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Patrick McDonald
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Carol for Another Christmas (1964) |
This is talky and a bit draggy, but the issues it expounds upon proves that everything old is new again. And main the performances of Ghosts Past/Present/Future ... Steve Lawrence, Pat Hingle and Robert Shaw ... are magnificent. Pat & Ken At the Holidays! - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Dec 10, 2023
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Jingle All the Way 2 (2014) |
This is a minimum recco and a damning with faint praise but the premise of this re-imaging ... father vs. stepfather for the toy ... is more essential than the first film. Larry the Cable guy is also a decent physical comic. Get er done! Thru Pat & Ken! - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Dec 10, 2023
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Saltburn (2023) |
Possesses an originality re obsession that is deeper than the surface. Barry Keoghan's Oliver uplifts the emotions in his situations, and the supporting cast shines, especially Carey Mulligan and Rosamund Pike in key story moments. w/Emerald interview. - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Dec 08, 2023
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Poor Things (2023) |
Emma Stone’s best performance, she is totally fearless/magnificent, and Willem Dafoe is willing to completely give into the surreal mad scientist. Mark Ruffalo gets to play against his soft type, and projects his oily cad to perfection. Yorgos rules! - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Dec 08, 2023
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The Boy and the Heron (2023) |
The deep, rich colors/fantastical scenery evokes tears, and works best on the big screen, yet as an adventurous story it would work in any format. It's as grand a legacy as Miyazaki-san's best, as well as an apt metaphor for warfare loss. Masterpiece! - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Dec 08, 2023
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Candy Cane Lane (2023) |
Okay, maybe I dipped into the holiday grogg, but I found this breezy, light and fun ... low key Eddie Murphy notwithstanding (actually funny). It's a screwy comedy with a holiday heart and doesn't take itself too seriously. Wise guy whimsy. Oh delicious. - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Dec 01, 2023
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May December (2023) |
Todd Haynes also uses symbolism & beautiful photography as a commentary on love, hysteria, passion and an outside world that keeps judging. Biggest surprise was Charles Melton, compelling as Joe in a slow emergence from larvae to butterfly. Portman rises! - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Dec 01, 2023
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Maestro (2023) |
Good for Carey Mulligan & a the B&W parts, but overall this hits a flat note. By co-writing, directing and acting, Cooper is diminishing in all three categories, reducing a larger than life icon into a rather dry life. Lenny Bernstein, we hardly knew ye. - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Dec 01, 2023
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Napoleon (2023) |
Decent summary of a complex man, but like most modern biopics covers too much life territory. Phoenix is a bit too "Actor's Studio" in his mumbly-peg approach, but Vanessa Kirby makes the couple with a sensual and exacting performance. Ridley's Waterloo? - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Nov 23, 2023
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Wish (2023) |
Stunning that this is getting negative feedback ... this film seems like a culmination of everything Disney has given us for five generations. and what is necessary in a holiday movie, a retreat from the sorrow in the world, if we just WISH upon a star! - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Nov 23, 2023
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Maxine's Baby: The Tyler Perry Story (2023) |
In this era of fear and a desire to separate us, this film is an example of how a life force like Tyler Perry can come along and heal his audience, his family and most importantly, himself. That personal salvation built the rest of it, a real life lesson. - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Nov 19, 2023
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Dream Scenario (2023) |
The brilliance of the film is that it never overplays its hand, despite hundreds of possibilities in which it could. Cage is perfect for the role because he knows when to turn up the jets … and when to perform the character as determined. Get in the Cage! - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Nov 18, 2023
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The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) |
It was long but sharper than expected, esp. Rachel Zegler as Lucy, who had an edge to her survivalist and performed a singing angle to great effectiveness. And Peter Dinklage can do more with a raised eyebrow than most actors can do with grand speech. - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Nov 18, 2023
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Journey to Bethlehem (2023) |
Surprisingly fresh & original. This Baby J story has pop-style songs and choreography that was light and fun. There is also a sharpness to the humor, with some Monty Pythonesque banter between the Three Kings and Herod. It's razz ma tazz of All That Jazz! - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Nov 10, 2023
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All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (2023) |
Raven Jackson is creatively contemplative, and is able to create those meditations as visual truth. Although a slow walk, the characters wash over their lives with authentic emotions, including interconnections with the nature around them. W/interview. - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Nov 10, 2023
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The Marvels (2023) |
This film is brilliantly original, as the all-woman production team creates scenarios that are outside the usual. The comic book geeks out there can finally take a date, because all can enjoy. That is, of course, if they can get a date. Hy-oh! Cats! Brie! - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Nov 09, 2023
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Reporting for Christmas (2023) |
The film is smart, funny and breezy, and connects the big city gal with the small town hunk in organic and story-progressing ways. As a contemporary Yuletide romance story, this film fills the seasonal stocking. W/interview of director Jack C. Newell. - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Nov 09, 2023
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The Holdovers (2023) |
Despite a bit of surprising preciousness, This film is exquisitely performed & its themes of redemption over loss are well played. This has all the requisite wistfulness of a traditional Christmas movie, without any holly jolly. Payne! Giamatti! Reunited! - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Nov 04, 2023
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Priscilla (2023) |
Caille Spaeny is unusually subdued as Priscilla, and there was a lack of connection to the character, but through that point of view it's clear that no matter how famous a mate is – and Jacob Elordi's Elvis was spot on – damaged goods remain damaged. - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Nov 04, 2023
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Ghosts of the Void (2023) |
Both symbolic & bump-in-the-night edgy, taking on mental health, financial distress & what "stable" means in America. Director/writer Miller is one to watch, within a horror evolution that is about waking up to another ugly American day. w/interview. - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Nov 03, 2023
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When Evil Lurks (2023) |
This creepy premise makes this film lights out scary, with lotsa gore & horrific death scenes. And this all seems what horror fans want the most, including the inevitable solution that’s not a solution at all. An unsettling fright-fest for for Halloween. - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Oct 27, 2023
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Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (2023) |
I'm not a horror guy, but I felt this was in the Stephen King spirit ... it will resonate with his fans. Paralleling it with the Vietnam War was decent symbolism. What does it say when the Peace Corp guy can't leave? Plus Henry Thomas does a King homage. - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Oct 27, 2023
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Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) |
Although slow going in the beginning, the master storyteller Martin S. scores again with a necessary history lesson and some parallels to power hunger today. Like his gangster films, one tribe (white men) wants to kill/steal from the other (Osage Nation). - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Oct 20, 2023
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Waiting for the Light to Change (2022) |
Life transitions are filtered through the Asian American experience, with its own surface challenges and outside-looking-in circumstances. The is an human film about becoming a adult, as fluid & pliable now as any point in social history. With interview. - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Oct 19, 2023
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The Burial (2023) |
Objection! But this story is phony as George Santos playing Matlock ... it seems like every type of procedural rule is thrown out for cheap drama. This is a money case, and to shoehorn black/white issues seemed crass, plus T Lee Jones is oddly sedate. - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Oct 17, 2023
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Dicks: The Musical (2023) |
Artistically perverse, anarchistic blasphemy & just damn funny. Sharp & Jackson are comedy savants. And at this point in my life, I just don’t care if it offends or makes folks mad, I just need this type of art to survive … and you do too. Thee Stallion! - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Oct 14, 2023
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She Came to Me (2023) |
Asserts that all of us are dealing with a certain amount of psychosis, with the kids representing the youthful hope that grown-ups can overcome their dread just long enough to re-focus on life ... with tug boats, civil war re-enactors and nuns! And Tomei! - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Oct 06, 2023
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The Road Dog (2023) |
Doug Stanhope is a stand out in this on-the-road story, as he projects all the weariness of his “hanging around too long” stand-up comic, and newcomer Des Mulrooney stands toe to toe as son David against his reluctant curmudgeon father. W/photo slideshow. - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Oct 05, 2023
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The Exorcist: Believer (2023) |
I felt that this went back to the roots of the first film ... that faith in belief goes a long way towards confronting the evil ills of our lives, combined with the symbolism of emerging adolescence. More like David Gordon Green than I'd seen in awhile. - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Oct 05, 2023
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Miranda's Victim (2023) |
Fascinating hidden history within the origin of the "Miranda Warning." Stellar performances from Abigail Breslin, as well as Ryan Phillippe & Luke Wilson (as legal opponents). Director Michelle Danner has a sure storytelling touch. W/a Danner interview. - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Oct 04, 2023
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The Re-Education of Molly Singer (2023) |
Though I agree there are some clunker jokes in this slobs vs. snobs campus redux, I suspect the thirtysomething demo that went to school the same time as Molly will get a nice buzz (much like the binge drinkers in the film. Hyyyooh). Count me re-educated! - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Sep 29, 2023
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Flora and Son (2023) |
John Carney, who wrote/directed the Irish-based musical film ONCE, puts the same spirit in this film … a combination of working class grit and musical redemption. As a part time musician, I can attest it’s music that sets us free. Joe Gordon-Levitt sings! - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Sep 29, 2023
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The Creator (2023) |
Despite a weak & seen-it-before story, the film is valuable in it's epic palette & use of science fiction as viewed through the lens of a supernatural & quasi-religious state that generates evolution. The name Joshua means "God is Deliverance." Nuff said. - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Sep 29, 2023
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Dumb Money (2023) |
I liked the film/performances, & I used to love the stick-it-to-the-man genre of capitalist criticism. But let's face it, the 1-percenters will always find a way to win the way the system is set up, despite momentary setbacks. Anyway, Pete Davidson rules! - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Sep 28, 2023
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It Lives Inside (2023) |
I'm all in for metaphor when it comes to the tired horror genre ... in this case some mythos & monstrosity from India. However, I'm not in for the invisible killing force seen again and again in the genre. What worked best was the battle for assimilation. - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Sep 25, 2023
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The Inventor (2023) |
In one of the best years for animation, this delightful musical take on the end of Leonardo Da Vinci's life as inventor/artist highlights how progressive thought and action is always a conquering element in bringing truth to power. Da Vinci! Da Bears! - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Sep 16, 2023
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A Haunting in Venice (2023) |
Overcomes complex talkiness to get deeper, which is Branagh's mark on the Poirot character. Tina Fey does her best Dorothy Parker, in a positive way, and mystery buffs (who dig the whodunnit) will also dig this combo of jump-scare & detecting. Mustache! - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Sep 16, 2023
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Unfriending (2023) |
This black comedy is a sharp satire on cancel culture and the 20something "me generation" in particular. Highly comic, highly weird and a pointed meditation on the meaning of survival amidst a digital world that is increasingly judgmental. W/interview. - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Sep 08, 2023
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Fremont (2023) |
Lyrical, symbolic & an empathy generator, this reflective story is what either everyone has gone through or what our ancestors went through when they took the risk to run away from or towards something in another strange land. A triumph for Babak Jalili. - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Sep 08, 2023
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Sitting in Bars with Cake (2023) |
What is remarkable is the attention to the process of illness, in the midst of 20something mode of survival in Los Angeles. This has perspective, humor and terrific performances from the young actors and supporting cast (Divine Miss M!). LA-LA land rules! - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Sep 08, 2023
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My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (2023) |
The negative reviews are missing the point. Vardalos is looking at a Greek family w/o their father anchor, and giving space to what comes next. Yes, it was clunky in parts but the heart was there, and the humor was much closer to the classic first film. - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Sep 08, 2023
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Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia (2022) |
The word DELIGHTFUL was invented for animation like this ... unpretentious, kind and fun. The impressionistic render is a massive highlight, along with a fun sense of humor and of course symbolism for the adults. Music can set you free, stick with E&C. - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Sep 04, 2023
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Bottoms (2023) |
I'm not as enamored as some ... I don't connect to the somewhat mean spirit of it. BUT it is outrageous in what it is doing, and the fluidity/female empowerment is an energy into the now. I loved SHIVA BABY and this is a worthy step into the evolution! - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Aug 30, 2023
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Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story (2023) |
Too much racing for non race fans but when it was great, it was sizzling. David Harbour steals the show as the I-can't-believe-we're-doing-this instructor and I loved Archie Madekwe as the main videogame-turned-real racer Jann. If you can dream it, be it! - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Aug 26, 2023
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Golda (2023) |
The best bio pics take a portion of a person's rich life and then lets it amplify other portions of a lifetime, which GOLDA does effectively. Helen Mirren adds a depth to the character that's necessary, and dir Guy Nativ structures the film intuitively. - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Aug 25, 2023
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The Hill (2023) |
I swear sometimes I'm seeing different films. Look at Dennis Quaid's acting in this film, and the strong writing, and you'll realize it's a cut above the genre. Even as a non-religious person, I appreciated the spirituality thru the mystery of baseball. - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Aug 25, 2023
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Perpetrator (2023) |
Writer/director Jennifer Reeder emerges anew, and her films are more than on the surface, with a woman’s feminist quest for strength, safety & freedom in this very cruel world ... thru a horror film that involves missing girls. W/a Jennifer Reeder talk. - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Aug 23, 2023
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birth/rebirth (2023) |
What is fascinating is how the women control the procedures, with dual obsessions and an inside track that keeps the increasingly creepy science going, & the breakdown of Ireland's Rose mirrors the process breakdown that is occurring. Laura Moss rules! - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Aug 22, 2023
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Landscape with Invisible Hand (2023) |
This is a genius film, with many layers and textures, and all the performances … including the production design of the space aliens and the way they communicate … are extraordinary. A must see towards where we’re at and where we are going. ET go home! - HollywoodChicago.com
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| Posted Aug 20, 2023
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Blue Beetle (2023) |
Lotsa fun, & Xolo as the Blue Beetle has a lot of sincerity & star power. George Lopez manages to steal every scene he's in, and Susan Sarandon enjoys her new found villain persona. Some sticky CGI towards the end, but you can't beat the reluctant hero. - WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI)
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| Posted Aug 18, 2023
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