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3/5
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The Blind Sea
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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This documentary is a reminder of a truth in sport, and life in general...
Posted Aug 13, 2024
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3.5/5
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Sleeping Dogs
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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The murder mystery Sleeping Dogs is Russell Crowe's best film for a while.
Posted Aug 07, 2024
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Tótem
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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Mesmerising, beautiful, sad and hopeful all at once.
Posted Aug 07, 2024
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Deadpool & Wolverine
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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It’s amusing at times, especially for fans of the MCU as several Marvel superhero movie stars pop up in cameo roles...
Posted Aug 07, 2024
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Mr. Blake, at Your Service!
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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It’s a sweet exploration of how new life can blossom in unanticipated ways – even Mephisto plays a part in this – and how new friends can be found in unexpected places.
Posted Aug 07, 2024
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2.5/5
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Ezra
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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This is worthwhile film-making and the performances are solid, but there's too much reliance on the schmaltz factor, especially towards the end. It will be interesting to see what the young actor Fitzgerald does next.
Posted Aug 07, 2024
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Birdeater
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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It’s a strong addition to a recent wave of independent Australian horror-thrillers, following the critical and commercial success of Talk to Me, written and directed by Adelaide-based twins Danny and Michael Philippou.
Posted Jul 24, 2024
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When The Light Breaks
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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The acute exploration of how loss can even overcome secrets...
Posted Jul 24, 2024
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Longlegs
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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A palpable fear runs through Longlegs from the first frame until the last. It’s not the jump-scare tension of a slasher movie but something less tangible. You feel frightened without knowing exactly why.
Posted Jul 24, 2024
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2.5/5
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MaXXXine
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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The plot moves from suspense to slash and shoot, and when the twist comes it’s a bit predictable.
Posted Jul 12, 2024
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3.5/5
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Kinds of Kindness
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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A wonderfully acted absurdist drama that made me look away at times and laugh out loud at others.
Posted Jul 12, 2024
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4/5
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Fly Me to the Moon
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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Woody Harrelson is in fine form as the President’s fixer, a man who knows some of Kelly’s secrets. Johansson perfectly captures a blend of Madison Avenue confidence and anxiety about a past being revealed. She’s Don Draper in lipstick.
Posted Jul 12, 2024
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3.5/5
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A Silence
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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The director and lead actors, two stars of French cinema, build the tension layer by layer with undramatic moments that swell with internal drama.
Posted Jul 05, 2024
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3/5
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Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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None of the above is intended as a huge criticism of this entertaining documentary, which Oils fans (and I’m one) will enjoy. I just think a portrait of such a politically active band should be more politically attuned...
Posted Jul 05, 2024
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2.5/5
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The Bikeriders
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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It’s the other elements – plot, storytelling, script, emotional connections, engaging the viewer – that fall off the bike.
Posted Jul 05, 2024
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3.5/5
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Inside Out 2
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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The animated comedy-drama Inside Out 2 is proof that it’s possible to do something right twice.
Posted Jun 27, 2024
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3/5
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The Convert
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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It starts a little ponderously, as the time and place is set and the characters are fleshed out, but once that haka happens it becomes a gripping historical drama about how faith can be tested in expected and unexpected ways.
Posted Jun 27, 2024
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3.5/5
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The Promised Land
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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There are times in the impressive Danish historical drama The Promised Land where Dr Lecter peeks from the eyes of the main character...
Posted Jun 27, 2024
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3.5/5
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The Three Musketeers: Part II - Milady
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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The director brings all of the threads together in a thoroughly entertaining way, while leaving enough doors open at the end to make viewers hope he returns with a third installment.
Posted Jun 14, 2024
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4/5
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The Teacher Who Promised the Sea
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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This film is a joy, despite such sadness...
Posted Jun 14, 2024
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3.5/5
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La Syndicaliste
(2022)
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Stephen Romei
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A provocative and at times disturbing drawn-from-life drama that is given extra power by an outstanding performance by Isabelle Huppert.
Posted Jun 14, 2024
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3/5
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The Exorcism
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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This film, co-written by the director and his writing and life partner MA Fortin, has the ingredients of a strong drama but it fails to pull them together.
Posted Jun 14, 2024
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3/5
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Hit Man
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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A humorous diversion into what can happen when an existential crisis and subsequent role play move past the point of no return.
Posted Jun 05, 2024
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4/5
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Radical
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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This uplifting movie, written and directed by New York-based filmmaker Christopher Zalla, is a potent reminder that we should never give up on children, because to do so is to give up on the future.
Posted Jun 05, 2024
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Hoop Dreams
(1994)
|
Geordie Gray
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It remains the greatest, most incredibly moving sports documentary ever made...
Posted May 28, 2024
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3/5
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The Way, My Way
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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This is a quiet, gentle, uplifting film about freeing oneself from the everyday and discovering the comfort of strangers - though not in the way Ian McEwan imagines.
Posted May 28, 2024
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3/5
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IF
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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There’s a cartoonish side for the kids and a nostalgia tug for adults. It has a decent twist at the end and the final credits sequence, which includes the invisible Keith, is worth hanging around for.
Posted May 28, 2024
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3.5/5
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Monster
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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This is a psychological drama that provides no easy answers. It uses the Rashomon effect to repeat scenes from different and often contradictory viewpoints.
Posted May 17, 2024
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3/5
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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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All the bits and pieces are there to continue this landmark series but the outcome result fails to leave an impression. It lacks oomph.
Posted May 17, 2024
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3.5/5
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The Three Musketeers: Part I - D'Artagnan
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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This film is gorgeously shot by cinematographer Nicolas Bolduc. It opens with a take-no-prisoners fight in the rain and mud that includes D’Artagnan and Milady and sets the scene for all that is to follow.
Posted May 10, 2024
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2/5
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Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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This is a disappointing instalment in a franchise I’ve been a fan of from the beginning. It monkeys around at the start, is far too long and lacks both the headline ingredient of its predecessors...
Posted May 10, 2024
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3.5/5
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Not a Word
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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A storm is coming, literally and metaphorically. It’s in this unforgiving environment, with Mahler’s tempestuous music in the background, that the answers will — or will not — be found.
Posted May 10, 2024
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3/5
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Golda
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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There's too much reliance on news footage of the real Meir. Characters appear with who-they-are explanatory captions that a good script would not need. It's worth watching because of its relevance, and for Mirren's performance
Posted May 10, 2024
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2.5/5
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The Taste of Things
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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This in an Epicurean epic about loving food, loving cooking and loving doing so for someone you love. There's nothing wrong with that but whether it needs to be served over eight courses is another question.
Posted May 10, 2024
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3/5
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The Road to Patagonia
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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This film is part of a growing movement for the rights of nature, animal and non-animal.
Posted May 10, 2024
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Unfrosted
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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That Seinfeld can’t act doesn’t matter. He’s surrounded by people who can. Hugh Grant is the highlight, as Thurl Ravenscroft, a Shakespearean actor who dons a tiger suit as one of the cereal mascots.
Posted May 10, 2024
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3.5/5
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Fremont
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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Fremont starts with a sense of sadness, repressed memories and dislocation but grows into something hopeful. It's about how we can make connections in unexpected ways.
Posted Apr 29, 2024
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3.5/5
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The Teachers' Lounge
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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This is a bold film that uses not a child vampire, as in Abigail, in cinemas now, but real children, and the adults charged with their care...
Posted Apr 29, 2024
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3/5
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Back to Black
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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This is a middle-of-the road biopic about a musician who was anything but. It’s not great and it’s not terrible.
Posted Apr 29, 2024
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Leaving
(2012)
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Geordie Gray
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This role showcases one of McCrory's sharpest, knottiest performances on screen. It doesn’t hurt that she’s working with a script by Tony Marchant, who has an ability to write dialogue that makes you stop cold.
Posted Apr 29, 2024
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This Is Going to Be Big
(2023)
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Geordie Gray
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A creative, tender, beautifully observed documentary...
Posted Apr 29, 2024
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4/5
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Civil War
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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The heart-racing battle scenes are superbly shot.
Posted Apr 12, 2024
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3.5/5
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Robot Dreams
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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The dreams of the title – ones that show kindness and cruelty, love, loss and hope – are had by Dog and robot alike.
Posted Apr 12, 2024
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3/5
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La Chimera
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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I like ambiguous films — and I do have an is-that-what-it’s-about? theory on this one, centered on our souls, but overall it doesn’t quite work for me.
Posted Apr 05, 2024
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3.5/5
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Late Night with the Devil
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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An inventive and thoroughly entertaining pulp horror movie.
Posted Apr 05, 2024
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Io Capitano
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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Io Capitano is a deeply moving film that takes us into a world utterly removed from our own.
Posted Mar 29, 2024
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3.5/5
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Origin
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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There is a personal side to Wilkerson’s story that the director and cast skilfully interweave.
Posted Mar 29, 2024
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2/5
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Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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The 1984 original was original and entertaining. This fifth instalment is not the former and barely the latter. The Ghostbusters song asks "Who ya gonna call?" My suggestion is call it quits, but I suspect there's a ghost of a chance of that happening.
Posted Mar 22, 2024
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4/5
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Perfect Days
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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Yakusho’s astonishing performance in that one scene alone is all you need to see to understand...
Posted Mar 22, 2024
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3/5
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Love Lies Bleeding
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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It’s a bare-knuckle ride propelled by strong performances by the ever-watchable Kristen Stewart, the physically imposing Katy O’Brian and a lean and mean Ed Harris, wearing a wig that is a fright scene all on its own.
Posted Mar 17, 2024
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