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1/4
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Inside
(2023)
|
Rex Reed
|
William Dafoe’s unique face and morally ambiguous stance make him an exceptional portrayer of unhinged psychological screen wackos, but the absence of any character revelation or plot development robs Inside of any remotely sustainable interest.
Posted Mar 20, 2023
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1/4
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65
(2023)
|
Rex Reed
|
65 is a gruesome thing to watch, even for dinosaur lovers—and not much fun, either.
Posted Mar 20, 2023
|
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2/4
|
65
(2023)
|
Dylan Roth
|
65 is essentially a big-budget version of a simple, made-for-streaming creature feature, nothing more and nothing less.
Posted Mar 17, 2023
|
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3/4
|
Champions
(2023)
|
Emily Zemler
|
Sometimes you just want to watch something feel-good, which is where Champions scores.
Posted Mar 09, 2023
|
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2/4
|
Emily
(2022)
|
Rex Reed
|
Despite strong visual appeal and a star performance from Emma Mackey this rendering of the Brontë family saga gets almost everything wrong.
Posted Mar 08, 2023
|
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2.5/4
|
Scream VI
(2023)
|
Dylan Roth
|
Scream VI is still an exciting and functional thrill ride, but it could be an ill omen that a series designed to adapt to its times may be blending in too well.
Posted Mar 08, 2023
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|
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Celine and Julie Go Boating
(1974)
|
Tom Milne
|
A delight for every one of its 192 minutes.
Posted Mar 02, 2023
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2/4
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Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre
(2023)
|
Oliver Jones
|
While the director's love of craft can be seen in everything from the costumes to casting, it fails to extend to the performances—outside of [Hugh] Grant's.
Posted Mar 01, 2023
|
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3/4
|
Creed III
(2023)
|
Dylan Roth
|
The Creed series continues to be a more interesting examination of class, caste, and American meritocracy than the Rocky films ever were, all within the bounds of crunchy, buttery popcorn cinema.
Posted Mar 01, 2023
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3.5/4
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Juniper
(2021)
|
Rex Reed
|
Charlotte Rampling coming out of semi-retirement is an occasion that should be accompanied by fireworks — and she provides the fireworks herself in this film about healing fractured family dynamics.
Posted Feb 27, 2023
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1.5/4
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Cocaine Bear
(2023)
|
Oliver Jones
|
The primary sin of Cocaine Bear... is its complete inability to balance the film’s twin directives of broad comedy and shock horror.
Posted Feb 24, 2023
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2/4
|
Devil's Peak
(2023)
|
Rex Reed
|
With terrific Appalachian ambience and moments of carefully constructed action, Devil’s Peak is not a terrible movie, but in the bigger picture, it’s not a particularly memorable one, either.
Posted Feb 24, 2023
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2/4
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Marlowe
(2022)
|
Rex Reed
|
Ironies build, narrow escapes accelerate, and familiar fisticuffs multiply, to little avail, in William Monaghan’s yawning screenplay.
Posted Feb 21, 2023
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2/4
|
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
(2023)
|
Emily Zemler
|
Ultimately one of Marvel’s dullest and most unnecessary movies to date.
Posted Feb 16, 2023
|
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4/4
|
The Quiet Girl
(2022)
|
Rex Reed
|
Made with sensitivity and care by first-time writer-director Colm Bairead, combines serene editing, quiet reserves of strength, and subdued performances that allow you to think and feel instead of just watch.
Posted Feb 16, 2023
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4/4
|
Close
(2022)
|
Rex Reed
|
Close is a fresh, moving and unforgettable chronicle of masculine trust and devotion.
Posted Feb 16, 2023
|
|
1/4
|
Your Place or Mine
(2023)
|
Rex Reed
|
About as romantic and funny as a root canal.
Posted Feb 13, 2023
|
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3.5/4
|
Sharper
(2023)
|
Rex Reed
|
A uniformly terrific cast led by Julianne Moore, Sebastian Stan and John Lithgow makes this neo-noir taut, sexy and so full of surprises you may need to see it twice.
Posted Feb 10, 2023
|
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2.5/4
|
Knock at the Cabin
(2023)
|
Dylan Roth
|
The direction shines and the script is obvious — but what else is new?
Posted Feb 03, 2023
|
|
1/4
|
Blood
(2022)
|
Rex Reed
|
This adolescent vampire tale goes downhill so fast it turns inadvertently from horror to comedy.
Posted Feb 03, 2023
|
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2/4
|
Maybe I Do
(2023)
|
Rex Reed
|
Diane Keaton, Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon and William H. Macy each get a star-turn at pretentious blather in this talky mediocrity.
Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
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3.5/4
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One Fine Morning
(2022)
|
Emily Zemler
|
In small ways, this film from Mia Hansen-Løve — starring Léa Seydoux as a widowed single mother caring for her ill father — will break your heart.
Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
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3.5/5
|
The Man in the Basement
(2021)
|
Rex Reed
|
The Man in the Basement is as provocative, intelligent and suspenseful as anything you are likely to see this year.
Posted Jan 30, 2023
|
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3/4
|
Plane
(2023)
|
Rex Reed
|
A first-rate action thriller.
Posted Jan 23, 2023
|
|
3/4
|
A Man Called Otto
(2022)
|
Rex Reed
|
A follow-the-dots flick with a few moments of charm that aims to be a feel-good crowd pleaser, but lacks enough freshness and insight to make it anything special.
Posted Jan 19, 2023
|
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3/4
|
Dog Gone
(2023)
|
Rex Reed
|
It’s a tearjerker with mature intentions.
Posted Jan 19, 2023
|
|
2/4
|
Empire of Light
(2022)
|
Rex Reed
|
Watching the misguided artistry at work in Empire of Light, it’s hard to fathom just what attracted so many top-tier talents to a project of such torpor.
Posted Jan 19, 2023
|
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4/4
|
Saint Omer
(2022)
|
Emily Zemler
|
The film carefully walks the line between astute intellectual observation and emotionally harrowing contemplation.
Posted Jan 11, 2023
|
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3/4
|
The Old Way
(2023)
|
Rex Reed
|
When it comes to re-writing the rules of Hollywood Westerns, they don’t exactly break new ground, but they do prove the old ways still work best.
Posted Jan 09, 2023
|
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3/4
|
M3GAN
(2022)
|
Dylan Roth
|
Generating both laughs and blood, 'M3GAN' shows why both horror and comedy are still best enjoyed in a packed theater with a game audience.
Posted Jan 06, 2023
|
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3.5/4
|
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
(2022)
|
Emily Zemler
|
Glass Onion is not a perfect film... but it makes for a really good time.
Posted Dec 22, 2022
|
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4/4
|
Women Talking
(2022)
|
Emily Zemler
|
This empathy translates to the viewer, and by the cathartic ending scenes it’s impossible not to feel real emotion for this fictional community.
Posted Dec 22, 2022
|
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2/4
|
Avatar: The Way of Water
(2022)
|
Dylan Roth
|
The film’s focus is split in so many directions that none of its characters feel whole, even after three full hours.
Posted Dec 19, 2022
|
|
|
Three Thousand Years of Longing
(2022)
|
Dylan Roth
|
Visually rich and thematically dense, Three Thousand Years of Longing muses on romance and possession, as well as the slow death of mythology and folklore at the hands of science and capitalism.
Posted Dec 14, 2022
|
|
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The Sea Beast
(2022)
|
Dylan Roth
|
The Sea Beast washes down this heavy thematic material with a playful tone and exciting, well-designed action.
Posted Dec 14, 2022
|
|
|
Resurrection
(2022)
|
Dylan Roth
|
Resurrection is an unapologetically weird film, an anxiety engine that tightens like the spring of a wind-up toy for 100 minutes without ever slowing down or letting go.
Posted Dec 14, 2022
|
|
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On the Count of Three
(2021)
|
Dylan Roth
|
Simultaneously funny, depressing, and life-affirming, On the Count of Three isn’t a macabre masterpiece like, say, Barry, but it scratches a similar itch.
Posted Dec 14, 2022
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|
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Not Okay
(2022)
|
Dylan Roth
|
Not Okay is an unflinching look at not just the superficiality of influencer culture but the ghastly commodification of trauma and tragedy that raises awareness but rarely actually helps anyone.
Posted Dec 14, 2022
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|
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Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
(2022)
|
Dylan Roth
|
More than a mere philosophical exercise, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is sweet, sexy, and certainly the new favorite film of Father Intintola from The Sopranos.
Posted Dec 14, 2022
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|
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Emily the Criminal
(2022)
|
Dylan Roth
|
Emily is Plaza’s Michael Corleone, a character who erodes your sympathies so slowly that you almost don’t notice what’s becoming of her — or perhaps, what she always was.
Posted Dec 14, 2022
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Emergency
(2022)
|
Dylan Roth
|
Director Carey Williams and writer K.D. Dávila ably balance the film’s gross-out humor with its commentary on racial double standards...and lead actor RJ Cyler steals the show with movie star charisma.
Posted Dec 14, 2022
|
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2/4
|
The Whale
(2022)
|
Rex Reed
|
Whatever 'The Whale's many imperfections, Brendan Fraser's relentless display of craft and courage is a must see.
Posted Dec 12, 2022
|
|
1.5/4
|
Emancipation
(2022)
|
Oliver Jones
|
The movie exists between prestige and genre (or two genres, really, as it morphs in its final third from an escaped fugitive picture to a war movie), yet it can’t quite grasp either the elevated emotion of prestige or the snap of the genre.
Posted Dec 08, 2022
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|
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Groundhog Day
(1993)
|
Andrew Sarris
|
Groundhog Day generates enough warmth, wit, humor, sexual chemistry, and spiritual resonance to light up a whole season of Valentine's Days.
Posted Dec 07, 2022
|
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3.5/4
|
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
(2022)
|
Dylan Roth
|
Not merely a cosmetically distinct adaptation of its well-known source material, it puts forth a set of values that go far beyond platitudes and ponders the responsibilities of making and being a person.
Posted Dec 07, 2022
|
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2/4
|
Causeway
(2022)
|
Rex Reed
|
Year-end releases reveal a plethora of fine actors vainly trying to apply their extraordinary skills to raise the quality level of mediocre films. Jennifer Lawrence in Causeway is a perfect example.
Posted Dec 06, 2022
|
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3/4
|
The Son
(2022)
|
Rex Reed
|
The Son is a bold, harrowing and unflinchingly sobering film that is admittedly not for every taste, but an unavoidably intelligent piece of filmmaking for mature viewers that I highly recommend.
Posted Dec 05, 2022
|
|
2.5/4
|
Spoiler Alert
(2022)
|
Emily Zemler
|
This is probably best to skip if you have history of helping a loved one through cancer, but for everyone else it’s a solid weekend watch once it hits streaming.
Posted Dec 05, 2022
|
|
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Residue
(2015)
|
Drew Grant
|
It's futuristic sci-fi/horror, my favorite mashup of genres ever!
Posted Nov 28, 2022
|
|
3.5/4
|
EO
(2022)
|
Oliver Jones
|
Like most good art, EO is better felt then interpreted or completely understood.
Posted Nov 23, 2022
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