Seeing as she was the brains behind those phenomenal, one-take music videos by OK Go, you would think anything that director Trish Sie touches would be a tightly-choreographed, uber-whimsical joyride. But as we learned in 2017, with her helming of the “silly whimper” that was the finale of the Pitch Perfect trilogy, […]
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The One and Only Ivan
Based on the 2013 Newberry Medal-winning children’s book by Katherine Applegate, The One and Only Ivan is the latest original offering from Disney+, and though it may prove a gentle diversion for kids (and parents) as the summer winds down, it has all the staying power of an August breeze. In and […]
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Project Power
Take a couple of bankable stars, a directing duo whose last effort came out of nowhere to be considerably above average, and a premise that (at least on paper) has a decent amount of promise, and it would be hard to swing and miss, right? Netflix’s latest “original film” Project Power, […]
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Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story
How much is too much for you to stop appreciating a former Hollywood favorite’s work once distasteful (or even criminal) revelations about him arise? Has The Usual Suspects and House of Cards been scratched from your watchlist in the wake of Kevin Spacey’s sexual assault charges? Does Tom Cruise’s Scientology devotion knock out Top […]
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I Used to Go Here
As many folks as there are who are eager to leave the salad days of college life in the rearview mirror, there seem to be just as many people who find it impossible to shake the nostalgia for the ol’ alma mater. It’s a plot we’ve seen play out in […]
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Made in Italy
You can’t help but feel the presence of the late Natasha Richardson in virtually every frame of Made in Italy, the directorial and writing debut of actor James D’Arcy. Starring Liam Neeson and his son (with Natasha) Micheál Richardson, the film is a true life-imitates-art experience, as the pair portray a […]
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Howard
For those not among the deep-dive Disney faithful, the name Howard Ashman may only spark the slightest hint of recognition, but if you were told he’s the man who wrote the lyrics to all the songs in The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, you may well light up like a […]
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An American Pickle
If you’ve ever thought, while watching a Seth Rogen movie, that what it really needed was even more Seth, An American Pickle (now on HBO Max) doubles up the comedic actor for you, albeit with mixed results. Playing dual roles—as Brooklynite hipster app developer Ben Greenbaum and also Ben’s great-grandfather Herschel—Rogen dives […]
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Summerland
Set against the backdrop of the early days of World War II in England, playwright Jessica Swale’s feature directorial debut Summerland (which she also wrote) is one of those fine British films that we’ve seen dozens of times before, but—buoyed by rich performances by Gemma Arterton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and young Lucas Bond—still […]
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The Go-Go’s
The recent spate of music documentaries has given us behind-the-scenes access into everyone from Taylor Swift (Miss Americana) to the late Michael Hutchence (Mystify) to Joan Jett (Bad Reputation), with varying results. It’s easy, it seems, for filmmakers to rely on the model that VH1’s acclaimed Behind the Music series honed to […]
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