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Napoleon
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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Napoleon isn't boring. It's entirely watchable and well-staged.
Posted Nov 22, 2023
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Saltburn
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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Saltburn flails around a bit and sometimes feels confused, overwrought, overlong, even borderline campy. But stick with it. It ultimately adds up to a potent piece of moviemaking, and of storytelling.
Posted Nov 22, 2023
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Thanksgiving
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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Like Thanksgiving dinner, it wouldn't be healthy to consume this sort of thing every day, but about once a year, it can hit the spot.
Posted Nov 17, 2023
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The Holdovers
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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The Holdovers is perhaps a bit on the poky side; little in the story gives much urgency to the pace. But the actors bring their connections to life.
Posted Nov 03, 2023
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Five Nights at Freddy's
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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It's like a Goosebumps movie was mixed with a grim Dateline NBC episode.
Posted Oct 27, 2023
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Killers of the Flower Moon
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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Killers of the Flower Moon is an epic nightmare, solemn and heartbroken yet charged up with a fierce and sweeping vitality. The style feels different from his previous work, yet somehow it's still unmistakably a Scorsese picture.
Posted Oct 20, 2023
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The Exorcist: Believer
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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Believer can probably still claim to be the best of the Exorcist sequels. But that's a low bar.
Posted Oct 06, 2023
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PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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As with the first feature, The Mighty Movie is not an experience to seek out if you don't have a five-year-old who requires it, but it's not disagreeable to sit through if you do get stuck at it.
Posted Sep 29, 2023
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Dumb Money
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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This chronicle of the weird January 2021 boom in GameStop stock is waggish fun.
Posted Sep 23, 2023
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A Haunting in Venice
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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I found Branagh's performance moving; he presents a convincing long dark night of the soul.
Posted Sep 15, 2023
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My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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It's not suspenseful and it's only occasionally funny, but I enjoyed it anyway; it's about familial and generational issues that connect with most of us, especially as we get older.
Posted Sep 11, 2023
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Jules
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
|
Overall, this is a small gem--sort of an E.T. for the other end of the life span.
Posted Sep 06, 2023
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Summoning The Spirit
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
|
[It] can probably lay claim to being the weirdest Bigfoot flick yet. It has an undeniable atmosphere of unease, however, deriving more from the human than from the cryptid element.
Posted Aug 23, 2023
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The Last Voyage of the Demeter
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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Smooth sailing it isn't.
Posted Aug 11, 2023
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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I remember finding the '90s-era live-action TMNT movies annoying, but I found the live-action features of 2014 and 2016 surprisingly fun, even without a nostalgic attachment. Mutant Mayhem, however, may be the best-looking and funniest of them all.
Posted Aug 02, 2023
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The Baker
(2022)
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M.V. Moorhead
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Leading man roles in movies have been rare in Perlman's career, and it's cool to see how effectively he brings this one more gravitas, and more warmth, than it really deserves.
Posted Aug 01, 2023
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Haunted Mansion
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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It's a good-hearted movie, with an engaging cast.
Posted Jul 28, 2023
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Theater Camp
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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Getting laughs from the self-important vanities of theater people is pretty low-hanging fruit, I suppose, but Theater Camp is nonetheless often hilarious.
Posted Jul 21, 2023
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Barbie
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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It manages to come across as both an ingenious pop-culture lampoon/celebration and an unpretentious but surprisingly heartfelt deep dive into the implications of the Barbie archetype.
Posted Jul 21, 2023
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Oppenheimer
(2023)
|
M.V. Moorhead
|
A major, compelling work...
Posted Jul 21, 2023
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The Miracle Club
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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The movie is slight, despite being adjacent to some intriguing themes. But if you appreciate fine acting, can you really afford to miss this ensemble?
Posted Jul 18, 2023
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Makeup
(2023)
|
M.V. Moorhead
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It's well-acted, and it has a certain authenticity and unembarrassed sensitivity that can't be dismissed.
Posted Jul 06, 2023
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Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
|
At the very least, one must admit that this is a take on teen angst we haven't seen before.
Posted Jun 30, 2023
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Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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For a story that starts with urgent ticking, the movie manages time very poorly. Still, there's a lot to like here.
Posted Jun 30, 2023
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Asteroid City
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
|
I really wish I liked this movie better than I did.
Posted Jun 23, 2023
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The Flash
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
|
The Multiverse's bottomless stockpile of do-overs and variant replacement characters was already getting on my nerves in the Marvel flicks, and this DC spin on it has the same effect: a dilution of the dramatic stakes.
Posted Jun 16, 2023
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The Blackening
(2022)
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M.V. Moorhead
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Overall, this movie is the meta-slasher send-up that Scream only thought it was--truly witty, and truly about something.
Posted Jun 16, 2023
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The Secret Kingdom
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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It's reminiscent of 1984's The NeverEnding Story and of the Narnia flicks, but The Secret Kingdom nonetheless has its own invigorating flavor.
Posted Jun 09, 2023
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The Little Mermaid
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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The idea of re-doing Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King in slick but unconvincing live action seemed, beyond the obvious profit potential, gratuitous. Fine as the performers are, this Little Mermaid seems that way too.
Posted May 26, 2023
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Fast X
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
|
What this movie suggests that cars, and human bodies, can do and withstand is recklessly delusional, and to assume that it has no effect on the behavior of real-life drivers raised on movies like this seems naïve.
Posted May 19, 2023
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Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting
(2021)
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M.V. Moorhead
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We're given a glimpse of the struggle, by native advocates, to persuade these organizations that they ought to change this imagery.
Posted May 18, 2023
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Book Club: The Next Chapter
(2023)
|
M.V. Moorhead
|
It's hard to completely dismiss any movie that features Hugh Quarshie singing "Gloria," in Italian, accompanied by Mary Steenburgen on the accordion.
Posted May 12, 2023
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Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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Blume never liked a script until the adaptation by Kelly Fremon Craig of The Edge of Seventeen, who also directed. Apparently Blume's instincts are good. The resulting film is a home run, sweet and low-key yet cumulatively emotional.
Posted Apr 28, 2023
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Somewhere in Queens
(2022)
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M.V. Moorhead
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The story, though it stings, doesn't drag us through the mud; it takes off in unexpected and painful yet believable and sometimes exhilarating directions.
Posted Apr 21, 2023
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Evil Dead Rise
(2023)
|
M.V. Moorhead
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I'm afraid I've run out of patience with this style of horror flick.
Posted Apr 21, 2023
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Renfield
(2023)
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M.V. Moorhead
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Renfield is colorful, fast-moving and full of comedic invention, and Hoult is charming and easy to root for.
Posted Apr 14, 2023
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Air
(2023)
|
M.V. Moorhead
|
While it isn't as good as Moneyball, it's still gripping, funny and unaccountably compelling.
Posted Apr 05, 2023
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Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
(2023)
|
M.V. Moorhead
|
Despite all the thundering hordes and clanking armor and clashing steel and roiling brimstone and mystical spells and hideous ogres and such, the flavor is less like a Tolkien epic than like a Hope-Crosby Road comedy.
Posted Mar 31, 2023
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A Good Person
(2023)
|
M.V. Moorhead
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[Braff's] dialogue is robust and speakable, and he's helped by a unifying theme: the ubiquity of addiction in modern life.
Posted Mar 24, 2023
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Champions
(2023)
|
M.V. Moorhead
|
The actors who play the team members are spirited, ebullient, confident performers with vivid personalities. They also bring out the best in Harrelson, who responds to them with what appears to be genuine warmth and delight.
Posted Mar 10, 2023
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Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre
(2023)
|
M.V. Moorhead
|
Operation Fortune is essentially an off-brand Bond flick, and a sufficiently skilled one to offer an amusing, relaxing couple of hours free of substance and ethics.
Posted Mar 03, 2023
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Cocaine Bear
(2023)
|
M.V. Moorhead
|
Banks has a lot of fun evoking '80s-movie atmosphere, not only with the costumes and cars and posters and overheard pop songs but with her direction.
Posted Feb 24, 2023
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Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
(2023)
|
M.V. Moorhead
|
The visuals, however derivative, are elegant, witty and well-executed, and the glamorous cast is in pleasant form. Rudd's sly, subtle clowning is always good company, and he carries the movie effortlessly.
Posted Feb 17, 2023
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80 for Brady
(2023)
|
M.V. Moorhead
|
By the end these women had me absurdly emotionally invested. This is, possibly, the lamest and most ridiculous film that has ever brought tears to my eyes.
Posted Feb 03, 2023
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She Said
(2022)
|
M.V. Moorhead
|
An absorbing account, focusing on the extreme reluctance of the targets of Weinstein's savagery to be first to go on the record by name.
Posted Jan 06, 2023
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Women Talking
(2022)
|
M.V. Moorhead
|
Though the tone is inevitably somber, Polley's direction is deft, and she leavens the gloom with some high-spirited moments.
Posted Jan 06, 2023
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The Banshees of Inisherin
(2022)
|
M.V. Moorhead
|
McDonagh narrowly missed making a masterpiece here, but these performances are not to be missed.
Posted Dec 31, 2022
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White Noise
(2022)
|
M.V. Moorhead
|
While the story's elusive ambiguities are intriguing for a while, they gradually start to get irritating... Still, the cast is strong, Driver is paradoxically both commanding and neurotic in the lead.
Posted Dec 31, 2022
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American Murderer
(2022)
|
M.V. Moorhead
|
It's an absorbing feature debut for Gentile, a tense, believable piece of work, full of disturbing scenes that feel like something you'd witness as a passerby.
Posted Dec 27, 2022
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Something from Tiffany's
(2022)
|
M.V. Moorhead
|
It's very undemanding, but it's inventive, Zoey Deutsch makes a sweet heroine and her costars, including the great Rose Abdoo as the Tiffany's clerk, are pleasant company. And it seems like it's a cut above most of the Hallmark Christmas movies.
Posted Dec 27, 2022
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