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2:4
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Knives Out
(2019)
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Glenn Lovell
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At over two hours, this salute to Dame Agatha feels overlong, padded ... The denouement isn't reached so much as laboriously coughed up, like a fur-ball.
Posted Dec 24, 2019
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4:4
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1917
(2019)
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Glenn Lovell
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Think Kubrick's 'Paths of Glory' crossed with Spielberg's 'Saving Private Ryan,' and you'll be in the grim yet somehow exhilarating vicinity of this inevitable Best Picture Oscar contender.
Posted Dec 20, 2019
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1.5/4
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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
(2018)
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Glenn Lovell
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This overlong, over-the-top continuation sniffs and scratches so desperately to establish its pedigree it could be a mutt cousin of Spielberg's original blockbuster. You feel less like criticizing the thing than putting it down ...
Posted Sep 20, 2018
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3/4
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Hereditary
(2018)
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Glenn Lovell
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... an assured debut that folds in Shirley Jackson, Rosemary Woodhouse and, for its immersive creepiness, 'Seance on a Wet Afternoon' ... Collette fearlessly explores Annie's primal fears, at times contorting her face into hideous mask
Posted Sep 18, 2018
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3/4
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Adrift
(2018)
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Glenn Lovell
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... the extreme long shots say it all: we are completely alone, mere specs on an endless expanse of shimmering gray ... best of its kind since J.C. Chandor's 'All Is Lost' ... required viewing for arm-chairs adventurers who live vicariously.
Posted Sep 12, 2018
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2/4
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The Bookshop
(2017)
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Glenn Lovell
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... standard PBS Masterpiece fare ... self-consciously arty and as studied as a John Constable pastoral come to life ... has small-town hypocrites in its sights but is too polite to pull the trigger
Posted Sep 04, 2018
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2.5/4
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Papillon
(2017)
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Glenn Lovell
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...remake is overall more satisfying than original ... less movie start charismatic, Hunnam plays squire to McQueen's Cooler King ... 'Les Miz' meets 'Escape from Alcatraz'
Posted Aug 27, 2018
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2/4
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78/52
(2017)
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Glenn Lovell
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Who doesn't remember where he was when Leigh shed black bra and slip, unwrapped a bar of complimentary Bates Motel soap, and washed away her sins? ... Unfortunately doc's scholarship feels sketchy, arbitrary.
Posted Dec 11, 2017
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3.5/4
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Lucky
(2017)
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Glenn Lovell
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One of the year's true finds, a spare but amiable slice-of-lifer about an argumentative old coot and his equally eccentric friends ... Stanton, never better, deserves a posthumous Oscar nod.
Posted Sep 21, 2017
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1.5/4
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mother!
(2017)
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Glenn Lovell
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Marketed as a supernatural thriller, Aronofsky's latest is a black comedy about what it means to play muse to creep artist ... Doesn't attain MOAB stature but still the most indulgent film from a major director in a good while
Posted Sep 18, 2017
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2/4
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It
(2017)
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Glenn Lovell
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Skarsgard's purring Pennywise is the stuff of indelible beddy-time nightmares, but this fusing of small-town Americana and childhood neuroses lags, feels cobbled together from other fright films
Posted Sep 13, 2017
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3/4
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It Comes at Night
(2017)
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Glenn Lovell
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Mines the same dour forebodings as Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road' ... a grim little cautionary fable that relies on mood, character development and performance, not 'Walking Dead' gore effects.
Posted Jun 26, 2017
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3.5/4
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Kong: Skull Island
(2017)
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Glenn Lovell
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Not only the most exhilarating e-ticket ride since 'Mad Max Fury Road,' it's almost as exciting as the RKO original, thanks to expertly orchestrated cliff-hangers and the scariest CG beasties since 'Jurassic Park'
Posted Mar 19, 2017
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2.5/4
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The Last Word
(2017)
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Glenn Lovell
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Despite the laudable direction and another feisty turn by MacLaine, this low-budget vehicle fairly buckles under mounting contrivances, used to facilitate shifts in tone, from bleak to heartfelt to silly
Posted Mar 12, 2017
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2.5/4
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Logan
(2017)
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Glenn Lovell
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Before it settles down as a cross between 'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome' and 'Shane' it's a pretty joyless slog, one CG-enhanced battle after another ... Dafne Keen as Wolvie's ward goes full feral.
Posted Mar 06, 2017
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3/4
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Get Out
(2017)
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Glenn Lovell
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... first really interesting film of the new year is an unnerving social satire that uses horror tropes to peel away the hypocrisy of white liberal America .. Peele is obviously a director to watch.
Posted Mar 05, 2017
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2.5/4
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Split
(2017)
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Glenn Lovell
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Shyamalan has been biding his time in The Twilight Zone, mounting, if not a comeback, a tentative second beginning ... More ingenious than scary; it could have used a few more hardcore shocks.
Posted Jan 21, 2017
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2.5
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Hidden Figures
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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... inspirational but predictable celebration of sacrifice, can-do spirit of three exploited NASA workers ... feels pat, too self-aware ... may be overdoing things to redress past sins.
Posted Jan 09, 2017
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4/4
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Paterson
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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... a wry meditation on the nature of creativity ... Adam Driver is wonderful as the would-be poet searching for inspiration in all the wrong places ... Jarmusch's sweetest, most accessible film
Posted Jan 04, 2017
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4/4
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Fences
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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... a powerhouse of a drama ... Washington is breathtakingly good as the embittered Troy, who's erecting a wall between himself and an unjust world. Viola Davis can prepare her Oscar speech
Posted Jan 04, 2017
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4/4
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The Birth of a Nation
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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... an ambitious, multilayered epic - as important in its way as '12 Years a Slave' ... Parker's Nat Turner, no Sunday school martyr, thirsts as much for bloody retribution as freedom.
Posted Jan 04, 2017
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2.5/4
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The Magnificent Seven
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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In rust-brown appearance as well as offhand staging of the gunfights, Faqua's 'M7' is closer to operatic Leone than choreographed Sturges ... war-weary Hawke and rousing theme by late James Horner are pluses
Posted Jan 03, 2017
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3.5/4
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La La Land
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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One from the heart ... Chazelle doesn't for a moment wink at the viewer. He's guileless; he really believes in this trompe l'oeil world of violet sunsets, movie star murals, twinkly planetarium stars.
Posted Dec 29, 2016
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2/4
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Nocturnal Animals
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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Tom Ford's stutter-step distillation of the Austin Wright novel ... a blunted, mostly pretentious fusion of something by the Coens and, for the story-within-a-story, 'Hot Rods to Hell.'
Posted Dec 24, 2016
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3/4
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Arrival
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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... probably best described as humanist sci-fi. Like 'CE3K' and 'Contact' with Jodie Foster, this new arrival appears to be looking upward to the heavens, but its real target is the human heart.
Posted Dec 10, 2016
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3/4
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Don't Breathe
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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... take 'See No Evil' and its ilk, stand this horror sub-genre on its head, and you've got Fede Alvarez's 'Don't Breathe,' our pick for the best (read most unrelenting) chiller of the Halloween season ... lights-out scary!
Posted Sep 21, 2016
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1.5/4
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Star Trek Beyond
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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... a place-holder installment ... Let this be a lesson to JJ Abrams and Paramount: wait until you have new terrain to plow, something to say, before you summon Kirk and gang from dry dock.
Posted Sep 19, 2016
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3/4
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Blood Father
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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Mad Mel's return ... taut, tailor-made actioner that brings star's career full circle ... Our advice to Gibson: Continue along this path. Solid, no-frills vehicles like this will rally your original base.
Posted Sep 18, 2016
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3/4
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Hell or High Water
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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... a forlorn modern-day Western ... Its garrulous style and tumbleweed authenticity will stay in mind long after the plot has faded from memory ... Bridges is essentially doing Tommy Lee Jones
Posted Sep 13, 2016
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3/4
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Into the Forest
(2015)
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Glenn Lovell
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... a different kind of near-future drama, one that's by turns elegiac and comforting ... closer to 'Children of Men' than the unrelievedly downbeat 'The Road.'
Posted Aug 19, 2016
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2.5/4
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Edge of Winter
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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Kinnaman's weekend father is a return to form, a twitchy, deeply flawed character we can't help rooting for even as we fear the worst ... He reminded me of Nicholson in 'The Shining' ...
Posted Aug 19, 2016
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2.5/4
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Sun Choke
(2015)
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Glenn Lovell
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... muted horror entry punctuated by explosions of graphic violence ... veers from Ingmar Bergman arty to De Palma trippy ... will be interesting to see which path Cresciman takes from here.
Posted Aug 12, 2016
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3/4
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The Phenom
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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... a minor triumph ... compact, impeccably performed ... Ethan Hawke's Great Santini-like father deserves a close look by Oscar ... the gutsy ending left us gasping.
Posted Jun 24, 2016
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2/4
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Careful What You Wish For
(2015)
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Glenn Lovell
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In the mood for a teen twist on a James Cain mystery, with a soupcon of T&A? You could do worse than this slick variation on 'Double Indemnity.' ... The cinematic equivalent to beach reading.
Posted Jun 19, 2016
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3/4
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Weiner
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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... filmmakers hit pay dirt when they got Weiner to sit for them. He's an impassioned self-deceiver who's not afraid to infiltrate enemy territory ... Now if he could only keep his namesake in his pants.
Posted Jun 06, 2016
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3/4
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The Nice Guys
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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... a wonderfully loopy buddy comedy ... Black's thing remains shaggy-dog humor mixed with offhand bursts of violence. Crowe and Gosling channel the nitwit camaraderie of Abbott & Costello
Posted May 29, 2016
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3/4
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13 Cameras
(2015)
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Glenn Lovell
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Be prepared to be royally creeped out ... an exceedingly rude comment on the current real estate scene ... Archembault's sicko landlord belongs in the same fright gallery as Dieter Laser.
Posted Apr 24, 2016
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1.5/4
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Criminal
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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... formulaic blend of espionage thriller and cut-rate sci-fi. The usually sympathetic Costner's image makeover is about as believable as his ratty toupees ... At once noisy and soporific.
Posted Apr 17, 2016
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3/4
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10 Cloverfield Lane
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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Trachtenberg milks the simple 'What's outside?'/Twilight Zone premise for cascading cold-sweat thrills ... Goodman is perfect as the petulant, Cyclops-like captor ...
Posted Mar 12, 2016
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2/2
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Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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... mix of scattershot humor, battlefield carnage and sentimentality makes us pine for a full-on satire of gonzo war correspondents. Think Joker in third act of Kubrick's 'Full Metal Jacket.'
Posted Mar 06, 2016
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3/4
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Knock Knock
(2015)
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Glenn Lovell
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Intriguing spin on home-invasion thriller ... Slickly produced, energetically played, especially by Reeves as the good husband who, when home alone, falls prey to kinky temptations.
Posted Mar 04, 2016
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2.5/4
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(undefined)
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Glenn Lovell
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Our hope is that Oscar will redeem itself this year and reward complex emotional interplay rather than slapstick and pat sentimentality.
Posted Feb 28, 2016
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4/4
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The Witch
(2015)
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Glenn Lovell
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Not to worry, the satanic entity found herein is not of the head-spinning, pea soup-spewing variety ... Eggers is too smart to recycle a Central Casting Lucifer.
Posted Feb 28, 2016
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2:4
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Hunted
(2015)
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Glenn Lovell
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... a lean, rugged twist on the warrior princess subgenre ... Bell once again metes out swift, painful retribution to those who badly underestimate her capacity to crack spines ...
Posted Feb 21, 2016
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2.5/4
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Rabid Dogs
(2015)
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Glenn Lovell
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What this French redo of Mario Bava's 1974 heist thriller lacks in plot it more than makes up for in flashy camerawork, energy ... Hitchcock would have cued us to the surprise twist earlier.
Posted Feb 07, 2016
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2:4
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Hail, Caesar!
(2016)
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Glenn Lovell
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... obviously meant as a homage to the great Preston Sturges, the Coens' latest disappoints; it's a flimsy, surprisingly dour succession of double entendres, in-jokes, backlot vignettes ...
Posted Feb 06, 2016
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2/4
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Carol
(2015)
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Glenn Lovell
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Despite year-end plaudits and the promising reunion of Haynes and cinematographer Lachman, this proves a fairly anemic forbidden-love melodrama ... Blanchett turns in a rare one-note performance.
Posted Dec 29, 2015
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3.5/4
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The Hateful Eight
(2015)
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Glenn Lovell
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Tarantino's latest exercise in comedic nihilism rates an A- for audacity. Full of signature tropes, this sanguinary oater owes equal debts to Leone, Agatha Christie ... Flawed, startlingly revelatory, another notch for the gunslinger-arrogant auteur.
Posted Dec 29, 2015
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4/4
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Brooklyn
(2015)
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Glenn Lovell
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If there is a more uplifting film making the rounds, I'm not aware of it ... Conditioned by so many misanthropic melodramas, we assume, cynically, that the worst will befall Ronan. When this doesn't happen, we're pleasantly surprised, touched.
Posted Dec 24, 2015
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3/4
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James White
(2015)
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Glenn Lovell
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... an intense, ultimately uplifting character study ... 'Sex in the City's' Nixon is so good as the title character's stricken mother she should be remembered come Oscar nomination time.
Posted Nov 26, 2015
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