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Philip Martin
Tomatometer-approved critic
Author, newspaper columnist, former shortstop, songwriter and rhythm guitarist strangepup.blogspot.com
Little Rock, Arkansas
http://www.blooddirtandangels.com
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Sugarcane (2024) |
It is a nonfiction film made with remarkable empathy and restraint, a sober but humane interrogation of the recurrent damage done by arrogantly applied benign intentions. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted May 17, 2024
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You Have No Idea (2022) |
A delicate, compelling and relatable story that is heartfelt without becoming mawkish or emotionally prescriptive to tell about the tribulations -- and rewards -- of raising a different kid in the 1990s and beyond. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Mar 22, 2024
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We Have Just Begun (2023) |
The film is powerful and deserves sober consideration. It has a place in the ongoing conversation about how we ought to remember and redress some of the terrible crimes of the past. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Jan 23, 2024
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Fallen Leaves (2023) |
In a way, this is a mathematically elegant movie, a simple but precisely calibrated film that we're lucky to have the opportunity to see in a theater. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Jan 19, 2024
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Ferrari (2023) |
Racing action aside, Ferrari is more a stolid soap opera than a portrait of an obsessed, arrogant legend. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Dec 29, 2023
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The Boys in the Boat (2023) |
This isn't a great movie, and it may not even be a movie that most 21st-century people will want to watch, but there's no denying the quality of the production values and Clooney's mastery. He's made exactly what he wanted to make. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Dec 23, 2023
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Dream Scenario (2023) |
While some of these threads are incompletely developed and others dropped entirely, Dream Scenario never collapses in formless entropy thanks in large part to Cage's open-hearted embrace of his character. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Dec 11, 2023
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May December (2023) |
The best role belongs to Portman, who will surely get major awards attention for her turn as ambitious, diligent and perpetually line-crossing Elizabeth. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Dec 01, 2023
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Golda (2023) |
Mirren gets the job done, which is the important thing. She blasts away the old caricature of the grandmotherly, somehow doddering Meir without ever indulging in over-the-top actorliness. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Aug 25, 2023
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Reinventing Elvis: The '68 Comeback (2023) |
I was a little skeptical that "Reinventing Elvis" could justify its length -- at one hour and 26 minutes it's more than twice the running time of the original special -- but even those well-versed in Presley lore are likely to learn something. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Aug 22, 2023
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The Miracle Club (2023) |
It feels like a waste of [a] pretty spectacular cast, but it's not the sort of movie that reasonable people get mad at... Good intentions ought to count for something. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Aug 14, 2023
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Jules (2023) |
Quirky and sweet, "Jules" has a certain predictability and Gavin Steckler's screenplay at times strains a little too hard, but nothing about it feels like anything less than an earnest choice. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Aug 13, 2023
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Loudmouth (2022) |
While it's absolutely true that the dominant media has a double standard for Black activists it wouldn't apply to white do-gooders there's a lot here that goes unchallenged. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Dec 10, 2022
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Johnny Cash: The Redemption of an American Icon (2022) |
It's a movie that makes a case -- and makes it well except for one niggling point. Laurie insists this is the untold -- or at least under-told -- story of Johnny Cash. I'd counter that Cash's Christianity was never something you could overlook. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Dec 06, 2022
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Pleasure (2021) |
It's moderately successful but may be best remembered as the launching pad for its star, a 24-year-old Swedish woman named Sofia Kappel who is appearing in her first movie. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted May 20, 2022
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Happening (2021) |
Happening isn't particularly political, at least not in the sense that it proffers a particular agenda. It's a deeply personal episode from a particular life told in a straightforward manner without a lot of moralizing. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted May 13, 2022
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Petite Maman (2021) |
It's a straightforward and compact movie (73 minutes long) touched with magic. It was one of the best films I saw last year and I'm glad it's getting a widespread theatrical release. It's a movie I'd recommend to almost anyone. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted May 06, 2022
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2022 Oscar Nominated Shorts - Animation (2022) |
Spanish animator Alberto Mielgo's "The Windshield Wiper," which also runs about 15 minutes, is a moving and startling work about the nature of love that features male and female nudity, sex, and adult themes. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Feb 25, 2022
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2022 Oscar Nominated Shorts - Documentary (2022) |
Usually the documentary shorts are as grim as they are rigorously made -- but this year they are generally uplifting. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Feb 25, 2022
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Flee (2021) |
While at times, Flee feels invasively intimate, as though we are eavesdropping on a therapy session, it allows us to imagine what it might be like to live in Amin's consciousness and to understand his reality. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Jan 28, 2022
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Licorice Pizza (2021) |
It's like spending time on a planet where the oxygen percentage has been dialed up to particularly pleasing levels. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Dec 31, 2021
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The First Wave (2021) |
A heart-pounding and graphic verite snapshot of the early days of the covid-19 crisis, focused through the lens of a single hospital... The First Wave isn't an easy watch, but it's a necessary one. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Oct 16, 2021
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The Gateway (2021) |
While The Gateway script was much heralded, what really makes the movie work is the chemistry of the cast and director Michele Civetta's sleekly self-aware look. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Sep 03, 2021
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The Green Knight (2021) |
It's definitely not for everyone -- despite its dramatic title, it's anything but superhero fare -- but it's also precisely the sort of jolt the summer onslaught of films, depressingly craven up to this point, so badly needs. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Aug 06, 2021
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Annette (2021) |
I can't in good conscience recommend a rock musical comprised largely of repetitive chants. The Maels are adorable, but their music remains an acquired taste. As does Driver's singing voice. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Aug 06, 2021
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Joe Bell (2020) |
It is such a well-meant movie that one hesitates to observe that it's also kind of blunt and didactic, with overtones of an old ABC Afterschool Special. It simply doesn't cohere and resonate the way it should. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Jul 23, 2021
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Pig (2021) |
Beautifully shot and filigreed with specific details, Pig is an indelible character study, one of Cage's finest performances, and the most surprising film I've seen this year. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Jul 16, 2021
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Gaia (2021) |
It is well-made and engages with one of the chief anxieties of modern people: What if we've been the villain all along? - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Jun 21, 2021
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Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (2021) |
A triumph of his particular artistic process. Rather than creating a script, casting to type, and rehearsing as an ensemble, the heady British director eschewed such commonalities... Unconventional it might be, but there's no arguing the results. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Jun 14, 2021
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Final Account (2020) |
What is chilling is the scant shame some of these people seem to feel. It's hard not to wonder how different they are from ourselves -- or how much like them we might at base be. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted May 21, 2021
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Silo (2019) |
Silo" is a wonderful example of regional filmmaking, the sort of small, handmade film that seemed everywhere in the early 1990s. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted May 11, 2021
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The Decalogue (1989) |
... a stone masterpiece. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted May 01, 2021
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The Virtuoso (2021) |
The Virtuoso might have worked better as a short or as a dark comedy, but like a lot of strong silent men, the more time you spend around "The Protagonist" the more you realize he's really not that interesting. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Apr 30, 2021
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Vanquish (2021) |
Executed more or less competently, though you get a sense that Gallo, aware of how thin the script actually is, is trying to apply a layer of Luc Besson-style Eurotrash tackiness to add interest to the otherwise flat proceedings. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Apr 16, 2021
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French Exit (2020) |
Pfeiffer saves even the archest lines with her performance; we get the feeling that Frances is smirking at the little movie in which she finds herself trapped. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Apr 09, 2021
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The Last Picture Show (1971) |
There is something pitiless and strange in this movie, which weds the directness of old-school Western directors like Ford and Hawks with the freedom and permissive sweep of the late '60s cultural moment. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Mar 26, 2021
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Six Minutes to Midnight (2020) |
Six Minutes to Midnight is more a failure of the imagination than a failure of nerve. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Mar 26, 2021
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- Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Feb 21, 2021
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Nomadland (2020) |
A Western without horses or violence ,Nomadland is one of those rare films that trusts the audience to see the poetry in an ordinary woman living an unorthodox but ordinary life. It trusts us to divine the courage in Fern. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Feb 19, 2021
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Minari (2020) |
A gentle, soothing American story that carries the authority of experience and the generosity of a deeply empathetic artist turned toward home. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Feb 16, 2021
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Our Friend (2019) |
Teague's story is honest, and hard to read. Our Friend is not hard to watch, though it might be hard to follow. It feels padded, and tricked up in ways designed to make it seem deeper and more poignant. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Jan 23, 2021
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No Man's Land (2021) |
The rest of the movie plays out as you guess it might, but the quality of the acting is good enough to mostly make up for the script's lack of subtlety. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Jan 23, 2021
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The White Tiger (2021) |
My opinion is that it's terrific... This is one of the best films of the year. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Jan 15, 2021
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MLK/FBI (2020) |
Pollard marshals a wealth of material, archival footage, surveillance reports, FBI files (some newly unclassified) and interviews to document this outrage. That we already knew -- or should have known -- this doesn't make it any less gut-wrenching. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Jan 15, 2021
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Herself (2020) |
It's the sort of drama Hollywood used to make in the '70s, a showcase for fine and precisely calibrated performances. It's also Lloyd's best movie to date. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Jan 08, 2021
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The Go-Go's (2020) |
That it's hardly groundbreaking or seriously in-depth is likely the source of its charm -- in just under two hours it provides a surprisingly satisfying "Behind the Music"-style survey of the career of a fascinating and criminally underrated band. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Dec 30, 2020
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Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) |
Boseman is remarkable, and Domingo, Turman and Potts track and weigh his every word. There's no sense that they're waiting to deliver their next line, their alarm, their bemusement and their pity seem real. As real as our own. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Dec 11, 2020
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Buddy Games (2019) |
Buddy Games, ostensibly about the restorative powers of male bonding, is rote, dull and unfunny in addition to being rude and vulgar. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Nov 20, 2020
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Fatman (2020) |
Fatman isn't actually bad, just curiously dull in the parts where it isn't pushing its outrageousness. Which, come to think of it, are pretty dull too. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Nov 13, 2020
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Echo Boomers (2020) |
Echo Boomers feels a little careful, a little studied, but it's also a product of high competence, intelligence and vocational ambition... That's not to suggest that Echo Boomers is a great movie, but it is almost a great B-movie. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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| Posted Nov 13, 2020
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