Only God Forgives reminds me of a teenager who gets really into poetry and thinks they’re really deep but in reality are the most annoying person to be around. Nicolas Winding Refn was really going for…
Violence
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One of Michael Douglas’s best roles is as D-Fens in Falling Down. He has the charisma and devil-may-care attitude that attracts people. When the movie came out in 1993, he was right in his prime with Fatal Attraction and Basic…
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Thomas Newman is my all-time favorite film composer. I love his scores for Cinderella Man, Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and Road to Perdition. I don’t know a lot about music theory, but I do know that Newman’s scores…
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Retrospectives
Lisbeth Deserved Better in David Fincher’s ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’
by Kali Tuttleby Kali TuttleMikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) got the ending that Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) deserved in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. After years of the government bouncing her around and facing discrimination and violence, she deserved to be…
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Almost every conceivable trigger warning is in effect for Rob Jabbaz’s pandemic horror movie, The Sadness. Saying the film isn’t afraid to “go there” is probably the biggest understatement of Fantasia 2021 — it’s undoubtedly the…
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Streaming HorrorStreaming Reviews
‘A Classic Horror Story’ – Karma Is a Bitch
by Ingridjeby IngridjeIf you know a thing or two about horror movies, you are probably aware that the heydays of Italian horror are long over. Instead of coming up with something original, directors Roberto de Feo (also…
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Action/AdventureReviews
‘Mortal Kombat’ Is Far From a Flawless Victory, But a Little Win for Video Game Adaptations
by Sean Coatesby Sean CoatesAs far as I am concerned, there are three certainties in life; death, taxes, and film adaptations of video game franchises always being bitterly disappointing or just plain bad. Over the years, so many great…
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It was a day like any other: Chad McSmithJohnson was guiding the large cargo ship through the Suez Canal as he normally does. He looked down at a picture of him, his estranged wife, and…
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The Silence of the Lambs scares the living daylights out of me. Anthony Hopkins is possibly the most terrifying actor to exist. I’m not sure if he should take that as a compliment or not, but…
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DramaReviews
‘Identifying Features’ Portrays the Haunting Reality of Mexican Immigration
by Ingridjeby IngridjeYou might associate Mexico with pristine beaches. Turquoise seas. Lots of sunshine. A luxurious, exclusive all-expenses-paid hotel with various restaurants. Exotic cocktails. Maybe even a wedding on the beach. You could, of course, leave your…
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Streaming Action/AdventureStreaming Reviews
‘Outside the Wire’ Loses Itself in Dreary Cyborg Action
by Nick Kushby Nick KushI don’t know about you, but I certainly didn’t go into Outside the Wire expecting it to function as a critique of the U.S. military. Mikael Håfström’s latest operates with the idea that if the military continues…
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ReviewsThriller
A Family of Trappers Encounter a Vicious Predator in the Unforgettable ‘Hunter Hunter’
This much-belated review could have been finished last week, considering the film came out on the 18th. But I’ll be honest, considering that Christmas was coming, I didn’t want to spend my time writing about…
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Streaming HorrorStreaming Reviews
‘Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight’: Much More Than an Intriguing Title
by Ingridjeby IngridjeI’ll admit it: I chose to review this movie merely because of its title. Now, I have done this before, and afterward regretted my choice (The Binding, for example). But this time, I was a…
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In case you were not aware, Goodfellas actually doesn’t have good fellas in it. I don’t mean the actors — the actors are great and are on par with every other Martin Scorsese film. What I…
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If you’re as obsessed with true crime stories as I am, you know the frightening concept of regular people suddenly turning homicidal. In some cases, we could have seen it coming. A past riddled with…
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Why Don’t You Just Die! comes from writer/director Kirill Sokolov and tells the story of Matvey, a young man who has been tasked with murdering his girlfriend’s detective father, Andrey, by none other than his…
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Streaming HorrorStreaming Reviews
‘Mark of the Devil’: When Gore Can’t Save a Horror Movie
by Ingridjeby IngridjeA couple of months ago, I decided to watch Romina (2017) by Diego Cohen on Netflix. I like a nice horror movie, and I was unfamiliar with the director and with Mexican horror for that…
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When it comes to Canadian directors, I am almost ashamed to say that I only know two of them. First, there is Denys Arcand whose Les Invasions Barbares deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Foreign…
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Action/AdventureReviews
‘Rambo: Last Blood’ is a Very Flawed Yet Satisfying Finale to the ‘Rambo’ Series
John Rambo has been a prime example of the muscle-bound eighties action hero for many years, even though the roots of the character were literary and his first on-screen outing had none of the typical…
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Mix two directors, young attractive leads, some good performances, nice cinematography, and a made-for-TV vibe, and you get A Violent Separation. While this movie has some things going for it, there was clearly an untapped well…
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Midnight Cowboy, directed by John Schlesinger was a surprise Best Picture Winner at the 42nd Academy Awards. The film follows the friendship between Joe, a Texan prostitute and Ratso, a fledgling con-man in New York…
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I’ve been known for my recurring and frankly obsessive phases, especially when it comes to movies. One period of time you’ll see me going through a catalogue of horror classics, filling my fragile mind with…
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The Tree of Blood is a tortuous road filled with sex, lies, secrets, violence, and bulls — lots of them. For anyone craving a two-hour soap opera, this Spanish drama just might hit the spot.…
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Mississippi Burning is thirty years old this month. Based on real events that occurred in 1964, 54 years ago, it depicts the way racism divides and destroys the community. In 1964, three civil rights workers…