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Showing posts from April, 2023

Evil Dead Rise - Movie Review

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Evil Dead Rise - Movie Review Critics Score - 7 of 10 General Audience Score - 8 of 10 I cannot pretend to be some kind of horror expert or scary movie aficionado. Only recently did I watch The Shining for the first time and I’ve never yet seen many of the classics like Carrie, The Exorcist or Poltergeist. But as I try to get myself a better baseline of films to reference, I was able to catch the new film in the Evil Dead franchise, Evil Dead Rise. As somewhat of a horror newbie, I’ll also say that any criticism I bestow on the film should be taken with a grain of salt, I’ll simply offer some perspective on what you can expect from this latest offering in the Evil Dead universe. While you can expect lots of blood and gore from this new installment, as per the usual, the film was light on scares and generally just existed in the realm that puts you a little on edge and just slightly creeped out. As far as entertainment value, the film starts out slow but then picks things up into the se

The Super Mario Bros. Movie - Movie Review

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The Super Mario Bros. Movie - Movie Review Critics Score - 7 of 10 General Audience Score - 8 of 10 Kids Score - 9 of 10 It’s finally here. The movie we’ve all been waiting for since May 28th, 1993 when the live action Super Mario Bros. dropped into theatres and sent audiences everywhere running for the hills. Here we are, almost thirty years have past and we finally get a modernized, digitally animated adaptation of these classic video game characters and a host of their friends. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a fun, colorful and fast paced adventure that kids will go bananas over. This film is an easy watch, it flies by at just over a hour and a half, but the closer you scrutinize the film, story and aspects of the filmmaking, the more the cracks beneath the surface begin to show. Most general audiences, parents and general audiences, however, will be able to overlook these flaws and have a blast with Mario and company on their quest to defeat Bowser. But the film skews heavily towar

Air - Movie Review

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Air - Movie Review Critics Score - 8 of 10 General Audience Score - 8 of 10 Every year there are usually one or two films that people will take their dads to see, which means they’re mainstream movies that appeal to everyone, but especially to a certain demographic. Last year we had Top Gun Maverick, a few years ago it was Ford V Ferrari, and virtually anything that has Tom Hanks is in, we lovingly call these films Dad Movies. Right out of the gate for 2023 we get one of the best dad movies of the year with the new movie from Amazon Studios, Air. Air recounts the time in history when the basketball shoe market was coming into it’s prime and companies were jockeying for position to add the hot new sports stars to their list of celebrity endorsers. When Michael Jordan was about to enter the NBA draft, a hidden war was taking place between rival shoe companies as they tried to get him and other players to sign deals with their companies. From director Ben Affleck, who also appears in the

A Thousand And One - Movie Review

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A Thousand And One - Movie Review Critics Score - 8 of 10 General Audience Score - 7 of 10 Who doesn’t love a good drama? At the Sundance Film Festival every January, a film wins the top Grand Jury Prize for dramatic feature film, one of the highest awards the festival gives out. In recent years, high rolling films like Minari, Coda and the delightfully suspenseful Nanny from last year are joined by the winner for 2023, A Thousand And One. This indie film comes to us from female filmmaker A.V. Rockwell, it might have a small budget but this film has a big heart. It tells the tale of a mother whose personal life is a bit chaotic to say the least, after getting out of prison, she seeks to get her life on the right track and re-establish some sense of family with her son. At almost two hours, the film may move a little slower through the first half than some general audiences would prefer, but the emotional knockout ending more than makes up for any drag that some viewers might feel. Most

Rye Lane - Movie Review

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Rye Lane - Movie Review Critics Score - 7 of 10 General Audience Score - 7 of 10 Romantic comedies were a dime a dozen once upon a time, but if you’ve ever taken the time to watch a few, you know that not all rom-coms are created equal. Many of them hit the same emotional beats, they’re all predictable, the couple you want to see together ALWAYS ends up together and there’s always some dividing force that almost separates them, keeping us in suspense until the final moments. But on occasion, you come across a rom-com that tries some new things, like the new film Rye Lane now on Hulu, even if it falls back on some of the old rom-com habits, but it breathes some new life into the genre. The director Raine Allen-Miller pours some really curious production design, set pieces and a varied color palette into the film, which combined with the romantic comedy genre made for a genuinely unique and quirky effort. While the film won’t leave you rolling on the floor, there were a few moments of co