Movie Reviews
Movie Reviews

Frybread Face and Me movie review (2023)

Isolated and out of place, Benny finds companionship in the form of his cousin Dawn (Charley Hogan), whom everyone calls Frybread Face because “it’s round and greasy.” At first, their relationship is combative: “Fry” rolls her eyes at the useless Benny, who doesn’t know anything about herding sheep and doesn’t speak a word of Navajo.

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Movie Reviews

Cypher movie review & film summary (2023)

You shouldn’t focus on the plot or its preposterous details when watching “Cypher.” Watch it on your Roku or tablet at home, where you’re not as likely to care about the obvious stylistic clash between the movie’s collage of motion-sickness-inducing handheld camera footage and its hyper-stylized title cards, which divide the movie into chapters with

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Movie Reviews

Netflix’s Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is a Phenomenal Stand-Alone Anime Addition | TV/Streaming

“Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” retells the classic story with more loyalty to the source material than the abridged film, and the entire movie cast reprising their roles, O’Malley and co-writer BenDavid Grabinski pull a “Connor’s Wedding,” drastically changing the variables to service a bolder new take with all its familiar players.  The series starts similarly to

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Movie Reviews

Trolls Band Together movie review (2023)

The first “Trolls” movie, released in 2016, was inspired by the ugly-cute dolls with tufts of brushed-up fuzzy hair that were initially popular in the 1960s. The film imagined a candy-colored world of music and happiness, with Anna Kendrick as Poppy, the Troll King’s daughter. She rescues the trolls from giant troll-eating ogres called Bergens

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Movie Reviews

Orlando, My Political Biography movie review (2023)

The film takes an “I am Spartacus” approach to the text, casting an assortment of trans and nonbinary performers as a gallery of incarnations of Orlando or as people who give their first name as Orlando (including Oscar S Miller and Janis Sahraoui), plus one who plays the actual Woolf character. Then it puts them in dramatic or comedic sketches (and

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Movie Reviews

Youth (Spring) movie review & film summary (2023)

“Youth (Spring)” is also centered on garment manufacture, depicting two workshops making children’s clothing. Both are located in Zhili City, one on a street called Happiness Road. Like the title of this movie, there’s a substantial irony here. But aside from these two components, Wang doesn’t strike much of an overt tone in the filmmaking

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Movie Reviews

Common Ground movie review & film summary (2023)

Hokey narrative framing aside, the film does little to share actions with viewers that they can take if they are so moved. In a world where people have little power to make real changes, it is ineffective to simply point out a corrupt system. This tension is, of course, not explored in the documentary.  There is also

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Movie Reviews

Share? movie review & film summary (2023)

There’s a little more to this sketchy sci-fi parable, all about a wary cipher, #000000014 (Melvin Gregg), who learns how to not only survive, but maybe even game his prison’s live-streaming camera network, which connects imprisoned users through their respective computer monitors. But only a little. “Share?” ostensibly has a dark sense of humor, too,

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Movie Reviews

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt movie review (2023)

Written and directed by Jackson, “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” is a poetic memoir of Mack’s life. Memories will appear one after another from her youngest days to her gray-haired years, non-sequentially, creating a winding road that bobs and weaves through mundane and life-defining moments alike. A death, a birth, first kiss, youthful misadventures,

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Movie Reviews

The Marsh King’s Daughter movie review (2023)

One day, when her father is out, a man rides up on a motorcycle with a cell phone that is out of range. He is lost in the marsh. It is jarring for us to realize this story was taking place close to the present day because the family is so far off the grid

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