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7/10
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The Holdovers
(2023)
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Alan French
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Giamatti delivers one of his best performances to date, making The Holdovers a perfect family watch despite its very saccharine story.
Posted Nov 26, 2023
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9/10
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The Killer
(2023)
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Alan French
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Even when having fun in a violent world of contract killing, Fincher sprinkles in a taste of his worldview. It’s a poignant statement on who holds power.
Posted Nov 12, 2023
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7/10
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The Marvels
(2023)
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Alan French
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The Marvels brings plenty of comedy and screwball oddity to keep the audience on its toes. However, there are flaws that peer through the cracks of the latest Marvel feature.
Posted Nov 12, 2023
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4/10
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Sly
(2023)
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Alan French
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Its lack of curiosity in exploring the niche aspects of Stallone holds this back from reframing the actor or really dealing with his legacy in any way. Sly will find its die-hard audience but falls woefully short of living up to its promise.
Posted Nov 03, 2023
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10/10
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Killers of the Flower Moon
(2023)
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Alan French
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The power of Killers of the Flower Moon will only continue to grow in the decades to follow. Every minute of his three-and-a-half-hour epic pulses with political and practical commentary.
Posted Oct 29, 2023
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3/10
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Five Nights at Freddy's
(2023)
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Alan French
|
Five Nights at Freddy’s commits the worst crime of all – it’s dull from beginning to end. It’s a frustrating miss on a premise and franchise that can be so much more.
Posted Oct 28, 2023
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6/10
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Totally Killer
(2023)
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Alan French
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A time-travel slasher is far from a new idea. However, director Nahnatchka Khan brings enough heart to the story to keep it engaging for a Friday night. Kiernan Shipka once again embraces her horror side and succeeds in a more straightforward slasher.
Posted Oct 12, 2023
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7/10
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Divinity
(2023)
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Alan French
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Cribbing from body horror and a general fascination with sexuality, Divinity leaves an impression.
Posted Oct 12, 2023
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1/10
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Borderline
(2023)
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Alan French
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There’s a thin line between using the film to show the lengths addiction will make a person go to get high and using that to exploit it’s talent. A new drama, Borderline, falls on the wrong side of that line.
Posted Oct 11, 2023
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6/10
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The Jester
(2023)
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Alan French
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With nearly a decade of shorts in the book, The Jester finally gets a showcase. The result is a mixed bag. It showcases Krawchuk’s talent as a visual storyteller but stumbles with disconnected kills.
Posted Oct 06, 2023
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6/10
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Spooktacular!
(2023)
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Alan French
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Spooktacular! is not a perfect documentary but a work of love. The passion of Monahan comes through the film. This helps Spooktacular! serve as a fun, caring, love letter for the event.
Posted Oct 05, 2023
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2/10
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The Exorcist: Believer
(2023)
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Alan French
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The Exorcist: Believer lands with a thud. An exercise in franchise revivement leads to a lifeless, boring, and unscary disaster.
Posted Oct 04, 2023
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7/10
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Your Lucky Day
(2023)
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Alan French
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"Your Lucky Day" succeeds where many other thrillers do not. Brown effectively builds the claustrophobic world of the store and lets the characters shine.
Posted Sep 29, 2023
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8/10
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Jackdaw
(2023)
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Alan French
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Child’s directorial debut, Jackdaw, provides a stunning proof-of-concept for the young actor.
Posted Sep 27, 2023
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7/10
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There's Something in the Barn
(2023)
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Alan French
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With fun gore effects and great characters, There’s Something in the Barn will earn perennial holiday viewing status for horror fans.
Posted Sep 25, 2023
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8/10
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The Last Stop in Yuma County
(2023)
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Alan French
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Director Francis Galluppi utilizes a seemingly non-stop build of tension to deliver something special. His thriller, The Last Stop in Yuma County, not only works with its sleek and stylized screenplay.
Posted Sep 24, 2023
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4/10
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Pet Sematary: Bloodlines
(2023)
|
Alan French
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Pet Sematary: Bloodlines needed a jolt of emotion from its cast to land its story beats successfully. Instead, it feels like a weak attempt to revive an IP.
Posted Sep 24, 2023
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6/10
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Summer Qamp
(2023)
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Alan French
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The joyous and free-flowing film does not push too hard on its subjects, instead letting them lead the narrative throughout the summer.
Posted Sep 20, 2023
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7/10
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Toll
(2023)
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Alan French
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Markowitz’s resume as a filmmaker continues to shine. She takes a step forward from Charcoal and tells a far more interesting and nuanced story in Toll.
Posted Sep 19, 2023
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8/10
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Fair Play
(2023)
|
Alan French
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Domont nearly puts together the debut of the year, it still shows incredible promise. There are plenty of highlight sequences in Fair Play to show she’s barely scratched the surface of her potential.
Posted Sep 11, 2023
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7/10
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The Umbrella Men: Escape from Robben Island
(2023)
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Alan French
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While a slight step down from the previous entry in the saga, The Umbrella Men: Escape From Robben Island proves there’s still plenty of room for exploration with these characters.
Posted Sep 11, 2023
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8/10
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The Umbrella Men
(2022)
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Alan French
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A surprise blast, The Umbrella Men embraces the heist genre and all its quirks. The cast gets its opportunities to be flash charisma and tell jokes. Barker displays a visual flare, and brings a specific experience to life.
Posted Sep 11, 2023
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6/10
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Through the Night
(2023)
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Alan French
|
Early in Through the Night, the energy flowing through the screen is undeniably gripping. Sadly, Through the Night never recaptures that power.
Posted Sep 08, 2023
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5/10
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For Night Will Come
(2023)
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Alan French
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With an excellent performance headling the feature, For Night Will Come could almost be mistaken for a profound adaptation of the vampire story. Sadly, it cannot live up to lofty claims. The story drags, and the rest of the cast gets little to do.
Posted Sep 08, 2023
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7/10
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Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
(2023)
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Alan French
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Some moments needed slightly more development, and unfortunately, the ending is a little predictable. Still, Humanist Vampire lands some incredible moments and charms from start to finish.
Posted Sep 08, 2023
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6/10
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The Good Mother
(2023)
|
Alan French
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While is struggles to differentiate itself at times, and characters show dark sides of corruption, the message rings true. We will let those we love get away with the worst deeds, even when those deeds can destroy our world.
Posted Sep 08, 2023
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3/10
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Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World
(2023)
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Alan French
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The George Foreman biopic is more willing to make a one-off joke about the grills he would sponsor than confront the difficult truths of his life.
Posted Aug 31, 2023
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3/10
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The Flash
(2023)
|
Alan French
|
With eighty percent of The Flash devoted to other DC heroes and underwhelming visual effects, the result seems like a foregone conclusion.
Posted Aug 30, 2023
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4/10
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Golda
(2023)
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Alan French
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Mirren does not simply let a few physical quirks and a voice define her performance. Instead, she finds simple but effective moments to drive home the emotional state of the Prime Minister.
Posted Aug 30, 2023
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7/10
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Brightwood
(2022)
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Alan French
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With a slick script, Brightwood becomes an alluring depiction of relationships teetering on the edge.
Posted Aug 30, 2023
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7/10
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BS High
(2023)
|
Alan French
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By speaking to many of the big names who uncovered the story, Free and Roe give the story the proper emotional gravitas.
Posted Aug 30, 2023
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9/10
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Love Life
(2022)
|
Alan French
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The harsh but honest bluntness that Fukada utilizes to tell his narratives leaves the audience grasping for a moment of emotional relief. Few films in 2023 will leave an imprint on you like "Love Life."
Posted Aug 28, 2023
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10/10
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Manhunter
(1986)
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Alan French
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The stunning vision of a man rotting from the inside is one of Mann’s finest works, and remains one of his definitive character studies.
Posted Aug 18, 2023
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7/10
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After the Bite
(2023)
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Alan French
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After the Bite displays compelling arguments from the many viewpoints expressed in the film, never leaving those speaking about their experience to appear weak or uninformed.
Posted Aug 17, 2023
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8/10
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Miami Vice
(2006)
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Alan French
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Complete with mind-blowing cinematography and a wildly inconsistent storyline, Miami Vice is one of Mann’s most impressive spectacles.
Posted Aug 15, 2023
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10/10
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Thief
(1981)
|
Alan French
|
Mann came out of the box fully formed. He turns Thief into a magnum opus, and every signature of his career is on full display.
Posted Aug 14, 2023
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6/10
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Trader
(2023)
|
Alan French
|
He [Stanton] also shows he can handle tone and pace exceptionally well. That and Murray’s performance make Trader a fun, if imperfect, thriller.
Posted Aug 11, 2023
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8/10
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It Lives Inside
(2023)
|
Alan French
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The specificity present within It Lives Inside helps it stand out from similar horror features. Bishal Dutta‘s stunning debut feels personal yet heartbreakingly universal.
Posted Aug 11, 2023
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9/10
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Passages
(2023)
|
Alan French
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Passages becomes Sachs’ most intimate drama to date, quite the feat considering his filmography.
Posted Aug 11, 2023
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6/10
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A Disturbance in The Force
(2023)
|
Alan French
|
Coon and Kozak ensure that the creators get their due. This is not a documentary that punches down, even when it's at its most ridiculous. Instead, it invites the creative team to laugh along and still earn their laudits.
Posted Aug 10, 2023
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9/10
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Femme
(2023)
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Alan French
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Perhaps the most exciting aspect of Femme are the performances from Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George Mackey. Stewart-Jarrett’s complicated turn is one of the year’s best performances.
Posted Aug 10, 2023
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6/10
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Deep Sea
(2023)
|
Alan French
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Beyond the beautiful images, Deep Sea takes on an impressionistic visual palette. For a CG animated feature, there are a few features that feel wonderfully creative.
Posted Aug 10, 2023
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7/10
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New Life
(2023)
|
Alan French
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Embracing genre filmmaking is not difficult, but finding unique spins on classic stories is much more difficult. Rosman not only handles that aspect but creates two brilliant characters.
Posted Aug 10, 2023
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6/10
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Shortcomings
(2023)
|
Alan French
|
While an imperfect comedic vehicle, Shortcomings combines self-deprecating humor and refreshingly honest portraits of vein protagonists.
Posted Aug 09, 2023
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6/10
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Sympathy for the Devil
(2023)
|
Alan French
|
Nic Cage not only swings for the rafters in Sympathy for the Devil, but he elevates material that could have been less intriguing.
Posted Aug 07, 2023
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6/10
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The Mistress
(2022)
|
Alan French
|
Greg Pritikin helps the thoroughly modern film feel like a true throwback. Despite a limited budget, the images he crafts with DP Antonio Riestra are quite spectacular.
Posted Aug 07, 2023
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4/10
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Cobweb
(2023)
|
Alan French
|
The predictable nature of Cobweb hurts the narrative more than any aspect. Still, a sequence toward the end of the feature remains one of the most exciting setpieces of the year in horror.
Posted Jul 31, 2023
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6/10
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Hippo
(2023)
|
Alan French
|
It’s clear that Rapaport’s heart is present throughout the film, but a slicker storyline without an extra twist or two might have yielded more emotional rewards.
Posted Jul 31, 2023
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8/10
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Where the Devil Roams
(2023)
|
Alan French
|
Where the Devil Roams oozes style and creativity. While it represents The Adams Family’s darkest feature yet, it’s also one of the most creative films of the year.
Posted Jul 31, 2023
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8/10
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Oppenheimer
(2023)
|
Alan French
|
In the following decades, it will likely live on as a great work. However, it is not a daring feat of filmmaking. Instead, it is a technically brilliant but ultimately predictable biopic of another great man.
Posted Jul 25, 2023
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