Tag Archives: film-review

Netflixable? Can “Animals” Stick the Landing?

Isn’t it about time that America’s film schools added a “How to End Your Movie” course to their curricula? I know that they don’t have such “Finishing” or “Stick the Landing” stand-alone tutorials set up, and not just from covering … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? Her Son’s Arrest reduces her to “The Woman in the Line” at his Argentine Prison

“Due process” has been much on the minds and even in the news in North America, as ordinary citizens grapple with the shock of a rights-trampling regime killing people in boats it can’t identify much less charge with a crime … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? “Expert” must Solve a Mystery in under “27 Nights”

The orderlies who have shown up at the posh townhouse have a question. “Is she aware of what’s happening?” The two daughters waffle and deflect, with one more certain of the decision than the other. She’s the one who figures … Continue reading →

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Movie Review — “Tron: Ares” — All Lit Up and No Place to Go

“Tron: Ares” is a shiny, shambolic bauble, a film of CGI red neon streaks that no longer obsesses about taking us inside the electronic video game metaverse, but with bringing the grim, unemotional and “programmed” ethos of the electronic ether … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Argentine Teen Dreams of “Alemania” (Germany)

“Alemania” is a quietly compelling coming-of-age melodrama set in Argentina. A teenage girl focuses on one dream — a semester abroad studying in Germany. But her troubled family life in the the country’s 1990s economic downturn threatens that goal. Her … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? “Terror Comes Knocking: The Marcela Borges Story”

The stakes could not be higher. The sneering gang of armed men burst into the house, punch and abuse the inhabitants and ransack the place looking for “the money.” The husband is bloodied and the pregnant wife slapped around, all … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: To be Pretty, Young and Italian, Figuring It Out at “Diciannove”

Giovanni Tortorici’s “Diciannove” is a dreamy, drifting odyssey into a time in youth when one discovers the meaning of “the world’s your oyster.” It’s about a young Italian with choices at an age when you know it all and you … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: Juggling career, offspring and Elderly Parents demands “Relative Control”

Teri Polo of the “Meet the Parents” franchise takes on a far more realistic parental management situation in “Relative Control,” a light dramedy about all the juggling that goes on when one’s parents, love life, career and adult but adrift … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: A Robot Might Provide or Deny “The Last Spark of Hope”

Almost all science fiction is in the business of world-building, creating a landscape, setting, period in time or even “universe” where the story takes place. Dystopias engage in world-destroying. The Polish thriller “The Last Spark of Hope” manages to serve … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: A writer, her mentor and “The Friend” Great Dane who takes over her life

You might have to be a dog lover to truly engage and “get” “The Friend,” a melancholy meditation on suicide, loss, character and our obligations to someone who has killed himself. And if you’re unsure about the depth of your … Continue reading →

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