Carla Hay
Tomatometer-approved critic
Carla Hay is editor-in-chief of Culture Mix. She has also been a writer or editor for Paramount Media Networks, Women's Media Center, AXS.com, Examiner.com, Lifetime, People, and Billboard. Hay is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Southern California.
New York, NY, USA
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Wildflower (2022) |
Based on a true story, Wildflower has an admirable performance from Kiernan Shipka, but there are too many problems with this uneven dramedy, including awkward subplots that go nowhere and underdeveloped characters that are bad parodies of real people. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 19, 2023
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The Quiet Girl (2022) |
The very accurately titled The Quiet Girl is a mediative drama about how an introverted Irish girl spends a life-changing summer away from her troubled home and learns some poignant lessons about grief and family love. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 19, 2023
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What We Do Next (2022) |
What We Do Next is a superbly acted and well-written drama that tackles issues of race, gender, and social class in American politics and the U.S. criminal justice system. Michelle Veintimilla, Karen Pittman, and Corey Stoll give compelling performances. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 19, 2023
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Inside (2023) |
Inside would've been better as a short film. However, Willem Dafoe gives an acting performance worth watching for people who don't have short attention spans. Don't expect much action in this drama. This movie is a psychological portrait of confinement. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 18, 2023
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Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022) |
Huesera: The Bone Woman delivers plenty of creepy images and convincing acting performances. Just don't expect a clear and complete explanation for all of the disturbing incidents in this effective horror movie. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 17, 2023
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The Box (2021) |
It's a solid and well-acted drama that can hold viewers' interest, even when the movie drags on for a little too long, and a family secret is too easy to predict before it's revealed. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 16, 2023
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Shonibar Bikel (Saturday Afternoon) (2019) |
Shonibar Bikel is more exploitative than informative. It takes the story of a real-life massacre and uses it as an excuse to show vile murders, without regard to presenting the victims as fully formed people. The movie's terrible ending has no epilogue. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 15, 2023
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Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023) |
Shazam! Fury of the Gods loses much of the charm of 2019's Shazam!, by overloading on bad jokes, cluttered storylines, and formulaic action scenes. It's a failed attempt to be a wisecracking, high-quality superhero movie. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 15, 2023
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Sound of Silence (2023) |
The horror movie Sound of Silence over-relies on annoying sound effects as a distraction from the very limp and predictable story. Note to filmmakers: Repeating loud noises doesn’t automatically make a horror movie scary. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 14, 2023
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Swallowed (2022) |
Swallowed starts off as an intriguing but somewhat far-fetched horror film. However, when Mark Patton and his terrible acting show up, the movie turns into a campy, boring, and repetitive mess. The movie's ending is also very weak and unimaginative. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 13, 2023
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All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) |
Told from a German perspective, this version of All Quiet on the Western Front is the most brutal and harrowing in showing the horrors of World War I. The movie has well-crafted technical assets, but the personalities of the characters are underdeveloped. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 12, 2023
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My Happy Ending (2023) |
The only happy ending that viewers might get from watching this poorly made and fake-looking cancer comedy/drama is when this boring train wreck is finally over. Tamsin Greig gives the movie's only adequate performance. Everyone else's acting falls flat. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 11, 2023
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Blue's Big City Adventure (2022) |
As long as viewers know in advance that children under the age of 10 are the target audience for Blue's Big City Adventure, it's much more enjoyable to watch. It's sweet, sincere, and has some cute musical moments. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 11, 2023
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Hunt (2022) |
Hunt sometimes gets too convoluted for its own good, but it offers a mostly engaging mystery for viewers who have the attention span and interest to follow this twist-filled spy thriller that's set in the 1980s. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 11, 2023
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The Grandmaster of Kung Fu (2019) |
The Grandmaster of Kung Fu does nothing groundbreaking, but it delivers what it's supposed to deliver: an action-filled, uncomplicated story with interesting characters. Kung fu fans should at least be moderately entertained by this briskly paced movie. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 11, 2023
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Southern Gospel (2023) |
Many aspects of Southern Gospel are predictable, but solid performances from most of the cast members help overcome some clichés of faith-based films. This biopic of Dream Church founder Samuel Allen also benefits from having good original songs. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 10, 2023
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The House of No Man (2023) |
Some of the characters' shrillness can get irritating and repetitive. However, this drama about a female-dominated family gets better in the last half of the movie. Huỳnh Uyển Ân gives a standout performance as someone who learns lessons about life. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 10, 2023
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Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar (2023) |
The entire movie is built on the shaky foundation that two lovers wouldn't know each other's undisguised voices over the phone. There's no originality at all in this tiresome romantic comedy. And the 150-minute total running time is just too long. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 10, 2023
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65 (2023) |
The sci-fi movie 65 might have had a major studio budget, but it’s a minor and embarrassing footnote in Adam Driver’s career. It’s a hodgepodge of ripoffs of much better films, such as Jurassic Park, A Quiet Place, and The Man Who Fell to Earth. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 09, 2023
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iMordecai (2022) |
The disjointed comedy/drama iMordecai is based on a true story, but this dull movie looks more like fragmented segments of a very phony sitcom. Even with the talents of Judd Hirsch and Carol Kane, iMordecai is undone by misguided filmmaking. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 09, 2023
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Scream VI (2023) |
Scream VI has further cemented the Scream franchise as an intentionally comedic self-parody, but this entertaining movie doesn’t skimp on the horror thrills. The movie’s best scenes make up for the far-fetched revelations in the last 15 minutes. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 08, 2023
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Champions (2023) |
Champions is mostly cringeworthy comedy about a grouchy coach and his basketball players, who aspire to compete in the Special Olympics. This misguided movie is an awkward mixture of sappiness, crudeness, bad jokes, and negative stereotypes. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 07, 2023
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Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre (2023) |
This smug and cliché-plagued action flick is proof that Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham have gotten lazy in their movie collaborations. The fights look too fake. The whole film is a failure of imagination, motivated by greed and paid trips to exotic places. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 06, 2023
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Bunker (2022) |
An evil creature isn’t the only thing that’s hiding in the World War I horror movie Bunker, because a good story and credible acting are nowhere to be found in this dreadfully dull misfire. The last 15 minutes of the movie are especially awful. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 06, 2023
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Mixtape Trilogy: Stories of the Power of Music (2022) |
This occasionally uneven documentary mostly achieves what it intended in its title. The first third of the movie is upbeat but predictable. The second third is boring and forgettable. The last third is the most dynamic and informative section of the film. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 05, 2023
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There There (2022) |
There There should have been titled Nothing There, in case people are looking for a movie with a coherent plot or interesting characters. It's one of those tedious independent films that tries to fool people into thinking that its shallow idiocy is cool. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 04, 2023
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The Wandering Earth II (2023) |
It's an over-the-top sci-fi spectacle that doesn't lose sight of the human stories in this saga about trying to avert an outer-space disaster. In other words, the movie delivers exactly what viewers can expect from 'The Wandering Earth' franchise. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 03, 2023
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Jesus Revolution (2023) |
The problems with Jesus Revolution have nothing do with religion. This 1970s-set biopic drama about Harvest Crusades founder Greg Laurie has too many bad scenes with hokey dialogue and subpar acting. Many of the cast members are not convincing as hippies. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 02, 2023
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Selfiee (2023) |
For a comedy that's nearly two-and-a-half hours, Selfiee takes way too long to have nothing interesting to say. Emraan Hashmi puts in a good effort to make his character believable. The other cast members just exist in a dull movie with silly gimmicks. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 01, 2023
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Mummies (2023) |
Mummies could have been a wildly imaginative adventure about the contrasts between ancient Egypt and modern London, but this boring animated film has a clunky narrative, unremarkable visuals, and a stale plot. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Mar 01, 2023
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Project Wolf Hunting (2022) |
Project Wolf Hunting revels in a lot of gore, but this sci-fi horror movie also has a solid story that's packed with thrilling action. Plot twists and memorable characters make Project Wolf Hunting better than the average bloody horror flick. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 28, 2023
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The Price We Pay (2022) |
The Price We Pay is yet another tedious and moronic slasher flick that's a very bad imitation of 1974's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. If you're going to copy a horror classic, at least make it compelling. The Price We Pay fails miserably on every level. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 27, 2023
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Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023) |
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey is the very definition of bottom-of-the-barrel horror trash. It's not scary, funny, or interesting in any way. It's just a bloodbath slasher flick that is deeply misogynistic. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 26, 2023
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The Offering (2022) |
The Offering is a disappointing and sloppily edited horror movie with some cringeworthy acting. The ending of the movie is very rushed and haphazard. The movie can't maintain enough suspense. Scenarios are poorly explained and get more and more idiotic. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 26, 2023
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Ping Pong: The Triumph (2023) |
It's a very formulaic and predictable 'underdog' sports story, but there are enough riveting scenes of table tennis/ping pong competitions to keep viewers interested. These action scenes are well-filmed, even though the screenplay is somewhat bland. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 26, 2023
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Vaathi (2023) |
Vaathi tells a very sentimental story that takes a searing look at how the debate over government-funded education versus private education in India affects those who are financially disadvantaged. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 25, 2023
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Creed III (2023) |
Creed III serves up more of the franchise’s winning combination of family drama, boxing fights, and friendship loyalty. The movie might disappoint viewers who are expecting more boxing scenes, but Adonis Creed’s complicated past gets a worthy spotlight. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 24, 2023
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The Pod Generation (2023) |
The Pod Generation is a futuristic satire about family planning that starts off very promising, but then the movie drags with repetition and fizzles out with an underwhelming ending. The talents of the cast members are squandered in this shallow film. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 23, 2023
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Cocaine Bear (2023) |
Just like the bear that’s on a cocaine-fueled rampage, the erratic and unpredictable Cocaine Bear aims to shake up people’s sensibilities. It’s a wild and uneven ride, where the movie’s surreal comedy works well, more often than not. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 23, 2023
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Shehzada (2023) |
Shehzada is a pointless and insipid movie remake that did not need to be made. It's filled with stupid dialogue and ludicrous scenarios that relentlessly insult viewers' intelligence. Kartik Aaryan's smiling charisma isn't enough make this film any good. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 22, 2023
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Of an Age (2022) |
Of an Age is a compelling character study of love connections and the importance of timing in order for a relationship to grow. Elias Anton and Thom Green give memorable performances, but some viewers might not like how parts of the story remain untold. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 20, 2023
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Emily (2022) |
Gorgeously filmed like an Emily Brontë novel come to life, Emily overcomes its occasionally dull moments with very good acting, led by a vibrant performance from Emma Mackey. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 19, 2023
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Amigos (2023) |
An action movie about unrelated look-alikes and mistaken identities usually has only two characters with this problem. Amigos has three characters who are unrelated look-alikes, which just makes this muddled story become increasingly doltish. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 19, 2023
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When You Finish Saving the World (2022) |
It's a very staged-looking and dull dramedy about privileged and entitled people trying to make themselves look socially conscious. The movie's tone starts off as cynical and ends in a sentimental way that looks phony and unearned. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 18, 2023
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Dada (2023) |
The long-winded and sappy drama Dada is supposed to be about a single father being the only caretaker for his son for the first four years of the son's life. But the movie spends too much time showing his job problems and not enough father-son bonding. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 17, 2023
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Vaalvi (2023) |
The comedic thriller Vaalvi starts off with an intriguing concept about a murder conspiracy. However, it's ruined by the film's idiotic second half that relies too much on gimmick gags and unfunny jokes about driving around with a corpse in plain view. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 17, 2023
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Next Exit (2022) |
Next Exit is a road trip movie that can be as erratic and irritating as the would-be couple at the center of the story. The movie would've been better with a less predictable ending, but there are enough compelling moments to make this dramedy watchable. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 16, 2023
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Hannah Ha Ha (2022) |
Hannah Ha Ha is a well-acted drama that shows how a working-class young woman's view of her life is very different from how her ambitious older brother sees it. The low-key style of this film won't appeal to the masses, but it works for this movie. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 16, 2023
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Marlowe (2022) |
Marlowe is going for a classic film noir vibe, but the results are flat and listless. The movie's story is poorly constructed and badly edited. If you want to see cast members act like wooden robots or over-emote in the worst ways, then watch Marlowe. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 15, 2023
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Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2023) |
It's a quantum mess. It’s bad enough that it recycles tired clichés of Marvel movies. This uneven superhero movie also rips off 1977’s Star Wars in many ways. Jonathan Majors’ standout performance can’t save this substandard spectacle. - Culture Mix
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| Posted Feb 14, 2023
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