Movie Reviews
Movie Reviews

Disney’s Squirrel Superhero Gets Big Laughs

Flora & Ulysses is a hilarious and clever adaptation of famed author Kate DiCamillo’s award-winning children’s book. A cynical, friendless ten-year-old girl awakens a plucky squirrel’s superhero powers after saving him from an accident. The film is loaded with CGI critter gags, but it’s the human characters and subtle humor that steal the show. Flora

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Movie Reviews

A Harrowing True Story of Torture & Injustice

The Mauritanian tells a harrowing account of injustice, brutality, and moral reckoning in the aftermath of the tragic 9/11 terrorist attacks. Based on the book “Guantanamo Diary”, the film is the true story of Mohamedou Ould Salahi, who was taken clandestinely via rendition to the prison camp in Cuba. His interrogation, tactics used, and the

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Movie Reviews

A Fascinating Retrospective of an American Icon

Noriyuki “Pat” Morita broke many barriers on his way to becoming an American pop culture icon. He will forever be remembered as the wise, kind, and ass-kicking mentor, Mr. Miyagi, in The Karate Kid and its three sequels. But Morita’s life story and decades-long career was much more than this legendary role. More Than Miyagi:

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Movie Reviews

Mind-Bending Sci-Fi Romance Tackles Deeper Themes

Science fiction romance Bliss tackles heady themes through a reality warping scope. Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek play strange lovers in a world that may or may not exist. Their mind-bending relationship twists and turns around a central mystery. Are they real people in an elaborate illusion? Or just facades of a troubled existence struggling

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Movie Reviews

A Spellbinding True Story of Betrayal & Deception

Judas and the Black Messiah is a spellbinding true story of betrayal and America’s turbulent racial reckoning during the 1960s. The FBI, under the authoritarian rule of J. Edgar Hoover, launched an illegal clandestine program – COINTELPRO, to infiltrate and subvert political organizations deemed a threat to national security. William O’ Neal was recruited to

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Movie Reviews

HellKat Review: Purgatory Pugilism Falls Flat

There has always been a debate over the essence of human nature. Notorious philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau gives us two disparaging views. Hobbes believes that humans are selfish hedonists while Rousseau felt that humans are naturally good and noble savages. While all of us can show off both of these traits

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Movie Reviews

Denzel Washington Elevates Slow Burn Crime Drama on HBO Max

Denzel Washington leads an all-star cast in The Little Things; a slow burn period crime drama that’s heavy on character development, but struggles to be entertaining. The serial killer storyline becomes muddied by secondary subplots. The mystery at the core of the film is overtaken by complex character exposition. The result is a well-acted ensemble

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Movie Reviews

Justin Timberlake Delivers His Strongest Performance Yet in Apple TV+ Original

Justin Timberlake gives the strongest performance of his acting career in Palmer. He plays an ex-con that bonds with a transgender child after returning to his rural Louisiana home. Palmer has an exceedingly predictable narrative, but is powerfully dramatic and incisive. The film confronts multiple difficult themes with a thoughtful, sensitive approach. Palmer doesn’t offer

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Movie Reviews

An Entertainingly Tenebrous Take on the Survival Road Thriller

Road thrillers are a fun subgenre with few misses, and while many favor electrifying action sequences and zany charm in their psychotic assailants, recently-released Alone relies on a remote, woodsy setting and an emotionless feel to pull audiences along a grimmer road to survival. Given we’re still sitting deep in the strictly streaming period of

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Movie Reviews

A Well-Meaning But Flawed Border Western

No Man’s Land is a well-meaning, but inherently flawed western drama. A Texas border rancher’s son flees into Mexico after accidentally killing an immigrant boy. The film attempts to humanize the thorny issue of illegal immigration from multiple points of view. Its goals are admirable, but the narrative succumbs to contrivances and simplistic exposition. The

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