There’s no denying the fact that Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson enjoyed making this thing, and the expansion of Salma Hayek’s role from the first installment certainly doesn’t hurt, but if you’ve ever seen anything resembling Lethal Weapon, 48 Hours, The Other Guys, or, heck, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, there’s […]
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In the Heights
Before he made Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda penned an ode to his old New York neighborhood. Now the film version, directed by John M. Chu with his trademark vibrancy and passion, arrives as a wildly exuberant, feel-good musical sure to lift your summer spirits. Though it lacks some of the gravitas […]
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Lady of the Manor
Headlined by Melanie Lynskey and co-written and directed by Justin Long, this had the potential to be a cute little quirky Indie flick (about a woman haunted by the ghost of the old mansion she’s hired to babysit), but it instead dissolved into pseudo-raunchy silliness early on and could never […]
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Awake
“Awake” (Netflix): Plot holes, contrivances, and frustratingly unanswered questions are the order of the day in this second-rate suspense thriller about a society that can’t sleep. When an unexplained catastrophe wipes out all power, folks also realize they aren’t able to get any shut-eye, which leads to hallucinations and all […]
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Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet
Following in the footsteps of the excellent films Greta and The Year Earth Changed is this documentary chronicling how the planet is slowly dying, but that there’s still time to turn things around. Its heart is in the right place, sure, and the addition of David Attenborough certainly lends some […]
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Cruella
It’s not often that Disney makes a bona fide clunker, but there’s very little about this thing that actually works, chief of which is providing an answer to the question, “Why do we need an origin story of Cruella de Vil?”. From Emma Stone’s horrific attempt at a British accent […]
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A Quiet Place Part Two
Every bit as nerve-jangling and brilliantly executed as the first film, the only thing missing this go-’round is the element of surprise, which inherently drops away in every sequel. Emily Blunt is still at the top of her game, but Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe (as the youngsters in the […]
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Nail Bomber: Manhunt
This efficient (72-minute) documentary tracks the trio of London bombings in 1999 that paralyzed the country, leaving three people dead and more than 100 injured. It’s not as probing and insightful as you might hope or expect, but it’s an above-average primer on those three April weeks, and it features […]
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