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1.5/4
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It Ends With Us
(2024)
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Mark Kennedy
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[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)
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Lindsey Bahr
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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)
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Ted Anthony
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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)
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Lindsey Bahr
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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)
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Lindsey Bahr
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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)
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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)
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Dolores Barclay
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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)
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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)
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Lindsey Bahr
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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)
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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
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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
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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)
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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)
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Lindsey Bahr
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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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When Harry Met Sally...
(1989)
|
Bob Thomas
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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
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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
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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)
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Jake Coyle
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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)
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Lindsey Bahr
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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)
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Mark Kennedy
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A spectacularly unsubtle movie.
Posted Jun 27, 2024
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2.5/4
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Daddio
(2023)
|
Lindsey Bahr
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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)
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Lindsey Bahr
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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)
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Jake Coyle
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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)
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Lindsey Bahr
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“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)
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Jake Coyle
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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)
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Mark Kennedy
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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)
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Jake Coyle
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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)
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Jocelyn Noveck
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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)
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Jake Coyle
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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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3.5/4
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Jim Henson Idea Man
(2024)
|
Mark Kennedy
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Watchers will walk away with a deeper understanding of a man who had such an outsized presence in their childhoods.
Posted May 30, 2024
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3/4
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Young Woman and the Sea
(2024)
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Lindsey Bahr
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A classically made and effectively stirring sports drama for everyone that feels right on the big screen. Families with young daughters should make this a special priority -- this is one of those empowering stories that (mostly) avoids cloying cliches.
Posted May 30, 2024
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1.5/4
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Atlas
(2024)
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Jocelyn Noveck
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An often ridiculous sci-fi epic with dialogue cheesier than a Brie wheel but also an old-fashioned, human heart o’ gold.
Posted May 24, 2024
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2.5/4
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Hit Man
(2023)
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Lindsey Bahr
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It’s perfectly enjoyable: a glossy, easy-to-digest Powell showcase that isn’t trying to be anything but fun. But the second coming of the action-comedy-romance, it is not.
Posted May 23, 2024
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1.5/4
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The Garfield Movie
(2024)
|
Mark Kennedy
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A curious new animated attempt to monetize the comic icon again by giving him an origin story and then asking him to do things a galaxy away from what he does in the funny pages. It’s like if Snoopy ran an underground bare-knuckle fight club.
Posted May 21, 2024
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2.5/4
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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
(2024)
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Mark Kennedy
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Miller is trying to add operatic heft and seriousness to what started in 1979 as a fun, rip-roaring smear of nightmarish, post-apocalyptic motor oil. In that case, “Fury Road” was fantastic, but “Furiosa” is just fine.
Posted May 20, 2024
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2.5/4
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IF
(2024)
|
Jocelyn Noveck
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By movie’s end, one can imagine more than one adult in the multiplex running home, checking under the bed, hoping to find a trusted old friend.
Posted May 16, 2024
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3/4
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Babes
(2024)
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Jocelyn Noveck
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All these elements, wacky or not, come together in a charming mishmash that adds something ultimately very important to the childbirth comedy genre: the message that childbirth is profound, yes, and full of wonder. But also, like life, it can be funny.
Posted May 15, 2024
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1.5/4
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Back to Black
(2024)
|
Lindsey Bahr
|
Back to Black as a movie is a tame and mediocre affair... But as a portrait of Amy Winehouse? It is simply dreadful.
Posted May 14, 2024
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1.5/4
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Mother of the Bride
(2024)
|
Lindsey Bahr
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I won’t go so far as to say that Mother of the Bride feels like an AI creation but it does feel at least a little stitched together from pieces of other romantic comedies of varying quality.
Posted May 09, 2024
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3/4
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Gasoline Rainbow
(2023)
|
Jake Coyle
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On the whole, the Ross brothers’ observational, immersive filmmaking gets close to something bracingly real.
Posted May 09, 2024
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3.5/4
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Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
(2024)
|
Mark Kennedy
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The effects are just jaw-dropping, from the ability to see individual hairs on the back of a monkey to the way leaves fall and the crack of tree limbs echoing in the forest.
Posted May 08, 2024
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3/4
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I Saw the TV Glow
(2024)
|
Jocelyn Noveck
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Something about the detail and clarity with which Jane Schoenbrun evokes ’90s suburbia in I Saw the TV Glow makes you remember growing up there -- even if you didn’t.
Posted May 03, 2024
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3.5/4
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Evil Does Not Exist
(2023)
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Jake Coyle
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Soberly naturalistic as Hamaguchi’s movies are, they’re among the most beguilingly unpredictable... It’s doubly so in Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist, a shorter and more enigmatic drama but a no less enchanting one.
Posted May 03, 2024
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2.5/4
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The Idea of You
(2024)
|
Jake Coyle
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In the power dynamics of The Idea of You, Hayes may be a fictional pop star but Hathaway is a very real movie star. And you don’t forget it for a moment in Michael Showalter’s lightly appealing showcase of the actor at her resplendent best.
Posted May 02, 2024
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Trainspotting
(1996)
|
David Goodman
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Trainspotting is too morally bland for the ugliness it depicts. It's yet one more movie with the subtle, destructive message that it's not so terrible to do bad things, as long as they're carried off in a stylish, amusing way.
Posted Apr 30, 2024
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2.5/4
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Planet of the Apes
(2001)
|
David Germain
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Give an infinite number of chimpanzees an infinite number of film crews, and odds are none will make a movie that looks as cool as Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes. A few of those chimps might come up with something more interesting, though.
Posted Apr 30, 2024
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