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2/5
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The Mask
(1961)
|
Norman Wilner
|
It's of strictly historical interest.
Posted May 08, 2023
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3/5
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Poor Agnes
(2017)
|
Norman Wilner
|
Ramaswaran understands the appeal of Burke’s testy, impatient antihero he knows we’ll be willing to overlook an awful lot just to see where things end up for her. When Agnes is on screen, nothing else matters. Lucky her.
Posted Feb 06, 2023
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4/5
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Bros
(2022)
|
Glenn Sumi
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A comedy classic that is as likeable and mainstream as its title, but deeply subversive too.
Posted Sep 15, 2022
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3/5
|
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
(2022)
|
Glenn Sumi
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While the cheesy genesis scenes of Weird Al’s clever songs are amusing, it’s more fun to play spot the cameo. Often, as in the above-mentioned pool scene, celebs will be dressed up as other celebs, providing a visual representation...
Posted Sep 13, 2022
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4/5
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Aftersun
(2022)
|
Glenn Sumi
|
Although quiet, the film builds to an emotionally devastating climax involving a Queen song that you’ll never hear in the same way again.
Posted Sep 13, 2022
|
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3/5
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Bodies Bodies Bodies
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Imagine the teens from Euphoria hacking each other to bits. That’s what Bodies Bodies Bodies goes for but in a way that’s somehow less gross and traumatic, and more fun.
Posted Aug 13, 2022
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1/5
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Day Shift
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Would have gone down easier had there been some chemistry between the two leads.
Posted Aug 12, 2022
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|
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Fall
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Mann crafts this ride like a horror movie, with enough jump scares, gory sights and twists that make you howl while hanging on to its every vertigo-inducing frame.
Posted Aug 12, 2022
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2/5
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Easter Sunday
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
The movie, sloppily directed by Super Trooper’s Chandrashekar, recycles gags from Koy’s excellent stand-up that revolve around his overbearing mother (Lydia Gaston) and eccentric extended family.
Posted Aug 05, 2022
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3/5
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Prey
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Midthunder giving a muscular performance but can’t wrestle Prey away from the franchise, which makes the Comanche people feel like ornamental props in a better-than-average Predator movie rather than fully formed characters who own their narrative.
Posted Aug 05, 2022
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3/5
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Bullet Train
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
The movie deserves extra props for making Aaron Taylor-Johnson – who has always felt like dead weight in movies like Kick-Ass and Godzilla – an appealing on-screen presence who actually holds our interest up until the Bullet Train goes off the CGI rails.
Posted Aug 05, 2022
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3/5
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Vengeance
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Vengeance has philosophical ambitions – trying to deconstruct modern storytelling and what it says about us as a society – that are greater than its grasp. Though I did enjoy watching the movie chase its own tail with that pursuit.
Posted Jul 29, 2022
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|
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Thirteen Lives
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Howard also resists the urge to emphasize the true story’s white saviour element.
Posted Jul 29, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
DC League of Super-Pets
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
More fun than Justice League.
Posted Jul 29, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Fire of Love
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
The images of walls of fire crashing down with the force of Niagara Falls or exploding into rocks underwater is reason enough to witness Fire Of Love.
Posted Jul 22, 2022
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4/5
|
Nope
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
As usual with Peele, there’s a lot unpack, what with the symbols and allegories that gesture toward the business of spectacle: wrangling the incredible and the tragic for our entertainment or curiosity.
Posted Jul 22, 2022
|
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3/5
|
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
[Lesley Manville is] basically giving Paddington in a Phantom Thread setting.
Posted Jul 15, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Persuasion
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Dakota Johnson plays Elliot as the kind of woman who has 87K Twitter followers eating up the laid-back 280-character barbs that guard her wounded heart.
Posted Jul 15, 2022
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2/5
|
The Gray Man
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
I can’t help but think that Winter Soldier was a fluke.
Posted Jul 15, 2022
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4/5
|
The Sea Beast
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
A surprisingly fun, well-written and sweeping adventure that lands most of its gags and sentiment, and even thrillingly pushes the boundaries of animated action.
Posted Jul 08, 2022
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3/5
|
Thor: Love and Thunder
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
[Taika Waititi] wants you to know that he’s the kid with red crayon scribbling all over a genre that is often more stone-faced than it should be.
Posted Jul 08, 2022
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4/5
|
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
(2021)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
It's the quiet and contemplative moments - where not much really happens but the possibilities seem endless - that stick with you.
Posted Jun 30, 2022
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3/5
|
The Black Phone
(2021)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
For such a basic abduction premise, there are a lot of moving parts and details that either don’t go anywhere or lead to a whimper of a payoff.
Posted Jun 24, 2022
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3/5
|
Slash/Back
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
The charming cast and depictions of navigating daily life in a harsh but strikingly beautiful climate make the whole thing worthwhile.
Posted Jun 24, 2022
|
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2/5
|
Elvis
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Never before has a movie spent such a disproportionate amount of time on a white man doing nothing about the civil rights movement.
Posted Jun 24, 2022
|
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2/5
|
The Man From Toronto
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
By now you should be familiar with Hart’s banter in movies like this. When working with such witless material, his improvisational gags can land like comfort food.
Posted Jun 24, 2022
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3/5
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Fire Island
(2022)
|
Glenn Sumi
|
Joel Kim Booster and Andrew Ahn's gloriously diverse and subversive romantic comedy makes terrific Pride Month viewing.
Posted Jun 11, 2022
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4/5
|
A Chiara
(2021)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Carpignano delivers a fascinating take and perspective in familiar territory, focusing on how a crime family’s fallout affects a young girl’s sense of self.
Posted Jun 03, 2022
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3/5
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Crimes of the Future
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
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Crimes Of The Future is adapting Cronenberg’s old fixations, on the need to feel pain and its erotic potential, to a new era with an evolved society and a different body (politic).
Posted Jun 03, 2022
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4/5
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Benediction
(2021)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Davies tells Sassoon’s story with his typical formalistic and sensual style, elevating what could easily have been an ornate period piece about lingering trauma and living passionately as a closeted gay man.
Posted May 27, 2022
|
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4/5
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The Bob's Burgers Movie
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Low-key, fun and heartfelt – exactly the right recipe.
Posted May 27, 2022
|
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4/5
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Top Gun: Maverick
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Here’s the rare big studio movie where actors and stunt people perform on location while using as little CGI as possible; a movie where Cruise puts his hand on an F18, relishing its very tactile quality in a way that is deeply felt.
Posted May 24, 2022
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2/5
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Downton Abbey: A New Era
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
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The trials and tribulations of passive income earners, where every other scene seems to be a discussion over tea and crumpets on who is inheriting what, is almost delightfully absurd this time around.
Posted May 20, 2022
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3/5
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Pleasure
(2021)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Alternates between visual provocations (more Gaspar Noé than Paul Verhoeven) and the nuts-and-bolts behind the porn business.
Posted May 20, 2022
|
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3/5
|
Men
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Buckley is the kind of powerhouse performer who can wrestle the movie away from [Garland] and give it real feeling.
Posted May 20, 2022
|
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5/5
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Happening
(2021)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Happening goes further as a beautiful coming-of-age story, where Anne’s long pursuit to end the pregnancy is also one of self-discovery.
Posted May 13, 2022
|
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3/5
|
Senior Year
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Senior Year also goes for a sentimental kick about celebrating your genuine selves that Rebel Wilson just can’t land.
Posted May 13, 2022
|
|
1/5
|
Firestarter
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
At least this one is mercifully short.
Posted May 13, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Vortex
(2021)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Vortex’s grim take on aging counters the refined cynicism and emotional cruelty of Michael Haneke’s Amour with a more visceral and voyeuristic decent into infirmity, and a panoramic view peaking at the world, which isn’t much better.
Posted May 06, 2022
|
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5/5
|
Petite Maman
(2021)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
A lovely and delicate lesson on processing big emotions in tiny packages.
Posted May 06, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Playful, carnivalesque and occasionally funny nods to Sam Raimi’s canon aren’t exactly evidence that a director got to exert authorial control over Marvel’s factory-line green screen assault. It’s more like giving a dog a treat for fetching your slippers.
Posted May 04, 2022
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3/5
|
Quickening
(2021)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
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Quickening gets more under the skin, latching onto anxieties and emotions you cant necessarily name, leaning heavily on Christopher Lews gorgeous cinematography to just capture the feeling.
Posted Apr 29, 2022
|
|
1/5
|
Memory
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Who needs memory when this story could be told on autopilot.
Posted Apr 29, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
The Bad Guys
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
The Bad Guys is a giddy high-energy, stylishly animated mishmash that isnt imaginative enough to crawl out from the shadows of the movies it apes, from Oceans 11 to Fast Five.
Posted Apr 22, 2022
|
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3/5
|
Charlotte
(2021)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Charlotte is a museum trip of a movie: quiet, quaint and leisurely.
Posted Apr 22, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Unbearable Weight is a movie half written by memes. The rest of it just leans on gimmicks from unbearable slapstick comedies like The Hitmans Bodyguard or Snatched, the kinds of movies that Nic Cage usually wouldnt be involved with.
Posted Apr 22, 2022
|
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4/5
|
The Northman
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
The Northman envelopes its conventional swords-and-sandals plot with a vibe and aesthetic that is both unhinged and seductive.
Posted Apr 22, 2022
|
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3/5
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Paris, 13th District
(2021)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Audiard makes this a cool fling of a movie that doesn't really work but is fun while it lasts.
Posted Apr 14, 2022
|
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2/5
|
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
(2022)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
The Secrets Of Dumbledore is just trying to get it over with. There were supposed to be five of these movies but the third instalment ends on half-hearted closure, as if everyone will be just as satisfied to quietly sweep it all under the magic carpet.
Posted Apr 14, 2022
|
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3/5
|
Cow
(2021)
|
Radheyan Simonpillai
|
Arnolds documentary about a dairy cow living out her days in the fields and cages on an industrial farm fits remarkably well alongside the directors other work about the cruelest realities facing women.
Posted Apr 08, 2022
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