Love and Death (2023) Elizabeth Olsen Asks “Is That All There Is?”
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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Category: Mystery
Dead Ringers (1988) vs (2023). Skip the Trashy Remake.
The adaptation (by Alice Birch) the direction, and the supporting cast are all shamelessly bad. Weisz overplays Elliot and underplays Beverly.
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The Staircase (2022) Limited Series Review
The result: compulsive viewing for seven out of the eight episodes. Colin Firth is spellbinding. Toni Collette is equally superb.
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Monica (2023) Film Review
Pallaoro is blessed with two actresses who are able to convey oceans of emotion with their eyes and Lysette, a real-life trans actress, is wonderful.
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Beau Is Afraid (2023) Film Review
Aster’s genius is hiding things from the viewer in clever ways. “Beau is Afraid” has the opposite effect. It is cluttered with too many plotlines.
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Parallel Mothers (2021) Film Review
Now, ” Live Flesh” has dropped to the number two position. “Parallel Mothers” is the new movie at the top of my treasured Almodóvar catalog.
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Under The Skin (2014) Film Review
Guys with erect penises walking downward into a transparent ooze, confused, as Scarlett walks on another level above them.
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Take Shelter (2011) Film Review
It boasts a tremendous performance by Michael Shannon as a quiet man, raising a family, who has horrific nightmares and daytime visions of a meteorological disturbance followed by a feeling that we (the Earth) are being visited by something alien.
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Drive My Car (2021) Film Review
As Yusuke drives into Hiroshima, the opening credits’ role forty minutes into the film. We realize that what we have seen so far is just a prelude to the main story.
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The Power of the Dog (2021) Film Review
“The Power of the Dog” is one of the best films of 2021. Campion directs with an expert hand assisted by Ari Wegner’s cinematography and Jonny Greenwood’s memorable score.
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Bodies, Bodies, Bodies (2022) Film Review
Beautifully Queer friendly, the relationship between Bee (Maria Bakalova) and Sophiie (Amanda Stenberg) is the emotional center of the movie.
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Undine (2020) Film Review
Christian Petzold’s direction is so seductive, and the two leads are so effective, that you fall easily for “Undine’s” charms.
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The Green Knight (2021) Film Review
David Lowery’s enthralling “The Green Knight”. Alicia Vikander does double duty as a peasant girl, and the mistress of a mysterious household.
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The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) Film Review
“The Tragedy of Macbeth” is filled with brilliant touches. The major reason to see this movie is Kathryn Hunter who plays all three witches.
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White Noise (2022) Film Review
Our savior is Driver, who, against all odds, manages to give another really good performance in inhospitable settings.
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Inside (2023) Film Review
A premise that requires a great actor, a witty script, and some very innovative direction. Dafoe is marvelous.
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Bones and All (2022) Film Review
Eventually it becomes impossible to feel anything for our unhappy couple, not least because Guadagnino keeps shifting the moral and ethical ground rules.
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The Little Things (2021) Film Review
A Great Cast Cannot Save Director John Lee Hancock’s Sleazy Mixture of Forensics and Violence.
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The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) Film Review
Excellent work by Robert Stephens (his best screen performance) and Colin Blakely (Dr. Watson). Geneviève Page gives a gorgeous melancholy performance.
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Chinatown (1974) Polanski’s Noir Masterpiece
Polanski captured the FEEL of LA better than anyone before or sense. Jack Nicholson gives his greatest performance as private dick J. J. ” Jake” Gittes.
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Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) Film Review
Weir, who showed, like Hitchcock, that horror can be visited upon us on the brightest and most beautiful of summer days.
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The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) Film Review
“Ripley”, Minghella’s masterpiece, boasts Matt Damon’s best performance plus stunning turns by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jude Law.
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Niagara (1953) Film Review
The buildup to Monroe’s superstardom started here. The magnificent widescreen technicolor cinematography if by Joseph MacDonald.
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Rear Window (1954) Film Review
Stewart, Kelly, and Ritter are all magnificent. Kelly, looking radiant, gets to deliver one of the big screen’s all-time sexy lines.
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The Bad Seed (1956) Film Review
Nancy Kelly is ON 100% of the time straddling the twin minefields of camp and drama yet managing to accomplish both simultaneously.
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Vertigo (1958) Film Review
Anchored by an incredible performance by James Stewart as Scotty Ferguson a private detective and ex-cop who suffers from vertigo (fear of heights) after a coworker fell to his death, and Kim Novak is spectacular in the dual role of Judy/Madeleine.
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North by Northwest (1959) Film Review
Eva Marie Saint gives Grace Kelly in “Rear Window” a run for her money as Hitchcock’s most elegant leading lady and the chemistry between the two leads is more palpable than in any Hollywood picture before or since.
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Psycho (1960) Film Review
Anthony Perkins’ Norman Bates made him immortal while, at the same, time, ending his career in Hollywood. A masterpiece.
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Whatever Happened Baby Jane? (1962) Film Review
Both of Hollywood’s grande dames Bette Davis and Joan Crawford are in top form with Davis getting the showier role as faded child star Baby Jane Hudson.
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Billy Budd (1962) Film Review
Many, including gay composer Benjamin Britton and his famous opera, maintain that there is an undercurrent of homoeroticism between the three leads.
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Persona (1966) Film Review
Two of the world’s greatest actresses under the gaze of one of the greatest movie directors the world has ever known.
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The Swimmer (1968) Film Review
With a near-great performance by Burt Lancaster as the title character who “swims his way home” through his “river” of backyard swimming pools…
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The Detective (1968) Film Review
However, the awful script by Abby Mann – “Judgement at Nuremberg” – and the mediocre direction by Gordon Douglas put the kibosh on everything.
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Rebecca (1940) Film Review
“Rebecca”, marked the arrival in Hollywood of the man who was, or would eventually become, the greatest director in the history of cinema.
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The Maltese Falcon (1941) Film Review
The performances are there to savor with the great Mary Astor doing a superb turn as Bridget O’ Shaughnessy and the gay triumvirate bringing up the rear!
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Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Film Review
Alfred Hitchcock, the cinema’s greatest director, made seven perfect films in which every shot, every camera move, every editing sequence is, well, perfect.
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Laura (1944) Film Review
“Laura” is one of the classic film noirs. Gene Tierney is born and Clifton Webb becomes a star in his fifties. Haunting Raksin score.
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The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) Film Review
Albert Lewin directed his masterpiece, a superb adaptation of Oscar Wild’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” with a beautiful Hurd Hatfield.
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Gilda (1946) Film Review
Feast your eyes on Vidor’s stylish direction, Rudolph Mate lush black-and-white cinematography the Jean Louis gowns and, of course, Rita Hayworth as Gilda.
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Notorious (1946) Film Review
The term “MacGuffin” originated by Angus MacPhail for film, adopted by Alfred Hitchcock, and later extended to a similar device in other fiction. The MacGuffin here is the Uranium in the cellar.
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