Category: Reviews
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Review | Flickreel
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Review | Flickreel

With the original Beetlejuice, Tim Burton established himself as one of Hollywood’s most dementedly distinct visionaries. In more recent years, Burton has felt more like a director for hire, going through the motions with studio-mandated projects like Disney’s live-action Dumbo…

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A Damning But Incomplete Look At The Trump Admin’s Cruel Family Separation Policy [Venice]
A Damning But Incomplete Look At The Trump Admin’s Cruel Family Separation Policy [Venice]

Tackling the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the Southern border, Errol Morris’s newest documentary “Separated” is an incisive overview of the rise of Trumpism, the fear-mongering that went along his rise to power, and his…

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Daniel Craig Does Career-Best Work In Luca Guadagnino’s Deeply Surreal LGBTQ Drama
Daniel Craig Does Career-Best Work In Luca Guadagnino’s Deeply Surreal LGBTQ Drama

I haven't read the William S. Burroughs novel that Queer is adapted from, but if you told me Luca Guadagnino had gutted it and started from scratch, I'd believe you. His latest movie seems to me to be in clear…

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Asif Kapadia With Samantha Morton Reframes Dystopia As Present, Not The Future [Venice]
Asif Kapadia With Samantha Morton Reframes Dystopia As Present, Not The Future [Venice]

Politicians often invoke the idea of children or future generations when urging the importance of collective action with consequences that only emerge in the long term. Humans can show tremendous capacity as a species when facing a tragedy that stares…

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‘Joker Folie a Deux’ Review
‘Joker Folie a Deux’ Review

After making off with the Golden Lion in 2019, Joker spawned a sequel that has also serendipitously waltzes into the Venice Film Festival lineup. If you keep up with all the comic book universes, you already know Todd Phillips' Joker:…

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‘Rebel Ridge’ Review – Aaron Pierre’s Riveting Reacher-Esque Badass Fights the Power in Netflix Thriller
‘Rebel Ridge’ Review – Aaron Pierre’s Riveting Reacher-Esque Badass Fights the Power in Netflix Thriller

You’d be hard-pressed this year to find a movie that’s as lean and mean as Jeremy Saulnier’s Rebel Ridge. A thriller that’s part Rambo, part Reacher, and all Aaron Pierre, it confidently rolls into town, kicks some ass, then gets…

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The Falling Star Featured, Reviews Film Threat
The Falling Star Featured, Reviews Film Threat

Co-writers/co-directors/co-stars Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon mix crime and laughs in The Falling Star. This French-Belgian comedy is like if Wes Anderson made a crime caper. Boris (Abel) is a bartender at the titular The Falling Star. He is a…

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James Badge Dale Leads A Searing, ‘Traffic’-Esque Drug Cartel Crime Thriller [Venice]
James Badge Dale Leads A Searing, ‘Traffic’-Esque Drug Cartel Crime Thriller [Venice]

Tense, taut, and deeply gripping writer/director John Swab’s dramatic drug cartel/fentanyl trade crime thriller “King Ivory” is a terrific surprise from the Venice Film Festival’s Orrizonti Extras section. Reminiscent of Steven Soderbergh’s Academy Award-winning drug trafficking thriller, “Traffic,” though rougher and slightly more condensed…

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Pedro Almodóvar’s First Feature In English Is An Oddly Fractured Experience
Pedro Almodóvar’s First Feature In English Is An Oddly Fractured Experience

It's always fascinating to see a master filmmaker work in a different language, especially when their work is singular. Tone, personality, and rhythm can come across very differently, and sometimes be difficult to recreate, in a new cultural context. Some…

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‘Bad Monkey’ Episode 5 Recap
‘Bad Monkey’ Episode 5 Recap

Editor's note: The below recap contains spoilers for Bad Monkey Episode 5. The previous episode of Bad Monkey ended on a jarring note, as Vince Vaughn's Andrew Yancy concludes that Christopher (Rob Delaney) and Nick Stripling are the same person…

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The Deal Featured, Reviews Film Threat
The Deal Featured, Reviews Film Threat

D is for dynamic. D is for dazzling. D is for The Deal, the dynamic, dazzling crime short written and directed by McGregory Frederique. After a wild police chase ends with arrests and bookings at the North Hollywood Police station, we…

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Lee Daniels’ Horror Is ‘Precious’ & ‘The Exorcist’ Rolled Into One Pungent Experience
Lee Daniels’ Horror Is ‘Precious’ & ‘The Exorcist’ Rolled Into One Pungent Experience

Imagine the rank, pungent horror of William Friedkin’s rather foul and f*cked up horror, 1973’s original faint-inducing “The Exorcist” (excellent, but harrowing). Then recall the brutal, sometimes nasty side of Lee Daniel’s unflinching, sometimes hard-to-watch Sundance hit “Precious.” Smash them…

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