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4/10
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Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is a blockbuster toy commercial and empty spectacle that starts off decently enough, but quickly grows obnoxious and stupid in ways that aren’t particularly entertaining
Posted Jun 08, 2023
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10/10
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Past Lives
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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Like all of the best works of cinema, Past Lives finds a vein of untapped potential in places often undefined and under-explored and mines every bit of truth it can from those spaces that linger in the memory, but are often hardest to put into words.
Posted Jun 08, 2023
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4/10
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The Boogeyman
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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The Boogeyman plays like a film that would make someone’s top 100 list of the best wide released horror movies of 2004, and that’s not much of a compliment.
Posted May 30, 2023
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3/10
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About My Father
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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The biggest and most obvious problem with About My Father is that it’s a run-of-the-mill comedy that lacks any sort of conviction.
Posted May 25, 2023
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6/10
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Kandahar
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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Smarter than expected, but lacking in the action one might be expecting.
Posted May 25, 2023
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6/10
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It Ain't Over
(2022)
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Andrew Parker
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It Ain’t Over does a fine job of reminding many viewers unfamiliar with Berra’s storied career what made him different beyond his status as an unlikely pop culture icon.
Posted May 24, 2023
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4/10
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The Little Mermaid
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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Disney’s latest live action remake of one of their own animated classics, The Little Mermaid, is another bit of wading into the shallow end of the creativity pool.
Posted May 24, 2023
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4/10
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What's Love Got to Do with It?
(2022)
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Andrew Parker
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Slavishly devoted to the British Working Title rom-com factory formula that spawned it, What’s Love Got to Do With It? throws away the chance to deliver a good, meaningful film in favour of offering up something that’s barely adequate.
Posted May 19, 2023
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6/10
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Fast X
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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Fast X is the cinematic equivalent of meat sweats.
Posted May 18, 2023
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5/10
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Master Gardener
(2022)
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Andrew Parker
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It’s a lesser work from Schrader, but far from his worst and bearing some fruit by the end.
Posted May 18, 2023
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7/10
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The Starling Girl
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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Although a lot of the territory it covers is familiar, everything else about writer-director Laurel Parmet’s coming-of-age drama The Starling Girl is exceptional.
Posted May 18, 2023
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7/10
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White Men Can't Jump
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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This version of White Men Can’t Jump goes a long way towards rectifying the faults of the original and finding new ways to surprise viewers that might be expecting just another by-the-numbers reboot.
Posted May 18, 2023
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3/10
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The Mother
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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There’s a satisfying thriller at the core of The Mother, but the combination of a bargain basement script and an overly serious tone prove to be a lethal combination.
Posted May 12, 2023
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4/10
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Book Club: The Next Chapter
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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If all you want from a film is that it be good enough to serve as background noise while drinking wine with friends, Book Club: The Next Chapter certainly fits that bill.
Posted May 11, 2023
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7/10
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BlackBerry
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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A stylish, humorous, semi-fictionalized and sometimes disarmingly intense... BlackBerry follows a well established formula and propels it to new heights with tonal ingenuity and exceptional performances.
Posted May 11, 2023
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8/10
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The Artifice Girl
(2022)
|
Andrew Parker
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Balancing difficult conversations about where technology is leading the human race with rapid fire dialogue and performance driven drama, The Artifice Girl is both a rarity and one of the biggest surprises of the year thus far.
Posted May 11, 2023
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6/10
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Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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The still charismatic and gregarious Fox is able to captivate the viewer through the simple act of running back the clock and not having to worry about killing the image he once had as an actor.
Posted May 10, 2023
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7/10
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The Maiden
(2022)
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Andrew Parker
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Nothing about The Maiden is easy outside of its free-flowing appearance, but that’s also what makes it a lingering presence.
Posted May 10, 2023
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6/10
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Black Barbie: A Documentary
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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There’s a lot to unpack in Black Barbie: A Documentary, and while the film can seem scattered, Davis deserves a lot of praise for balancing the personal, psychological, and historical in as comprehensive a way as possible.
Posted May 05, 2023
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10/10
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Confessions of a Good Samaritan
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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It might not convince everyone who sees it to go under the knife themselves, but Confessions of a Good Samaritan is a deceptively rich work that will change the way people see the world.
Posted May 05, 2023
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9/10
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The Stroll
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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The Stroll is an astute, wide ranging, and comprehensive oral history of a place and time in New York City that suffered great stigmatization and hardship, but also one that fostered a strong sense of community among those who lived through it.
Posted May 05, 2023
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4/10
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Food and Country
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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Messy, but well intentioned, the documentary Food and Country makes some great points about the continued devaluation of farmers, restaurants, and overall nutrition, but the package as a whole leaves plenty to be desired.
Posted May 05, 2023
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9/10
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A Still Small Voice
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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Lorentzen deserves a lot of praise for never forcing his subjects to open up in the moment. When they feel like talking, they will. He’s simply there to observe and empathize. And we are simply there to bear witness and share in their experiences.
Posted May 05, 2023
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5/10
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Praying for Armageddon
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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It’s the sort of film that makes its points loudly, clearly, and thoughtfully in a short amount of time before falling into the same trap as the subject it’s trying to criticize. After awhile, all that doomsaying becomes numbing instead of galvanizing.
Posted May 05, 2023
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7/10
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I Lost My Mom
(2022)
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Andrew Parker
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I Lost My Mom speaks frankly about a broken system of elder care in Canada that forces “easy” solutions onto families instead of more humane considerations and discussions.
Posted May 05, 2023
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7/10
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The Lebanese Burger Mafia
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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It’s a story built on struggle, success, overcoming prejudice, and boasts a healthy side of family drama.
Posted May 05, 2023
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2/10
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Love Again
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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A lazy, misguided, and uninspired romance, Love Again proves that streaming services and Hallmark haven’t entirely cornered the market on poorly made, low aiming lovey-dovey content just yet.
Posted May 05, 2023
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5/10
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Carmen
(2022)
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Andrew Parker
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Benjamin Millepied’s take on Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen is a visual and audio feast, but a narrative misfire.
Posted May 04, 2023
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10/10
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20 Days in Mariupol
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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It’s be the best and most devastating look at the ongoing war in Ukraine yet, and one of the finest films to ever capture the unfiltered horror of living in a battle zone of all time.
Posted Apr 29, 2023
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6/10
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You Can Go Now!
(2022)
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Andrew Parker
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The historical outline in You Can Go Now is rich and highly educational; the sort of teachings that should reach far beyond the country in which they originated.
Posted Apr 28, 2023
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4/10
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The End of Sex
(2022)
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Andrew Parker
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The by-the-numbers and obvious Canadian comedy The End of Sex will appeal mostly to audiences who want to see something purporting to be edgy, but they don’t want to risk being offended or grossed out.
Posted Apr 28, 2023
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5/10
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Peter Pan & Wendy
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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Disney’s latest live action updating of one of their animated classics, Peter Pan & Wendy, is, like a lot of their other efforts in a similar vein, good looking, underwhelming, and unnecessary.
Posted Apr 28, 2023
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8/10
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Another Body
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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A bone chilling look into the world of deepfakes, Sophie Compton and Reuben Hamlyn’s Another Body is a cautionary call to action and true crime thriller all rolled into one.
Posted Apr 27, 2023
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6/10
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Periodical
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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The real joy comes form watching the on-the-ground fight to demystify this “particular time of the month” framed by patriarchal history that traditionally values fertility and reviles the period itself.
Posted Apr 27, 2023
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7/10
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Love to Love You, Donna Summer
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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It’s a fitting, heartfelt, and pleasantly personal tribute to someone whose impact on the music industry can still be felt today.
Posted Apr 27, 2023
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10/10
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Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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It’s a small miracle that a big screen adaptation of Judy Blume’s seminal young adult bestseller... even exists. It’s an even more remarkable feat that writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig’s adaptation is one of the best films of the year so far.
Posted Apr 26, 2023
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6/10
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Sisu
(2022)
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Andrew Parker
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And for the record, yes, I had fun, although your mileage may vary. I love great art, but sometimes you just want to watch someone mow down dozens of Nazis in less time than it takes some of us to get dressed in the morning.
Posted Apr 26, 2023
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6/10
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Polite Society
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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Polite Society is like a procrastinating student who mainlines a pot of coffee the night before a big paper is due and still manages to turn in a B+ assignment because they’re that good at what they do.
Posted Apr 26, 2023
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8/10
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Satan Wants You
(2023)
|
Andrew Parker
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Though the argument could be made that this sort of thing was around long before Michelle Remembers [Adams and Horlor are] doing an exceptional job of tying this entire regrettable chapter in pop culture history to our current present.
Posted Apr 25, 2023
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7/10
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You Were My First Boyfriend
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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Is it all a bit silly and indulgent? Perhaps, but by putting herself out there and allowing herself to be endearingly silly and vulnerable, Aldarondo [and Hagey] broach bigger questions about the baggage we carry with us from childhood into adulthood.
Posted Apr 25, 2023
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6/10
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Joan Baez I Am a Noise
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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A biographical film that should appeal nicely to fans and casual observers alike.
Posted Apr 25, 2023
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7/10
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Twice Colonized
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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Like Angry Inuk before it (another collaboration with this film’s producer Althea Arnaaquq-Baril), Twice Colonized does an exceptional job of breaking down colonizer mindsets and diving deeply into trauma informed behaviours across generations.
Posted Apr 25, 2023
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2/10
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To Catch a Killer
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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Clunky dialogue, unrealistic leaps of logic, and an unnecessarily stuffy tone ultimately sink To Catch a Killer...
Posted Apr 21, 2023
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3/10
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Ghosted
(2023)
|
Andrew Parker
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Although it boasts two of the hottest stars in Hollywood today and a ton of talent behind the camera, Ghosted is little more than some of the most expensive background noise ever created.
Posted Apr 21, 2023
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5/10
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Beau Is Afraid
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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Do I like it? No, not at all. Is it art? Unquestionably, yes.
Posted Apr 20, 2023
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7/10
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Evil Dead Rise
(2023)
|
Andrew Parker
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Although produced in part by series stalwarts Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, writer-director Lee Cronin’s reimagining of Evil Dead lore benefits greatly from a shift in focus and location.
Posted Apr 20, 2023
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6/10
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Quasi
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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Endearingly gross, goofy, and silly, the Medieval themed comedy Quasi isn’t always fall down hilarious, but it does elicit a lot of chuckles and grins.
Posted Apr 19, 2023
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5/10
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Chevalier
(2022)
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Andrew Parker
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The disappointing period piece biopic Chevalier is a great example of a film that would tell one heck of a story if it wasn’t in such a hurry to get through everything.
Posted Apr 18, 2023
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8/10
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Judy Blume Forever
(2023)
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Andrew Parker
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If you’re already familiar with the works of Judy Blume, Pardo and Wolchok will only reinforce their significance. If not, you’ll be drawn into the orbit of a warm, fascinating, courageous, and highly articulate woman worth following.
Posted Apr 18, 2023
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5/10
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Mafia Mamma
(2023)
|
Andrew Parker
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Both better than expected and not as clever as it ought to be, the sitcom level comedy Mafia Mamma is a throwback to a bygone era.
Posted Apr 13, 2023
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