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FlickFilosopher.com

handcrafted film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997

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coming of age

True History of the Kelly Gang movie review: toxic came the masculinity

Tue, Apr 21, 2020
2 comments

Revisionist tale of the Australian folk hero rages against the dark forces that shaped him: emotional and economic neglect and abuse forged in patriarchy and colonialism. Electrifyingly punk and vulgar.

| 2 Comments

Never Rarely Sometimes Always movie review: the secret lives of girls and women

Tue, Apr 07, 2020
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Softly savage, exposing the unspoken subtext of the lives of girls and women: the mundane but covert garbage that gets piled upon us, the knotted existence too many of us are just barely surviving.

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Onward movie review: the Pixar road goes ever on

Fri, Mar 06, 2020
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Don’t let the Pixar curve throw you: familiar this quest may be, but it’s full of magic and wonder and humor and melancholy, and set in a fully realized fantasy world. Not a masterpiece but very good.

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Emma. movie review: this queen bee has a bitter sting

Fri, Feb 14, 2020
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A sly, penetrating zing and a frisson of Insta-influencer horror — of the oppression of performative perfection against a marzipan backdrop — renders Austen’s fluff and nonsense deadly serious.

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Little Women (2019) movie review: looking askance, with love, at a classic

Thu, Dec 19, 2019
1 comment

A very welcome feminist interpretation of Alcott’s beloved novel, layered in sly, winking awareness of Hollywood clichés and the cultural pressures on women. Alive and electric, an absolute treasure.

| 1 Comment

Good Posture movie review: growing up, still deferred

Sat, Oct 05, 2019
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A rare new expedition to the realm of messed-up young women is as unsatisfying as many of the ones about feckless young men. An unlikeable protagonist should at least be interesting. This one isn’t.

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Luce movie review: whom to believe, and what that says about us

Mon, Sep 30, 2019
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Intense, uncomfortable family drama morphs into psychological suspense in a challenging tale of racial and cultural identity eliding the biases and delusions of its characters with the viewer’s own.

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Phoenix (Føniks) movie review: but will she rise again?

Fri, Sep 13, 2019
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This Norwegian family drama, tinged with fantasy and horror, depicts a teen girl’s emotional turmoil through fantastical, yet oddly pragmatic, reveries. Newcomer Ylva Bjørkaas Thedin is heartbreaking.

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Gwen movie review: a frisson of fright on the farm

Fri, Aug 16, 2019
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Atmospheric mood — this is a dour nightmare in the stark gloom of 19th-century Wales — and a striking performance by Eleanor Worthington-Cox aren’t quite enough to sustain this near-horror film.

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Blinded by the Light movie review: bend it like The Boss

Sat, Aug 10, 2019
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Seriously adorkable teen is saved, in 1987, by the rock poetry of Bruce Springsteen. The Boss is still relevant today, as is, alas, the harsh political and economic setting of Thatcher’s Britain.

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