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Mark Dujsik
Tomatometer-approved critic
Mark is the sole writer/editor/webmaster of Mark Reviews Movies(www.markreviewsmovies.com) and co-film critic at UR Chicago Magazine (www.urchicago.com). He has been a member of the Online Film Critics Society since 2002 and the Chicago Film Critics Association since 2006.
The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, The Third Man, Vertigo, Grave of the Fireflies, The Seventh Seal, Citizen Kane, 2001: A Space Odyssey, On the Waterfront, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Casablanca, Apocalypse Now, Singin' in the Rain, Schindler's List, Mon Oncle, Die Nibelungen, Fantasia, Raging Bull, The Thin Red Line
Chicago, IL
http://www.markreviewsmovies.com
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Swan Song (2023) |
There's a span of experience and accomplishment within the interview subjects that provides a fine snapshot of the practical realities of a career in ballet. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 26, 2024
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Rhinegold (2022) |
Rhinegold is a bold act of misdirection, leading us through a story that's ultimately and surprisingly inspiring, if only because of how truly unlikely it seems. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 26, 2024
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The Last Breath (2024) |
It's good enough and, at times, a bit more than that. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 26, 2024
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The Arctic Convoy (2023) |
The Arctic Convoy shines a light on the perilous efforts of merchant sailors during the war, while also telling a compelling human story... - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 26, 2024
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Starve Acre (2023) |
Starve Acre is about grief, but the way in which writer/director Daniel Kokotajilo filters it through the supernatural and folklore keeps the material at an emotional remove. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 25, 2024
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Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (2024) |
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger is filled with Scorsese's intelligent and personal analysis, entirely worthy of hearing. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 25, 2024
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The Fabulous Four (2024) |
[E]ven the stars seem bored and disheartened by the material. We can't blame them. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 25, 2024
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Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) |
[T]he movie's satirical aims are hollow to the core. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 25, 2024
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The Beast Within (2024) |
[W]e're left with something that feels like a cheap allegory. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 25, 2024
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Find Me Falling (2024) |
Find Me Falling nearly gets ... [it] right. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 19, 2024
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Twisters (2024) |
[T]he real stars of Twisters are the eponymous storms. When they show up, the movie fulfills its sole purpose well enough, but that's not quite an excuse for the rest of it. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 19, 2024
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Skywalkers: A Love Story (2024) |
[T]here's little denying the effect of the [climbing] footage... Almost everything surrounding it, though, feels disingenuous... - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 19, 2024
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Great Absence (2023) |
Chika-ura's film may start as a mystery ... At every turn, though, the screenplay ... confounds those expectations... - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 19, 2024
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Clear Cut (2024) |
Ignoring how ridiculous much of the action is here, the silliest thing is how a story so basic can make so little sense. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 19, 2024
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The Abandon (2022) |
It's ... a nice reminder, in case one is needed, that limitations of location and budget don't have to equate to limitations of imagination and execution. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 19, 2024
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Widow Clicquot (2023) |
Here's a movie that has to tell us how important its protagonist was, because the story itself is so concerned with everything and everyone else surrounding her accomplishments. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 18, 2024
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Oddity (2024) |
Oddity is a nifty and scary showcase of horror storytelling. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 18, 2024
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Customs Frontline (2024) |
[I]t's easy to start suspecting that the plot and characters are simply excuses for the filmmakers to stage ... [the action] sequences. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 18, 2024
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Crumb Catcher (2023) |
The balance between that comedic tone and the mechanics of a tightly plotted thriller works ... mainly because ... [they] possess an equal degree of discomfort. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 18, 2024
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Crossing (2024) |
What's fascinating about Akin's film ... is how it directly tells the story of lost souls in indirect ways. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 18, 2024
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My Spy the Eternal City (2024) |
It's all routine, with car chases and brawls and shootouts set against various Italian backdrops. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 18, 2024
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Lumina (2024) |
Don't think about it. Nobody involved in the movie did, after all. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 12, 2024
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Sorry/Not Sorry (2023) |
The film gives us multiple sides of the story ... but it's rightly skeptical of the comic and his supposed redemption of comeback in recent years. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 12, 2024
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Sisi & I (2023) |
It's a fascinating dynamic, lost, perhaps, in ... [the filmmakers'] assumptions that the audience will know as much about Elisabeth as they do. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 12, 2024
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The Inheritance (2024) |
[T]his is a thriller with a neat hook, a few surprises, and a central location that can do a lot of the lifting. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 12, 2024
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The Convert (2023) |
[P]erspective is the major issue with The Convert... - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 12, 2024
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The Blue Rose (2024) |
[H]ere's a movie that feels as if it makes less sense if one tries to understand anything of what's happening within it. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 12, 2024
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Touch (2024) |
Kormákur approaches it with such sincerity and simplicity of intent that it's lovely in, well, sincere and simple ways. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 11, 2024
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National Anthem (2023) |
[W]e're left with a protagonist whose discoveries don't seem to have amounted to much. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 11, 2024
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Longlegs (2024) |
It's creepy and chilling in such a persistent way that its very existence feels threatening. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 11, 2024
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Fly Me to the Moon (2024) |
It cheapens the material that this stand-off almost inevitably leads to a romance ... if only because the rest of the movie is approaching much bigger ideas... - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 11, 2024
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Dandelion (2024) |
By the time the movie returns to the practical and personal elements of its main character's journey ... the movie has pushed her too much to the side of her own story. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 11, 2024
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The Nature of Love (2023) |
The Nature of Love becomes a study ... of someone who, despite her external confidence and sense of certainty, doesn't actually know what she wants. It's fascinating in that way... - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 05, 2024
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Mother, Couch (2023) |
Mother, Couch continually and ultimately evades ... emotions and realities for the game it's playing. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 05, 2024
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MaXXXine (2024) |
MaXXXine probably shouldn't be this hollow and enigmatic as the conclusion to a series that could be quite intelligent in marrying style and form with some clever tweaks. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 05, 2024
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The Imaginary (2023) |
For all of the creativity put forward to create this movie ... its story isn't nearly as imaginative... - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 04, 2024
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Escape (2024) |
[T]he movie possesses a strong sense of momentum ... [I]t's not enough to overshadow just how contrived this character's journey becomes. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 04, 2024
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Space Cadet (2024) |
Something's off in the movie's calculations of its tone and intentions... - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 04, 2024
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Despicable Me 4 (2024) |
Despicable Me 4 almost seems fully aware that it's more a distraction—a good-natured and occasionally amusing one, at least—than a movie. - Mark Reviews Movies
Read More
| Posted Jul 03, 2024
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Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot (2024) |
The screenplay ... lays on this sentiment thick ... It ... takes the movie only so far. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 03, 2024
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Kill (2023) |
Kill doesn't set out to do much, except to justify wall-to-wall action ... The film ... execute[s] that goal with skill and style. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 03, 2024
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Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024) |
[I]f this belated fourth entry isn't quite up to snuff, it does serve as evidence that Murphy ... can still carry and nearly elevate formulaic material. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jul 03, 2024
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Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 (2024) |
Everything and everyone here are serving one purpose: to promise that more will come later. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jun 28, 2024
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A Family Affair (2024) |
A movie of multiple tones and tactics, A Family Affair can't quite decide whose story to tell and how to tell it. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jun 28, 2024
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The Vourdalak (2023) |
One of the lingering questions of this movie ... is just how seriously we're meant to take this tale. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jun 28, 2024
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A Quiet Place: Day One (2024) |
It features a pair of sympathetic characters ... in a string of smartly staged and cleverly designed suspense sequences. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jun 28, 2024
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Last Summer (2023) |
There's a surprising depth ... to Last Summer... - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jun 28, 2024
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Chronicles of a Wandering Saint (2023) |
[T]he film becomes a gently comedic examination of what really matters in life. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jun 28, 2024
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A Sacrifice (2024) |
The whole affair becomes about the plot, which doesn't stand up to much scrutiny, and its underlying secrets, which are repeatedly undermined by the movie's form. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jun 27, 2024
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June Zero (2022) |
It's an intriguing tapestry of stories and ideas ... and if the movie is ultimately disappointing and underwhelming, it's not for a lack of ambition. - Mark Reviews Movies
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| Posted Jun 27, 2024
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