Here are some reviews of films coming out at the theater this week as well as others that may be in theaters or newly on home video.
Opening: Aug. 2, 2024
Limited (United States)
Chuck Chuck Baby
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Backed by an almost all female crew, writer/director Janis Pugh’s musical ode to female sisterhood is a flawed but uplifting embrace of celebrating love where you find it.
The Instigators
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: …while crowd scenes lack authenticity, Boston flavor is genuine and [Liman’s] staged a rambunctious and geographically correct car chase from the Back Bay into the streets of Cambridge, even bringing his movie to a climax in Boston’s City Hall.
Kneecap
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Kneecap,” a riotous act of punk rebellion, has a real “Trainspotting” vibe going on.
- Excerpt: The most impressive thing about Kneecap, the quasi-biopic fictionalizing the Belfast trio’s formation, is how it draws implied parallels between the oppression facing Irish republicans and the systemic abuses that’ve long left Black musicians telling their listeners, in one form or another, to fight the power. But writer/director Rich Peppiatt’s film has a harder time connecting its stylish music video silliness with drama that meanders and a political message that repeats like it’s stuck on a cheap turntable.
Sebastian
- Excerpt: Sebastian plays like a rejected article from The Cut, where a tired-eyed twink rejects all self-awareness in pursuit of literary glory.
War Game
Chris Barsanti @ Slant Magazine
- Excerpt: The film suggests Dungeons & Dragons for political science and national security nerds.
2024 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
Deadpool & Wolverine
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Fall Guy
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
MaXXXine
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Twisters
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
90 Years Old – So What?
Panagiotis Kotzathanasis @ Asian Movie Pulse
- Excerpt: “90 Years Old – So What?” stays true to its title, being funny, interesting and entertaining, while communicating its multi leveled comments nicely.
About Dry Grasses
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Essentially, “About Dry Grasses” is a slow character study of self-alienation by a tremendous director and talented cinematographers.
All Your Faces
- Excerpt: All Your Faces is the most interesting film I’ve seen this year, and it’s a fine example of what may be a French specialty—scripted films based on real-life situations that play like documentaries that feel realer than real.
Animalia Paradoxa
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: Atallah’s experimental mixed media piece is a lot more than its surface visuals, though, if you’re willing to dive in.
Carnage for Christmas
Jared Mobarak @ The Film Stage
- Excerpt: A lean, melodramatic tale of returning home to discover the people who thought they were better than you are the losers you always knew they were.
Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: What is surprising about “Chronicles” is that a man, Bustillo, is able to capture the essential dutiful, saintly nature of women.
The Dead Thing
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: It’s an effective thriller that lets its themes exist beneath the surface so that those uninterested in delving deeper can simply enjoy the ghost story turned quasi-slasher on its own merits.
Food, Inc. 2
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Change is going to come! Rich with exposure and documentation, “Food Inc. 2” continues its attacks and solutions to our food problems after the 2009 film “Food Inc.”
Green Border
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Excruciatingly frustrating and heartbreaking, famed Polish director Agnieszka Holland has created a courageously accurate drama based on true events that I am calling The Film of the Decade.
How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies
Panagiotis Kotzathanasis @ Asian Movie Pulse
- Excerpt: Apart from this issue, though, “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” emerges as a rather realistic look at some of the most significant issues tormenting families all around the world, and a rather entertaining family drama.
Land of Bad
Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: At least it has an honest title.
Last Summer
Meanwhile on Earth
Jared Mobarak @ The Film Stage
- Excerpt: Meanwhile on Earth is, in many ways, very similar to Clapin’s previous work I Lost My Body. Elsa is the dismembered hand trying to reclaim the past when it’s the future that she should be focusing on.
The Outlaws
- Excerpt: This year’s western resurgence offers plenty of options, but this film’s simple premise and gamey gimmicks miss the mark.
Rowdy Girl
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: I loved this documentary. How Renee interacts with her rescued animals, how she talks in their language, and how she and her husband nurture each animal (they are all named) is inspiring.
Sing Sing
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: The big surprise here, though, is Maclin, who has a kind of rough-edged Terrance Howard thing going on and pairs perfectly with the more experienced actor [Domingo].
Snack Shack
Dan Stalcup @ The Goods: Film Reviews
- Excerpt: What unfolds over the next several scenes is a caffeinated sort of hangout movie — too much momentum and high-wire energy to really replicate the languid lazy-summer vibes of the film’s forbears, but inviting in its own way.
Starve Acre
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: Smith and Clark are so good because they understand this necessity [wherein their characters act not] because they believe in [what’s happening] or want it. But because it’s what allows everything to make sense.
This Man
Panagiotis Kotzathanasis @ Asian Movie Pulse
- Excerpt: Tomojiro Amano definitely had some good ideas, but in the end “This Man” emerges as overly ambitious, a film that would definitely benefit from some constraint in all levels, apart from the budget.
The Time Masters
The Umbrella Fairy
Panagiotis Kotzathanasis @ Asian Movie Pulse
- Excerpt: In the end, despite the aforementioned issues, “The Umbrella Fairy” carries enough audiovisual flair and intricacy to be worth a watch just for this, in an animation that definitely deserves to be watched on the big screen.
2023 Films
Kizumonogatari
Panagiotis Kotzathanasis @ Asian Movie Pulse
- Excerpt: Not much more to say, although some may perceive “Kizumonogatari” as too much to follow for 140 minutes, the film remains a truly masterful embodiment of all the excellence of the Monogatari series, and a truly great anime overall.
Mash Ville
Panagiotis Kotzathanasis @ Asian Movie Pulse
- Excerpt: “Mash Ville” can be funny and entertaining on occasion, as its mashup works sometimes, but as a whole, it definitely does not make much sense, resulting in a movie that is ‘too much’ on so many levels.
Problemista
Dennis Schwartz @ dennisschwartzreviews
- Excerpt: Silly comedy about the immigrant experience in NYC.
Women from Rote Island
Panagiotis Kotzathanasis @ Asian Movie Pulse
- Excerpt: Occasionally the script may go a bit too far, but considering that the story here is just a medium in order for the comments to be presented as eloquently as possible, this is a flaw that can be easily ignored. As a whole, “Women from Rote Island” is an excellent movie, another testament to the progress of Indonesian cinema.
