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. 7, 2020
Limited (United States)
Black Water: Abyss
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: A decent B-movie experience.
Brent McKnight @ The Last Thing I See
- Excerpt: Never tries to be much beyond a slice of B-movie man-versus-nature terror, but it does what it does effectively and efficiently, providing tension, scares, and gnashing crocodile teeth
The Burnt Orange Heresy
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Debicki and Sutherland enjoy a beautiful give and take while Jagger enjoys a sympathy for the devil…But one begins to wonder if Bang is simply being typecast as shallow art world figures or if the actor himself is merely glib.
Charlie Juhl @ Citizen Charlie
- Excerpt: Do the powerful own a monopoly on truth? The optimists out there may be vexed with director Giuseppe Capotondi’s answer to that question.
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: The film offers one hypnotic twist after another.
I Used to Go Here
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: a film whose chuckles arrive more from the quirks of character than the situations they find themselves in… Rey’s writing is like a series of gentle waves which lift her players up before setting them down again.
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: Gillian Jacobs is a national treasure.
Shelagh Rowan-Legg @ ScreenAnarchy
Out Stealing Horses
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: an affecting coming of age tale about how an affair affects two boys in different families. Unfortunately the adaptation…has excised enough of the story that the film is narratively disjointed…
The Tax Collector
Herman Dhaliwal @ Cinema Sanctum
- Excerpt: The Tax Collector doesn’t add up to all that much, especially compared to David Ayer’s more successful attempts at exploring similar themes. But if you are a fan of David Ayer’s particular brand of slime and grime, it will offer some trashy entertainment.
2020 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
Amulet
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Deerskin
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Old Guard
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Relic
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
She Dies Tomorrow
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Yes, God, Yes
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
1BR
Jared Mobarak @ JaredMobarak.com
- Excerpt: [Sarah will] have to reconcile the uncertainty of life amongst the general population with the certainty of existence alongside those of like-minded ideals.
An American Pickle
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: One wishes “An American Pickle’s” script had been tuned a bit more tightly, but Seth Rogen’s man from the shtetl may just have you craving pickles with a chaser of seltzer.
Bacurau
Ronald wilkinson @ ItsJustMovies.com
- Excerpt: As the life flows out the holes in the water truck you might wish you, too, had drank the Kool-Aid.
Driven
Ronald wilkinson @ ItsJustMovies.com
- Excerpt: A stand up comedy routine delivered while driving an Uber car is still a stand up routine.
Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: https://www.reelingreviews.com/reviews/happy-happy-joy-joy-the-…a whiplash of a documentary, celebratory and damning in its fascinating history of an animation you will be amazed ever made it into children’s programming.ren-stimpy-story/
Host
Herman Dhaliwal @ Cinema Sanctum
- Excerpt: It might not age gracefully, but that doesn’t mean it won’t hold up as an entertaining curiosity. Moving as fast as it does, it is easy to get sucked up in all the chaos, keeping you engaged in the narrative, even when it dabbles into familiar territory.
Immigration Nation
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Reviews
- Excerpt: In this relevant film, we have the rare opportunity of being witnesses to history.
Lake Michigan Monster
Jared Mobarak @ JaredMobarak.com
- Excerpt: The film itself is the joke: a great-looking labor of love that chooses silliness and puerility over austere seriousness. If nothing else, you have to admire its conviction.
Latte & the Magic Waterstone
Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: Unlike so many animated films, this one makes no effort to appeal to grown-ups. And that was just fine for my inner six-year-old.
Lonely Encounter
Bavner Donaldo @ Cinejour [Indonesian]
The Painted Bird
Ronald wilkinson @ ItsJustMovies.com
- Excerpt: Vividly scripted and filmed, the horrors are all the worse for being so close to the present day.
Red Penguins
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Gabe Polsky, the writer/director of “Red Army,” returns with a new Russian hockey documentary that may begin amusingly enough, but actually has more in common with Alex Gibney’s “Citizen K” than his own prior film.
Scheme Birds
Ronald wilkinson @ ItsJustMovies.com
- Excerpt: A solar black hole of infinite social gravity. Without films like this, not even light can escape.
The Secret: Dare to Dream
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: A genial, if increasingly absurd romantic drama.
The Shadow of Violence
Herman Dhaliwal @ Cinema Sanctum
- Excerpt: While it may not transcend the genre, the craftsmanship and strong performances manage to resonate because the filmmakers have a firm understanding of what makes crime dramas like these so compelling and emotionally involving in the first place.
Spinster
Eddie Pasa @ DC Filmdom
Shelagh Rowan-Legg @ ScreenAnarchy
Summerland
Herman Dhaliwal @ Cinema Sanctum
- Excerpt: Few films this year have left me feeling as good as this one. I felt immersed in this world, its characters, and I was totally in for the ride.
Jared Mobarak @ JaredMobarak.com
- Excerpt: The result is going to be divisive thanks to an unabashed deluge of sentimentality, but the believability of the circumstances above mere convenience should [earn] acceptance.
Voices in the Wind
Scott Phillips @ www.themovieisle.com
Volition
- Excerpt: “Our choices don’t matter”
