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Kelly Vance
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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White Building (2021) |
The images give Neang’s cityscape a tinge of doomed romanticism. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Sep 21, 2023
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Radical Wolfe (2023) |
In a way, Radical Wolfe is a postcard from another land, a stimulating, if ultimately wistful, look back at the last world-famous American reporter and his times. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Sep 14, 2023
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The Owners (2019) |
Actor-turned-director Havelka is too young to have experienced Czechoslovakia as a Soviet satellite firsthand, but this film’s flavorful observational social satire is strongly reminiscent of the celebrated “Czech New Wave” of the 1960. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Aug 31, 2023
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The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023) |
The writing, acting and production values are of an unexpected high quality reminiscent of the work of such old-school fright factories as Universal Studios in the 1930s-‘40s and Hammer Films of the 1960s. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Aug 18, 2023
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Shortcomings (2023) |
All the characterizations, especially by Min and Cola, put Tomine’s witty, careful send-up into a rare category. Shortcomings tells us more about ourselves than any other film this summer, including Barbie. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Aug 10, 2023
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Afire (2023) |
Petzold’s characters are not adventurous types who form fire brigades to battle the disaster. Their concerns have more to do with the 21st-century human emotional condition. And Afire treats them like rare specimens to be studied with a guarded affection. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Aug 02, 2023
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Barbie (2023) |
Barbie was doomed from the start. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Jul 26, 2023
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Oppenheimer (2023) |
A film energized by the life-and-death consequences the scientist deals with every day for years, [it's] a bracing argument in favor of anti-war activism that paradoxically uses the bomb’s awesome firestorm as a spectacularly ironic punctuation mark. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Jul 26, 2023
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20 Days in Mariupol (2023) |
20 Days in Mariupol bears down heavily on a viewer’s emotions. At times its weight is unbearable. But the witnessing must continue, no matter how intense the suffering. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Jul 19, 2023
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Asteroid City (2023) |
[It might be] the quintessence of Anderson’s distinctive filmography -- if by “quintessence” we mean endlessly restated precious absurdity adorned with the filmmaker’s trademark stylistic touches, trotted out once again as if they all were brand new. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Jun 22, 2023
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Mad Heidi (2022) |
Mad Heidi imagines what would happen if Shirley Temple grew up to become a revolutionary, fighting against an insidious corporation intent on corrupting Switzerland’s famous Emmentaler cheese. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Jun 22, 2023
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Elemental (2023) |
Not too wised-up, pretty basic, flamingly (ouch!) utilitarian. But also kind of mild, corny fun. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Jun 15, 2023
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Americonned (2022) |
In the manner of most “outrage docs,” a faint ray of hope penetrates the gloom in the last reel. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Jun 09, 2023
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The Boogeyman (2023) |
Despite a few semi-imaginative moments, there’s very little open ground for aficionados seeking something fresh. - East Bay Express
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| Posted May 31, 2023
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Joyland (2022) |
Over and above its antique cautionary-tale framework, writer-director Saim Sadiq’s drama (co-written with American scenarist Maggie Briggs) is a mini-treatise on Pakistani society in the 21st century, particularly in the gender-role-playing arena. - East Bay Express
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| Posted May 24, 2023
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It Ain't Over (2022) |
See this movie now. - East Bay Express
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| Posted May 17, 2023
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Master Gardener (2022) |
[A] hard-to-admire love-triangle drama. - East Bay Express
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| Posted May 17, 2023
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Other People's Children (2022) |
Actor Efira does an admirable job with such a challenging character. Other People’s Children shows the parts usually left out of the amour fou romances and whirlwind enchantments that most people buy tickets to see. - East Bay Express
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| Posted May 12, 2023
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Polite Society (2023) |
At 103 minutes, Polite Society is about 20 minutes too long. - East Bay Express
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| Posted May 04, 2023
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Sisu (2022) |
A concise, lean, brutal and inventive revenge actioner, with layers of mayhem atop a relatively simple proposition: This man is never going to let the Nazis take anything away from him. Never. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Apr 26, 2023
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River (2021) |
The dazzling cinematography -- by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Ben Knight, Peter McBride and Renan Ozturk -- visits seemingly every corner of the world in seductive rhythmic progression. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Apr 21, 2023
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How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022) |
[Director Daniel Goldhaber’s film] takes the time to characterize each of the eight millennial would-be bombers beyond the usual hasty background fill-in. That means less time for fireballs but more time to examine complex personalities and motives. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Apr 14, 2023
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Boston Strangler (2023) |
On the surface of it, Boston Strangler is a very routine-looking thriller with a topical wrinkle... And yet something happens in the movie’s last quarter, as the crimes’ pattern begins to spread itself out, like a stain on the sheets. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Mar 15, 2023
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A Little White Lie (2023) |
Surprise: Maren and Shannon succeed after all, with help from Kate Hudson and an energetic cast of players. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Mar 08, 2023
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Cocaine Bear (2023) |
Pretty good story, but Cocaine Bear takes it to new heights of ridiculousness. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Mar 02, 2023
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The Quiet Girl (2022) |
Writer-director Bairéad, who might have learned how to shoot a landscape from watching the Hollywood westerns of John Ford, beguiles the audience into seeing Cáit’s life unfold as she does. Relax, and let it charm. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Feb 23, 2023
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The Other Fellow (2022) |
[A] user-friendly, chatty documentary. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Feb 15, 2023
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The Little Soldier (1963) |
A gorgeous blast of cool black-and-white modernity, with the necessary slice of barbarism. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Feb 10, 2023
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Woman of the Photographs (2020) |
It’s not often that a commercially released narrative film takes such an obsessive interest in the error of dwelling on the surface of things. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Feb 01, 2023
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Condor's Nest (2023) |
Condor’s Nest is not an irritatingly bad movie, but it might have been more fun as a comic book. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Jan 26, 2023
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Alice, Darling (2022) |
Alice, Darling, hardly a vital, hot-button participant in the current culture wars, neatly sidesteps most of its own narrative pitfalls thanks to Kendrick’s portrayal of the walking wounded female lead. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Jan 19, 2023
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Jimmy in Saigon (2022) |
The story is simultaneously sad and predictable, yet tender and tentative. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Jan 18, 2023
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The Pale Blue Eye (2022) |
The Pale Blue Eye, a bad movie encumbered by a good cast, probably came across better in outline than it does onscreen. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Jan 12, 2023
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Broker (2022) |
Sounds like a sordid, queasy-making situation all around, until one realizes that Broker is written and directed by Kore-eda Hirokazu, [who] has specialized in seemingly messy, ultimately sincere and humanistic stories. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Jan 06, 2023
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Corsage (2022) |
Corsage is neither humorous nor cruel enough to take the empress’ midlife crisis to the next level. Eventually, it quietly runs out of gas and is over. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Dec 29, 2022
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Wildcat (2022) |
The doc is a triumph of observation. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Dec 29, 2022
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Babylon (2022) |
Chazelle's reach exceeds his grasp. Scene after scene spins away, out of control, pumped full of eye-popping, blaring, empty hyperactivity. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Dec 21, 2022
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Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths (2022) |
Anchored by actor Giménez’s quixotic performance, Bardo -- co-written by Nicolás Giacobone -- manages to finesse Silverio’s stranger-in-a-strange-land crisis of confidence into something that sticks in the mind. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Dec 16, 2022
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Leonor Will Never Die (2022) |
Don’t expect much irony. But this reviewer was happy to see a female Philippine director making the art house rounds with her feature debut, even one as homemade-looking as this. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Dec 13, 2022
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Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022) |
del Toro doesn’t care. He pushes the political pedal all the way through the floorboards and stubbornly remains true to his roots... - East Bay Express
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| Posted Dec 13, 2022
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All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022) |
All the Beauty has a mission: to rally endangered creative types to resist those who would cynically exploit them in multiple ways while raking in truckloads of blood money. One can see it and be outraged. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Dec 02, 2022
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White Noise (2022) |
It’s not one of the filmmaker’s most coherent projects. Approach with caution. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Dec 02, 2022
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The Inspection (2022) |
A promising, provocative feature debut for filmmaker Bratton. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Nov 28, 2022
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Town Destroyer (2022) |
A remarkably perceptive documentary. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Nov 04, 2022
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Holy Spider (2022) |
Director/co-screenwriter Abbasi is not trying for cheap thrills with his inspired-by-true-events account of a crazed serial killer and the female journalist who tracks him down. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Oct 27, 2022
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Decision to Leave (2022) |
Park’s latest, Decision to Leave, may be his most compelling work yet -- faintly disturbing, extremely sensuous, elliptically plotted and elegant. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Oct 21, 2022
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Piggy (2022) |
[Pereda] offers a female wrinkle to the scenes of lurid grotesquery in the Iberian heartland. After visiting those provinces frequently through the eyes of Guillermo del Toro, it’s a pleasure to appreciate Pereda’s stylistic viewpoint. Let’s see more. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Oct 13, 2022
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Riotsville, USA (2022) |
Riotsville, USA displays things that anyone could have seen for themselves in the turbulent late 1960s. It was all around us, in city streets and college campuses. Battle lines were being drawn. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Oct 07, 2022
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Blonde (2022) |
Dominik can’t seem to reconcile MM’s effervescent screen personality with her miserable emotional state. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Sep 30, 2022
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We Are As Gods (2021) |
You don't have to be a techno-hippie to be enthralled by We Are as Gods. - East Bay Express
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| Posted Sep 23, 2022
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