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Chris Rock: Selective Outrage
(2023)
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Izzy Ampil
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Rock’s personal grievance with Smith is legitimate, but by trying to mash it into the shape of a cultural cautionary tale, he does himself and his comedy a disservice.
Posted Mar 08, 2023
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Cocaine Bear
(2023)
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Venessa Wong
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It’s too campy and self-deprecating to be an indelible work of cinema, but that’s not the point: It’s original, and it’s a very good time.
Posted Feb 24, 2023
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Pamela, a Love Story
(2023)
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Alessa Dominguez
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The end result is a revealing and sometimes surprisingly sad portrait, even if, predictably, it fails to sit with the contradictions of her persona.
Posted Feb 02, 2023
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Amber: The Girl Behind the Alert
(2023)
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Alessa Dominguez
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Even with the documentary’s initial emphasis on the family’s voices, its clunky, repetitive storytelling does a disservice to the case.
Posted Jan 26, 2023
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M3GAN
(2022)
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Izzy Ampil
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M3GAN’s plot is functional, and its thrills are solid, but its sense of humor is uniquely vibrant, both weirder and funnier than expected even after months of hype.
Posted Jan 06, 2023
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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
(2022)
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David Mack
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Glass Onion is a perfect reminder that great art need not be serious. Sometimes, it’s just about having fun. If you look closely, even the Mona Lisa is smiling just a little.
Posted Dec 29, 2022
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Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody
(2022)
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Alessa Dominguez
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Kasi Lemmons's Whitney Houston biopic strikes the right balance between conveying the joy of the star's music and honoring the truth of her pain.
Posted Dec 22, 2022
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The Boss Baby: Christmas Bonus
(2022)
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Venessa Wong
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While I, too, experience franchise fatigue, I would still look forward to seeing another installment of this zingy series.
Posted Dec 22, 2022
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The Whale
(2022)
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Elamin Abdelmahmoud
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What appeared to be a well-meaning film has ended up as part of a long line of art about fat people that ends up trafficking in the same tropes around representing fat people. The Whale is a movie that doesn’t know when it should have flinched.
Posted Dec 16, 2022
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Avatar: The Way of Water
(2022)
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Izzy Ampil
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Fantasy is most powerful when creators engage thoughtfully with their chosen allegory, checking all the minute components of their fictional world’s machine. But The Way of Water is a blunt tool, expanding the world of Avatar via copy and paste.
Posted Dec 16, 2022
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Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
(2022)
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Albert Samaha
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The first Black Panther... set a bar Wakanda Forever didn't come close to matching. But taken on its own terms, as a superhero sequel tasked with serving an unusually wide range of needs, it stands as a different kind of accomplishment.
Posted Nov 17, 2022
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Barbarian
(2022)
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Celia Mattison
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Barbarian is a timely depiction of youth anxiety toward a territorial older class and an older generation’s disdain for an entitled, aimless youth.
Posted Nov 08, 2022
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X
(2022)
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Celia Mattison
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X reanimates perennial fears of aging, older women, and one’s fading relevance.
Posted Nov 08, 2022
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Black Adam
(2022)
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Eric Thurm
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The issue with Black Adam might not be that the movie is too interested in being a darker take on superheroes -- it’s that it’s not willing to go further.
Posted Oct 21, 2022
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Don't Worry Darling
(2022)
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Elamin Abdelmahmoud
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An entertaining thriller replete with well-built tension, mostly elegant acting performances (except for Harry Styles’s), and a richly designed world.
Posted Sep 30, 2022
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Call Jane
(2022)
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Shannon Keating
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I’m grateful for this solid, serviceable tribute to activists who provided a blueprint for mutual aid and community care. We can really use it right now.
Posted Jul 25, 2022
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All That Breathes
(2022)
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Sandi Rankaduwa
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Even the smallest and least likely of creatures — rats, snails, insects — are given the cinematic treatment.
Posted Jul 25, 2022
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Framing Agnes
(2022)
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Shannon Keating
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It’s a smart and inventive method of storytelling that nods to the reality that, until very recently, most trans people in pop culture have been relegated to trashy daytime TV, where they’ve tended to be cruelly depicted as aberrations.
Posted Jul 25, 2022
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A Love Song
(2022)
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Shannon Keating
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This is a quiet, lovely film about the kinds of people rarely afforded such a humanistic portrayal in cinema.
Posted Jul 25, 2022
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Cha Cha Real Smooth
(2022)
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Sandi Rankaduwa
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Cha Cha Real Smooth made me feel so many things, not least of which is eagerness to see what Raiff might come up with next. Fingers crossed, the party's just getting started.
Posted Jul 25, 2022
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Nanny
(2022)
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Shannon Keating
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A fiercely determined self-advocate who embodies both the joys and the terrible pains of motherhood.
Posted Jul 25, 2022
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When You Finish Saving the World
(2022)
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Elamin Abdelmahmoud
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At the center of the film, Eisenberg's fundamental question seems to be: It shouldn't be this hard to be good, should it? It's a question worth asking.
Posted Jul 25, 2022
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The Territory
(2022)
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Sandi Rankaduwa
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Pritz's docu-thriller — which names Darren Arronofsky as a producer — is hard to tear away from, with moments of beauty, but also of heart-racing dread.
Posted Jul 25, 2022
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Sharp Stick
(2022)
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Shannon Keating
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Because other viewers will find that, with its explicit age play in service to daddy lovers everywhere, this is a strange, sexy, strangely sexy movie...
Posted Jul 25, 2022
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Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.
(2022)
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Sandi Rankaduwa
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Is there anything Regina Hall can’t do?
Posted Jul 25, 2022
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Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
(2022)
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Elamin Abdelmahmoud
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Leo Grande is a compelling coming-of-age tale that lets us peer into the fragile, fractious process of confronting shame about sex, and a woman's journey...
Posted Jul 25, 2022
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After Yang
(2021)
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Sandi Rankaduwa
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It's an emotional slow burn, feeling almost like a guided meditation. You need to be in the mood for it, but you might just love where it takes you...
Posted Jul 25, 2022
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Cha Cha Real Smooth
(2022)
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Shannon Keating
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A loving, tender-hearted, and very funny portrait.
Posted Jun 23, 2022
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Friends: The Reunion
(2021)
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Scaachi Koul
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A scripted version of what happened to the actors behind these archetypal characters would have made for more compelling TV.
Posted Apr 08, 2022
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Deep Water
(2022)
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Scaachi Koul
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Honestly, reflecting on this movie for more than five minutes will make the whole thing melt in your hands, so it’s best not to consider it for too long.
Posted Apr 07, 2022
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Taylor Swift: Miss Americana
(2020)
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Alessa Dominguez
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Swift has clearly felt that pressure — to be young and relatable and relevant — throughout her career, but it’s certainly not unique to her experience.
Posted Apr 07, 2022
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Bombshell
(2019)
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Alessa Dominguez
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By failing to contextualize their race and class, Bombshell overlooks how complicated the real women who ousted Roger Ailes are.
Posted Apr 07, 2022
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Jawline
(2019)
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Alessa Dominguez
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In some ways, Jawline is so in thrall to those old narratives that it sometimes fails to explore what is actually new...still, its sober approach is a welcome change of tone for coverage of an industry that is here to stay.
Posted Apr 07, 2022
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Rocketman
(2019)
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Alessa Dominguez
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Rocketman is, in some ways, a sad reminder that even in its most supposedly fantastic imaginings, Hollywood fantasies can still be so straight.
Posted Apr 06, 2022
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Knock Down the House
(2019)
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Alessa Dominguez
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Still, it’s a reminder of how rare it is to get a clear, sustained look at any women in politics, and a credit to the film’s unique perspective and fascinating protagonists, that it leaves you wanting more, not less...
Posted Apr 05, 2022
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Whitney
(2018)
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Alessa Dominguez
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Whitney offers a more complex portrait of the family that both aided Houston's rise and contributed to her downfall.
Posted Apr 05, 2022
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Bohemian Rhapsody
(2018)
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Alessa Dominguez
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In trying to tell Mercury’s queer story through his straight bandmates’ eyes, the new Queen biopic ends up saying almost nothing at all.
Posted Apr 05, 2022
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Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal
(2021)
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Alessa Dominguez
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The documentary makes clear that the admissions scandal wasn’t just about one scammer or millionaire parents, but that the entire system is rigged in favor of those who already benefit from being upper class.
Posted Apr 05, 2022
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Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry
(2021)
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Alessa Dominguez
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The World’s a Little Blurry hews close to the Eilish mythology, yet still offers a rare glimpse behind the making of a teen pop star.
Posted Apr 05, 2022
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Holidate
(2020)
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Elamin Abdelmahmoud
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Every scene is drudgery, every joke is homework, and every plot point is hell.
Posted Apr 05, 2022
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Promising Young Woman
(2020)
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Alessa Dominguez
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The film’s take on power and trauma is deeper than the usual pop feminism.
Posted Apr 05, 2022
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Britney Vs Spears
(2021)
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Alessa Dominguez
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Netflix’s Britney vs. Spears raises lingering questions more directly than even Framing Britney Spears did.
Posted Apr 05, 2022
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Bo Burnham: Inside
(2021)
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Shannon Keating
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Inside felt like a hilariously disturbing, and disturbingly hilarious, deep dive into my own internet-addled brain.
Posted Apr 05, 2022
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Tyler Perry's A Fall From Grace
(2020)
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Michael Blackmon
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Tyler Perry’s (terrible) new Netflix movie A Fall From Grace makes it clear that it’s time he started collaborating with artists who actually have something to say.
Posted Apr 05, 2022
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Cinderella
(2021)
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Michael Blackmon
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This new take on a classic tale is a worthy addition to the long list of Cinderella adaptations.
Posted Apr 05, 2022
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Everything Everywhere All at Once
(2022)
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Frances Nguyen
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This sci-fi mashup has a message: Life might be fleeting, unremarkable, and inconsequential, but we should cherish it anyway.
Posted Apr 01, 2022
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Marry Me
(2022)
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Alessa Dominguez
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The story lacks the confidence to disrupt early aughts rom-com conventions even as it talks about breaking them.
Posted Feb 10, 2022
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Jackass Forever
(2022)
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Shannon Keating
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Thank god for Knoxville, Steve-O, and their band of mismatched brothers. Though their bodies might be 20 years older than when they first started putting them through hell and back to entertain us... their inner enfants terribles have yet to grow up.
Posted Feb 10, 2022
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Nine Days
(2020)
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Elamin Abdelmahmoud
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In addition to a stunning performance from Zazie Beetz, Nine Days also features Benedict Wong, Tony Hale, and Bill Skarsgård.
Posted Jan 06, 2022
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Benedetta
(2021)
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Shannon Keating
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Will Benedetta's personal relationship with God spare their Tuscan town from mass death, or will her forbidden sapphism be both her and the village's demise? You're going to want to find out - trust me.
Posted Jan 06, 2022
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