4
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Back to Black
(2024)
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David Reddish
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Amy Winehouse deserved far better than she got in life, or than Back to Black offers her. Thank goodness then for Amy, with its no-holds-barred profile of Winehouse, sheltered from legal action through a documentary format.
Posted May 15, 2024
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4/4
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The People's Joker
(2022)
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David Reddish
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Taken on its own terms, The People’s Joker represents a gobsmacking act of artistic determination. The heck with pseudo-intellectual lauds and Oscar wins—this is the movie Todd Phillips and his defenders thought he made in Joker.
Posted Apr 10, 2024
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4.5/5
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Ponyboi
(2024)
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Stacey Yvonne
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Ponyboi is a revelation of a character who appears to have it all together, and once this mask cracks, he quickly shows that he doesn’t, not even a little bit.
Posted Mar 08, 2024
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4/4
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Dune: Part Two
(2024)
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David Reddish
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In an era when old sci-fi war horses Star Trek and Star Wars have stalled their big screen outings, and, at a time when sequels and reboots galore die at the box office, thank God for Dune Part Two.
Posted Feb 21, 2024
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2/4
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Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
(2023)
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David Reddish
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Kids may have fun with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’s crude humor, bright visuals, and cutaways from Momoa shouting profanity. Everyone else though will likely shrug it off as the cloying cartoon it is.
Posted Jan 07, 2024
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2/4
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Rebel Moon: Part One - A Child of Fire
(2023)
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David Reddish
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A Child of Fire is, in short, not as irredeemable as some of our fellow critics have insisted. Snyder again reminds viewers of his immense talent, even if the movie feels incomplete.
Posted Jan 07, 2024
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2.5/5
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Next Goal Wins
(2023)
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Chris Sawin
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Next Goal Wins thrives on being an hour and a half of Taika Waititi’s trademark goofy nonsense, but the director tethers it to reality. Even with its redundant humor fatigue, this film is Taika Waititi’s most coherent since Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
Posted Nov 18, 2023
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2/4
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Wish
(2023)
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David Reddish
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At a certain point, Wish feels so preoccupied with referencing other Disney movies and appealing to the broadest audience possible that it forgets to tell a story of its own. That’s a real shame, as Wish does have glimmers of real magic.
Posted Nov 17, 2023
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2/5
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Thanksgiving
(2023)
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Chris Sawin
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Thanksgiving overflows with gross-out violence and corny one-liners. The dialogue grates the nerves, and the characters play as one-dimensional and entitled imbeciles.
Posted Nov 17, 2023
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2.5/4
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Napoleon
(2023)
|
David Reddish
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Here’s hoping that like the director’s much-maligned theatrical cut of Kingdom of Heaven, the longer version reveals Napoleon as a masterpiece victimized by overzealous scissors.
Posted Nov 16, 2023
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3.5/5
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Leave the World Behind
(2023)
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Stacey Yvonne
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Never had I watched a movie where I shook my head and said, “White people…” so many times. It was a shared sentiment.
Posted Nov 10, 2023
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3.5/5
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The Holdovers
(2023)
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Stacey Yvonne
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Payne's first-ever period piece is an unconventional holiday film that stars the always-wonderful Paul Giamatti.
Posted Nov 10, 2023
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The Marvels
(2023)
|
Clint Worthington
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The Marvels isn't the franchise-dooming disaster that social media scuttlebutt (and the film's lackluster marketing) have alluded to, but it will not save Kevin Feige's billion-dollar baby anytime soon.
Posted Nov 08, 2023
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3/4
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Killers of the Flower Moon
(2023)
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David Reddish
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Killers of the Flower Moon, for all its strength and beauty, will go down in history as an also-ran, relegated to second or third tier in the director’s filmography. And still, Scorsese has made a powerful and important film.
Posted Nov 08, 2023
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2.5/5
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It Lives Inside
(2023)
|
Chris Sawin
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Some potentially rewarding elements of It Lives Inside make it seem like a worthwhile vision for the demonic possession genre of horror. But while the horror elements have vitality, the story never goes deeper than the surface.
Posted Nov 02, 2023
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6/10
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Dicks: The Musical
(2023)
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Clint Worthington
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Amid all the cursing, genitalia, and copulation jokes, Dicks says something sweet about accepting and loving people for who they are — even if they're Sewer Boys.
Posted Oct 26, 2023
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3.5/4
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The Creator
(2023)
|
David Reddish
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Edwards, we suspect, sees The Creator as an uplifting sci-fi drama a la E.T. The Extraterrestrial. Audiences will question if they’ve just seen a prequel to The Matrix.
Posted Sep 26, 2023
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Expend4bles
(2023)
|
Clint Worthington
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Expend4bles feels less like the next installment in a beloved franchise and more like the aborted pilot for a straight-to-streaming spinoff shoved into theaters at the last minute.
Posted Sep 21, 2023
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Strays
(2023)
|
Tim Stevens
|
Viewers that have little or no tolerance for alternating sex and bodily excretions gags will not want to adopt this dog, even if it does know a few tricks.
Posted Aug 17, 2023
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Jules
(2023)
|
Tim Stevens
|
Turtletaub’s direction isn’t visually spectacular, but its simple buoyancy gives Jules a constant hum of comforting energy.
Posted Aug 07, 2023
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6.5/10
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Meg 2: The Trench
(2023)
|
DarkSkyLady
|
Meg 2: The Trench breaks the surface for terror and entertainment even as dialogue and story fall by the wayside.
Posted Aug 06, 2023
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8/10
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
(2023)
|
DarkSkyLady
|
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is funny, gross, and sweet; a picture children and adults will enjoy.
Posted Aug 02, 2023
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Haunted Mansion
(2023)
|
Tim Stevens
|
Yes, Stanfield is unreservedly excellent. But with him at the center, why not deliver a stronger movie too?
Posted Jul 27, 2023
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Oppenheimer
(2023)
|
Tim Stevens
|
Made up predominantly of men—literally almost entirely just men—talking, arguing, persuading, and sniping at each other in rooms large and small, the movie nonetheless feels sweeping and, at times, bludgeoning.
Posted Jul 19, 2023
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8/10
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Theater Camp
(2023)
|
Clint Worthington
|
Gordon, Lieberman et al. understand the absurdity and community of camps like these, wacky-wild places where the artistically inclined can feel safe to explore and feel powerful.
Posted Jul 17, 2023
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Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
(2023)
|
Clint Worthington
|
[T]he climax, a high-wire act on, in, and around the Orient Express, that feels like the apotheosis of everything Cruise and the series have been working towards.
Posted Jul 05, 2023
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Joy Ride
(2023)
|
Tim Stevens
|
Joy Ride doesn’t rewrite the comedy or road trip game, but it delivers a funny film that’s smart about emotions and culturally specific enough to feel authentic.
Posted Jun 27, 2023
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Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
(2023)
|
Tim Stevens
|
Waller-Bridge’s gift for turning a phrase and her loose-limbed energy nicely compliments and pushes back at Ford, imbuing Indy with a curmudgeonly refusal to admit this is all a bit of fun.
Posted Jun 27, 2023
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8/10
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The Blackening
(2022)
|
Andrea Thompson
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It’s not difficult to get invested in the group as they circle each other and past conflicts resurface just in time for their bond to be brutally tested.
Posted Jun 16, 2023
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10/10
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Past Lives
(2023)
|
Andrea Thompson
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Song must truly be a marvel of a playwright, because her dialogue carefully builds on the tiny details which amount to what it means to truly see and respect a person.
Posted Jun 08, 2023
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3/10
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Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
(2023)
|
Clint Worthington
|
Say what you will about Bay’s nigh-incomprehensible work, but his whirling compositions and signature Bayhem were at least interesting to look at. Beasts overcompensates, resulting in flat, unremarkable action scenes that lack geography and punch.
Posted Jun 08, 2023
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About My Father
(2023)
|
Tim Stevens
|
If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen about 40% of the jokes and likely can predict about 30% of the ones you haven’t.
Posted May 26, 2023
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Kandahar
(2023)
|
Tim Stevens
|
[A]t some point, someone carved out the ambiguity and ambivalence [in the script] but didn’t replace it with much compelling.
Posted May 26, 2023
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