7 years ago
Reviews (10 posts found)
‘Exit Elena’ A Brilliant, Deceptively Simple Portrait of Multi-Generational Malaise
For a stretch, Exit Elena is by all appearances an unassuming micro-scale drama about a young nurse named Elena (Kia Davis) who takes a job in the Boston suburbs as a live-in aide. While caring for the sweet, elderly Florence (Gert O’Connell), Elena spends eve...
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‘The Fifth Estate’ Lacks The Intrigue of Its Subject
A fantastic performance by Benedict Cumberbatch fails to save everything else.
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‘Kill Your Darlings’ Fails To Capture the Rebellious Spirit of the Beat Generation
At some recent juncture, popular culture began treating important figures an awful lot like superheroes. Movies like 42, Hyde Park on Hudson, jOBS and more seek to distill famous people to easily digestible qualities while weaving their lives into palatable na...
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‘Gold Fever’: Unbalanced Documentary Falls Short In Exposing Harm From Mining
Diodora Hernandez is an indigenous Guatemalan woman who survived being shot in the eye the summer of 2010. She is an outspoken anti-mining activist and believes she was attacked as a result. The bullet entered her right eye and exited behind her right ear.
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Review: ‘Zero Charisma’ Fails Its Saving Throw
For those not versed in the parlance of Dungeons & Dragons, "charisma" is one of the attributes players can tweak when creating their characters for the game. The more points one puts into charisma, the more appealing that character's personality. God negl...
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‘Forgetting The Girl’ Is A Far From Memorable Thriller
Committed performances aren't enough to make Forgetting The Girl more than pale imitation of a thriller.
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‘All the Boys Love Mandy Lane’ Doesn’t Live Up To Its Ambitions
It took seven years for this horror film to be released. It wasn't worth the wait.
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A Concert Film Defines a Band in ‘Metallica: Through the Never’
The framing device employed throughout Metallica: Through the Never may seem strange, but it elicits a key component of the band's music. As Dane DeHaan's roadie, decked out as Little Red Riding Hoodie, ventures out into Alberta streets rent in destruction by ...
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‘The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete’: A Grim Retelling of ‘Grave of the Fireflies’
There's a lot that The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete has going for it, so much that the fact that it feels like less than the sum of its parts is a disappointment. The movie has a sincere but merciless worldview, a crisp cinematographic eye, and a won...
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‘Captain Phillips’ Is A Masterful Achievement From Greengrass and Hanks
Russell Hainline reviews Paul Grassgrass' CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, starring Tom Hanks.
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