A three-hour-long, heady, Oscar-nominated Japanese film about a widower attempting to stage a version of ‘Uncle Vanya’ may not sound like riveting stuff, but ‘Drive My Car’ is as close to a game-changer as anything that has come down the pike in recent years. Though it spends most of its […]
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Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Picking up 38 (!) years after the original and conveniently forgetting about the 2016 reboot (and the 1989 sequel, for that matter), this continuation of the franchise stars Paul Rudd, Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, and Carrie Coon as the latest to do battle against rabble-rousing spooks and specters. It’s a […]
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Black Friday
I suppose if you’re drunk, stoned, or just so exhausted from the holidays that you can’t think straight this would be a mildly entertaining take on the zombie/alien apocalypse. For anyone with a modicum of sanity, however, it’s a low-rent, slogging mess that feels like it was made for $100 […]
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tick, tick… BOOM!
Lin-Manuel Miranda makes his directorial debut in this feature presentation of the late, great Jonathan Larson’s semi-autobiographical off-broadway musical. Andrew Garfield (who knew he could sing?) absolutely kills it as Larson, and Miranda does just enough to keep the film interesting without getting in his own way. It’s not quite […]
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King Richard
Will Smith turns in the performance of his life in this biopic of Serena and Venus’ father. The script by first-timer Zach Baylin may suffer from having to cram a lot of years into two hours, but the cast makes up for it with some stellar work. Along with Smith, […]
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Home Sweet Home Alone
I’m not sure who had (much less greenlit) the decidedly un-brilliant idea of re-doing Home Alone (yet again) but this time with the kid as the obnoxious villain and the ‘bandits’ as the good guys, but here you go. Sure, Ellie Kemper and Rob Delaney give it their all as […]
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Red Notice
Proof that even the best and most reliable cast can’t overcome a silly script and bloated plot, Red Notice arrives on Netflix feeling very much like a direct-to-video B-movie. Sure, Gal Gadot, Dwayne Johnson, and Ryan Reynolds (playing essentially the same role each of them ever plays) do some good […]
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Belfast
Drawing from his own life experiences growing up during “The Troubles”, screenwriter (and director) Kenneth Branagh has put together a superb film that easily stands among the best and most affecting this year. Elegantly shot in black and white by Branagh’s longtime collaborator Haris Zambarloukos, it’s a deeply moving and […]
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Father Christmas is Back
As much of a dumpster fire you could possibly imagine and chock-full of god-awful, groan-worthy one-liners, this nonsensical disaster may actually make you want to swear off movies forever. Not only is it stupid and boring and lazy, it also squanders the talents of John Cleese, Elizabeth Hurley, and Kelsey […]
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Los Angeles
This oddball Indie from writer-director Mitch Temple plays a little like something David Lynch would concoct if he were trying to make a charming film about finding companionship in strange places. An escaped convict picks up a young mute woman for a cross-country road trip—simple enough premise until you factor […]
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