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Ken Hanke
Tomatometer-approved critic
Author of books KEN RUSSELL'S FILMS, CHARLIE CHAN AT THE MOVIES, A CRITICAL GUIDE TO HORROR FILM SERIES, TIM BURTON: AN UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY OF THE FILMMAKER. Associate Editor: SCARLET STREET magazine. Movie reviewer/movie coordinator, MOUNTAIN XPRESS. Member Southeastern Film Critics Association.
TOMMYTHE RULING CLASSLOVE ME TONIGHTMOULIN ROUGEBRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN
Asheville NC
http://www.mountainx.com
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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In the Mood for Love (2000) |
In the Mood for Love will more than reward a viewer willing to work with its deliberate pace and use of nuance rather than outright statement. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Jul 14, 2023
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The Sunshine Boys (1975) |
The sole point of calm in this work that constantly confuses loud for funny is George Burns, who underplays every scene and walks off with what accolades there are. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Jun 14, 2021
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The Unforeseen (2007) |
Very thought-provoking and worth seeing. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Sep 22, 2020
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The Strange Case of Dr. Rx (1942) |
Flick, fast and fun. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted May 12, 2020
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Transsiberian (2008) |
Anderson hasn't made a great film here, but he's made a very good one. Just don't go to it thinking it's a fun "train thriller." - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted May 05, 2020
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The Plainsman (1936) |
It's also one of DeMille's best movies, occasionally (like the last shot) achieving the truly mythical. And both Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur are everything movie stars should be. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Apr 22, 2020
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Lady on a Train (1945) |
It's a lot of fun in that slick 1940s way. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Apr 21, 2020
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The House of the Seven Gables (1940) |
The results are a good, if far from great, little film. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Apr 16, 2020
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Black Sunday (1977) |
The acting is good -- especially from Dern in his over-the-top mode -- and parts of the film are exciting. But I draw the line at finding it to be any sort of a classic. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Aug 23, 2016
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Dark Horse (2015) |
Sweet without being cloying, crowd-pleasing without being obviously manipulative, this is how this kind of tale ought to be told. See it now before Hollywood decides to remake it. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Jun 21, 2016
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Weiner (2016) |
Yeah, you almost certainly know how this is going to play out, but that doesn't keep the film from being compelling and even fascinating. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Jun 21, 2016
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The Fits (2015) |
Virtually impossible to synopsize and not even easy to describe. Let me just say that this a rather special movie. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Jun 21, 2016
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The Conjuring 2 (2016) |
While deploring the glorification of the Warrens, I can't deny that James Wan has made one creepy horror movie. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Jun 14, 2016
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Genius (2016) |
Is Genius a great film? I won't go that far, but it is intelligent and entertaining. And moving. I'll take that. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Jun 14, 2016
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Marguerite (2015) |
Something at once comic and surprisingly thoughtful -- a work of great delicacy and generosity. There's a magical, almost luminous, quality to Frot's portrayal. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Jun 07, 2016
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Maggie's Plan (2015) |
It may be a minor treat, but it is a treat and a terrific showcase for Gerwig -- and what it affords Ethan Hawke and Julianne Moore ain't bad either. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Jun 07, 2016
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Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016) |
The last time I spent 86 minutes that lasted this long, dental work was involved. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Jun 07, 2016
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Love & Friendship (2016) |
It is Austen -- reasonably at least -- with a touch of Oscar Wilde and full-on Whit Stillman. Funny, appealing, civilized -- and fully aware of the artifice holding it all together. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted May 25, 2016
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The Nice Guys (2016) |
Rude, raunchy, violent and very funny action-comedy-mystery with two great leads and a surprisingly terrific newcomer. All in all, I'd call it good unwholesome fun. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted May 25, 2016
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The Meddler (2015) |
Susan Sarandon shines in this unassuming, likable and sometimes even surprising comedy that manages to miss nearly every pitfall. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted May 17, 2016
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Money Monster (2016) |
Often witty, frequently exciting, but neither as modern nor as important as it seems to think it is. Viewed as entertainment, however, it's worth a look. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted May 17, 2016
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The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015) |
Thoroughly standard biopic that doesn't challenge the viewer but is uniformly entertaining, splendidly acted and strikingly intelligent. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted May 10, 2016
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Sing Street (2016) |
Good-hearted, charming, winning little movie with doses of genuine magic -- and an authentic sense of time and place and youthfulness. It might restore your faith in the musical film. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted May 10, 2016
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Miles Ahead (2016) |
It is obvious early on that Cheadle is giving us a combination shaggy dog adventure yarn and a marvelous portrait (not story) of the man and his music. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Apr 27, 2016
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City of Gold (2015) |
So much of the food and its unassuming nature -- and especially Gold's enthusiasm for it -- is, like the film itself, very appealing indeed. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Apr 12, 2016
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Midnight Special (2016) |
Jeff Nichols latest, Midnight Special, is the writer-director's most complex and accomplished film to date. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Apr 12, 2016
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Eye in the Sky (2015) |
A chilling look at modern warfare and its detached nature. But it's also a film that works as first-rate suspenseful thriller of a generally cerebral kind. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Apr 05, 2016
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Demolition (2015) |
A mix that director Vallée, screenwriter Brian Sipe and a first-rate cast manage to turn into a cohesive whole -- despite several changes in tone. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Apr 05, 2016
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I Saw the Light (2015) |
Hiddleston is terrific in the lead role. Unfortunately, the film housing this performance has one of the most poorly structured scripts of all time. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Mar 29, 2016
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Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) |
I was at least hoping for a grand, jaw-dropping folly (like Snyder's 2011 Sucker Punch), but got something far more ordinary. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Mar 29, 2016
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Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015) |
What could have been 90 minutes of cringe-inducing comedy and debatable drama is instead a work of wit, delicacy and warm humanity. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Mar 22, 2016
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Creative Control (2015) |
You'd be hard pressed to find a better looking movie and a more interesting premise. But, dramatically, the film suffers from unlikable characters and a certain smugness. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Mar 17, 2016
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Only Yesterday (1991) |
An absolutely magnificent animated romantic drama that captures the essence of how our past informs our present. Touching, funny, realistic and quite wonderful. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Mar 17, 2016
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Embrace of the Serpent (2015) |
Rich and strange mystical film that is filled to the bursting point with dream images and bizarre characters. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Mar 17, 2016
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The Brothers Grimsby (2016) |
The Brothers Grimsby proudly wears its sloppiness like a misspelled badge of honor. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Mar 17, 2016
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10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) |
With or without the Cloverfield business, 10 Cloverfield Lane isn't a bad movie, merely a predictable and largely mediocre one. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Mar 17, 2016
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The Bronze (2015) |
When the film gets past its often noxious first 40 minutes and becomes a more appealing story, this raunchy rom-com comes into its own. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Mar 17, 2016
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Deadpool (2016) |
Lavishly vulgar, completely disrespectful, gratuitously bloody -- and an awful lot of tasteless fun if you're not turned off by those things. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Mar 13, 2016
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How to Be Single (2016) |
Not minding the experience is as close as I'm getting to to a ringing endorsement, and somehow "not minding it" doesn't strike me as something likely to end up on a DVD cover. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Mar 13, 2016
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The Lady in the Van (2015) |
A charming, touching, absolutely delightful comedy-drama with a terrific Maggie Smith performance -- and an equally fine turn from Alex Jennings. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Mar 13, 2016
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Risen (2016) |
What we ultimately have is mostly no better or worse than a 1950s Biblical epic -- an economical one at that -- of the kind George Clooney is supposedly the star of in Hail, Caesar!. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Mar 13, 2016
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Gods of Egypt (2016) |
Somehow, all its amassed fuss and bother and cleavage and silliness and more cleavage mostly turns out to be tedious. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Mar 13, 2016
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Zootopia (2016) |
Gorgeous to look at, clever, funny and with a solid and atmospheric mystery at its core. But there's more here in the film's timely and relevant thematic content. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Mar 13, 2016
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London Has Fallen (2016) |
A brain-dead, obnoxious, toxic lump of xenophobia, flag-waving, stock footage, crummy CGI, dismal performances and worse writing. The jackpot of bad movies. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Mar 13, 2016
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Regression (2015) |
By no means the disaster (at least artistically) it's been painted as, this is an unusual horror movie -- one that critiques and subverts its own genre. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Feb 10, 2016
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Where to Invade Next (2015) |
Lighter than usual Moore documentary that operates in a unusually upbeat manner for the usually more provocative filmmaker. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Feb 10, 2016
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Hail, Caesar! (2016) |
The Coen Brothers in a gleefully playful mood with a film that at once spoofs and honors the last days of the old Hollywood. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Feb 10, 2016
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The Forest (2016) |
The first film of 2016 should have been shot before it exited the paddock. Not only would it have been merciful, it would have saved me from 90 minutes of sheer tedium. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Feb 02, 2016
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13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016) |
Michael Bay blows up stuff, unleashes massive firepower and concludes not much of anything in this jingoistic mess of a movie. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Feb 02, 2016
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Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016) |
Absolutely the only thing wrong with Kung Fu Panda 3 is that it's the third film in a series that is starting to show the inevitable signs of strain. - Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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| Posted Feb 02, 2016
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