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A brilliant, if demented, concept could have been The Purge for parenthood, but it is inadequately explored, and then abruptly dropped by a sudden ending. The entire third act of the film is missing.
The state of affairs in the Middle East may actually be thornier than it seems from afar: that is the position this brave, intimate perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems to take.
An ostensible fairy tale of the creative life in London that tries too hard to be eccentric, while also trying too hard to be grounded and realistic. This is one of those idiosyncrasies that you really can’t have both ways.
Woefully undeveloped characters, a thin yet convoluted plot, and a lack of humor in the black comedy. This is what it looks like when a hastily scribbled first draft goes straight into production.
My pick: “Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405,” a marvelous portrait of artist Mindy Alper, one that challenges us all to know ourselves as well as she seems to, even when it’s incredibly painful.
My pick: I think the quietly shocking “DeKalb Elementary” may win for its very of-the-moment story about a school office worker’s attempt to de-escalate an invading gunman’s rage via patience and empathy.
My pick: I suspect that this year’s winner will be “Garden Party,” a spectacular debut from new French animation studio Illogic that I am sure we will be seeing a lot more stunning work from.
A good primer on the rapid unraveling of Harvey Weinstein, with hints of how much more story there may still be to tell.
A quiet yet resolute portrait of bravery and resilience in the face of unconscionable bigotry, and distressingly moving. Specific yet universal, and wonderfully human.
Ballerina turned whore-spy? This is like a cheap porn scenario, and the Hollywood gloss makes it worse. Risible yet tedious, yet another movie by men that thinks it’s critiquing misogyny yet is indistinguishable from it.
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