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Steve Murray
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Alien Resurrection (1997) |
Still, if "Resurrection" can't resolve its contradictory impulses, it still can erase Fincher's feel-bad installment from your mind. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Posted Aug 06, 2024
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Alien 3 (1992) |
While Alien was an artsy carny spookhouse and Aliens a heart-popping roller coaster, Alien 3 is a lead-weight Tilt-a-Whirl that keeps scraping the pavement. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Posted Aug 05, 2024
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Faye (2024) |
The movie could have been much deeper and smarter, but it’s enough to make you hope for some sort of comeback or at the very least a renewed appreciation of her work. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Aug 02, 2024
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A Family Affair (2024) |
Even Kathy Bates, as the down-to-earth mother of Kidman’s dead husband can’t save A Family Affair from terminal fakeness. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Aug 02, 2024
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Atlas (2024) |
Lopez’s character and the movie itself can’t quite decide if AI is a big bad evil thing or our very best buddy. So it decides to say both things in what seems less a philosophical choice and more the most inoffensive and lucrative one. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Jun 28, 2024
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The Great Lillian Hall (2024) |
Instead of an interesting study of dementia, Elisabeth Seldes Annacone’s script becomes a showcase for mother-daughter recriminations that seem even older than Chekhov’s play. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Jun 28, 2024
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Hit Man (2023) |
It’s likable enough, in a film-noir-lite way, but it’s never as thrilling, funny or romantic as it ought to be. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Jun 28, 2024
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The Idea of You (2024) |
Sure, we know miscommunications and heartache will ensue; it’s a romcom, after all. But it’s a fairly smart, well-acted one that finds its true villain in social media and its divisive, tear-everything-down energy. The movie is a not-so-guilty pleasure. - ArtsATL
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| Posted May 31, 2024
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Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara (2023) |
Director Marco Bellocchio renders this story of religious extremism in a handsome production that doesn’t shy away... - ArtsATL
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| Posted Feb 16, 2024
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Irena's Vow (2023) |
I wish director Louise Archambault's film were made with more edge or insight, but its earnest uplift makes Vow a solid choice for opening-night film. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Feb 16, 2024
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The Goldman Case (2023) |
It’s a film easier to respect than to enjoy. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Feb 16, 2024
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Shoshana (2023) |
Like The Goldman Case and Kidnapped, it’s another fact-based drama that might invite some pre-viewing homework. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Feb 16, 2024
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Stella: A Life (2023) |
Directed by Kilian Riedhof, it’s a movie less to enjoy than to be haunted by. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Feb 16, 2024
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Where Is Anne Frank (2021) |
The film is an interesting experiment that doesn’t quite cohere. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Feb 16, 2024
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Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and The Pool (2023) |
The Old Man and the Pool is a charming, charmingly brief exploration of the sort of adventures with health hiccups that arise with middle age. If you don’t find it relatable, you’re young or lucky or both. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Feb 14, 2024
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Society of the Snow (2023) |
The movie could have used more surprises of its kind. Otherwise, Society is a movie I respect more than recommend. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Feb 14, 2024
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The Killer (2023) |
It has a massive, house-leveling fight scene, but dramatically it doesn’t really develop a pulse until its final minutes. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Dec 08, 2023
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Nyad (2023) |
Like the athletes they represent, Bening and Foster are the sort of career pros you just sit back and admire as they nail their scenes. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Dec 08, 2023
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May December (2023) |
In the end, May December offers neither the campy juice you get from those ripped-from-the-headlines TV movies it mocks or the depths of a psychological art film like Ingmar Bergman’s Persona. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Dec 08, 2023
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Home Alone (1990) |
Well, at least Mr, Hughes -- who wrote the screenplay and produced -- delivers a reliable product. He winds it up. We watch it go. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Posted Nov 28, 2023
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Goodfellas (1990) |
Mr. Scorsese's juxtapositions of the extraordinary and the everyday result in a razor-edged balance of comedy and horror, affection and repulsion. Violence is frequent, treated as commonplace, and all the more disturbing for it. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Posted Oct 17, 2023
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El Conde (2023) |
Though it has moments of dark wit (a flying sequence in the second half has a wild poetry to it), El Conde reminded me that Larraín’s filmography is wobbly. His films tend to be more interesting in their concept than in the watching. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Oct 03, 2023
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Selena (1997) |
Selena is well-made, hummable, too long yet quite watchable. At its center is a plaster saint. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Posted Sep 06, 2023
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White Men Can't Jump (1992) |
Dribbling when it ought to slam-dunk, White Men Can't Jump gets maybe three feet off the ground before it hits concrete. Over and over again. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Posted Aug 31, 2023
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Traffic (2000) |
Del Toro is the film's true conscience. His melancholy performance is the standout among a strong cast. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Posted Aug 08, 2023
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Supercop (1992) |
What fuels "Cop" is its percolating, laugh-out-loud wit. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Posted Jul 27, 2023
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Once Upon a Time in China (1991) |
Hark's main goal -- as he sees actors and props spinning through the air in dazzling action ballets -- is to keep us wondering, "How'd They Do That?" - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Posted Jul 27, 2023
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Hard-Boiled (1992) |
Movies like this need a big screen. They're a kick in the head. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Posted Jul 27, 2023
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La Haine (1995) |
Kassovitz subverts expectations throughout, with deadpan humor interlaced with his dead-end plot. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Posted Jul 19, 2023
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In the Mood for Love (2000) |
An aching, bittersweet tone poem to love, loss and repressed passions, Wong Kar-wai's mesmerizing In the Mood for Love puts the emphasis on "mood." And it takes some time to warm up to. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Posted Jul 15, 2023
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Being Mary Tyler Moore (2023) |
Being Mary Tyler Moore reminds us of the subversive, sunny power of the woman who could turn the world on with her smile but was battling personal demons herself. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Jul 14, 2023
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Reality (2023) |
Satter does a decent job of establishing and maintaining a low-level hum of anxiety as Reality slowly realizes the quiet, deep danger she’s in... - ArtsATL
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| Posted Jul 14, 2023
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The Matrix (1999) |
A smartly calibrated mix of thrills and thoughtfulness, The Matrix sends you out of the theater looking forward to the sequel. When was the last time you felt that way about a movie? - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Posted Jul 10, 2023
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Armageddon (1998) |
You'll see the reported $165 million budget on-screen in the impressive effects and mammoth sets. But is the movie good for you? Probably not. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Posted Jun 22, 2023
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Peter Pan & Wendy (2023) |
The movie is an argument for leaving all the old stories alone if we’re not willing to embrace their weirdness and wrongness. Otherwise, we kill a lot of the odd magic that attracted us to begin with. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Jun 02, 2023
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Hannah Gadsby: Something Special (2023) |
After bearing personal trauma in the 2018 breakout, Gadsby proves to still be funny, with crack timing. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Jun 02, 2023
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Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) |
As far as the story goes, there's almost too much background, and too little payoff. The true identity of the Phantasm doesn't come as much of a surprise. But the wonderfully stylized graphics can keep the most jaded eye interested. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Posted May 23, 2023
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Judy Blume Forever (2023) |
It’s a lovely, informative movie. - ArtsATL
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| Posted May 01, 2023
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Ghosted (2023) |
Ghosted is pretty much like every other copycat riff that’s been spun since that 1994 film... - ArtsATL
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| Posted May 01, 2023
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Army of Darkness (1992) |
Has success spoiled Mr. Raimi's sicko genius? Maybe not. But it certainly seems tamed. This dance of death turns out to be a ho-hum hokey pokey. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Posted Mar 31, 2023
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Causeway (2022) |
...it was an earnest but forgettable flick... - ArtsATL
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| Posted Jan 31, 2023
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Emily the Criminal (2022) |
Plaza’s tough but sympathetic performance keeps you hooked all the way. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Jan 31, 2023
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White Noise (2022) |
White Noise can seem both annoyingly arch and almost adorably naïve. Viewer mileage may vary, but for me it was a hard slog. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Jan 31, 2023
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All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) |
Edward Berger’s impressively brutal film, made on a broad, old-fashioned canvas with state-of-the-art shocks. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Jan 31, 2023
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The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) |
An agonizingly slow watch, but it’s worth your patience mainly for the acting... - ArtsATL
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| Posted Jan 31, 2023
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You People (2023) |
The problem is, this comedy of discomfort too often feels like a series of position papers more than a movie. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Jan 31, 2023
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Alma's Rainbow (1994) |
The movie's real pleasures are its digressive, bubbly interludes. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Posted Jan 10, 2023
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Master of Light (2022) |
There’s hard-won power when Morton instructs his young nephew to write, “I am not what has happened to me; I am what I choose to become.” - ArtsATL
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| Posted Dec 05, 2022
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Spirited (2022) |
It’s big, obnoxious and has (shudder) a lot of musical numbers delivered with outrageously enthusiastic choreography. - ArtsATL
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| Posted Dec 05, 2022
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My Policeman (2022) |
The performances are all good, though Styles doesn’t quite have the chops to pull off a couple of Tom’s more demanding emotional scenes... - ArtsATL
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| Posted Dec 05, 2022
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