The Curse (2023) is Making Me Feel Very Uncomfortable! A+
Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie’s brilliant “The Curse” brings out the masochist in me. Thanks to the genius of Emma Stone, it’s essential viewing
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Category: Drama
The Dropout (2022) Limited Series Review A+
Amanda Seyfried is simply amazing. She gets Holmes’s uncomfortable stare and that otherworldly voice. But we also get Holmes as a real person.
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The Staircase (2022) Limited Series Review A+
The result: compulsive viewing for seven out of the eight episodes. Colin Firth is spellbinding. Toni Collette is equally superb.
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The White Lotus (2021) – Limited Series Review A+
The action then unfolds in flashback…. Olivia and Paula instantly become the series’ Greek Chorus; the best-friend-duo from hell.
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Mrs. America (2020) – Mini Series Review A+
Blanchett then slowly hangs up the phone and returns, defeated, to the kitchen. In un hommage à Akerman, the camera frames her in medium shot.
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Enlightened (2011) – TV Series Review A+
Laura Dern is a card-carrying liberal from Riverside. who wants to do good in this world but gets sidetracked by some deep personality flaws
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Beef (2023) The Netflix/A24 Production is Worth Savoring A
Created by Lee Sung Jin, the series boasts a wonderful script and spectacular turns by Steven Yeun and Ali Wong as the central characters.
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Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (2022) A
Evan Peters, Josh Braaten (young Jeffrey), Niecy Nash as nest-door-neighbor Glenda and a magnificent Richard Jenkins as Dahmer’s Father, all give stellar performances.
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Love and Death (2023) Elizabeth Olsen Asks “Is That All There Is?” A-
This is the superior version thanks to a spectacularly good Elizabeth Olsen as Montgomery, a housewife who has everything on the Baby Boom checklist.
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Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Prequel (2023) A-
It’s all just as delicious as the original two series with the two Lady Danbury’s taking all of the acting honors in their respective time periods.
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Fellow Travelers (2023) The Way We Were with a Queer Twist B+
“Fellow Travelers” is “The Way We Were,” with Jewish being replaced by Queer, Redford by Bomer and Barbra by Bailey. It’s compulsively watchable, just not a classic.
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Red, White & Royal Blue (2023). Even Texas Turns Over in Gay Romance! B
Nicholas Galitzine, as Prince Harry, gives a perfect performance. Utterly believable. He’s the ONLY reason to see this movie but he is reason enough!
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The Serpent Queen (2022) Review B
Catherine is now played by Samantha Morton who seems to have waited her whole life for this role. Every word, every gesture is savored
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About Dry Grasses (2023) A Triumph for Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan Rated A-
Dizar’s performance as Nuray, a woman who has lived through things that Samet can only imagine, takes over the film’s second and more impressive half.
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All of Us Strangers: The Best Movie Of 2023 A+
The direction of Haigh in this film is exceptional, creating an enthralling atmosphere that visually amazes the audience.
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Leonie Benesch is Sensational in The Teacher’s Lounge (2023) A
Thrilling edge-of-your-seat entertainment, all the while touching on such themes as racism, immigration, and freedom of speech.
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How to Have Sex (2023) Mia McKenna-Bruce shines in Manning Walker’s debut A-
Walker’s film follows three teenage girls on vacation in Greece. Mia McKenna-Bruce delivers a heartbreaking performance as Tara. One of the year’s best.
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Maestro (2023) Bradley Cooper’s Vain Impersonation of a Vain Man. B+
Leaving out vast chunks of the great conductor’s life, Cooper gives a vain impersonation of a vain man while Carey Mulligan takes the acting honors.
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The Holdovers (2023) Enjoyable and Paynless B
The film has three very good performances. Dominic Sessa is a real discovery, Da’Vine Joy Randolph says hello Oscar and Mr. Giamatti anchors the film.
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Bening and Foster Radiate Dyke Power in “Nyad” (2023). B
Both actresses are marvelous with Foster giving her best performance in decades.
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Fallen Leaves (2023) Is An Affair to Remember A+
The leads are just about perfect, and the film is enlivened at every turn by the director’s usual penchant for deadpan humor.
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Godland (2023) Hlynur Pálmason’s Masterpiece A+
Pálmason, his cinematographer (Maria von Hausswolff), and his composer (Alex Zhang Hungtai), bring back colonial memories of such movies as “Black Robe”.
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The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) Film Review A+
Condon is breathtakingly good, capturing every scene she’s in with a mixture of common sense and sadness, but always with a drollness lurking in the background.
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Mia Goth Astonishes in X (2022) and Pearl (2022) A+
“X/Pearl,” parts 1 and 2 of writer/director Ti West’s horror trilogy, are anointed by Mia Goth’s performance. Part 3, “Maxxxine”, arrives in 2024.
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Nitram (2022) Film Review A+
As for Judy Davis she gives what is probably her most outstanding performance, which means it’s one of the greatest performances ever captured on film.
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Flee (2021) Film Review A+
I left “Flee” with that “floating-on-air feeling” that you get after seeing something special. After seeing a masterpiece.
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The Hand of God (2021) Film Review A+
Memories of Fellini and the Taviani Brothers at their peak. It’s his “Amarcord” (I remember). It’s also his “La Dolce Vita.”
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West Side Story (2021) Film Review A+
West Side Story is Spielberg’s Triumph! Of course, it is Anita who is the real star of the movie and Ariana DeBose is astonishing.
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Quo Vadis Aida (2020) Film Review A+
Aida knows the horrific fate that awaits her husband and two sons if they are found and, for two hours, you watch as she frantically tries to get them out.
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Beanpole (2019) Film Review A+
“Beanpole” conveys, beautifully, the ability of human beings to find moments of intimacy and even love under the most horrific of circumstances.
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