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An American Werewolf in London

“With the deft mixture of body horror, gore, and irreverent humor, An American Werewolf in London could just as easily be retitled National Lampoon Takes a Stab at Hammer Horror. The results work far better than anyone could ever imagine, much of this thanks goes to the combination of director John L” read more

Maleficent

“If you have ever wondered what a Disney rape-revenge movie would look like, then Maleficent is the movie for you! There’s a fascinating, very adult movie lurking somewhere underneath the Uncanny Valley hellscape of Maleficent’s shiny surfaces, but it’s continually compromised by having to try ” read more

IT

“To be incredibly pithy, you can call this Stand By IT or Nightmare on Goonies Street and find yourself in the neighborhood of what this movie is. I do not mean either of those descriptions as negatives, far from it. I thoroughly enjoyed and found its insistence on placing its tonal and emotional emp” read more

A Single Man

“Christopher Isherwood’s slim novel is an emotionally engaging, powerful, and heartbreaking examination of a man consumed by grief and loss trying desperately to find a tether to the rest of the world. Tom Ford’s directorial debut follows it, at times to the letter and at others with necessary em” read more

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

“At its worst moments, Star Wars: The Clone Wars was a series that provided mere fan-service action sequences in stories that didn’t enrich or develop the world or mythology of the mega-franchise in any meaningful way. At its best, it explored the concepts and ideas merely hinted at in the films an” read more

Remixed & Revisited

“After American Life failed to garner sales, critical acclaim, and a hit single, Madonna threw out this remix album to fulfill her contract with Maverick Records and generate more sales for the aforementioned album. It didn’t work, and the entire thing feels like a complete toss-off.   The choi” read more

Something to Remember

“Well, this took some balls. A persistent criticism leveled against Madonna was that she was more image, controversy, and dominating personality than a strong singer. It is a fair criticism, to be quite honest, as her vocal range is limited, her tone can waver in live performance, and she can sound s” read more

GHV2

“Where The Immaculate Collection culled material from her first four studio albums, threw in a few soundtrack gems, and two new songs, GHV2 repeats the process for her next four studio albums, a few soundtrack-only tracks, and completely skips out on any new material. The fact that there’s no new m” read more

Duel in the Sun

“Super-producer David O. Selznick intended to follow-up his gargantuan success of Gone with the Wind with this epic horse opera. Much like that Oscar adorned production, Duel in the Sun lacks a strong directorial signature and instead is the product of Selznick’s outsized ambition and vision. Selzn” read more

The Witches

“Hollywood has never had the easiest time transitioning Roald Dahl’s words onto the screen, but a sublime fusion of creative talents makes The Witches one of the most successful tryouts. This isn’t so much a scary children’s film as it is a horror film built for children, this sounds like split” read more

Julia

“Quick – who is this movie actually about? If you answered anyone other than Lillian Hellman, then you clearly weren’t paying attention. It’s frustrating to watch this, yet it’s so well made, impeccably acted, and contains bits of brilliance that you’re kept enthralled throughout. But why a” read more

The Omen

“Tale as old as time, the adopted son of an older American diplomat and his wife turns out to be the antichrist. It could honestly happen to just about anyone. The Omen is not some taunt, dread-filled masterpiece of horror. Too much of it plays out like kitsch, and some of it is just downright loopy ” read more

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion

“Woody Allen has singled out The Curse of the Jade Scorpion as one of his worst films for his failure to find a suitable leading man and having to take over the role himself. He’s only half-right. The Curse of the Jade Scorpion is incredibly minor Allen, but it’s far from his worst piece of mater” read more

Do Not Disturb

“You can sense the apprehension in Doris Day about playing any of this material, and her ability to commit to this kind of material and play it to perfection is central to making any of it work. But it’s not like that’s the only problem plaguing Do Not Disturb. From a too dour leading man to the ” read more

Alien: Covenant

“I fully admit that I feel a tremendous amount of nostalgia towards the Alien franchise, and even a moderately successful entry in the franchise gets outsized love for me. What can I say? I grew up with Ellen Ripley as my de facto action hero(ine) that gave me a thrill and power. You can keep your In” read more

Spider-Man: Homecoming

“I know it might sound crazy, but this second reboot of the Spider-Man film franchise may emerge as the best single Spider-Man movie yet. A large part of the reason this one is so successful is how scaled down it is. There’s no third-act falling debris or blue light causing mass destruction found h” read more

Dope

“While Dope can’t quite overcome the genre conventions of a coming-of-age film, it at least adds some new wrinkles to the formula by giving the point-of-view to a trio of characters frequently regulated to the quirky best friend in other teen films. Not only that, but it’s got a generally killer ” read more

Great Expectations

“I would be more than happy to declare a moratorium on film adaptations of Charles Dickens’ novels. Lord knows that there’s an overabundance to chose from, and many of them don’t bring much new to the material. At least this one brings a series of painterly images that recall the old masters. I” read more

52 Tuesdays

“Much like Boyhood, 52 Tuesdays employed an unconventional production method in order to tell this story about the year in life of a teenage girl and her parent’s transition. While the story tends to shrink away from some of the more delicate and richer story possibilities, there’s still a lot to” read more

From the Terrace

“Sudsy melodramas need some juice in order to work and be entertaining, and in both of these regards From the Terrace stumbles forward in awkward gasps. No one could possibly mistake Butterfield 8, the other John O’Hara adaptation of 1960, for a great movie, but it is a gloriously entertaining piec” read more

Glengarry Glen Ross

“You know what’s a great way to make an entertaining movie? Give a series of juicy monologues and biting one-liners to a group of highly talented actors and point a camera at them. No fuss, just the joy of watching the greats knock out a few rounds with well-written material and play off of each ot” read more

Big Trouble in Little China

“I think if I had watched this from start to finish prior to the age of, I don’t know, about thirteen my opinion on it would be totally different. As it stands, I watched it as I slowly moved over the hump towards thirty. It’s probably one of the best bad movies I’ve ever watched, but that does” read more

A Girl Named Tamiko

“Laurence Harvey’s brief foray as a leading man seems improbable in hindsight. He was so dour and borderline unlikable, so prone to looking frankly bored and displeased in front of the camera that his prominence in the late 50s/early 60s makes you wonder if everyone in Hollywood lost their damn min” read more

The Horizontal Lieutenant

“Absolutely nothing works in The Horizontal Lieutenant. From the predictable title straight on down to the indifferent plotting there’s very little to engage you here. Jim Hutton mugs and falls down a lot, Paula Prentiss plays the sensible foible, and there’s a bunch of supporting players that dr” read more

Flower Drum Song

“Oh boy, it’s hard to talk about Flower Drum Song without wincing. It’s not an outright terrible film, but it is loaded with baggage that hinders one maximum enjoyment of this entertaining but unwieldy adaptation.   Many of the problems with Flower Drum Song originate in the Rodgers and Hamme” read more

Cry For Happy

“You wouldn’t know it from watching this, but Miyoshi Umeki won an Oscar and got a Tony nomination just a few short years prior to this cringe-inducing “comedy.” But five years is a long break, and between Sayonara in 1957 and Cry For Happy in 1961, Umeki was nowhere to be found on the big scre” read more

Chocolat

“This has got Harvey Weinstein’s fingerprints all over it. What exactly do I mean by this? Well, there was a period of time when Miramax/Harvey Weinstein produced a never-ending parade of handsome adaptations of novels, some of them more prestigious than others, with vaguely respectable directors, ” read more

Working Girl

“The shop-girl makes good films gets an update (for the late-80s) in Working Girl. If you look under the hood of this thing, it’s built to last and form a foolproof exterior that runs like a dream. Add in a dash of the battle of the sexes vibrancy from films like Woman of the Year to the mix, and y” read more

An Unmarried Woman

“In many ways, An Unmarried Woman is a cosmetic update of a woman’s picture from the 40s. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine a tougher dame like Ginger Rogers or Carole Lombard starring in a fluffier, happier version of this story about a woman reconciling from a divorce and finding her footing again” read more

Sayonara

“Sayonara feels like the type of movie that was built for awards consideration. Just full of enough liberal politics to make people feel good about themselves watching it when it’s really just a mildly ridiculous, soapy melodrama. Half of the romantic equation here is more authentic and fraught the” read more