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7/10
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Self-Help
(2025)
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Jared Mobarak
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It all adds up to an invigorating ride that supplies everything necessary for horror fans to latch onto at the surface and a captivating human story of imperfect souls doing their best to, ultimately, accept themselves underneath.
Posted Jun 25, 2025
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8/10
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Henry Johnson
(2025)
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Jared Mobarak
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[Mamet] has weaponized our collective cynicism to create a character who is so willing to think the best of people that he’ll continue doing so even as that trust sinks him deeper and deeper into despair.
Posted May 06, 2025
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7/10
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Birdsong
(2025)
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Jared Mobarak
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Amariz is touching on mankind's penchant for allowing itself to be held captive by love, longing, and desire. The result is a quiet and thoughtful enterprise.
Posted Mar 16, 2025
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8/10
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Bring Them Down
(2024)
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Jared Mobarak
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It's a truly grim drama with blood and anger dripping off every frame. The cycle [of violence] might finally be over, but the damage has already been done.
Posted Feb 14, 2025
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7/10
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Universal Language
(2024)
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Jared Mobarak
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Rankin and company are providing us a glimpse at the beauty of our shared human experience removed from labels and geography. The true "color blindness" of society isn't achieved through homogeneity. We get there through acceptance.
Posted Feb 12, 2025
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8/10
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Ricky
(2025)
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Jared Mobarak
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Ricky must believe himself to be worthy of their love before he can accept it, but the pain he holds threatens to make it impossible. James has never been better en route to giving that struggle the care it demands.
Posted Feb 02, 2025
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7/10
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Love, Brooklyn
(2025)
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Jared Mobarak
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Things must get messy because life is messy, but Holder never lets it fall into cliché or melodrama. It's up to them to [the characters to] embrace this new day and move forward without looking back.
Posted Feb 01, 2025
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6/10
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Didn't Die
(2025)
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Jared Mobarak
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Yes, the gore factor is memorable, but it means nothing if we don’t learn to love the characters fighting off the inevitability that they’ll be next. It might take some time to get there, but I locked it as soon as it did.
Posted Jan 31, 2025
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6/10
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By Design
(2025)
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Jared Mobarak
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By Design has a lot to say and does so in a dryly comic way that both appeals to audiences with its satirical metaphors and alienates them via its performance art affectations, interpretative dance, and glacial pacing.
Posted Jan 31, 2025
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6/10
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Atropia
(2025)
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Jared Mobarak
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So, enjoy the comedy. It’s not as biting as you might hope, but it is entertaining. This is especially true when mocking the ways this farce can be exploited or go wrong
Posted Jan 31, 2025
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8/10
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Omaha
(2025)
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Jared Mobarak
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It leads to some fun conversations, a ton of shoplifting, and an infinite wealth of heart. And while Wright and Solis are the catalysts, you must give Magaro a ton of credit for fostering the latter with an unforgettable turn as a father without options.
Posted Jan 31, 2025
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7/10
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The Colors Within
(2024)
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Jared Mobarak
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Totsu, Kimi, and Rui are able to reconcile the two halves of themselves together and see a way forward via compromise for both. Maybe bending the rules will actually get them closer to God than if they blindly followed each to the letter.
Posted Jan 22, 2025
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8/10
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Hard Truths
(2024)
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Jared Mobarak
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But it's Jean-Baptiste who shines brightest by showcasing her talent to maintain humanity through despicable behavior. For all the bile [Pansy] spews, the person who ends up hurt most by it is her.
Posted Jan 17, 2025
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9/10
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Nickel Boys
(2024)
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Jared Mobarak
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The film is a harrowing piece of American history and inspiring tale of mankind's perseverance to overcome overall, but its pieces are just as powerful—in some cases more.
Posted Jan 14, 2025
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8/10
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I'm Still Here
(2024)
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Jared Mobarak
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And it all hinges on Torres being able to pull off the internal emotional struggle to keep moving forward no matter what she discovers. Eunice is a woman who cannot afford to break.
Posted Jan 14, 2025
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7/10
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Unstoppable
(2024)
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Jared Mobarak
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The first half is a bit rough—riddled with clichés [and] ham-fisted dialogue. The emotion is what gets us through [before the third act provides a more singular purpose] and we have Lopez to thank for it.
Posted Jan 14, 2025
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8/10
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Nosferatu
(2024)
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Jared Mobarak
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That leveling up of intention, violence, and horror runs throughout Eggers' adaptation. More than just expanding upon the mythology, he's increasing the brutality with a greater sense of visceral potency than mere dread.
Posted Dec 24, 2024
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7/10
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Babygirl
(2024)
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Jared Mobarak
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There's an honesty to the sex positive nature of the whole, but also the empathy inherent in the love for another and the love for oneself. [Kidman delivers] an emotionally daring performance.
Posted Dec 24, 2024
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10/10
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The Brutalist
(2024)
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Jared Mobarak
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Above the script's elucidations, Corbet's assured direction, and the impressive production design, though, are too of the year's finest performances courtesy of Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce.
Posted Dec 19, 2024
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7/10
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It's Not Me
(2024)
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Jared Mobarak
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Gives shape to [Carax's] ideas and influences while paying homage to the artists who inspired and assisted in the art he's made.
Posted Dec 07, 2024
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8/10
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Maria
(2024)
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Jared Mobarak
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The whole is imbued with similar flourishes as Larraín's other English-language heightened biographies, Jackie and Spencer, to find its narrative thrust landing somewhere between the former's poetic realism and latter's evocative fantasy.
Posted Nov 27, 2024
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6/10
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Sweethearts
(2024)
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Jared Mobarak
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Yes, following [Hearon's Palmer] takes us away from the "main plot," but I'd argue his path is both more interesting and makes [the leads' plot] better through the act of "ruining" it.
Posted Nov 26, 2024
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8/10
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Night Is Not Eternal
(2024)
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Jared Mobarak
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Night Is Not Eternal proves a fascinating look at the troubles and struggles we all face in a flattening world ruled by opportunists of greed rather than stewards of protection.
Posted Nov 21, 2024
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7/10
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My Sweet Land
(2024)
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Jared Mobarak
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Yes, the story itself seems familiar to those paying attention to the many instances of violent displacement and ethnic cleansing occurring all over Asia, but familiarity doesn’t negate the importance of providing Artsakh a platform to be heard.
Posted Nov 19, 2024
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7/10
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Phantasm
(1979)
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Jared Mobarak
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Despite any production failings... one cannot deny the effective special effects and formal structure.
Posted Nov 28, 2023
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7/10
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Bless Their Little Hearts
(1984)
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Jared Mobarak
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The film isn’t perfect, wears its budget on its sleeve, and finds its final two or three scenes disjointed through incongruous jump cuts that feel like whole scenes are missing, but it’s honest in its decision to not sanitize life’s hardships.
Posted Jan 10, 2023
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5/10
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Empire of Light
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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We bask in the period detail and cringe at the on-the-nose dialogue that always reminds us how "different" our two leads are. Colman and Ward are both very good, but neither can transcend the cardboard cutouts they're asked to play.
Posted Dec 09, 2022
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7/10
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White Noise
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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White Noise is funny, insightful, and downright scary at times for so much of that first two-thirds that it seems almost like the last portion was set-up to fail.
Posted Nov 26, 2022
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7/10
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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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Despite Glass Onion not being as smart as Knives Out, it was definitely just as entertaining—if not more.
Posted Nov 21, 2022
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6/10
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EO
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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Sadly, like Balthazar, EO just wasn't for me. Because while the whole is enjoyable, it's also fleeting. I'm glad to have experienced the journey, but that's it.
Posted Nov 16, 2022
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8/10
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Causeway
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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Causeway possesses a powerful display of recognition despite that seemingly barebones plot. Through Lawrence's excellent work in this return to her indie roots and Henry's scene-stealing support, we can see their characters' long road ahead.
Posted Nov 11, 2022
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7/10
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My Father's Dragon
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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Love should never be conditional. It's a necessary lesson to be learned and Twomey and company are very willing to tell it with the seriousness children films demand.
Posted Nov 10, 2022
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8/10
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Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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Some of what Iñárritu creates works better than others, but it all comes from the heart. The artistry and cinematography prove next level regardless.
Posted Nov 09, 2022
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8/10
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Tár
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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So much of what we see is mirrored, contrasted, and/or flipped at a future point. Field has constructed Tár this way so that he can play with our expectations and call out our preconceptions.
Posted Nov 02, 2022
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7/10
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Call Jane
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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A documentary [would] probably do a better job providing details of what Jane was, but you can’t deny the power of a fictionalized narrative opening the door on an historical topic. What it lacks in historical objectivity, it makes up for with humanity.
Posted Oct 28, 2022
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7/10
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Holy Spider
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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The production value, performances, and underlying themes are enough to warrant a watch despite any letdown [in the final act].
Posted Oct 28, 2022
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8/10
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The Woman King
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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With great visuals and choreography making each battle a physically brutal dance, we get a sense of what these women are fighting for whether "each other" means the Agojie or Africa itself.
Posted Oct 20, 2022
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7/10
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All That Breathes
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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While the brothers speak for themselves and the kites, [Sen] and his cinematographers capture the wild juxtaposition of nature and industry [with] amazing visuals courtesy of multiple slow pans devoid of artifice or intrusion.
Posted Oct 20, 2022
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8/10
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The Banshees of Inisherin
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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Gleeson and Farrell play their roles to perfection despite being drawn as two-dimensional pawns in McDonagh's game—two sides of the same broken coin, doubling down when the opportunity for growth presents itself because they're too entitled to listen.
Posted Oct 20, 2022
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8/10
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To Leslie
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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This is slice of life humanity brimming with authenticity and propped up by one of the best performances of the year so we can understand the pain and self-loathing beneath every mean-spirited and vindictive action Leslie takes.
Posted Oct 07, 2022
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7/10
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I Like Movies
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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Yes, the period specific nature of working in a video store circa 2002 is on point, but [Levack's] film isn't about fandom or obsession. It's about the masks we wear to hide the pain we feel.
Posted Sep 29, 2022
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6/10
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Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon
(2021)
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Jared Mobarak
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Even if that pacing and comedy isn't your thing, however, it's impossible not to enjoy the underlying message of kindness. You can use your rage to victimize others or remember its pain and set them free.
Posted Sep 29, 2022
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7/10
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The House of the Lost on the Cape
(2021)
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Jared Mobarak
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The film is therefore about healing above all else—with a dash of mythologizing come true. A solid, heartwarming drama that balances the real world with the supernatural.
Posted Sep 16, 2022
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7/10
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Clerks III
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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Rather than have the [jack-in-the-box] pop be Randal yelling at his friend to open his eyes and see things aren't so bad, it's Dante exorcising decades of pent-up frustration to tell his friend that things were never that good.
Posted Sep 08, 2022
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7/10
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Bullet Train
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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It delivers nothing we haven't seen before. Yet it succeeds on charisma and energy alone.
Posted Aug 31, 2022
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7/10
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Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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This is Hall and Brown's show as a result. Even when the unwieldy script feels like a short expanded beyond its means, they come on-screen to chastise you for thinking their masterclass could lose even one second.
Posted Aug 30, 2022
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7/10
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Bodies Bodies Bodies
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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The cast is game and Reijn is happy to let their characters shed their humanity with ease. And while the reveal is obvious, its hilarious predictability renders it perfect, nonetheless.
Posted Aug 24, 2022
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6/10
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Breaking
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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I can't therefore begrudge the choice because Breaking is very good at what it is. But it could have been so much more, especially with what Boyega, Beharie, and Williams are bringing in every scene.
Posted Aug 24, 2022
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7/10
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Three Minutes - A Lengthening
(2021)
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Jared Mobarak
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Much like the ancient vases discussed, this celluloid is mined as a reflection of humankind at its specific moment in history—a priceless artifact itself.
Posted Aug 17, 2022
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7/10
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Nope
(2022)
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Jared Mobarak
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It's an exhilarating and fun ride as a result. Maybe more superficial than you'd expect from a Peele film, but no less complex in its characterizations.
Posted Aug 17, 2022
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