Tag: movies
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Joker (2019 review)
4 outta 5 The DC Comics superhero movies have been a bit of a mixed bag of an extended universe of interconnected movies. DC Comics latest film, Joker, shuns being a part of a universe and stands apart as a dark, disturbing, character piece about the origin of the Batman villain. Its influences are not…
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Wolves
4 outta 5 Wolfs is a zippy movie from writer/director Jon Watts, the director of the last three Spider-Man films, and he brings a similar pace here. There is even a bit where a young man is parkour running across the rooftops, so he doesn’t entirely let the whole Spider-Man vibe drop. In his Spider-Man…
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Transformers One
4 outta 5 After several “live action” installments of the Transformers franchise, the series returns to its animated roots with Transformers One. However, there was so much CGI animation in the series’ previous films, that it’s hard to make much of a distinction between live action and animation by now. Which isn’t a bad thing.…
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Uglies
2 outta 5 Uglies is a YA novel adaptation that really doesn’t offer anything particularly good. It feels cobbled together from other sci-fi dystopian franchises and that bubble burst a few years ago. The central hook, that people in a dystopian future society undergo mandatory, mind-controlling cosmetic surgery, feels basic. Even the action, such as…
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Young Woman and the Sea
4 outta 5 Young Woman and the Sea is a stirring sports drama that is inspired by the true story of a woman from 100 years ago who swam the English Channel, a feat that was an incredible display of athletic endurance. The film is affably performed and features impressive swimming scenes as the audience…
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Twisters
3 outta 5 Twisters is the few decades later sequel to 1996’s Twister that at least manages keep in the same tone of the original. There are specific beats ripped from there: interpersonal melodrama and flirting, an opening traumatic tornado to establish the main character’s fear of storms, competing storm chasers (one cool and indie…
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Kinds of Kindness
4 outta 5 Kinds of Kindness is an incredibly strange movie from Yorgos Lanthimos, a director who already trafficked in strange movies (Poor Things, The Lobster), and this is even stranger than usual. It is an anthology film of three separate stories with the same actors playing different characters. There is a running theme about…
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Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
4 outta 5 Comedy legacy sequels that come out decades after the original, are often dicey propositions as comedy sequels are hard to nail down what clicks from the original. Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is the 4th Beverly Hills Cop movie arriving 30 years after the not great Beverly Hills Cop III from 1994.…
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Trigger Warning
3 outta 5 As far as unhelpful titles go, Trigger Warning is kind of up there because it seems like a parody title. Instead, this is a fairly straightforward action flick. Also, there is a lot of (rather well done) knife battling in this film but inserting the word “trigger” in the title makes it…
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Unfrosted
3 outta 5 Unfrosted is a pretty funny movie if one can tolerate juvenile absurdity permeating the entire experience. This isn’t exactly a hard-hitting parody or even close to approaching a “real life” story. In the late seasons of Seinfeld, things took a bit of a turn into the more absurdist and that continues here…
