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FlickFilosopher.com

film criticism by maryann johanson | handcrafted since 1997

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Stephen Frears

weekend watchlist: is it good to be the queen?

Tue, Oct 18, 2022
no comments yet

Plus a teenage con artist, a skewering of late-night comedy, and more… (First published September 18th, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.)

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Victoria & Abdul movie review: one of her best friends was brown

Fri, Sep 15, 2017
5 comments

Charming based-on-fact British costume dramedy gently snarks about power and propriety but cuts a lot deeper when it comes to bigotry and bootlicking.

| 5 Comments

Florence Foster Jenkins movie review: don’t worry that it’s not good enough for anyone else to hear

Fri, May 06, 2016
4 comments

When FFJ sticks to farce, it works wonderfully, like something P.G. Wodehouse might have loved. But the longer it goes on, the more maudlin it gets.

| 4 Comments

Marguerite movie review: is ignorance bliss?

Thu, Mar 31, 2016
1 comment

A bravura dramedy that beautifully balances tragedy and comedy and asks a tricky question: Is it better to be cynical about art, or happily undiscriminating?

| 1 Comment

The Program movie review: on your bike and follow the money (LFF 2015)

Fri, Oct 16, 2015
2 comments

Pretty much strictly for fans of Ben Foster and Chris O’Dowd, who are both superb here. Probably not for fans of Lance Armstrong (if he still has any left).

| 2 Comments

Philomena review: suffer the women

Wed, Nov 20, 2013
28 comments

A cry-till-you-laugh-dramedy about seeking lost family and finding new purpose; Judi Dench and Steve Coogan are fantastic. Seriously, though: bring Kleenex.

| 28 Comments

Philomena trailer: give Judi Dench back her son!

Tue, Oct 08, 2013
4 comments

Steve Coogan, Judi Dench, Stephen Frears. So much goodness in yet another story about the inhuman awfulness of the Catholic Church. Hooray, I guess.

| 4 Comments

cannot contain my excitement for the London Film Festival

Thu, Sep 05, 2013
5 comments

I’m hyperventilating from the array of overwhelming movie awesomeness before me.

| 5 Comments

Hummingbird (aka Redemption) review: pity poor Jason Statham

Fri, Jun 28, 2013
2 comments

Some of it is hilariously awful, and some is just plain awful. But Statham’s attempt to be taken seriously as an actor is honest, at least.

| 2 Comments

Lay the Favourite (trailer)

Tue, Jun 19, 2012
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I’m always in for a new movie from Stephen Frears. But I do feel like I’ve seen this movie a hundred times before.

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