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FlickFilosopher.com

handcrafted film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997

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CIA

Unlocked movie review: the spy who broke the female mold

Fri, May 05, 2017
no comments yet

There’s stuff in this spy thriller that’s fresh, and lots that’s familiar, but Noomi Rapace using her brains and brawn to fight bad guys is a genuine thrill.

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Fast & Furious 8 (aka The Fate of the Furious) movie review: notes from the critics’ ward

Wed, Apr 12, 2017
21 comments

EMPs and nukular codes and cyber crap and submarines, oh my! “What does this have to do with us?” Michelle Rodriguez cries, and I’m like I know, right?

| 21 Comments
Snowden green light

Snowden movie review: the system’s self-correction

Mon, Apr 03, 2017
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A gripping précis of what Edward Snowden learned at the CIA and NSA, why he went public, and why it matters. Entertaining yet also deeply unsettling.

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Zero Days documentary review: the code war has begun

Thu, Jan 12, 2017
5 comments

Fascinating and horrifying. A gripping detective story and an impassioned call for public debate over terrifying weapons that have already been loosed.

| 5 Comments

Silence movie review: not golden

Mon, Jan 09, 2017
22 comments

This overlong, underpowered tale of Christian martyrdom, in which iconography and allusion stand in for character, is a challenge to even the Scorsese faithful.

| 22 Comments

Operation Avalanche movie review: to the moon?

Thu, Jan 05, 2017
10 comments

This Apollo-era would-be suspense-thriller mockumentary is more an exercise in “look how film-school cool and clever we are” than anything else.

| 10 Comments

Inferno movie review: let’s run through the museum!

Mon, Oct 17, 2016
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Completely absurd, ultimately pointless, but also gloriously goofy: a Nancy Drew mystery with Scooby-Doo overtones and a thin veneer of bookishness.

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Jason Bourne movie review: Bourne again, but why?

Tue, Jul 26, 2016
6 comments

Everything looks great on paper here: Damon’s brawny presence; the smartly staged action, etc. And it’s not unfun. But it feels less black ops than old hat.

| 6 Comments

Bastille Day (aka The Take) movie review: French toast

Thu, Apr 21, 2016
1 comment

A fake movie busted out into reality! But this not-even would-be jokey riff on Hollywood doesn’t know how to fill the air between car chases and punchups.

| 1 Comment

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi movie review: American mercenary

Fri, Jan 29, 2016
71 comments

Michael Bay propagandizes for a right-wing idea of “true America,” seething with disdain for anyone who isn’t a former elite soldier turned mercenary.

| 71 Comments
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