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reviews

What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael documentary review: art and trash in measured quantities

Sun, Dec 15, 2019
no comments yet

A terrific portrait of the legendary critic, as objective as she was proudly subjective. Pulls no punches on her complicated life and work but rightly hails how she revolutionized thinking about film.

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Richard Jewell movie review: innocent man, guilty movie

Thu, Dec 12, 2019
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Cluelessly simplistic rendering of a 1990s media injustice ignores all the context in which it happened and demonizes the one journalist who acted professionally. Fails even as a conservative screed.

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Jumanji: The Next Level movie review: this game needs to be over

Wed, Dec 11, 2019
7 comments

It’s more of the same tedious nonsense, all action sequences bereft of excitement and body-swap comedy minus any real laughs. An abysmal lack of fun with stakes way too low to generate much suspense.

| 7 Comments

Ordinary Love movie review: marriage story

Mon, Dec 09, 2019
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A Cancer Movie but not a horror story. Funny, moving, hopeful; an intimate portrait of a couple who know how to support each other and why that matters. Oh, and it’s also a love letter to the NHS.

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The Whistleblower movie review: action drama with a big cultural barrier to overcome

Fri, Dec 06, 2019
12 comments

Chinese film is coming for Western audiences, but this ludicrous thriller, full of coincidence and contrivance, ain’t it. Still, nice to see a global story that doesn’t center the US or Europe.

| 12 Comments

Playmobil: The Movie movie review: a cheap ad disguised as a movie (barely)

Tue, Dec 03, 2019
10 comments

This plastic horror — horrifically, it’s a musical — is a head-smackingly dumb exercise in corporate filmmaking and mercenary marketing. So crass it makes me rethink my love of the toys themselves.

| 10 Comments

Frozen II movie review: the thaw sets in

Tue, Dec 03, 2019
12 comments

There’s magic here, and elemental spirits, but no magic and nothing elemental, metaphorically speaking. Rote and smaller than its predecessor. Even the songs are bland and forgettable.

| 12 Comments

Knives Out movie review: catch your death of fun (LFF 2019)

Mon, Nov 25, 2019
31 comments

An entirely entertaining murder-mystery jape; dryly funny, deliciously retro yet decidedly modern. Whenever you think you’ve got it figured out, it trips you up again… and you love it for doing so.

| 31 Comments

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood movie review: the importance of radical kindness (LFF 2019)

Sun, Nov 24, 2019
22 comments

This wonder of a film wrecked me. In the best possible way. It directly confronts cynicism and misanthropy, and asks us to let them go if we can. I really needed its message. The whole world does now.

| 22 Comments

21 Bridges movie review: roads to nowhere

Sun, Nov 24, 2019
no comments yet

Bland, predictable cop and crime clichés lacking all urgency and any of the claustrophobia that should come from its high-concept premise. Shutting down Manhattan has zero impact on anything here.

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