Movie Reviews
Culture Editor Murjani Rawls shares his thoughts on all the latest movie and TV releases.
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‘The Creator’ is a visual marvel singing worn songs of humankind’s adversarial relationship with tech
Gareth Edwards fourth feature is a gorgeous reminder of how futuristic films should look, but crosses a lot of familiar ground as it speaks to warnings and hope.
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Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke at least try to commit to the premise of ‘Strange Way of Life’
Pedro Almodovar’s queer spaghetti western short could be a full-length feature if developed, but is really 30 minute Saint Laurent ad.
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Jonathan Glazer’s ‘The Zone of Interest’ shows the horrors of The Holocaust existed in the quiet places
Loosely based on Martin Amis’s 2014 novel of the same name, the film shows one of the greatest evils in history wasn’t just due to the fault of the people on the front line.
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‘Fair Play’s cat and mouse’s principles says all is fair in love and promotions
Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich play a passionate couple who get ripped apart by corporate politics.
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‘All of Us Strangers’ brilliance lies in youthful retrospection and queer reclamation
Andrew Haigh’s rift off Yamada Taichi’s 1987 novel Strangers hinges on great performances from the ensemble of Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Clare Foy, and Jamie Bell.
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‘No One Will Save You’s non-talkative, but anxiously exciting sci-fi ways are entertaining and swift
Brian Duffield’s latest feature has Kaitlyn Dever fighting a past tragedy and a bunch of bloody thirsty, technologically advanced aliens.
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‘Pet Sematary: Bloodlines’ proves just having the original story is better
Writer/director Lindsay Anderson Beer’s prequel of the classic Stephen King story shows the small town horrors of Ludlow, but doesn’t expand the lore farther than what fans know.
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If only ‘It Lives Inside’s spookiness lived up to the more chilling premise of cultural assimilation
Bishal Dutta’s debut speaks to the perils of the immigrant/American experience, but elects for a generic template concerning it’s horror style.
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‘Love At First Sight’ onboards probabilities and statistics, but works best with classic rom-com aesthetic
Out of all the Netflix flights in the world, two budding lovers (Haley Lu Richardson) and (Ben Hardy) find their way towards London.
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Parental problems and catchy tunes charmingly co-exist inside ‘Flora and Son’
Eve Hewson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt team up in John Carney’s latest about parenthood and zoom guitar lesson romance.
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‘Dumb Money’ is The Social Network for the Gamestop stock everyman
An all-star cast of Paul Dano, Pete Davidison, Seth Rogan, America Ferrera and more invoke ‘The Big Short’ spirit
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‘Killer Book Club’ draws from, but rarely adds to the themes of slashers before it
The Netflix horror film makes you want to ‘Scream’ and Knows What You Did Last Summer, but is more stylish homage than staying power.
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Charlotte Regan’s ‘Scrapper’ is a known father-daughter story boasting performances that gives its flair
Harris Dickinson and Lola Campbell combine to bring out the best in this British dramedy of loss and new found family.
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‘Scouts Honor’ shines a light on the blind eye of the Boys Scouts and the bravery of survivors who were failed
‘The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America chronicles decades of a culture of abuse and the incessant ways it was covered up.
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‘The Nun II’ has double the characters and a bigger story, but can’t shake Conjuring habits
The ninth entry in the ever-sprawling Conjuring Universe gets an uptick in terms of story heft, but elects to show you the same old tricks.
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Time is not on your side with ‘The Dive,’ even if backstory submerges the tense moments
A pair of sisters go on their annual scuba diving trip to tense and anxiety inducing results in a 2020 remake searching for a bigger story.
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‘The Good Mother’s sudden need for surprises upends this topical murder mystery
Hillary Swank plays a journalist plagued with writers block and a mother looking for answers about the death of her youngest son.
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‘Birth/Rebirth’ takes on motherhood inside a grizzly, ethical skating reanimated capsule
Two women on opposite sides of the medical spectrum bring a child back to life with this moody interprelation of what it means to play God.
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‘Aporia’s time travel drama gets the emotional push it needs from a good Judy Greer performance
Greer stars as a recent widow who lost her husband to a drunk driver. His late friend provides a time travel method to get him back, but is she willing to undergo the cost?
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Every dog has their day with ‘Strays,’ even if it means becoming the things it satirizes
A voice ensemble of Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Randall Park, and Isla Fisher star as a pack of pups behaving badly with some human themes mixed in.
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‘Blue Beetle’ might be the steady hand the DCU needed moving into its rebooted future
Ángel Manuel Soto’s origin tale utilizes its rich knowledge of the Latino experience and family to push past piecemeal familiarity
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Besides ‘The Last Voyage of the Demeter’s atmosphere, the feature born from Bram Stoker’s novel is stretched too thin
Looking for it’s origins inside the 1897’s Dracula, but shows difficulty placing a classic Universal monster spirit inside a short story.
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An extraterrestrial and the elderly collide in the hushed and understated sci-fi dramedy, ‘Jules’
Ben Kingsley plays Milton, a 78 year old man fixed in a routine that all of a sudden gets visited by a mute being from another planet.
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‘Haunted Mansion’s theatrical ride is light on chills and less of a ride of thrills
LaKeith Stanfield’s portrayal of a widowed astrophysicist and the ghost-hunting ensemble gives a decent bargain, but gives up its interesting controls way too soon.
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‘Shortcomings’ exists in a huge space of unlikeability, but renders lessons worth listening to
Randall Park’s directorial debut will have you hating Justin H. Min’s character, but gives you just enough to stick around to find out why.
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‘Corner Office’ is a whip-smart satire of corporate structure, but doesn’t commit to the weirdness it strives for
John Hamm stars as the latest employee at The Authority in Joachim Back’s latest, but the Lionsgate dark comedy loses itself within its own mystery.
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‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ is as great as a hot slice of pepperoni pizza
Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael come through with an animated reboot fit for all generations.
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‘Talk To Me’ review: Maybe think twice when trying to use the supernatural as a party game
A group of teens partake in a viral game where you call out entities. What could go wrong?
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‘They Cloned Tyrone’s stylish sci-fi canvas holds a deeper meaning concerning the infiltration of Black spaces
John Boyega, Jamie Foxx, and Teyonah Parris come together for a sci-fi, social satire film of conspiracy theories, stereotypes, and what they all mean for the Black experience.
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‘Oppenheimer’ is an exquisitely punchy, intriguing look at the “modern Prometheus” and his nuclear monster
Cillian Murphy plays the theoretical physicist hailed as the "father of the atomic bomb" and all the atrocities that came with the moniker.
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‘Cobweb’ is a trope-filled maze of bad dreams and puzzling story choices
Evil parents and a potential visitor torment an eight-year-old in a horror film that is disinterested in subtlety.
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‘Barbie’ is the right example of using IP beyond your standard nostalgic mentions
Director Greta Gerwig builds a story taking on the iconic Mattel dolls complication history and gender roles outside of the colorful playhouse.