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2.5/5
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(undefined)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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The story is pretty tired, the depictions of the natives pretty xenophobic ... but it's worth watching for a few moments that transcend the film they're stuck in.
Posted May 02, 2021
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4/5
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(undefined)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
The genius of this film is that it literalizes the metaphor: these zombie soldiers aren't symbols of some larger issue, they're literally the costs of Bush's war.
Posted Apr 29, 2021
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5/5
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Sherlock, Jr.
(1924)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
I need a different scale to rate this movie.
Posted May 29, 2015
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3/5
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Salome
(1922)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
Posted Mar 12, 2014
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3/5
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One Foot in Heaven
(1941)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
It's worth watching for March's performance -- although we don't get to hear him preach enough -- and for his take-down of a wealthy family determined to run his church for him.
Posted Feb 03, 2012
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2/5
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Nevada Smith
(1966)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
Not a worthless film, although it's impossible to take seriously.
Posted Dec 30, 2011
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4/5
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Bridesmaids
(2011)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
I laughed almost without pause; at several points I made horselike snorting sounds that hurt the insides of my nose.
Posted Dec 30, 2011
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4.5/5
|
The Dark Knight
(2008)
|
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
Visceral and terrifying.
Posted Dec 29, 2011
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2/5
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Angels Crest
(2011)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
A high-school production of a second-rate Greek tragedian.
Posted Dec 29, 2011
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4/5
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Contagion
(2011)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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A supercharged cross between an episode of CSI and a World Health Organization infographic.
Posted Dec 29, 2011
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4/5
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Last Pullman Car
(1985)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
One of Chicago documentary group Kartemquin Films's many incisive documentaries about social injustice.
Posted Dec 29, 2011
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2.5/5
|
The Perfect Host
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
It's a film, not a play, and it doesn't work.
Posted Dec 29, 2011
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3/5
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Midnight in Paris
(2011)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
Watchable, and on a certain level, it's quite enjoyable.
Posted Dec 29, 2011
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4.5/5
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Stake Land
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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May be the best blunt-force-trauma, tear-your-throat-out vicious vampire film since Near Dark.
Posted Dec 15, 2011
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4.5/5
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13 Assassins
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
Miike's sadistic fetishization of violence and suffering is nowhere in evidence.
Posted Dec 15, 2011
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2.5/5
|
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
(2011)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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If the best thing about a spy movie is the wallpaper, perhaps you've miscalculated.
Posted Dec 14, 2011
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2.5/5
|
The Debt
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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Wants to ask deep philosophical questions [but] the protracted ending prevents any of these philosophical darts from sticking.
Posted Dec 05, 2011
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4.5/5
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Point Blank
(2010)
|
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
Action cinema distilled.
Posted Nov 20, 2011
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2.5/5
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Four Brothers
(2005)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
Feels like a nervous student's heavily footnoted thesis film.
Posted Nov 20, 2011
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2.5/5
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Warrior
(2011)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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Suddenly Thunderdome doesn't seem like such a pipe dream anymore.
Posted Nov 16, 2011
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2.5/5
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She Demons
(1958)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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Seems to have been created by choosing randomly from a selection of 13-year-old boys' 'these are a few of my favorite things' lists.
Posted Nov 05, 2011
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4/5
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Tomorrow Is Another Day
(1951)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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Not a film noir, but you should still invest your time in locating and viewing it.
Posted Oct 30, 2011
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3/5
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Maniac
(1934)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
A truly wretched film that I enjoyed, partly because of and partly in spite of its excessive excrescence.
Posted Oct 17, 2011
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2.5/5
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Along the Great Divide
(1951)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
Flawed by structural problems in the script but buoyed by its A-list leading cast
Posted Oct 10, 2011
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3.5/5
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Dance, Fools, Dance
(1931)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
A wonderful little film on its own, but it's also a handy little primer of early-1930s genre conventions.
Posted Aug 19, 2011
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3/5
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Tugboat Annie
(1933)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
An enjoyable diversion that provides Dressler with ample opportunities to flex her acting chops.
Posted Aug 19, 2011
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3/5
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The Phantom Planet
(1961)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
It's actually quite compelling.
Posted May 28, 2011
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|
4/5
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The Lost Patrol
(1934)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
A mostly successful experiment in minimalism that allows Ford to work with his traditional themes.
Posted May 04, 2011
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|
2.5/5
|
Sensuela
(1973)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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So low-budget that it appears Brechtian, so confoundingly bad that it borders on brilliant, and so 1970s softcore that it might just be feminist.
Posted Apr 04, 2011
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3.5/5
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Do It Again
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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A fanboy's love letter to his favorite band, a desperate and admittedly somewhat selfish wish that they get back together and bring back some of the magic he remembers as a lifelong fan.
Posted Apr 04, 2011
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|
2/5
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Daresalam
(2001)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
Posted Apr 04, 2011
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3/5
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The Fighter
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
Chopin playing Chopsticks.
Posted Jan 16, 2011
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|
3.5/5
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True Grit
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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Watching them snipe at each other was one of the undeniable pleasures of the 2010 movie season.
Posted Dec 28, 2010
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3/5
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Night Catches Us
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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Attempts to pry the lid off a painful chapter of American history that textbook writers and elected officials would rather erase or whitewash.
Posted Dec 26, 2010
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3/5
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Exam
(2009)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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Low-budget but handsomely mounted cross between Cube and 12 Angry Men, with some script input by mystery writer Agatha Christie and literary critic Terry Eagleton.
Posted Dec 19, 2010
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|
3.5/5
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Red Riding: 1980
(2009)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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A huge step up from the unfollowable plot and unfathomable evil of Red Riding: 1974.
Posted Dec 18, 2010
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4/5
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Death at a Funeral
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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It's almost a checklist of things I don't like, but it won me over in its opening minutes and never let go.
Posted Dec 15, 2010
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3/5
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Jonah Hex
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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When it works, which it does quite often, it's one of the better comic book adaptations of recent years.
Posted Dec 14, 2010
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4.5/5
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Marwencol
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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A painfully intimate, mysterious, joyous film.
Posted Dec 11, 2010
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5/5
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White Material
(2009)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
Possesses a defiant, exhilarating life, a testament to its peerless crafts(wo)manship and its uniqueness.
Posted Dec 07, 2010
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|
2.5/5
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Conviction
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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I charge director Tony Goldwyn and screenwriter Pamela Gray with ineffective assistance of counsel.
Posted Dec 05, 2010
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4/5
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Unstoppable
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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The most fun I've had at the movies all year.
Posted Dec 04, 2010
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3/5
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The American
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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There's a lot to value, even if it drinks a little too deeply from the well of stock Euro-assassin-movie characters and situations.
Posted Nov 30, 2010
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2.5/5
|
Black Swan
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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Shackled by sports-movie clichés, a reductive view of how creativity works, and, most importantly, Natalie Portman's limitations as an actress.
Posted Nov 29, 2010
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|
2.5/5
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It's Kind of a Funny Story
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
Has a genuine understanding of the protagonist, but ends up betraying him.
Posted Nov 28, 2010
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|
2.5/5
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Monsters
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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A somewhat confused spawn of Cloverfield and District 9, with less of an effects budget and less of a coherent self-concept than either of its parents.
Posted Nov 27, 2010
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|
2.5/5
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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Has too many plot threads to follow in its willy-nilly efforts to set the stage for the real ending.
Posted Nov 24, 2010
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|
3.5/5
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Let Me In
(2010)
|
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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Not as good as the original but able to stand on its own feet.
Posted Nov 23, 2010
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|
3.5/5
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Death Line
(1972)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
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The first (or only?) ethnographic urban legend horror film.
Posted Nov 16, 2010
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|
4/5
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Catfish
(2010)
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
|
What a gem!
Posted Nov 03, 2010
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