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: Dec. 15, 2023
Wide (United States)
Wonka
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Limited (United States)
American Fiction
Andrea Chase @ KillerMovieReviews.com
- Excerpt: A profound film that has a light touch and subversive stance.
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Cord Jefferson makes an impressively sure-footed feature debut adapting Percival Everett’s ‘Erasure,’ his satire perhaps a bit less cutting but thematically on target while boasting a phenomenal ensemble.
The Zone of Interest
Matt Oakes @ Silver Screen Riot
- Excerpt: Holocaust movies rarely inspire faith in humanity but Jonathan Glazer’s subtle examination of barren decency and bureaucratic evil is a startling reminder that mass scale horror requires meticulous detail and mindless execution. Shocking, horrifying, and essential.
2023 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
Asteroid City
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Barbie
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Creator
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Dream Scenario
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Dumb Money
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Nyad
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Saltburn
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Wish
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
20 Days in Mariupol
- Excerpt: “This is painful to watch”
The Archies
Kathy Gibson @ Access Bollywood
Being Mary Tyler Moore
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ SpiritualityandPractice.com
- Excerpt: Biopicture with film clips showcasing the multi-talented pioneering tv and film actress.
Beyond Utopia
- Excerpt: “We were just born in the wrong country”
Biosphere
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ SpiritualityandPractice.com
- Excerpt: A sci-fi buddy film that proves life finds a way.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
- Excerpt: Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is a rare dish: A mediocre stop-motion sequel.
Christmas as Usual
Kathy Gibson @ Access Bollywood
Concrete Utopia
- Excerpt: In using well-trodden genre tropes to explore all-too-real issues of class and status, Concrete Utopia stakes its claim as the heir apparent to Parasite and Squid Game and should have similar crossover appeal for international audiences.
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: For those who don’t understand that THE WALKING DEAD is about the living monsters rather than the undead ones, director Tae-hwa Eom and co-writer Lee Shin-ji’s CONCRETE UTOPIA might be able to drive the point home.
The Delinquents
Gregory Carlson @ southpawfilmworks.net
The End We Start From
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: It’s a solid story that looks and sounds great, but I wouldn’t be surprised to discover it works better on the page insofar as digging further to unearth the weight of emotion that’s ravaging Mom’s heart.
Green Border
Nadine Whitney @ In Their Own League
- Excerpt: “Green Border” is one of Holland’s greatest cinematic achievements in years. It is both an act of compassion and a call to recognise harm. The grand stateswoman of Polish cinema has returned with a gripping piece of political and humanistic art.
Joan Baez: I Am a Noise
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ SpiritualityandPractice.com
- Excerpt: A raw look at the public and private struggles of the singer and activist
Leave the World Behind
Allen Almachar @ The MacGuffin
- Excerpt: For a cast this talented, and a visual palette willing to take chances, we come away feeling like we ran around in circles with nothing to show for it.
- Excerpt: Leave the World Behind intricately intertwines Sam Esmail’s directorial finesse with Rumaan Alam’s thought-provoking source material, delivering a compelling exploration of familial dynamics, societal issues, and the impact of fear and uncertainty on human behavior.
Monster
Bavner Donaldo @ Cinejour [Indonesian]
Orlando: My Political Biography
- Excerpt: “Praise God I’m a woman”
Poor Things
Radical Wolfe
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ SpiritualityandPractice.com
- Excerpt: A spiffy documentary on the life and work of Tom Wolfe, who pioneered disruptive journalism and exposed American obsessions.
Share?
Mark Leeper @ Mark Leeper’s Reviews
- Excerpt: SHARE? might have worked as a short film, but even at just 80 minutes, this becomes repetitive and simply goes on too slowly.
The Three Musketeers – Part 1 – D’Artagnan
- Excerpt: The Three Musketeers – Part I: D’Artagnan is a real old-fashioned swashbuckler, full of sword fights, handsome men and pretty ladies, improbably accurate gunplay (with smoothbore weapons!), stunning locations, candlelit interiors, wild stunts, a cast of thousands outfitted in amazing costumes, and a thoroughly enjoyable soundtrack.
Waitress: The Musical
- Excerpt: …if you like musicals and have an open mind as to how you consume them, this is a movie you’ll want to see, because it combines the feeling of being in a Broadway audience with the advantages of a filmed performance that is preserved for posterity and can be viewed without buying a plane ticket to New York.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ SpiritualityandPractice.com
- Excerpt: An adaptation of a Ronald Dahl story about changing your life and doing the impossible.
2022 Films
Desperate Souls, Dark City And The Legend Of Midnight Cowboy
Mark Leeper @ Mark Leeper’s Reviews
- Excerpt: DESPERATE SOULS, DARK CITY AND THE LEGEND OF MIDNIGHT COWBOY begins and ends with a lot of archival film of New York at the time of MIDNIGHT COWBOY. Throughout there are copious examples of the media of the day and they really brings back the spirit of the late 1960s.
A House Made of Splinters
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ SpiritualityandPractice.com
- Excerpt: A documentary filmed inside a special orphanage in the Ukraine where the children express both sorrow and hope.
2021 Films
The First 54 Years: An Abbreviated Manuel for Military Occupation
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ SpiritualityandPractice.com
- Excerpt: A sobering documentary about the effects on all sides of Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people during its military occupation.
