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Review: ‘Madame Web’
Dakota Johnson Can’t Spin Her Way Out Of This Hilariously Bad Superhero Disaster
The downside of Sony maintaining its grip on Marvel’s Spider-Man rights is they have a plethora of characters to flush down the toilet. Let me be clear: it wasn’t always this way. The Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy continues to be amazing, and the Andrew Garfield movies are underrated and Sony shouldn’t have panicked with it.…
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Review: ‘Bob Marley: One Love’
Kingsley Ben-Adir Spreads The Love In Toned Down But Effective Biopic Of The Reggae Legend
The prevailing wisdom is that the more “unauthorized” a Hollywood biopic, the more truthful and real it can be. But does complete honesty always make for a more entertaining movie? Ultimately, that’s going to be the goal of any film, to entertain the people who paid to see it, without compromising the reality of who…
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Review: ‘Drift’
Cynthia Erivo Tries To Heal From Past Trauma In Anthony Chen’s Measured, Powerful Drama
There’s barely a scene in Anthony Chen’s unhurried drama Drift that doesn’t feature star Cynthia Erivo. As Jacqueline, a Liberian refugee seemingly stranded on the beautiful Greek Isles, she wanders the pearly white beaches, dotted by vacationers who look nothing like her. They barely register her existence, but those who do can’t help but look at…
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Review: ‘How To Have Sex’
Mia McKenna-Bruce’s Moving Performance Bolsters Molly Manning Walker’s Consent Drama
Throughout cinema history, teenagers have been trying to have sex onscreen for years. Films like Superbad, Porkys, and The Todo List, look at the trope from a comedic perspective, but the genre is twisted on its head in Molly Manning Walker’s directorial debut How to Have Sex. A raw and real coming-of-age drama, the young…
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Review: ‘Lisa Frankenstein’
Kathryn Newton And Cole Sprouse Can’t Jolt To Life Diablo Cody’s Lame Undead Teen Comedy
There’s something rotten stinking up Zelda Williams and Diablo Cody’s Lisa Frankenstein, and no, it’s not the corpse half of this undead teen rom-com. Unfortunately, it’s Williams’ clunky direction and the surprisingly lame script by Cody that buries the committed lead performances by the talented Kathryn Newton and Riverdale star Cole Sprouse. On paper, this has the makings…
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Review: ‘Suncoast’
Nico Parker, Laura Linney, And Woody Harrelson Explore Grief And Adolescence In Laura Chinn’s Debut Feature
*NOTE: This is a reprint of our review from the Sundance Film Festival* In January of 2023, Nico Parker stole the first episode of The Last of Us, playing the doomed daughter of Pedro Pascal in the HBO existential zombie series. The follow-up to her breakout role is playing an average teenager in just as a…
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Review: ‘Out Of Darkness’
Stone Age ‘Predator’-esque Horror Delivers Tension And Brutality By Firelight
If a Predator movie was set in the Stone Age period, it might look something like Out of Darkness. To me, that’s high praise considering my love of that action franchise, which through multiple films combined man vs. nature thrills with the visceral horror of monster movies. First-time director Andrew Cumming makes good use of…
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Review: ‘The Promised Land’
Mads Mikkelsen Conquers Another Complex, Tragic Hero Role In Nikolaj Arcel’s Rugged Historical Epic
Mads Mikkelsen might be the most terrifying actor in the world. You know a dude is scary when their smile makes you want to run for cover. But it’s Mikkelsen’s expressive face and stoic demeanor that also helps to make him so well-rounded, and capable of projecting menace as easily as he can show sensitivity.…
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Review: ‘Argylle’
Self-Satisfied Spy Comedy Is Full Of Big Stars And Big Twists, But Little Substance
“The bigger the spy, the bigger the lie.” It’s a saying that Matthew Vaughn’s spy comedy Argylle likes to repeat. It sounds kinda nifty, kinda slick, like something a femme fatale looking to seduce a James Bond-type might say to him. But it doesn’t really mean anything, regardless of how it might sound. And that’s…
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Review: ‘The Underdoggs’
Real Life Influences Snoop’s Take on the Underdog Youth Sports Team Genre, and the Film Benefits Fully From It
Of all of the plot devices reused in cinema over the last 50 years, the underdog youth sports team has to be in the top 10. Starting with the iconic Bad News Bears we seem to have a run of these every decade with a few that hit all of the right notes. The 70s kicked…