Whether it’s his recurring role as the comic relief in the Mission: Impossible series or being the co-writer and star of the vaunted Cornetto trilogy, Simon Pegg has made his name by being a very, very funny man. So when he has occasionally dabbles in pseudo-serious fare (2014’s Hector and the Search for […]
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The Hunt
More famous for raising Trump’s ire than anything else, and after being initially shelved in the wake of the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings, The Hunt finally arrives in theaters six months after its scheduled release. Though it follows a plot we’ve seen many times before—humans hunting humans for sport—the film […]
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Stargirl
It’s been 20 years since author Jerry Spinelli introduced the world to Stargirl, the quirky, manic pixie dream girl who descends on an Arizona high school and then disappears just as quickly, without anyone really appreciating her impact. Though the inherent lessons about individuality and not buckling to norms remain […]
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Big Time Adolescence
Whether Pete Davidson’s comments last month about being done with Saturday Night Live were true or not, it doesn’t look like it’s gonna matter, at least to him. Should the comedian put Rockefeller Plaza in his rearview, he’s proven that he’s got the talent to sustain himself for as long as he […]
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Spenser Confidential
Director Peter Berg has apparently found his muse, helming five straight films with Mark Wahlberg in the lead. Three of them worked (Patriots Day, Deepwater Horizon, Lone Survivor), one didn’t (Mile 22), and the latest, Netflix original Spenser Confidential, falls squarely in between. Despite playing like every police-centered action thriller you’ve seen before, […]
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Onward
After two straight sequels, Pixar is back to offering up fresh material for the first time since 2017’s Coco. Onward, a magic-steeped bit of fun set in a world of elves, fairies, and the occasional centaur-stepdad-policeman, may not offer up Pixar’s usual level of instant-classic-ness, but it still manages to be among […]
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The Way Back
No doubt Ben Affleck’s well-documented struggles with addiction over the years, beginning with an Outward Bound visit at age fifteen, afforded the actor plenty of perspective in prepping for Gavin O’Connor’s The Way Back. In fact, according to O’Connor, Affleck finished his latest rehab stint just in time for the first […]
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Escape from Pretoria
With all the impactful and important films that have been produced documenting the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa (Cry Freedom, A Dry White Season, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom), it’s borderline-incredible that none have been made telling the story of Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee. The two white South Africans were […]
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Guns Akimbo
Anyone who remembers (and who among us doesn’t?) the 11-year-old moppet Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, strolling Diagon Alley and confronting Fluffy, will do at least a triple- (if not quadruple-) take at what’s he’s up to now. Guns Akimbo, the latest from Deathgasm (yes, Deathgasm) director Jason Lei Howden, is a high-voltage, super-frenetic […]
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