Monthly Archives: July 2018

Preview, “Venom” — the new trailer, gives away the look, the effects, the tone

Tom Hardy plays a reporter “who found something…really bad.” It’s “Deadpool” run monstrously amok, a villain’s villain — Jekyll and Hyde and Tom Hardy as the conflicted fellow fighting it out from within. Oct. 5, we figure out how “We…are Venom” … Continue reading

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Netflixable? How to Survive in Serbia When You’re just “The Maus”

It begins with a prayer, a Bosnian woman kissing a medal and asking for someone, “Ya Hafizu” (“the protector”) to “protect me from evil.” Their Mitsubishi has given out in the woods. Her German boyfriend, Alex, insists their situation is … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Filipino Cops fight their way out of a trap in “BuyBust”

Nobody goes down quietly in “BuyBust.” Cops and drug gangsters, enraged slum dwellers fighting to be freed of both, they take their beatings, absorb brass knuckles and bullets, machetes and Molotov cocktails, and refuse to die. “Adrenalin” pulls them out … Continue reading

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Netflixable? So what did we miss when we ALL skipped Ryan Reynolds et al in “The Captive?”

He’s fretted in the most public, often comic ways, about his Canadian ancestry, his duty to the Motherland. So it’s only natural that Ryan Reynolds should make a movie with Atom Egoyan. Who’s more Canadian than that? And it’s about … Continue reading

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Preview, “The Little Mermaid” of…The Mississippi?

Shut the front door! A mermaid who doesn’t sing, who doesn’t necessarily want to be “part of your world?” How did Disney allow this “Little Mermaid” to happen? AMC theaters will open this period piece “Splash meets Fairy Tale: A … Continue reading

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Netflixable? “Going for Gold” takes “Bring it On” Down Under

  Emma Wilson (Kelli Berglund) is a cute, cocky, high school cheerleader and Air Force brat who has “already learned how to say ‘good-bye’ in six languages.” That’s what military families face as a way of life — constantly moving, … Continue reading

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Documentary Review: “When the Beat Drops,” the dance battle is on

Many of my favorite documentaries over the years have been works of cultural historiography — films that literally “write the book” on some corner of pop culture that’s outside of my experience or general interest. My first serious education in … Continue reading

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Netflixable? “Mary and the Witch’s Flower” is an anime eye popping Harry Potter Precursor

Somebody figured out that what fans of witch and wizard stories revel in is the cornucopia of critters, gadgets, spells and talismans. Somebody figured out that witches, warlocks and wizards learn their trade somewhere — probably an enchanted, inaccessible school. … Continue reading

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The End for Movie Pass is nigh

  When you’re charging members $9.95 a month to see a movie a day (average price, $10 matinee, $14 and up in the evenings), the word “unsustainable” comes up. Whatever data mining value there is in seeing what you buy … Continue reading

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Preview, “Black 47” could start Ireland’s “troubles” all over again

An epic about the Irish Potato Famine of 1847, and the British role in causing it. A cast that features Oscar winner Jim Broadbent, LOTR and “Matrix” legend Hugo Weaving, Barry Keoghan and Stephen Rea and Sarah Greene in what … Continue reading

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