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: TV / Streaming
Beyond Utopia (2023) is one of the Best Documentaries of Recent Years A+
Director/Editor Madeleine Gavin masterfully combines these two storylines with some astonishing insights into what it’s like to live in North Korea
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Last Call (2023): A Serial Killer Preys on Gay Men in New York A+
Caronna gives these five men back their dignity, something they were stripped of when they became victims of a horrific crime.
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Mstyslav Chernov’s 20 Days in Mariupol (2023): Citizens Under Fire A+
Mstyslav Chernov’s masterful documentary chronicles the period he spent in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol when Vladimir Putin’s Russian forces attacked it.
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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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Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis) (2023) A
Photographer/filmmaker Anton Corbijn has directed a hugely enjoyable documentary about Hipgnosis, the duo who revolutionized the album cover as an art form.
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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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BS High (2023). Greed and Exploitation in American High School Football A-
American high school/college football is one big exploitation racket that massively exploits the young men on whose backs the whole system rests.
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The Eternal Memory (2023) Shines. A-
Paulina’s optimism carries over to the audience – a film whose subject matter is inherently depressing is unexpectedly uplifting.
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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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Donyale Luna: Supermodel (2023) B+
Known “the first Black supermodel”, she was the first African-American model to grace the cover of Vogue – shot by photographer David Bailey – in March 1966.
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Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate (2023) Netflix Documentary Review B+
Cantu introduces you to people that you may not have heard of before. And those that you have, like Ernst Rohm and Magnus Hirschfeld are discussed…
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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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Errol Morris interviews John Le Carré in The Pigeon Tunnel (2023) B
Veteran documentary filmmaker Errol Morris’s documentary of David Cornwell, non-de-plum John le Carré, whose breakthrough novel “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold” sold upwards of 15 million copies.
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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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What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael (2018) B-
The greatest movie critic of her generation. Pauline wrote the most incisive and respectful response. It was a gorgeous review of “Blade Runner”…
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La Nouvelle Vague (The French New Wave)
Included are my favorite thirteen films. Four are directed by Godard, three by Truffaut, two by Renais, and one each by Chabrol, Demy, Malle, and Varda.
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The Films of Joseph L. Mankiewicz
All twenty JLM films rated to coincide with a retrospective at the Criterion Collection. This includes his masterpiece “All About Eve”.
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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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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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Classic Film Noir At Twentieth Century Fox
Fox Noir: Welcome to the world of the femme fatale and multiple flashbacks. Otto Preminger’s “Laura” with Clifton Webb is the crown jewel. And Gene Tierney.
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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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