Based on a true story, this tale of World War II espionage drama stars Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, and Paul Ritter (in his last role) and is directed by the always-on John Madden (‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’, ‘Miss Sloane’). Despite knowing how history played itself out—and the […]
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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Director Sam Raimi enters the MCU with a movie that may look hella-cool but trips over itself repeatedly as ‘Loki’ creator Michael Waldron’s script alternates between brain-scrambling esoterica and tired superhero tropes. Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, and a top-notch supporting cast all do fantastic work, though, and, despite not being […]
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Memory
Liam Neeson continues his streak of blah-to-mediocre shoot-’em-up thrillers with a fairly lousy effort about a hitman starting to lose his mind. The story works, but the woeful script can’t keep up, and director Martin Campbell (“Casino Royale”, “Goldeneye”) can only do so much to try to make us care. […]
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The Bad Guys
This clever and inventive effort from Dreamworks Animation is a mile-a-minute ball of fun from award-winning director Pierre Perifel and ‘Tropic Thunder’ writer Etan Cohen. The sparkling voice cast includes Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina, Richard Ayoade, and Zazie Beetz in a flick about the titular group (Wolf, Snake, Shark, Piranha, and […]
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The Northman
It seems to me that the term “visionary director” more often than not is code for a self-important director who creates bizarre and esoteric movies for the sole purpose of being different. Such is the case with this raw and unflinching Viking epic from writer-director Robert Eggers. Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole […]
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The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Nicolas Cage is Nicolas Cage in this ultra-meta action-comedy about a burned-out actor, a Spanish superfan, and a kidnapped teen being held by arms traffickers. Credit to co-writer and director Tom Gormican for somehow pulling all the madness together in a ridiculously fun, tongue-in-cheek helluva good time. Cage is all […]
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Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
The third installment in the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ trilogy rebounds quite a bit from the sluggish second entry but still can’t come close to holding a candle to the original Harry Potter films. In and of itself, it’s not a terrible film (thanks in large part to Jude Law’s capable turn […]
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Dual
Karen Gillan stars in this off-the-wall thriller, set in a not-too-distant future where terminally ill people can clone themselves to make their death easier for their loved ones. The issue is, should the person miraculously recover, the original and double have to fight to the death. (We can’t have two […]
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Metal Lords
If I told you it was a movie, written by D. B. Weiss (of ‘Game of Thrones’ fame), about two lowly high school outcasts who form a heavy metal band and then recruit a loner cellist to join in the fray, would that sound interesting at all? Turns out, yes. […]
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All the Old Knives
Chris Pine tries his damndest to elevate this international spy intrigue film above the level of mediocre Tom Clancy-lite, but it slogs more than it sings. Plus, anytime you can easily figure out the “big reveal” five minutes into the film, you know you’re in trouble. Thandiwe Newton, Laurence Fishburne, […]
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