‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ Is the Anti-‘Godzilla Minus One’
Adam Wingard’s “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is silly, exciting and astonishing in its lack of originality. It cobbles a bursting-apart screenplay from at least 20 other movies. Rebecca Hall is back as the lead scientist, still raising her Kong-loving daughter and working as an ambassador for The Titan Project. She’s our lead protagonist …
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‘Perfect Days’ Offers Peak Wim Wenders Storytelling
Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days” is the portrait of a life that might seem small and simple, but is full of insight, discipline, and steady rewards. It stars Koji Yakusho, in a performance that won him Best Actor at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, as Hirayama, a middle-aged man whose daily life is a steady routine …
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‘Late Night with the Devil’ Possesses Satirical Sting
Colin and Cameron Cairnes’ “Late Night with the Devil” presents itself as a documentary about a haunted episode of a 1977 talk show, which we see in full. Following a recap of how once-promising talk show Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchain) has hit a personal rock bottom and is struggling to keep his program on the …
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‘Zone of Interest’ Offers Unflinching Portrait of Evil
Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” begins with a family sitting by a stream, enjoying an idyllic day. We observe how the family is close-knit, lives in a beautiful home and, in a jarring reveal, that their house is right next to the Auschwitz death camps. We’ve been watching the family of a highly-ranked Nazi …
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‘Origin’ Lets Ava DuVernay Explore Racism, Hope
Ava DuVernay’s “Origin” is an audacious epic about where the root of racism lies, how it has continued to manifest itself for centuries and why we have a responsibility to recognize and not allow it to continue. Based on “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent” the 2020 bestselling book by Isabel Wilkerson, this film adaptation …
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‘Founders Day’ Murders the Slasher Genre (Not a Compliment)
Erik Bloomquist’s “Founders Day” is a terrible new teen slasher movie, the kind of junk Eli Roth’s “Thanksgiving” successfully lampooned just weeks ago. Feeling like a middling early-ought horror movie (like “Soul Survivors” or “Halloween Resurrection”) and featuring some of the worst dialog to be heard in a theatrical release, this stinker will be remembered …
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Why ‘Give My Regards to Broad Street’ Got a Bad Rap
Peter Webb’s “Give My Regards to Broad Street” (1984) was seen as a major misstep and commercial setback for its star, writer and producer, Paul McCartney. In fact, nearly every biography on the former Beatle cites the film as a blunder and describes it as though it were “Cats.” While McCartney’s film may not have …
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‘Kangaroo Kids’ Offers Embarrassment of Family-Friendly Riches
Farai Richmond’s “Kangaroo Kids” is a new family film that had a small premiere at the end of 2023 but is finding an audience online. Written and directed by Richmond and billed in the end credits as A Richmond Family Films Production, the result was a labor of love. It opens with a slickly made …
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Best of the Wurst – 2023 Movies in Review
The best movies of 2023, in descending order… ‘Ferrari’ Most of Michael Mann’s films don’t immediately connect and typically require repeated viewings before they’re recognized for being the classics they are (case in point – “Heat,” “Manhunter,” “Thief,” “Miami Vice” and the still undervalued “Public Enemies”). “Ferrari” is no different, as the emotional distance of …
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‘Migration’ Never Fully Takes Flight
The daffy animators at Illumination have made a (just-barely) Minion-free CGI animated comedy about a flock of ducks who are initially hesitant to join the others as they migrate. “Migration” follows Mack Mallard (Kumail Nanjiani), the father duck who urges his family of four to stay put and not behave like conformists. His wife Pam (Elizabeth …
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