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3.5/4
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Twisters
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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Even if Chung does leave us wanting just a little bit more romance, he delivers a supremely entertaining summer blockbuster in “Twisters,” one with a thematic heft that makes it even better than expected
Posted Jul 18, 2024
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4/4
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Sing Sing
(2023)
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Katie Walsh
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a cinematic work of unique empathy, a slice of hand-turned humanity, hewn from the heart, with rigorous attention paid to the process itself.
Posted Jul 11, 2024
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4/4
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Longlegs
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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It feels like a riddle, the film itself a code to crack, and by the time it’s done, the whole puzzle has not yet been revealed. That’s OK. Understanding everything is not the point in a film that offers such a delicious roller-coaster ride of bad vibes.
Posted Jul 11, 2024
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2/4
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MaXXXine
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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A beautiful facade that’s empty behind the walls, all surface, meaningless symbols, and not an ounce of substance to be found.
Posted Jul 01, 2024
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1.5/4
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Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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"“Horizon” is the kind of auteur project that makes one long for the idea of studio notes, for anyone to push back on Costner’s worst instincts. Unfortunately, he proves to be the judge, jury and executioner of his own passion project."
Posted Jun 28, 2024
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4/4
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Janet Planet
(2023)
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Katie Walsh
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There is no way to predict what will strike a chord, or an arrow into your heart, but one thing is certain: the temporal, emotional, and sensory experience of “Janet Planet” is a uniquely rare gift that needs to be seen and savored.
Posted Jun 25, 2024
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3/4
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Thelma
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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Margolin captures the unlikely beauty of the Valley, and injects thrilling suspense into this yarn
Posted Jun 21, 2024
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3/4
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The Bikeriders
(2023)
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Katie Walsh
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feels like flipping through a photobook filled with arresting compositions and snippets of stories, and there’s a sketchy, snapshot quality to Nichols’ screenplay as well. The film is an evocation of character, place and time
Posted Jun 21, 2024
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2.5/4
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Inside Out 2
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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The imagery is smart, but it has the feeling of an educational children’s book. The movie‘s internal logic tests our own belief systems and fails to impart anything profoundly insightful to an adult audience.
Posted Jun 15, 2024
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3.5/4
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Ghostlight
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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This is a beautifully life-affirming fable about the power of art to heal, but really, it’s the people making the art that do the work. “Ghostlight” is a stunning and incredibly moving tribute to that process.
Posted Jun 14, 2024
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3/4
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I Used to be Funny
(2023)
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Katie Walsh
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In her film debut, [Pankiw] delivers a full and fulfilling narrative arc that is anchored by a surprisingly complex performance from Sennott.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
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2/4
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Bad Boys: Ride or Die
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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It’s a thin tapestry of lore with some interesting creative embellishments, but without any real interest in character, it feels flimsy and disposable. You could do worse, but you could certainly do better.
Posted Jun 05, 2024
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3/4
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Ezra
(2023)
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Katie Walsh
|
a heartfelt, humorous and sometimes harrowing yarn.
Posted Jun 01, 2024
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2/4
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Summer Camp
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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While there are pops of piquancy in Landon’s script, her direction and the performances (with the exception of Woodard) fail to inspire much more than a shrug. “Summer Camp” is only mildly interesting as another entry in the Keaton-verse.
Posted May 31, 2024
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2.5/4
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The Garfield Movie
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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May sport a deep knowledge of film history to delight cinephile parents, but it is still a kiddie movie and comes with the same zany, harried energy one might expect from such a project.
Posted May 28, 2024
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3.5/4
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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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If “Fury Road” was a snapshot that suggested a whole world of lore, “Furiosa” is an epic poem.
Posted May 22, 2024
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2/4
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IF
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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The storytelling of “IF” itself is a mess: a heartfelt but dramatically inert endeavor that whipsaws between tones ranging from whimsical to morose.
Posted May 18, 2024
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3.5/4
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Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
|
The best “Apes” movies offer insight into ourselves and the world that we’ve created, and so does the latest installment, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” which manages to encompass everything we love about these movies into one sprawling story.
Posted May 09, 2024
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2.5/4
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Poolman
(2023)
|
Katie Walsh
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Sort of the physical, emotional and spiritual embodiment of Los Angeles itself: earnest, silly and a little (or a lot) ridiculous, but insistently charming if you decide to surrender to the experience.
Posted May 09, 2024
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2.5/4
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The Fall Guy
(2024)
|
Katie Walsh
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Though stunts may make the movies exciting, it’s the stars who get you in your gut.
Posted May 02, 2024
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3/4
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I Saw the TV Glow
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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“I Saw the TV Glow” emerges like a fog, casting a pallor that drifts over the audience, allowing us to access this space of fictional liminality. On this psychic plane there is a limitless potential, where only the bravest among us can break through.
Posted May 02, 2024
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2/4
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Unsung Hero
(2023)
|
Katie Walsh
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Feels more like band merch than an insightful family portrait.
Posted Apr 26, 2024
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4/4
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Challengers
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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“Challengers” is the kind of sexy, engrossing somewhat twisted romance we don’t see enough of these days, a thrilling film, thrillingly rendered in its layered storytelling expressed in the purest cinematic form.
Posted Apr 25, 2024
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3/4
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The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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Even if the heavy stylization leaves the film feeling a bit arch, there’s a real affection that comes through in Ritchie’s homage to these early special-forces soldiers, making them larger-than-life cinema heroes and letting the audience in on the fun.
Posted Apr 20, 2024
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2.5/4
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Abigail
(2024)
|
Katie Walsh
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Radio Silence have delivered what is essentially a spiritual sequel to their breakout hit, this time with vampires rather than superstitious old-money sadists
Posted Apr 17, 2024
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2.5/4
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Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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Surprisingly authentic and fun for remake material, which is naturally formulaic. It’s the focus on character work that lets this one sing, and it should make a star out of Jones, who, like her character, manages to hold it all together.
Posted Apr 13, 2024
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2/4
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Civil War
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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In this splashy, provocative yarn about photojournalists on the front lines of an imaginary war, Garland declines to share any trenchant insights he might have on the nuances of American politics.
Posted Apr 09, 2024
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4/4
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Housekeeping for Beginners
(2023)
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Katie Walsh
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Within “Housekeeping’s” restless, naturalistic aesthetic, Stolevski crafts complex and poignant images, contrasting the playacting the couple is forced to do with their searing gazes.
Posted Apr 05, 2024
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3/4
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Monkey Man
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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Patel’s passion project is a big swing, and a big swerve for the actor. Luckily, it connects, landing with a satisfyingly bone-crunching intensity. And if this is intended as Patel’s calling card, he leaves the whole damn deck on the table.
Posted Apr 05, 2024
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In the Land of Saints and Sinners
(2023)
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Katie Walsh
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In the “Neeson skills” canon, “In the Land of Saints and Sinners” proves to be a gem, the performances elevating an enjoyably pulpy thriller.
Posted Mar 30, 2024
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2/4
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Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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When you multiply Godzilla by Kong, what do you get? When Wingard’s doing the math, it’s an earnest, wacky, hectic ride that often feels like being thrashed about in an Imax seat.
Posted Mar 29, 2024
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2/4
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Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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perfectly fine but incredibly dull
Posted Mar 21, 2024
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3/4
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Immaculate
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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Blood-soaked and candlelit, Michael Mohan’s “Immaculate” disabuses the notion that any conception is ever without sin.
Posted Mar 20, 2024
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2.5/4
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Arthur the King
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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It’s fairly standard heartwarming dog fare, often treacly... but edged up with vibrant, handheld cinematography by Jacques Jouffret that gives the film a more adult, action-oriented feel
Posted Mar 15, 2024
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3/4
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One Life
(2023)
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Katie Walsh
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“One Life” is a slow burn, slowly establishing Winton’s modest character as a younger and older man, but when it cracks open, it is a deeply moving portrait of true human goodness.
Posted Mar 15, 2024
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2/4
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Kung Fu Panda 4
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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This dumpling is a little too light on the filling.
Posted Mar 15, 2024
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3.5/4
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Love Lies Bleeding
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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It is in this phantasmagorically corporeal obsession that Glass reveals the shared DNA of “Saint Maud” and “Love Lies Bleeding,” which are both about the twisted expansiveness of the female imagination, and whether or not that can transcend reality.
Posted Mar 08, 2024
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4/4
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Problemista
(2023)
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Katie Walsh
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This absurdist comedy becomes a beautifully moving piece about how we make it through the world with desperation and hope, and the hard-earned lessons we find in each other.
Posted Feb 28, 2024
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2/4
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Drive-Away Dolls
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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The slight and scanty “Drive-Away Dolls” could dissipate with a gust of wind, but it beats a hasty getaway before that becomes a problem.
Posted Feb 24, 2024
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Ordinary Angels
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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The character’s motivations don’t gel and no amount of Swank moxie can make it work.
Posted Feb 24, 2024
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4/4
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Dune: Part Two
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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A spectacular feat of science-fiction filmmaking, marrying immersive world-building with engrossing storytelling.
Posted Feb 21, 2024
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2/4
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Bob Marley: One Love
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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What could have been daring is ultimately trite, relying on familiar music biopic tropes. It’s a shame, because at the center is a bravura performance from Kingsley Ben-Adir, who is uniquely suited to the title role.
Posted Feb 16, 2024
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2/4
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Madame Web
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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Is “Madame Web” a good movie? No. Is it hilariously delightful? Often.
Posted Feb 14, 2024
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4/4
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The Taste of Things
(2023)
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Katie Walsh
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But food is just a vessel for the love story in “The Taste of Things,” one we don’t see often enough, of a sweet, egalitarian love, built on respect and companionship, savored sweetly in the autumn of life.
Posted Feb 08, 2024
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3/4
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Lisa Frankenstein
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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Assembled lovingly from many different parts, “Lisa Frankenstein” flips the switch thanks to an overall commitment from cast and crew — and make no mistake, it’s alive.
Posted Feb 08, 2024
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3.5/4
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The Promised Land
(2023)
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Katie Walsh
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“The Promised Land” is the kind of sweeping big-screen epic that will make you say, “they don’t make ‘em like this anymore.” Thank goodness Nikolaj Arcel is.
Posted Feb 02, 2024
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1/4
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Argylle
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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It’s remarkable really, “Argylle” has bone-deep structural issues on a fundamental level, but it is also a failure of directorial execution from top to bottom, resulting in what has to be one of the most expensive worst movies ever made.
Posted Jan 31, 2024
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3/4
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Sometimes I Think About Dying
(2023)
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Katie Walsh
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The Pacific Northwest chill permeates every frame of “Sometimes I Think About Dying,” from the setting to the tone, and while it’s not a traditionally heart-warming film, there’s a sweetness to its soft center.
Posted Jan 26, 2024
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1.5/4
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Miller's Girl
(2024)
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Katie Walsh
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This is pure unintentional camp, striking that wild, so-bad-it’s-entertaining chord vigorously. I can’t recommend “Miller’s Girl” but I also can’t recommend it enough.
Posted Jan 26, 2024
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3.5/4
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Origin
(2023)
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Katie Walsh
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[DuVernay] tackles this global story and existential idea with a certain necessary fearlessness, but more than anything, she brings heart, hope, and above all, humanity to this singular and searing text.
Posted Jan 20, 2024
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