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3/4
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Wolfs
(2024)
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Jake Coyle
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Wolfs doesn’t measure up to anything like Michael Clayton -- what does? -- and isn’t trying to, anyway. This is more of an old-school movie-star-driven entertainment featuring two actors with skills as rarified as their characters’.
Posted Sep 19, 2024
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3.5/4
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His Three Daughters
(2023)
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Lindsey Bahr
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Taken together, it’s a pressure cooker and a wonderful showcase for three talented actors.
Posted Sep 17, 2024
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0.5/4
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Transformers One
(2024)
|
Mark Kennedy
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Transformers One isn't good enough to watch on a plane, even a trans-Pacific flight. The inflight map is better.
Posted Sep 17, 2024
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2.5/4
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Speak No Evil
(2024)
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Jocelyn Noveck
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Speak No Evil becomes an entertaining but routine horror flick, with predictable results. But for a while, it’s a way more intelligent film.
Posted Sep 11, 2024
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2.5/4
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My Old Ass
(2024)
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Mark Kennedy
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Megan Park has crafted a wistful coming-of-age tale using this comedic device for My Old Ass and the results are uneven even though she nails the landing.
Posted Sep 11, 2024
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2.5/4
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The Critic
(2023)
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Lindsey Bahr
|
None of it really adds up to anything poignant or enormously entertaining; its darkness is both lopsided and superficial... Theater critic as tyrant is a juicy premise; “The Critic” just can’t live up to the promise.
Posted Sep 11, 2024
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3/4
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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
(2024)
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Jocelyn Noveck
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For once, the question “Why a sequel?” is moot. Not because we know the answer. (Do we?) But, who cares? It’s funny. It may even make you feel better about, well, death.
Posted Sep 07, 2024
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3.5/4
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Rebel Ridge
(2024)
|
Mark Kennedy
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Like its leading man, Rebel Ridge is a lean, muscular movie with few over-the-top special effects, save for Pierre’s spectacular eyes. It’s a triumph of small-budget, naturalistic filmmaking.
Posted Sep 05, 2024
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1.5/4
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Reagan
(2024)
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Jocelyn Noveck
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This is a 135-minute film that demands a lot more depth. And, so, to co-opt a political phrase from Bill Clinton, whom Quaid also has played: It’s the script, stupid.
Posted Aug 29, 2024
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2.5/4
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The Crow
(2024)
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Mark Kennedy
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The Crow isn’t bad -- and it gets better as it goes -- but it’s an exercise in folly. It cannot escape Lee and the 1994 original even as it builds a more allegorical scaffolding for the smartphone generation.
Posted Aug 22, 2024
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2.5/4
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Blink Twice
(2024)
|
Jocelyn Noveck
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Kravitz almost pulls it off. With the help of a terrific cast, she offers strikingly confident, brashly entertaining filmmaking, until everything seems to break down in a mess of porous storytelling... But it sure is crackling fun, until it isn’t.
Posted Aug 22, 2024
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Beetlejuice
(1988)
|
AP Staff
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Unrecognizable in his weirdo makeup, Keaton behaves outrageously; it's a marvelous characterization.
Posted Aug 21, 2024
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3.5/4
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Between the Temples
(2024)
|
Jake Coyle
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In this winningly chaotic comedy, you can almost feel the characters and filmmakers, as one, resisting order and pushing back against convention.
Posted Aug 19, 2024
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1.5/4
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The Union
(2024)
|
Lindsey Bahr
|
There’s just not enough there -- action, comedy, romance, art -- to demand (or, rather, earn) your full attention.
Posted Aug 16, 2024
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2/4
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Jackpot!
(2024)
|
Jake Coyle
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It’s amiably disordered but the high-concept always feels like a ridiculous goof, and its predictable machinations grow increasingly tiresome. Still, this is the rare film where you can say Machine Gun Kelly is a surprisingly perfect tonal fit.
Posted Aug 14, 2024
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2/4
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Alien: Romulus
(2024)
|
Jocelyn Noveck
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[You] may even laugh rather than scream. It’s all good, though. In space, probably no one can hear you laugh, either.
Posted Aug 14, 2024
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3/4
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Daughters
(2024)
|
Jake Coyle
|
Make no mistake. This is tragedy, in very real time.
Posted Aug 14, 2024
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1.5/4
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It Ends With Us
(2024)
|
Mark Kennedy
|
[It Ends With Us] tries to balance the realities of domestic violence inside a rom-com and a female-empowerment movie. All suffer in the process.
Posted Aug 07, 2024
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4/4
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Good One
(2024)
|
Lindsey Bahr
|
It is humanity, with all of its beauties and disappointments, as most of us experience it. And it’s one that will likely stay with you for some time.
Posted Aug 07, 2024
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2.5/4
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Alien Resurrection
(1997)
|
Ted Anthony
|
Ripley is wonderfully different. Trouble is, the script is as gossamer as the cotton-candy cocoons from which the aliens hatch. The most curious element of Alien Resurrection is how anti-human it is.
Posted Aug 06, 2024
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2.5/4
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Cuckoo
(2024)
|
Lindsey Bahr
|
It is undeniably fascinating, original and even occasionally fun, in a very twisted and deranged way in which laughter is your involuntary response to something horrifying.
Posted Aug 06, 2024
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2.5/4
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Trap
(2024)
|
Lindsey Bahr
|
We keep wanting Shyamalan to somehow give us The Sixth Sense or Signs again. Trap is not either of those. This is a popcorn movie, with a surprising turn from an underrated star. And ultimately, it’s a pretty fun time at the theater.
Posted Aug 01, 2024
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3/4
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The Instigators
(2024)
|
Jake Coyle
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On the run, their double act -- Damon’s earnest deadpan, Affleck’s smart-aleck flippancy -- works as well as it ever has, even if the script could use a touch more wit.
Posted Aug 01, 2024
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Alien 3
(1992)
|
Dolores Barclay
|
The magic is definitely gone. The scare factor is down to zero and the predictability level has risen to 10.
Posted Jul 31, 2024
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2/4
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Harold and the Purple Crayon
(2024)
|
Kaitlyn Huamani
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Even if the book’s story has been told and the movie’s format has been done before, a movie that reminds us to be imaginative -- and that delivers some imaginative visuals to boot -- can’t really get old.
Posted Jul 31, 2024
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2/4
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The Fabulous Four
(2024)
|
Lindsey Bahr
|
It never quite harmonizes. These characters, fabulous as they may be individually or on paper, aren’t greater together somehow.
Posted Jul 25, 2024
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3.5/4
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Dìdi
(2024)
|
Kaitlyn Huamani
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Dìdi’s greatest strength lies in the balance it strikes between moments of levity and gravity, often prompting waves of laughter seconds after evoking tears.
Posted Jul 24, 2024
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2.5/4
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Deadpool & Wolverine
(2024)
|
Krysta Fauria
|
A fun, generally well-made summer movie. The sole MCU release of 2024, “Deadpool & Wolverine” proves it’s not necessarily the source material that’s causing so-called superhero fatigue.
Posted Jul 23, 2024
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1.5/4
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Skywalkers: A Love Story
(2024)
|
Jake Coyle
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In this polished, self-promotional documentary, few of their interactions don’t feel self-consciously calculated for public consumption.
Posted Jul 17, 2024
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2.5/4
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Twisters
(2024)
|
Lindsey Bahr
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Chung, a filmmaker best known for the comparatively small “Minari,” has made a solid film with escalating action sequences that look great on the big screen.
Posted Jul 17, 2024
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2.5/4
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Longlegs
(2024)
|
Jake Coyle
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It’s a credit to the harrowingly spell-binding first half of Longlegs -- and to Monroe -- that the film’s third act disappoints.
Posted Jul 11, 2024
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3/4
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Sing Sing
(2023)
|
Mark Kennedy
|
If you are a cynic, “Sing Sing” may be an elaborate infomercial for its Rehabilitation Through the Arts program. Even if it is, it’s wonderful. Cynics are not welcome here.
Posted Jul 11, 2024
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2.5/4
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National Anthem
(2023)
|
Krysta Fauria
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More than anything, Gilford’s film ought to be lauded for the way it continues telling a story about a subculture that few know exist.
Posted Jul 10, 2024
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2.5/4
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Fly Me to the Moon
(2024)
|
Lindsey Bahr
|
A mostly pleasant, if meandering, ride compliments of Johansson, who produced, Tatum and a talented roster of supporting actors.
Posted Jul 10, 2024
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|
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When Harry Met Sally...
(1989)
|
Bob Thomas
|
Cary Fisher and Bruno Kirby play the best friends of Sally and Harry, and they match the excellence of the two stars.
Posted Jul 10, 2024
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2.5/4
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MaXXXine
(2024)
|
Lindsey Bahr
|
However slight it is, and even if its predecessors may have been better, it’s still a fun enough time at the movies, best enjoyed with an excitable crowd.
Posted Jul 03, 2024
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2/4
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Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
(2024)
|
Mark Kennedy
|
Newcomers may be puzzled by the slow pace and ‘80s feel of Mark Molloy’s directed sequel. It’s not as funny as previous ones or ambitious in the way sequels for beloved franchises have gotten. But it has Murphy blowing stuff up and joking about it.
Posted Jul 02, 2024
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2/4
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Despicable Me 4
(2024)
|
Jake Coyle
|
Too much of a good thing is becoming more of a pressing question in Despicable Me 4, a silly and breezy installment from Illumination Entertainment that passes by with about as much to remember it as a Saturday morning cartoon.
Posted Jul 01, 2024
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2/4
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A Quiet Place: Day One
(2024)
|
Lindsey Bahr
|
Ultimately “Day One” could have been set around any old apocalypse. Tethering it to the rules of A Quiet Place, a smart premise whose novelty is impossible to recreate let alone build a world upon, just holds it back.
Posted Jun 27, 2024
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1.5/4
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Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1
(2024)
|
Mark Kennedy
|
A spectacularly unsubtle movie.
Posted Jun 27, 2024
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2.5/4
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Daddio
(2023)
|
Lindsey Bahr
|
A fascinating and imperfect experiment in rich lineage of modest two-handers that take on an epic scope.
Posted Jun 27, 2024
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2.5/4
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Kinds of Kindness
(2024)
|
Jocelyn Noveck
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What’s clear is that the Stone-Lanthimos pairing, in their third feature together, is continuing to nurture an aspect of Stone’s talents that increasingly sets her apart: Her fearlessness and the obvious joy she derives from it.
Posted Jun 21, 2024
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3.5/4
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Thelma
(2024)
|
Lindsey Bahr
|
This is ultimately Squibb’s show and she delivers, like she always does. She should have been leading pictures the whole time and finally did something about it.
Posted Jun 20, 2024
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3/4
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The Bikeriders
(2023)
|
Jake Coyle
|
The movie wants to ride, but it’s not sure how much story to pack for the trip. But this is a vivid dramatization of the birth of an American subculture.
Posted Jun 20, 2024
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3.5/4
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Tuesday
(2023)
|
Lindsey Bahr
|
“Tuesday” is ultimately a cathartic affair, whether death is top of mind at the moment or not. And it announces the arrival of a daring filmmaker worth following.
Posted Jun 13, 2024
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3/4
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Inside Out 2
(2024)
|
Jake Coyle
|
In more ways than one, Mann’s movie feels like a much-needed feature-length refuge from today’s anxiety-producing devices. Unlike many of Pixar’s moving metaphors of parenthood, this one is, affectingly, for the kids.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
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2/4
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Brats
(2024)
|
Mark Kennedy
|
McCarthy’s visual style is too fragmented, happy to capture his scrambling camera and sound operators in the frame and changing up his shots from guerilla-style jerky iPhone images to tasteful, polished portraits.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
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2.5/4
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Bad Boys: Ride or Die
(2024)
|
Jake Coyle
|
If the slap caused a reassessment of Smith as a movie star, “Ride or Die” is the kind of the tailor-made vehicle that reminds you there haven’t been many better male American action stars in the last few decades.
Posted Jun 05, 2024
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2.5/4
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Am I OK?
(2022)
|
Jocelyn Noveck
|
The ultimate message here may be simple, but it’s comforting: friendships may change but can still adapt, withstand and survive.
Posted Jun 05, 2024
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Robot Dreams
(2023)
|
Jake Coyle
|
Robot Dreams movingly turns into a story about moving on while still cherishing the good times you once shared with someone -- a valuable lesson to young and old, in friendship and romance.
Posted May 30, 2024
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