‘Amazing Grace’ Film Review: Aretha Franklin Lives in This Resplendent Gospel Concert Film
DOC NYC 2018: Shot in 1972 by Sydney Pollack but shelved for technical reasons, this long-lost doc captures the Queen of Soul at the height of her powers
movie reviews
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‘Searching for Ingmar Bergman’ Film Review: Margarethe von Trotta Explores Her Love of Swedish Auteur’s Work
Gently probing what fascinates her about movies she calls her “constant companions,” von Trotta has made a love letter to loving cinema
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‘Overlord’ Film Review: Great Video Game Movie That’s Not Based on a Video Game
The World War II zombie thriller is half “Wolfenstein,” half “Two-Fisted Tales,” all satisfying
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‘On the Basis of Sex’ Film Review: RBG Biopic Celebrates the Political and the Personal
AFI 2018: Felicity Jones captures Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s steely gaze in a film that appreciates her family as well as her brilliant legal career
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‘Outlaw King’ Film Review: Chris Pine Scottish War Epic Is Meh-dieval
Re-edited after its Toronto fest debut, this grimy, serviceable time-waster for Netflix subscribers saves its real energy for bloody battle sequences
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‘Fantastic Beasts 2’ Film Review: J.K. Rowling Prequel-Sequel Conjures Magic and Messiness
“The Crimes of Grindelwald” is exciting and enchanting, but also frustratingly convoluted
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‘The Girl in the Spider’s Web’ Film Review: Claire Foy’s Lisbeth Salander Adventure Trades Angst for Espionage
Based on a novel that’s not in the original trilogy, this crackerjack adventure values spy-stuff over character
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‘The Long Dumb Road’ Film Review: Buddy Comedy Travels Familiar Path, But the Company’s Great
Jason Mantzoukas and Tony Revolori make charming travel companions in an indie that lacks interesting women
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‘Here and Now’ Film Review: Sarah Jessica Parker Loses the Pitch in Lackluster Drama
Parker plays a terminally-ill chanteuse, but “Cléo from 5 to 7,” this ain’t
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‘Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch’ Film Review: Benedict Cumberbatch Helps Make Third Time Charming
Nothing will replace the 1966 original, but this shiny remake is full of warmth and wit
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‘In a Relationship’ Film Review: Emma Roberts and Michael Angarano Try to Liven Up Underwritten Characters
Tribeca 2018: Familiar romantic indie will resonate most with those who relate
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‘The Ballad of Buster Scruggs’ Film Review: Coen Brothers Western Anthology Makes for an Uneven Binge
This omnibus film is an entertaining fribble that peaks early
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‘The Front Runner’ Film Review: Hugh Jackman Is Gary Hart in Jason Reitman’s Enjoyable, Slight Political Saga
Hart’s implosion over infidelity allegations in 1988, setting up the tabloidization of politics, makes for a snappy if thin dramatization
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‘Better Angels’ Film Review: Propagandistic Doc Avoids Tough Questions About US-China Relations
Oscar-winner Malcolm Clarke focuses on individual success stories but includes no context that might be unflattering to either superpower
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‘Maria by Callas’ Film Review: Opera Legend Maria Callas’ Life, Told in Her Own Words
Tom Volf’s documentary delivers what Callas fans want most: passionate arias and personal access
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‘Nobody’s Fool’ Film Review: Tyler Perry Makes Tiffany Haddish Do All the Work
Sloppy and slipshod even by Perry standards, this R-rated comedy perks up only when Haddish is on screen
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‘A Private War’ Film Review: Rosamund Pike and Jamie Dornan Give Searing Performances as Real-Life War Correspondents
In his fiction debut, documentarian Matthew Heineman captures the necessity and the danger of journalist Marie Colvin’s essential work
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‘Postcards from London’ Film Review: Gay Escort Contemplates Beauty in Skin-Deep Indie
Harris Dickinson plays a gorgeous rent-boy in a movie that pays lip service to art without ever becoming it
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‘The Nutcracker and the Four Realms’ Film Review: This Sugarplum Is Rancid
Too much eye-assaulting CG and not enough Misty Copeland are just two of the problems with this bloated, un-whimsical tale
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‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Film Review: Queen Bio Won’t Exactly Rock You
Rock saga is more interesting as an origin story of Queen’s hits than as a Freddie Mercury biopic
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‘Boy Erased’ Film Review: Gay Conversion Drama Has Powerful Moments But Also Rote Ones
Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman play Baptist parents who send Lucas Hedges to “ex-gay” therapy in Joel Edgerton’s drama
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‘The Other Side of the Wind’ Film Review: Orson Welles’ Final Film Is Worth the Wait
Lovingly assembled after 40 years, the master’s swan song is a winking satire drawing on his own love-hate relationship with Hollywood
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‘Johnny English Strikes Again’ Film Review: Rowan Atkinson’s Third 007 Spoof is Shaky, Not Stirring
The returns are very much diminished in the continuing saga of Atkinson’s bumbling British super-spy
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‘Indivisible’ Film Review: Faith-Based True Story Champions Communication and Self-Care Over Easy Answers
Religion isn’t a cure-all in this real-life tale of an Army chaplain and his wife and their joint recovery from his tour of combat duty
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‘Hunter Killer’ Film Review: Gerard Butler Stalks Around a Submarine in Passable Thriller
The kind of movie you find in a $2 bargain-DVD bin and feel like you got your money’s worth
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‘A Bread Factory’ Film Review: Small-Town Theater Struggles to Survive in Two-Part Ode to the Arts
Over two films and four hours, “In the Family” director Patrick Wang brings a matrix of searching souls to memorable life
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‘Shirkers’ Film Review: Search for a Lost Film Leads to Awkward, Illuminating Truths
Sandi Tan returns to Singapore to find the movie she directed at 19, bringing her to terms with old friends and old mentors
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‘Suspiria’ Film Review: Luca Guadagnino’s Misguided Horror Remake Falls Flat
Despite Dakota Johnson and Tilda Swinton’s best efforts, this remake is crammed with too many aimless ideas and not enough scares
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‘1985’ Film Review: Retro AIDS Tale Earns Its Tears
Cory Michael Smith (“Gotham”) exquisitely plays a closeted gay man making one last trip home for Christmas
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‘Burning’ Film Review: Korean Auteur Lee Chang-dong Returns With Breathtaking Drama
Sections of the film rank among the most accomplished displays of cinematic poetry since 2011’s Palme d’Or winner “The Tree of Life”
