Sometimes the best way to celebrate a holiday is to become more educated about important issues surrounding that special day. Hey! Is it Columbus Day? Then learn more about how this country was founded. It’s never a bad idea. So, for this year’s Earth Day, here are a few films that can help educate and […]
Movie Review
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The Fate of the Franchise
The new “Fast” trips over its own feet and tries to save the planet
It’s OK to like “The Fast and the Furious” movies. Even if you like them un-ironically, there’s nothing to be ashamed about. I mean, some of them are terrible (I’m looking at you, numbers two and four), but even the worst of the series are still wildly entertaining and better than your average guilty pleasure. […]
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Shell Games
The Ghost of an Idea
The title “Ghost in the Shell” is an ironic one. It’s explained to Major (Scarlett Johansson) early on that the “Ghost” is her soul and that even though she is primarily made up of cybernetic pieces, she is still mostly a real girl because of the humanity she possesses underneath all the metal and futuristic […]
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Spring into Cinema
A seasonal preview
We’re a quarter of the way through the year so far, and in the realm of cinema (and politics), it hasn’t been the best. There have been a few stone cold classics including “Get Out” and “Personal Shopper,” and some disappointments such as “The Space Between Us” and “War on Everyone,” but we also have […]
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Aliens Gone Wild
Ziggy would not like this life on Mars
Film snobs forget that some of the best movies ever made are remakes. John Carpenter’s 1982 masterpiece “The Thing,” was a remake of the goofy 1951 monster movie “The Thing From Another World.” David Cronenberg’s 1986 body horror shocker, “The Fly,” was a remake of a ridiculous 1958 flick of the same name. What these […]
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Shop Girl
A Horror Movie Unlike Any Other
It’s almost impossible in 2017 to walk into a movie without knowing what to expect. With the advent of Rotten Tomatoes and film trailers coming out six months before the film is released, catching a movie in the theaters is mostly just checking off a list of things we remember from the previews. That’s one […]
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Lightning Bottles
“Beauty and the Beast” can’t help being magical
Every single Disney movie I review seems to come to the same basic conclusion: Disney done did it again. Their new releases could play more like victory laps than anything and still make billions, yet the movies continue to be entertaining and artful almost across the board. Last year’s live-action remake of “The Jungle Book” […]
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Lovesong In A Minor Key
Poetry is alive in cinema
There’s something perfect about a film like this being called “Lovesong.” Every moment of the movie feels lyrical, like the beginning lines of a poem before we can see its form or understand its content. The movie will be categorized as an LGBTQ romance, but it’s also filled with sweeping moments of breathtaking sadness that […]
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Ape-pocalypse Now
Hail To The King… Kong
Sometimes when we go to a movie it’s simply to escape the outside world. As long as the film can transport us to a new world, a different time period or some far-off dimension, it doesn’t much matter if the movie is good or bad. But as a critic, it can be difficult to search […]
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The Kedi’s Meow
This story about cats on the streets of Istanbul is way better than those cat videos you like to watch
“Everything is beautiful if you look at it with love.”-“Kedi” Hundreds of thousands of cats have roamed freely through the streets of Istanbul over the last several thousand years. The people of the city treat the cats like neighbors, not like annoying strays snatching food off tables. Indeed, part of living in Istanbul is making […]