Margot Robbie stars (and shines) as an outlaw on the run from Texas authorities during the Great Depression who comes upon a lonely teenage boy willing to help her escape. Though it has all the trappings of an exciting and dramatic thriller, the movie meanders far more than it needs […]
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The Climb
This low-budget festival darling may just be the most honest and lifelike portrayal of toxic friendship ever captured on film. Star, co-writer, and director Michael Covino has created an indie masterpiece that’s either a black comedy or a lighthearted drama—you can decide for yourself. It’s also (for all you cinephiles […]
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Ammonite
Saoirse Ronan and Kate Winslet star in a bodice-ripping Victorian drama about two women who find forbidden love on the windswept shores of a coastal English fishing village. Yes, it may sound like a trashy Harlequin romance, but it’s actually one of the more beautiful and moving films of the […]
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Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
Combine the songs of “The Greatest Showman” with the setting of “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium”, toss in a heaping helping of Christmas, and you’d be in the neighborhood. Fun and colorful and oh-so-family-friendly, the musical redemption story of a local toymaker whose apprentice stole all his ideas may be a […]
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Freaky
“Freaky Friday”-type flicks are nothing new, but when you mash one up with, say, “Friday the 13th”, you might be onto something. Vince Vaughn is an evil serial killer, and Kathryn Newton is a mousy high-schooler, but when they body-swap (mystical knife, ancient curse, etc.), the fun really begins. Cool […]
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I Am Greta
Many of us know her only as the reigning ‘Time Magazine’ Person of the Year and the perpetual thorn in the side of climate deniers, but this intimate new documentary shows us how she is also a vulnerable teenager coping with Asperger syndrome while becoming the world’s most resonant voice […]
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The Informer
The concept of a snitch getting burned by the people he’s snitching for (and then having to fight his way out) isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but this above-average effort is anchored by a star-making turn from Joel Kinnaman and top-notch supporting work from Rosamund Pike and Ana de Armas. It may […]
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Let Him Go
Kevin Costner and Diane Lane star as a couple trying to rescue their grandson from an abusive clan in the 1960s American West. Mayhem ensues. Though it follows a fairly standard plot with little in the way of twists and turns, the film is a slow burn of suspense and […]
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Operation Christmas Drop
Here come the holiday films! Netflix welcomes Christmas three weeks before Thanksgiving with this uneven Hallmark knockoff. Of course, the impossibly beautiful male and female leads hate each other at first, and of course, they wind up basking in the glow of each other’s love. The tropical setting is a […]
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Holidate
Predictably sappy, occasionally funny, and unexpectedly kinda-raunchy, this Hallmark Movie Gone Wild stars Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey as pretty people who decide to team up as platonic companions on every major holiday. Sure, it fizzles the closer we get to the obvious ending, but there are plenty of bright […]
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