Tag: Review
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The Goofy Alarmism of ‘High School Confidential!’
The infamous 1958 high-school drama epitomizes product-of-its-time silliness.
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‘My Own Private Idaho’ is Lucky to Have River Phoenix
Writer-director Gus Van Sant’s insistent overstylization would sink the film if not for the heartbreaking, vivid work of the late actor.
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End Times
‘Civil War’ and ‘Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World,’ reviewed.
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‘Girlhood’: A Bracing Coming-of-Age Drama from Céline Sciamma
Sciamma avoids the genre’s fondness for sentimentality.
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‘Monkey Man’ is Relentless — for Better and for Worse
Dev Patel’s directorial debut — which he also wrote, co-produced, and stars in — is frequently thrilling. It can also feel overstuffed.
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Fire and Rain
On ‘Running on Empty.’
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‘Jawbreaker’ Could Stand to Go Even Further
Obviously indebted to 1989’s ‘Heathers,’ the teen comedy needs to be finer-tuned for the darkness — and preposterousness — of its premise to fully work.
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Ghost Hunters
‘La Chimera’ and ‘Immaculate,’ reviewed.
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Odds & Ends: March 2024
Notes from the last month.
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‘Come Drink with Me’: An Essential Wuxia Thriller
It also memorably features Cheng Pei-pei playing who many consider cinema’s first woman action heroine.
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Misadventurers
‘Problemista’ and ‘The Sweet East,’ reviewed.
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Boo-Ya!
On ‘Jackie Brown.’