Movie Reviews
Movie Reviews

Lost Souls: Bringing Out the Dead at 25 | Features

“Bringing Out the Dead” does not assert itself as an obviously religious film. and yet, it is borne from the ideological conflict of wrath versus compassion that separates the Old and the New Testament. Here, in the early ’90s, New York is an urban cesspool of sin, destitution, and suffering—it is ready for a biblical

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Movie Reviews

Taylor Sheridan’s Well Runs Dry in “Landman” | TV/Streaming

For those unfamiliar, a landman is the public-facing side of an oil company’s production team; their job is to secure leases and mineral rights for oil drilling. As Taylor Sheridan‘s umpteenth show for Paramount Plus would have you believe, it’s a cutthroat job that involves, of all things, negotiating a land deal with a Mexican

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Movie Reviews

“She Just Had an Accident”: “Seed of Chucky” at 20 | Features

“That’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life!” a little girl (Bethany Simons-Denville) exclaims. She shouts it at the audience, who, in “Seed of Chucky“‘s first-person opening scene, takes a queer kid’s point-of-view. As she throws them into a toy chest, it’s like we fall into a closet. The kid comes out

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Movie Reviews

Apocalypse Then: Godzilla Minus One Minus Color | Features

“Godzilla Minus One” was already one of the best Godzilla movies, for the way it used the kaiju movie template to tell a story that was essentially a sweeping melodrama about surviving wars and other catastrophes. The announcement that it was going to be released in a black-and-white version was tantalizing, and the result is

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Movie Reviews

Tokyo International Film Festival 2024: Godzilla Turns 70 | Festivals & Awards

I’ve seen the original “Godzilla” three times in theaters. Most films benefit from being seen on a big screen, and “Godzilla” especially so: It’s the only way to get a proper sense of scale, even if most movie screens top out at a fraction of the monster’s original 50-meter (164 foot) height. (Tracking Godzilla’s size,

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Movie Reviews

Living Forward: Adam Elliot on “Memoir of a Snail” | Interviews

If you notice any aesthetic blemishes on the miniatures in director Adam Elliot’s stop-motion film “Memoir of a Snail,” just know they were left in intentionally. Elliot’s film is all about the importance of embracing imperfections and understanding how life’s tragedies may shape us, but don’t have to define us. This thesis is extended to

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Movie Reviews

Short Films in Focus: Don Hertzfeldt’s “ME” | Features

Don Hertzfeldt’s “ME” is available on Vimeo On-Demand.  Don Hertzfeldt’s “ME” will feel familiar to the filmmaker’s fans and admirers, with its expressive stick figures serving as our protagonists, its depiction of technological breakthroughs that cause societal disarray, and journeys through time and space that warrant repeated viewings just to take in all the ideas

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Movie Reviews

Nothing Left to Prove: Quincy Jones (1933-2024) | Tributes

Mention Quincy Jones to a bunch of people, and I’m sure each person will highlight a different achievement. There are so many milestones that naming them all would take far more space than I am afforded here. Jones was an Oscar-winning score composer, the arranger of great jazz albums by legends like Frank Sinatra, a

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Movie Reviews

Eddie Redmayne, Lashana Lynch Bring Gravity to “The Day of the Jackal” | TV/Streaming

Who is the Jackal? Is he a multimillionaire with a lavish estate who travels around the world? Is he a custodian who quite literally cleans up messes? Or is he simply a hired hand who also happens to be the world’s best sniper? As far as star Eddie Redmayne and the new series “The Day

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Movie Reviews

HBO’s “Like Water for Chocolate” is Downright Sumptuous | TV/Streaming

HBO’s new “Like Water for Chocolate” is sumptuously shot. And it’s not just the costumes or the sets, although they are both clearly rendered with care. Gathered skirts, wide-brimmed hats, and lace-up black boots. Colonial archways and formal sitting rooms. What makes this show feel so rich is the cinematography, framing a kiss between the

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