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3/5
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White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch
(2022)
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Katherine Monk
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An antiseptic dissection of the mall chain that defined a decade of WASPy aspiration, White Hot peels back the flannel and Oxford cloth of Abercrombie & Fitch to reveal a merchandizing plan rooted in exclusion.
Posted Dec 05, 2022
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4/5
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The Magnitude of All Things
(2020)
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Katherine Monk
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This is a movie about death and dying. And death and dying is not something humans like to talk about all that much. And yet, in denying reality, she suggests we’re robbing ourselves of the single gift that arises in times of cataclysm: Awareness...
Posted Dec 05, 2022
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3.5/5
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Encanto
(2021)
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Katherine Monk
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What makes this particular instalment of Disney dream-weaving a little bit different is texture. Pulling from a colourful Central American tradition that features brilliant cotton and woollen embroidery, we can almost feel the threads of every garment...
Posted Dec 05, 2022
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4/5
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Moonage Daydream
(2022)
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Katherine Monk
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Moonage Daydream is nothing less than a case study in personal realization, and how one man reached deep into his own darkness to transform human uncertainty and angst into glittering creative substance.
Posted Dec 05, 2022
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3/5
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Memory
(2022)
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Katherine Monk
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Memory seethes with evil deeds and evil-doers motivated by nothing more than greed and a lust for power. And for once, Neeson’s character isn’t a blinding ray of light purifying everything around him through sheer will power and clenched fists.
Posted Dec 05, 2022
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3/5
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Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
(2022)
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Katherine Monk
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This movie is a trophy case of shiny, but empty, vessels. We get big performance value, but very little feeling from this ensemble of confused, selfish and frequently arrogant wand-wavers. As a result, it feels busy but not all that suspenseful.
Posted Apr 19, 2022
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2/5
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Space Jam: A New Legacy
(2021)
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Katherine Monk
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If there's a legacy to Space Jam, it's not cinematic creativity, but marketing savvy, brand exploitation and intellectual property aggression - which is exactly what director Malcolm D. Lee (Girls Trip, Barbershop: The Next Cut) brings to the fore.
Posted Jul 27, 2021
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4/5
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Nomadland
(2020)
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Katherine Monk
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It's all so minimal... but undeniably magical, and undoubtedly of the moment.
Posted Mar 24, 2021
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4/5
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Cherry
(2021)
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Katherine Monk
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The Russos carved out the modern notion of heroism for a generation weaned on Iron Man's glowing breast. Cherry proves how much the Russos have learned about heroes, then it deconstructs the contents in each pocket of the cargo pants called male identity.
Posted Mar 24, 2021
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3.5/5
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Death of a Ladies' Man
(2020)
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Katherine Monk
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Yes, it's all familiar pastiche that feels like Kingsley Amis redux when it's funny and pathetic, but there's a twitch of novelty that keeps tickling the viewer thanks to Byrne's presence because he's always lost in the given moment.
Posted Mar 24, 2021
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3/5
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Above Suspicion
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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It's all the ingredients of a Bronte novel, only delivered with all the twang and white trash cliche of a Dukes of Hazzard episode.
Posted Mar 24, 2021
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4/5
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Nobody
(2021)
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Katherine Monk
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Ilya Naishuller's Nobody delivers the primal scream we need because it doesn't really hold back. More importantly, the central figure isn't a GQ cover boy... but a middle-aged man chained to a Costco shopping cart on weekends.
Posted Mar 24, 2021
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3.5/5
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Raya and the Last Dragon
(2021)
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Katherine Monk
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With Awkwafina taking on the role of the 'last dragon,' this sweet and sour mix of Mulan, Lassie and Avengers finds a wackiness that lets it float over the sea of cliche that washes over the screen from the first few computer-generated frames.
Posted Mar 10, 2021
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3.5/5
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My Salinger Year
(2020)
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Katherine Monk
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Joanna is supposed to be a symbol of creative integrity, but ... she feels a little too-much the sculpted ingenue, to convince us of great artistic sacrifice...
Posted Mar 10, 2021
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3/5
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Greed
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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We should feel complicit in this mess, but Winterbottom shields us from all culpability by nailing McCreadie to the cross of popular resentment.
Posted Mar 12, 2020
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2/5
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The Jesus Rolls
(2019)
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Jay Stone
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The Dude abides, but it's hard to bear The Jesus Rolls.
Posted Mar 02, 2020
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3.5/5
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The Assistant
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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The Assistant is not a feel-good movie. It's not even a rage-inspiring indictment of systemic sexism. It's an ode to millennial depression, brought on by the ambient pathogen of denial, and the collective will to keep swimming in an effluent of lies
Posted Feb 14, 2020
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2.5/5
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Bad Boys for Life
(2020)
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Katherine Monk
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The passing of time puts some gas into the film's tired engine, with Marcus now looking to retire ...while Mike still pull donuts in his Porsche and pins villains... but the buddy dilemma, the whole film's raison d'être, gets pushed into the background.
Posted Jan 17, 2020
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2/5
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Dolittle
(2020)
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Katherine Monk
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The animals... feel like hammy clutter who literally chew the scenery... They're scripted the way you'd script a person, which defeats the conceit of talking to animals in the first place.
Posted Jan 17, 2020
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4/5
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Little Women
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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Gerwig shows us the dazzling confusion of youth, meted out in measured doses of mature reverie. She fully absorbs the material as her own, manipulating the timelines ... to evoke a sense of memory and a continuous stream of thought and theme.
Posted Jan 17, 2020
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4/5
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Uncut Gems
(2019)
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Jay Stone
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It's frantic, loud, and several kinds of -pulsive, including (but not limited to) pro-, com- and re-.
Posted Dec 25, 2019
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4/5
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Terminator: Dark Fate
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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It's a pile of sizzling schmaltz by the final frames, but how better to defeat a black blob of evil? Dark Fate doesn't reinvent the war, but by inflecting the film with a feminine world view, it exploits a new power surge coursing through the body politic
Posted Nov 10, 2019
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3/5
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Midway
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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Soaking his frames in a yellow, incandescent tint that evokes the warm sun of the Pacific and the passage of time, the director nails the necessary nostalgia to take us on a voyage that feels sincere, even as it lists hard into swirling seas of sentiment.
Posted Nov 10, 2019
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3/5
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Western Stars
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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We can stare at his iconic Boss pose - sturdy, bent-kneed, poised like a hood ornament into the wind... but like the music itself, it feels a little too smooth, a little too contrived and just a teensy bit cheesy to embrace on a deeply personal level.
Posted Nov 10, 2019
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3/5
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Gemini Man
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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A weak assembly of Terminator parts and I, Robot code strings, Gemini Man runs its program without major glitches, but you can always feel the ghost in the machine.
Posted Nov 10, 2019
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3/5
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Joker
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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The movie tells its story without apology, and Phoenix plays it to the serrated edge, conjuring a modern take on Milton's Paradise Lost, where we're asked to find sympathy for the devil after being cast out of heaven...
Posted Nov 10, 2019
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3.5/5
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Before You Know It
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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The script captures the edges of the internal drama within each character without asking them to say everything out loud... It's such a female way of communicating that it gives the film a whole other facet, adding depth to a tub of predictable...
Posted Nov 10, 2019
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3.5/5
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Judy
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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Hail Mary. Full of grace. And now, Hail Judy. Full of pharmaceuticals. Propelled by perpetual sorrow, the archetype carries on in Rupert Goold's lavish take on Judy Garland's finale
Posted Nov 10, 2019
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2.5/5
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Abominable
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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There's something about the character design chosen by director and writer Jill Culton that doesn't really serve the story. They've made the young yeti into a cross between a slobbering St. Bernard, an albino pug, and polyvinyl chew toy.
Posted Nov 10, 2019
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4/5
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The Lighthouse
(2019)
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Jay Stone
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The Lighthouse isn't a film you can digest right away; it's a movie to talk about later, and enjoy, or shrink from, at your leisure.
Posted Nov 07, 2019
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4/5
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Ad Astra
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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When this two-hour sci-fi art film was all over, the only thing it addressed on an emotional level - at least, in my eyes - was the abstract idea of masculinity... and frankly, it feels like a very lonely place.
Posted Sep 20, 2019
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3.5/5
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Downton Abbey
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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The writing reflects a larger, social whole because as much as we get lost in individual storylines, we feel the immoveable anchor of place. The sprawling elegance of the house keeps its inhabitants contained -- together but dramatically apart...
Posted Sep 20, 2019
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4/5
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Honeyland
(2019)
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Jay Stone
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A parable of both simple messages and complex characters.
Posted Sep 17, 2019
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3/5
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Hustlers
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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Scafaria's long lens stands in awe of these women as they twist around the pole, shake their booty and manipulate the male ego like so much silly putty. The movie looks like a coke-fuelled night out, but Hustlers is more than a formula quickie.
Posted Sep 16, 2019
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3/5
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The Goldfinch
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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Crowley's yellow-cast frames soaked in incandescent light capture the hue of the painting, the glow of an ancient veneer, and the warmth of a love-filled memory. Things degrade when we hit the harsh sun of the Las Vegas suburbs...
Posted Sep 16, 2019
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4/5
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Jojo Rabbit
(2019)
|
Jay Stone
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If it wasn't quite as astonishing as it was trying to be, it was at least audacious
Posted Sep 13, 2019
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2/5
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The Goldfinch
(2019)
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Jay Stone
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The hordes who loved the novel may be transported by the movie's dogged adherence to its forced march through the edges of American society.
Posted Sep 10, 2019
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3.5/5
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Hustlers
(2019)
|
Jay Stone
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The movie doesn't have the ironic intelligence of similar films about louche capitalism, such as Wolf of Wall Street, but Lopez gives it a feminist angle of its own.
Posted Sep 08, 2019
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4/5
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A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
(2019)
|
Jay Stone
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Hanks' performance, which goes past impersonation and finds deeper wells of decency, gives it an irresistible heart
Posted Sep 08, 2019
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3.5/5
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Judy
(2019)
|
Jay Stone
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There's not much plot, but Garland's life was such a train wreck that the drama is built in.
Posted Sep 08, 2019
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Pain and Glory
(2019)
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Jay Stone
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Alive with the rich greens, blues, oranges and yellows of Almodovar's incomparable colour palette
Posted Sep 08, 2019
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3.5
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Devil Between the Legs
(2019)
|
Jay Stone
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It's a bleakly comic picture of what awaits all of us, I guess.
Posted Sep 08, 2019
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3.5/5
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Ready or Not
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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There's a dark sense of humour that fuses with astute human observation, which means the actors have to find the magic friction point between camp and the last act of a Tennessee Williams play.
Posted Aug 24, 2019
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2.5/5
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The Secret Life of Pets 2
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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The vocal talents are so good, the only things you really wish for through The Secret Life of Pets 2 are better lines, a few more sight gags featuring cats and laser pointers - and maybe a little less Hart.
Posted Aug 14, 2019
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3/5
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Aladdin
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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Aladdin is everything it had to be, and yet, like our conflicted hero, we'll no doubt wish it could have been more.
Posted Aug 14, 2019
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3.5/5
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Booksmart
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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There's a lot to process. Yet, Wilde's ride wouldn't be complete without the full roller coaster of emotions, and to her credit, she doesn't pander.
Posted Aug 14, 2019
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3.5/5
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Dark Phoenix
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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It's an uncomfortable place to be, because we crave easy judgments fuelled by emotional certainty. Yet, if there's one thing living in the Jean Grey zone for two hours accomplishes, it's holding up the looking glass to our splintered moment in time...
Posted Aug 14, 2019
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3/5
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Shaft
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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For those of us weaned on 1970s and '80s television, Shaft feels like dozing off on a shag rug - an unconscious nod into a long, open loop of nostalgia that conjures an entire, and unique, set of sounds and textures.
Posted Aug 14, 2019
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2.5/5
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The Dead Don't Die
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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Jim Jarmusch's latest film doesn't end well at all. In fact, the white-haired hipster has created something close to a painfully self-aware groaner that stumbles in a semi-conscious daze from start to finish.
Posted Aug 14, 2019
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3/5
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Pavarotti
(2019)
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Katherine Monk
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Pavarotti was the Babe Ruth of tenors, and with Opie behind the wheel, there's an element of fandom that creeps into the mix - by keeping things out of the mix.
Posted Aug 14, 2019
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