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Night Moves
(1975)
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Sean Axmaker
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[Gene] Hackman has gift for putting a cool, affable exterior on tormented characters and Harry is one of his most emotionally bottled up.
Posted Jan 20, 2026
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Days of Being Wild
(1991)
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Sean Axmaker
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Set in the 1960s and shot on practically deserted locations, there isn’t much "story" to the impressionistic film, but the languorous atmosphere of longing, disconnection, and emotional isolation is hypnotic.
Posted Jan 20, 2026
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The Dead
(1987)
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Sean Axmaker
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... one of [Huston's] most exquisite works, a perfect cinematic short story attuned to the rituals and touchy relationships of family and friends gathering in early twentieth century Dublin to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany.
Posted Jan 20, 2026
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Fallen Angels
(1995)
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Sean Axmaker
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... an idiosyncratic urban crime film viewed through a kaleidoscope.
Posted Jan 20, 2026
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Boxcar Bertha
(1972)
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Sean Axmaker
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If the rebellious spirit and social message behind the sex and violence is more [Roger] Corman than Scorsese, the film references and often inventive direction is pure Scorsese.
Posted Jan 20, 2026
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CQ
(2001)
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Sean Axmaker
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Think of it as an American 8 1/2 with echoes of Day For Night and stirred through with French New Wave, Italian cool, and British mod. If the film is slight, the details are right ...
Posted Jan 20, 2026
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Elmer Gantry
(1960)
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Sean Axmaker
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[Burt] Lancaster harnesses all his physical vigor and natural charisma for this role, literally throwing himself into his preaching with the vigor of an acrobat and the sing-song delivery of a gospel singer.
Posted Jan 20, 2026
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Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
(1964)
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Sean Axmaker
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In "Dr. Strangelove," it seems all too plausible that it’s not politics but arrogance, machismo and an extreme act of sexual overcompensation that brings about the end of the world as we know it.
Posted Jan 17, 2026
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The Illusionist
(2006)
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Sean Axmaker
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[Paul Giamatti]'s twinkling eyes and theatrical smiles offering everything from cagey mistrust to professional appreciation (often at the same time) gives him the flamboyance the film’s magic act never quite manages.
Posted Jan 17, 2026
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Elf
(2003)
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Sean Axmaker
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Director Jon Favreau may not have comic grace, but his direction is both sweet and funny. He never lets Ferrell play the victim... while Ferrell (in his first leading role) peppers every scene with manic outbursts and joyous exclamations.
Posted Jan 17, 2026
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The Lodger
(1944)
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Sean Axmaker
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This is film noir by way of Gothic thriller, a shadowy suspense thriller in the Victorian era of gaslight and horse drawn carriages on cobblestone streets, and director John Brahm gives the film a lively energy.
Posted Jan 17, 2026
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Shin Godzilla
(2016)
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Sean Axmaker
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... gives the human side of the drama both an urgency and a dramatic charge.
Posted Jan 04, 2026
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Nouvelle Vague
(2025)
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Sean Axmaker
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Richard Linklater‘s playful, poignant love letter to cinema, reimagines the making of Jean-Luc Godard‘s revolutionary French New Wave classic Breathless and, along the way, celebrates the creative spirit of young artists everywhere ...
Posted Nov 16, 2025
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Materialists
(2025)
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Sean Axmaker
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The first half is a sharp, smart movie that deconstructs love in the modern world. The second half leans into the romantic side.
Posted Nov 08, 2025
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Frankenstein
(2025)
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Sean Axmaker
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Think of del Toro’s 'Frankenstein' as a Gothic fairy tale staged like grand opera. The set pieces are big and bold, as are the performances, the décor detailed and textured, the fashion rich and ravishing.
Posted Nov 08, 2025
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The Grapes of Death
(1978)
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Sean Axmaker
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Called the first French gore film, Rollin brings a graceful dreaminess to his violence and a purely emotional illogic to the impulsive actions of prey and predator alike.
Posted Oct 31, 2025
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Fascination
(1979)
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Sean Axmaker
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The startling, unreal image of high society manners in the midst of gore and death pitches Jean Rollin‘s 'Fascination' into a turn-of-the-century culture come unhinged.
Posted Oct 31, 2025
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Lips of Blood
(1975)
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Sean Axmaker
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It’s a tale of blood and sex and haunting desire full of nudity and death and told in an austere, surreal style born of forced budgetary austerity.
Posted Oct 31, 2025
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Weapons
(2025)
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Sean Axmaker
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Part mystery, part horror movie, part parents’ worst nightmare, it’s a modern Pied Piper tale with no piper in sight ...
Posted Oct 31, 2025
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The Howling
(1981)
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Sean Axmaker
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It offers an interesting take with inventive effects (thanks to Rob Bottin), impressive moments of horror, an undercurrent of dark humor, and an earthy, feral sensibility.
Posted Oct 25, 2025
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Something Wicked This Way Comes
(1983)
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Sean Axmaker
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It’s more dark fantasy than horror, a nightmarish adventure filtered through the memory of a man remembering his childhood in mythic terms. You can see the roots of Stephen King in this tale ....
Posted Oct 25, 2025
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Alias Nick Beal
(1949)
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Sean Axmaker
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Call it a film noir morality play.... a tale of temptation and corruption with a supernatural dimension. [Director John] Farrow gives the film a visual world to match.
Posted Oct 11, 2025
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The Ninth Gate
(1999)
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Sean Axmaker
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... full of rumbling menace and deliciously unsettling imagery, but Polanski’s languorous direction and purposefully vague story leaves a film that’s eerie without every becoming thrilling.
Posted Oct 11, 2025
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Bill & Ted Face the Music
(2020)
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Sean Axmaker
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It’s sweet and silly, with all the innocence and whimsy of the original films, and nary a cynical or sarcastic note in the entire journey.
Posted Oct 11, 2025
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28 Weeks Later
(2007)
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Sean Axmaker
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[Director] Fresnadillo drives the scenes of zombie mayhem with a jumpy camera and a fractured editing style that adds a sense of panic to the chaos, as if seen through the terror-stricken perspective of an adrenaline-laced bystander.
Posted Oct 11, 2025
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Brewster McCloud
(1970)
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Sean Axmaker
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... this offbeat comedy is masterfully conducted. Colorful and creative, it brims with eccentric performances and whimsical details, while Altman’s inventive editing and intercutting keeps it moving at a lively clip.
Posted Oct 11, 2025
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Night Nurse
(1931)
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Sean Axmaker
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... quintessential pre-code entertainment.... packed with sex, violence, decadence, and suggestions of drug use, and turns on a conspiracy to murder young children.
Posted Oct 11, 2025
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Body Heat
(1981)
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Sean Axmaker
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'Body Heat' remains the very model of the modern neo-noir erotic thriller: sexy, sultry, brilliantly plotted, perfectly played, and endlessly repeatable.
Posted Oct 11, 2025
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Elysium
(2013)
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Sean Axmaker
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What promises to be a whipsmart sci-fi thriller becomes a conventional spectacle where technology is a gimmick, the action blurs into messy scenes of hyperkinetic editing and the battle against the system becomes an action cartoon.
Posted Oct 11, 2025
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The Fly
(1986)
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Sean Axmaker
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... a mind-warping drama grounded in the palpably physical, visceral horror of the helplessness in the face of a body’s degenerative transformation, part evolution and part designer disease.
Posted Oct 11, 2025
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Go
(1999)
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Sean Axmaker
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Doug Liman stitches together a hip jigsaw puzzle of a film with sharp dialogue, cinematic pinnace, and interwoven storylines.... Think of it as a 'Pulp Fiction' for the twentysomething LA underground scene.
Posted Sep 05, 2025
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I, Robot
(2004)
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Sean Axmaker
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Director Alex Proyas delivers the spectacle of robots and robotic devices turning on the human detective with high-tech polish. But for all the shiny technology, he directs with a strong story sense and a narrative efficiency...
Posted Sep 05, 2025
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Lady Killer
(1933)
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Sean Axmaker
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'Lady Killer' is a fizzy and potent genre cocktail. It clocks in at a brisk 75 minutes—it is already a third over before he even gets to Hollywood—and it barrels along with barely a pause.
Posted Sep 05, 2025
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Fantastic Four
(2005)
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Sean Axmaker
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[Director Tim] Story and his writers never manage to capture the family dynamics that writer Stan Lee introduced in comics or the sense of power and scale created by [artist Jack] Kirby.
Posted Sep 05, 2025
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The Devil's Disciple
(1959)
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Sean Axmaker
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The witty dialogue and energetic performances keep the film moving along but it never seems to break out of its constraints.
Posted Jul 04, 2025
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Rear Window
(1954)
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Sean Axmaker
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Hitch brilliantly meets the technical challenge of never taking the camera out of Jeff’s apartment by turning those limitations into an expression of our hero’s constraints.
Posted Jul 04, 2025
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Sinners
(2025)
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Sean Axmaker
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... a rare success story, an ambitious, rich mix of period piece, horror movie, survival thriller, and cultural history, directed with creative invention and cinematic brio.
Posted Jul 04, 2025
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The Substance
(2024)
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Sean Axmaker
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Body horror meets social commentary in "The Substance," a viscerally grotesque and savagely caustic satire of the commodification of beauty and sex and the impossible standards by which women are measured.
Posted May 30, 2025
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Mickey 17
(2025)
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Sean Axmaker
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There’s nothing subtle about "Mickey 17"—it wasn’t designed that way.... But it is also bustling and eventful, with narrative switchbacks and unexpected turns.
Posted May 30, 2025
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Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
(1977)
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Sean Axmaker
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The special effects pushed the boundaries of what anyone thought possible in 1977, yet audiences were so swept up in the imagery, the adventure, and the momentum of the journey that they never stopped to marvel at the technological achievement.
Posted May 04, 2025
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Black Bag
(2025)
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Sean Axmaker
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The most impressive special effects can’t grip an audience with the kind of engagement that sly dialogue, clever writing, and ensemble led by Fassbender and Blanchett deliver.
Posted May 03, 2025
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Nanook of the North
(1922)
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Sean Axmaker
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This is a western filmmaker’s eye on an indigenous culture and he freely blurs the line between documentary and docudrama (there was no documentary tradition to draw upon), but his intentions and efforts were honorable.
Posted Apr 29, 2025
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Foxcatcher
(2014)
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Sean Axmaker
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The stylized drama is at once oddly intimate and creepily voyeuristic and Carrell’s performance both unsettling and somewhat unsatisfying.
Posted Apr 29, 2025
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To Have and Have Not
(1944)
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Sean Axmaker
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... it comes down to the superb chemistry between the stars, who fell in love in real life. You can feel the attraction in their scenes together.
Posted Apr 29, 2025
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The Organizer
(1963)
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Sean Axmaker
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... lively, funny, chaotic, and appreciative of the foibles and failures of the frustrated collective that hasn’t any faith in their power to extract the smallest of concessions from an employer that... keeps them all in poverty.
Posted Apr 29, 2025
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Son of Frankenstein
(1939)
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Sean Axmaker
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Rowland V. Lee’s handsome production remains an intelligent, well-made classic of the genre and Universal’s last great horror film.
Posted Apr 29, 2025
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The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
(2014)
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Sean Axmaker
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The final half of the film, which is already the third film in the telling, is an enormous battle and, yes, it is impressive as a physical thing. It’s also exhausting and overdone ...
Posted Apr 29, 2025
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The People vs. Larry Flynt
(1996)
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Sean Axmaker
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... a bawdy burlesque with a crude, smutty, self-promoting clown at the center (at least through most of it).
Posted Apr 29, 2025
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Port of Shadows
(1938)
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Sean Axmaker
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A doomed tale of love in a corrupt world, "Port of Shadows" is a distinctly French ancestor of American film noir, with a softer edge and a tragic sadness to the tone.
Posted Apr 29, 2025
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The Brood
(1979)
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Sean Axmaker
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... a vivid and unsettling metaphor for the psychological and emotional forces pulling a family apart ...
Posted Apr 29, 2025
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