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Luke Parker
Tomatometer-approved critic
Luke Parker is an award-winning film critic and columnist based in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area.
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) |
Sometimes, an MCU film, like Shang-Chi, is released that combines its louder, blockbuster values with a deeply human center, a magnificent, empathetic spark that reminds worn naysayers (admittedly like myself) what this unmatched series is capable of. - The Star Democrat (MD)
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| Posted Sep 27, 2021
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Malignant (2021) |
Unfortunately, spending too much time creating atmosphere and not enough establishing details or personality, Wan takes his whacky, pulp premise and smooshes it into something that's simultaneously over-produced and under-cooked. - The Star Democrat (MD)
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| Posted Sep 27, 2021
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Candyman (2021) |
The result is a mixed bag. Without the background, without Helen's investigation and her introduction to this world, this "Candyman" movie falls more in line with the meet-and-slash routine of other horror reboots. - The Star Democrat (MD)
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| Posted Sep 27, 2021
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The Night House (2020) |
Visually, audibly, and thematically, The Night House is an assaulting film, but because it works best in the gray areas between certainty and hysteria, the filling of the void, as it were, is a bit of a letdown. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Sep 27, 2021
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Reminiscence (2021) |
The detours can be frustrating, but the branches are often interesting to venture across, as is the experience of watching a major motion picture willing to reach as far down a rabbit hole as "Reminiscence" does. - The Star Democrat (MD)
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| Posted Sep 27, 2021
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Jungle Cruise (2021) |
An unapologetic archeological swashbuckler...[and] a movie that bites off perhaps a bit more than it can chew. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Sep 27, 2021
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The Suicide Squad (2021) |
If there's only one true, declarative statement to be made about James Gunn's "The Suicide Squad," it would be that the film is entirely and undoubtedly a product of trust. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Sep 27, 2021
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Free Guy (2021) |
Free Guy is not the movie it thinks it is. It is not a champion for originality. In fact, tag-teaming on punchlines with two of Hollywood's biggest franchises, it's hard to see it as nothing more than a corporate red herring in that regard. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Sep 27, 2021
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The Green Knight (2021) |
The Green Knight is far from the most faithful adaptation ever put to screen - in fact, it may be up there with Monty Python in terms of Arthurian accuracy - but its deviations and amendments are always far from uninteresting. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Sep 27, 2021
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Old (2021) |
Shyamalan has garnered a reputation for twists and turns that has regularly come off onscreen as a professional burden rather than an artistic choice - a sick, unfortunate game of catch up by a director once heralded as the next filmic pioneer. - The Star Democrat (MD)
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| Posted Sep 27, 2021
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Val (2021) |
Val is an affectionate film, and even more, a self-affectionate film. It does just as much obscuring and bending as it does revealing. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Sep 27, 2021
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Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021) |
Should the merits of their careers be eventually judged in some strange, pop-cultural category by their collaboration with the Looney Tunes, the odds are leaning very heavily in Air Jordan's favor. - The Star Democrat (MD)
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| Posted Aug 04, 2021
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Black Widow (2021) |
Romanoff's positioning against a flagrant misogynist, combined again with the delayed timing of her long-awaited solo film, may feel dangerously close to tokenism. - The Star Democrat (MD)
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| Posted Aug 04, 2021
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Pig (2021) |
Whereas Cage's outrageous tendencies generally draw an overshadowing effect, in "Pig," an odd little film set in the surprisingly sardonic world of culinary Portland, they're an unexpected anchor. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Aug 04, 2021
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Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021) |
Questlove's first film is exactly what you'd hope it'd be: a vibrant fusion between song and history. If you came for the music, you'll be surprised to find yourself staying for the knowledge. And certainly vice versa. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Aug 04, 2021
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F9 The Fast Saga (2021) |
F9 is a stupendously stupid movie. Total nonsense. Bombastic and, forgive the pun, ludicrous. But I'd be lying if I didn't say I had a lot of fun watching it. I now support multi-million-dollar goofball productions. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Aug 04, 2021
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Zola (2020) |
The result is an off-kilter and stylish production - which is particularly effervescent when promoting Bravo's visual flair - but, ultimately, one with a story as abrupt as a character limit. - The Star Democrat (MD)
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| Posted Aug 04, 2021
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Luca (2021) |
The movie made me miss my own summertime friendships, with their imperfections and their tenderness, but I couldn't help but feel that the movie, at least by comparison to other Pixar projects, wasn't very ambitious. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Aug 04, 2021
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The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (2021) |
As the sequel to a movie that probably never deserved one, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard is about as vulgar and vulgarly bloated and uninspired as you'd expect. And as it turns out, three truly is a crowd. [published June 28] - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Aug 04, 2021
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In the Heights (2021) |
In The Heights puts the pop back in popcorn, as in, "go to the theater, eat some popcorn, and watch this movie." - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Jun 17, 2021
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Spirit Untamed (2021) |
This is the kind of movie I hope my kid never finds on DVD, and the DVD that may have to go "missing" after one too many viewings. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Jun 07, 2021
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Bo Burnham: Inside (2021) |
If there was ever a film that demonstrated the persistence of art, it's this one. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Jun 07, 2021
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The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) |
The third time is not the charm for The Conjuring franchise, though to be honest, I don't know what a charm superseding those first two movies would even look like. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Jun 07, 2021
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A Quiet Place Part II (2021) |
Going from world building to world exploring, Part II experiments less with genre to bring about a noticeably different experience - one with a lot more sound and a lot less story...[but] there's a good apocalypse story here. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Jun 02, 2021
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Cruella (2021) |
As someone who generally gets too angry about resurrected characters and origin stories, I found Cruella surprisingly energetic and happily twisted. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Jun 02, 2021
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Riders of Justice (2020) |
An artistic gift for the eye, the heart, and the mind. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted May 26, 2021
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Army Of The Dead (2021) |
A penniless heist film and a brainless zombie flick. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted May 26, 2021
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The Woman in the Window (2021) |
Amy Adams is fighting an uphill battle in this one, a movie so shameless it shoves its inspirations - all much better movies, by the way - right in the viewer's face, as if to say, "wouldn't you rather be watching something else instead?" - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted May 17, 2021
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Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021) |
There's too much "could have been" and "should have been" surrounding Spiral to dismiss it as just franchise fodder. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted May 17, 2021
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The Water Man (2020) |
A story about humanity that isn't afraid to challenge its younger audiences' hearts and minds. However, the way the film opens the curtain on imagination prevents Oyelowo from fully producing the same kind of '80s Hollywood adventure he set out to make. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted May 09, 2021
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Wrath of Man (2021) |
Ritchie's time-warping powers are on display once again, though this time...they're used to inflate the movie, to make it seem like there's more happening than there actually is. [But] there's more than enough to enjoy with this movie. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted May 09, 2021
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Tom Clancy's Without Remorse (2021) |
Michael B. Jordan goes for Olympic gold in tactical swimming in this unpleasantly convoluted and politically uninspired revenge thriller. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted May 02, 2021
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The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021) |
A high-spirited shot of energetic eye candy, the movie is also fondly intimate and crude to a T. I loved it. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted May 02, 2021
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The Father (2020) |
Emotionally, rationally, and chronologically, The Father whips its viewers around like rag dolls. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Apr 25, 2021
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Mortal Kombat (2021) |
Mortal Kombat puts the "brutal" in brutality and the "kom" in kome on... - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Apr 25, 2021
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Mank (2020) |
Mank works best as an exhibit of broken talent. It's a film whose journey asks the viewer to find worth in a character who sees none in himself, and withstand his self-sabotage as it grapples against his genius. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Apr 25, 2021
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Sound of Metal (2019) |
This is a film that fuses the farthest limits of its form to tell its story and remind viewers of both the fragility and adaptability of life. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Apr 19, 2021
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Promising Young Woman (2020) |
A candy-coated contemporary nightmare...I don't think any other movie out there belongs better to this cultural moment. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Apr 19, 2021
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Crisis (2021) |
A solid cookie-cutter thriller that does its darnedest to touch on as many different sides of the opioid epidemic as possible. The result is far from perfect, but it is, at the very least, commendable. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Apr 19, 2021
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Minari (2020) |
And while it may not preserve the American Dream, per se, it projects one American dream for decency in all people. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Apr 11, 2021
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Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) |
The film reminds audiences of the "yet to be" excitement behind its two leads, while also extending that excitement to the man behind the camera. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Apr 11, 2021
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Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) |
This is a time of great pride swallowing. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Apr 11, 2021
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The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) |
A lot of this film feels manufactured to me. And while the story is presented in a very comfortable way, I didn't necessarily feel like the film was as revolutionary as it thought it was. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Apr 07, 2021
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Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) |
I'll almost always respect the movie that knows what it's about over the movie that pretends to be something it's not. In that way, this film is sincere. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Apr 07, 2021
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Nomadland (2020) |
This is beautifully shot and told story - one that is distinctly American for fortunate and unfortunate reasons. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Apr 07, 2021
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Concrete Cowboy (2020) |
Concrete Cowboy is an acknowledgment, reclamation, and tribute to a long lineage of Black frontiersman that's largely been swept under the rug. Sure, it may feel familiar, but sometimes, familiar feels good. - Film Inquiry
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| Posted Sep 18, 2020
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76 Days (2020) |
The film is urgent and wrenching, unbashful in its presentation of tragedy and confusion. - Film Inquiry
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| Posted Sep 18, 2020
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I Care a Lot (2020) |
It serves to subject its audience to the highest of lows, the successful devils whose company is never entreated, but whose dastardly dispositions are never without flair...at least at arm's length. - Film Inquiry
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| Posted Sep 15, 2020
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Spiral Farm (2019) |
A transient drama concerning our worlds and the worlds we have yet to know. - Dr. Filmlove's Film Reviews and Ratings
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| Posted Aug 07, 2020
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Zombie for Sale (2019) |
Audiences will be so connected with the characters that by the time it becomes a horror movie, Zombie for Sale will be all the more effective. - VoiceBoxOffice
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| Posted Jul 28, 2020
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