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3.5/5
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Unconformity
(2021)
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Stephen Whitty
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Unconformity is a nice-looking movie, with plenty of pretty scenes of the high desert, but it needs to get over itself a bit. Although it seems determined to be quiet and serious, it’s basically the indie version of a Hallmark holiday picture.
Posted Mar 22, 2023
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4/5
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How to Rob
(2022)
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Stephen Whitty
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Filmmaker Peter Horgan, who also wrote the script, knows what he’s doing. He understands audiences may go to a mystery for the tricky plot, an action picture for the violence, but what really draws them to a gangster picture is the dialogue.
Posted Mar 22, 2023
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7.5/10
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Randy Rhoads: Reflections of a Guitar Icon
(2022)
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Stephen Whitty
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It’s fun to see many of these clips of the original Quiet Riot in concert, or just get glimpses of Rhoads snuggling with a stuffed animal, or teasing a fan...
Posted Mar 13, 2023
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9/10
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Rickshaw Girl
(2021)
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Stephen Whitty
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Her art, and its bold colors, fills Rickshaw Girl which also opens a window on a part of the world Americans rarely see on movie screens...
Posted Mar 13, 2023
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4/5
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Tiger 24
(2022)
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Stephen Whitty
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What an animal he is. And what a complicated challenge he poses, as we continually try to figure out how to share this increasingly shrinking world.
Posted Dec 09, 2022
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An American Ballet Story
(2022)
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Stephen Whitty
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Unfortunately, in the end, the film isn't much different from the subject it's chronicling -- a personal project that never quite shares its creator's passion.
Posted Nov 19, 2022
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3/5
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Arranged Marriage
(2022)
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Stephen Whitty
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[Arranged Marriage is] a good-looking but uneven film whose script veers crazily between shocks and satire. It’s being pushed as a comedy, but the laughs are often ugly and overshadowed by some grim violence.
Posted Oct 27, 2022
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2/5
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Triangle of Sadness
(2022)
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Josh Bell
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It's as hollow as the decadent excess it depicts.
Posted Oct 25, 2022
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3.5/5
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Murder, Anyone?
(2022)
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Stephen Whitty
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If you’re the right mood to begin with -- a little silly, a trifle movie-obsessed, and very forgiving -- Murder, Anyone? is likely to keep you there.
Posted Oct 20, 2022
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4/5
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Ask Me to Dance
(2022)
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Stephen Whitty
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There aren’t many twists and turns to it, or even many new steps. But everyone here is clearly having a good time, and hoping you will too. In the end, Ask Me to Dance is an invitation you won’t regret accepting.
Posted Oct 07, 2022
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4/5
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You Resemble Me
(2021)
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Stephen Whitty
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Terrorists aren’t born. They’re made. But how? The fascinating drama You Resemble Me has some ideas.
Posted Sep 30, 2022
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4/5
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Everybody Dance
(2022)
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Stephen Whitty
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It’s still fascinating to spend time with these young people, and their families. And it’s inspiring to see how Schlachte meets every challenge.
Posted Sep 24, 2022
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2/5
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I'll Find You
(2019)
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Stephen Whitty
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Casual fans may be happy Coolidge finally made another film. Real fans will be wishing she’d made any other film.
Posted Sep 24, 2022
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4/5
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Elvis
(2022)
|
Norm Schrager
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This is an easy movie to escape into. Baz Luhrmann recreates Tupelo, Beale Street, Graceland (in Australia, by the way) and the shimmering life of perhaps the star of all stars.
Posted Sep 08, 2022
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7/10
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The Valet
(2022)
|
Stephen Whitty
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[Derbez is] definitely a charmer.
Posted Sep 01, 2022
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4/5
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Forbearance
(2022)
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Stephen Whitty
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Everyone here is working hard, and in the end, they succeed at one of the most difficult tasks of all -- telling a simple story, simply.
Posted Aug 26, 2022
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3/5
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Sunspot
(2022)
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Stephen Whitty
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Mihok is, clearly, seeing just how little he can put onscreen and still end up with a film. That he has any success at all is mostly thanks to his cast.
Posted Aug 26, 2022
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4/5
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Eradication
(2022)
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Stephen Whitty
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Eradication is a creepy little nightmare for at least a solid seventy minutes. And its monsters linger in your mind long after the movie fades.
Posted Aug 26, 2022
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3.5/5
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Love in Kilnerry
(2019)
|
Stephen Whitty
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The production values throughout are top-notch, and the New Hampshire scenery fills the screen with craggy mountains, open water and a delightful downtown you just want to amble through.
Posted Aug 18, 2022
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3.5/5
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Take the Night
(2022)
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Stephen Whitty
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Birthday revelry collides with sibling rivalry in Take the Night, a tight little noir about a prank gone wrong,
Posted Aug 11, 2022
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3/5
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69 Parts
(2022)
|
Josh Bell
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This is the kind of movie that lets the mustaches and accents do most of the work, but it's full of entertaining mustaches and accents.
Posted Aug 02, 2022
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3.5/5
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The Whole Lot
(2022)
|
Stephen Whitty
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The director, cinematographer and stars all deserve enormous credit for their ability to turn out a fine-looking film under the strictest, and most straightened of circumstances.
Posted Jul 28, 2022
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4/5
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Stalker
(2020)
|
Stephen Whitty
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An effective little, bare-bones horror.
Posted Jun 24, 2022
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3.5/5
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Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe
(2022)
|
Josh Bell
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If fans downgrade their expectations accordingly, there's still plenty to enjoy about Do the Universe, which brings back the series' signature smart-stupid humor and finds the moronic title characters essentially unchanged by the passage of time.
Posted Jun 23, 2022
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3.5/5
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Coast
(2021)
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Stephen Whitty
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The cast works hard. Fatima Ptacek is appealing as Abby, full of quicksilver emotions, and Cristela Alonzo provides a solid, stolid presence as her hard-working mother.
Posted Jun 15, 2022
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3/5
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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
(2022)
|
Cynthia Vinney
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hile Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness may not be the most interesting or successful entry in the MCU, it’s still a passable addition that enables fans to spend more time with some beloved characters and even meet a couple new ones.
Posted May 05, 2022
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4/5
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Locked In
(2021)
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Stephen Whitty
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What makes the movie smart is, it knows its limitations.
Posted Apr 14, 2022
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3.5/5
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Dual
(2022)
|
Josh Bell
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Star Karen Gillan fits perfectly into the surreal world that Stearns creates, and her twin performances carry the movie.
Posted Apr 14, 2022
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3/5
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For Hannah
(2021)
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Stephen Whitty
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Credit Shannon Brown for providing the bank robber with a grimy kind of authority, at least, and director John Wesley Norton for capturing some wintry landscapes.
Posted Apr 08, 2022
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4/5
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Facing Nolan
(2022)
|
Stephen Whitty
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[Ryan] may be the biggest baseball star to have retired happily, with his health and reputation intact and no regrets.
Posted Apr 07, 2022
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4/5
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What We Do Next
(2022)
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Stephen Whitty
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Spare in approach, but layered in meaning, What We Do Next definitely depends on a lot of talking. But the best conversations may be the ones you have after you finish watching it, and debate what you would have done under the same circumstances.
Posted Apr 07, 2022
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3/5
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One Road to Quartzsite
(2022)
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Stephen Whitty
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If you saw Nomadland, you got a lightly fictionalized glimpse of it. Now the documentary One Road to Quartzsite gives us the whole panorama.
Posted Mar 31, 2022
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1.5/5
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Morbius
(2022)
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Cynthia Vinney
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There are few exciting moments throughout the film and they are thoroughly outweighed by the remarkable number of nonsensical ones.
Posted Mar 31, 2022
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4/5
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Beneath the Banyan Tree
(2021)
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Stephen Whitty
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A lovely drama that charts the distances -- geographic and emotional -- that separate a Chinese grandmother, her daughter, and her grandchildren.
Posted Mar 25, 2022
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4/5
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Ghost Light
(2018)
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Stephen Whitty
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Approach it in the right mood, and Ghost Light will leave you in high spirits.
Posted Mar 24, 2022
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2/5
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Deep Water
(2022)
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Cynthia Vinney
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The one person in the film who’s sympathetic is little Trixie, who seems to be regularly neglected while her parents attend to their own concerns. Otherwise, much of the rest of the film elicits little more than an eye-roll.
Posted Mar 17, 2022
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3.5/5
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Turning Red
(2022)
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Cynthia Vinney
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Even though Turning Red doesn’t reach the heights of some of Pixar’s best films, it’s still a pleasant enough way to spend an hour and 40 minutes.
Posted Mar 11, 2022
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3.5/5
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Maysville
(2021)
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Stephen Whitty
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A movie you could safely watch with your mother and your daughter. Even if you might find yourself drifting off a bit at times.
Posted Mar 11, 2022
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4/5
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After Yang
(2021)
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Josh Bell
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It's a celebration of the wonders of life, for both humans and androids, with the end of life as one of those wonders.
Posted Mar 03, 2022
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3/5
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The Final Sacrifice: Director's Cut
(2022)
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Stephen Whitty
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It does have a couple of fine performances, and an unusual point of view. And although its re-appearance comes more than 20 years after it was first filmed, its underlying theme are, sadly, more pertinent than ever.
Posted Feb 25, 2022
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3.5/10
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Crabs!
(2021)
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Stephen Whitty
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True, it’s a movie that’s probably best appreciated after a few cold beers. But get out the Bud, grab yourself a few Krabby Patties and settle in with some Crabs! It’s not really good for you, but if it were, it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.
Posted Feb 25, 2022
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6.3/10
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Clairevoyant
(2021)
|
Stephen Whitty
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Wittman is a winning presence, and her fresh-faced foolishness is often amusing. She has real acting chops, too, and layers this silly character with honest emotion.
Posted Feb 25, 2022
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2.5/10
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Big Gold Brick
(2022)
|
Cynthia Vinney
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The movie meanders along until finding at least a bit of narrative momentum in its last half hour or so, but by then it’s hard to care about much of anything happening onscreen.
Posted Feb 25, 2022
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Stay Awake
(2022)
|
Stephen Whitty
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It’s a grim story but filmmaker Jamie Sisley – who admits he lived some of it, growing up – never gives in to despair.
Posted Feb 24, 2022
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1.5/5
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Marry Me
(2022)
|
Jason McKiernan
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Perhaps the dated rom-com framework could be massaged into relevance if the film had even a shred of self-awareness, but Marry Me is an absolutely earnest feel-good product, its every moment assembled on an old-school Hollywood conveyor belt.
Posted Feb 11, 2022
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4/5
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Lust Life Love
(2021)
|
Stephen Whitty
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It’s nice to have a film that acknowledges the messy physicality of romance. It’s great to have a diverse and unconventional cast, too.
Posted Feb 03, 2022
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1/5
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The Tiger Rising
(2022)
|
Cynthia Vinney
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At several points it seems like The Tiger Rising wants to be an enchanting fantasy... However, the bulk of the story is also kept grounded in depressing reality. By trying to have it both ways, the movie as a whole is weakened.
Posted Jan 20, 2022
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3/5
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Scream
(2022)
|
Josh Bell
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The comedy sometimes gets a little too lost in its own self-awareness, but the commentary on fan culture is surprisingly sharp.
Posted Jan 14, 2022
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3/4
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Hotel Transylvania: Transformania
(2022)
|
Mike McGranaghan
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Transformania maintains the qualities that have made the series popular, but shakes them up just enough to prevent them from feeling stale.
Posted Jan 12, 2022
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3.5/5
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Courageous Warriors: Beauty from the Ashes
(2021)
|
Stephen Whitty
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This is a story about emotion, a film about women who, although horribly hurt, have refused to become victims. And still, and forever, fight for survival, one day at a time.
Posted Jan 07, 2022
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