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: Feb. 9, 2024
Wide (United States)
Lisa Frankenstein
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Limited (United States)
The Monk and the Gun
Christopher Reed @ Film Festival Today
- Excerpt: Graced with the gorgeous landscapes of the region’s mountains, the film is careful to use these tools for narrative complexity, rather than coasting on their visual charm.
2024 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
The Beekeeper
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How to Have Sex
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Scrambled
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Self Reliance
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Between the Temples
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: You almost can’t imagine how the rest of the film will match that prologue because it feels so meticulously constructed as a self-contained gag to introduce its tone and characters, but there’s really zero drop-off afterwards.
Exhibiting Forgiveness
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: That’s where the difference between effective and transcendent lies—a filmmaker putting truth ahead of convenience in a way that allows the characters to accept the past without fear or denial. It happened and it mattered, but it’s no longer in control.
Fitting In
Allen Almachar @ The MacGuffin
- Excerpt: It has the potential to help normalize topics that some may see as taboo.
Sarah Gopaul @ Digital Journal
- Excerpt: Writer-director Molly McGlynn’s sophomore feature doesn’t understate the impact or complexity such a realization carries for a young woman on the verge of broadening her sexual horizons… To this end, credit must be given to Ziegler’s outstanding performance as she navigates a rollercoaster of emotions and awkward conversations.
Good One
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: The thing that strikes me most about India Donaldson’s GOOD ONE is just how effective the script is at building towards its final act of rebellion. It’s a subtle yet powerful transition that recolors everything in the lead-up.
Handling the Undead
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: That’s where the real unsettling nature comes in. Not just from the ways in which these corpses are reanimated as silent approximations of their former selves, but also in the sense that the audience knows what this scenario ultimately births.
Little Death
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: Too much of LITTLE DEATH feels like having your cake and eating it too, leaving all the good aspects to be canceled by the bad ones so the audience is left with nothing but a shallow promise and wasted potential.
Miller’s Girl
Gregory Carlson @ southpawfilmworks.net
Orion and the Dark
- Excerpt: Orion and the Dark preserves the essence and messages of the original tale about understanding and accepting our fears as something that characterizes us as human beings.
The Promised Land
Rene Sanchez @ Cine Sin Fronteras [Spanish]
Sometimes I Think About Dying
Allen Almachar @ The MacGuffin
- Excerpt: Although the narrative goes in some fanciful directions, there was never a moment where it didn’t touch on some elemental truth. This is just a lovely movie.
Steppenwolf
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: I laughed out loud a few times during STEPPENWOLF and I’m certain Yerzhanov intended for me to do so [despite its brutality]. That’s how unhinged Aitzhanov’s character and performance are.
The Tiger’s Apprentice
Manuel São Bento @ Talking Films
- Excerpt: The Tiger’s Apprentice certainly holds the potential for a genuinely engaging, memorable animated flick. The narrative formulas, though prevalent, could have been transcended with better execution and a slightly longer runtime, which would have led to the possibility of characters and themes being more fleshed out.
Upgraded
- Excerpt: Upgraded could have been an inoffensively formulaic, forgettable rom-com that borrows from hundreds of other similar movies, but the frustratingly simplistic conclusion with terrible messaging – basically conveying the idea that lying has no negative consequences, quite the opposite – ruins the hopes of a recommendation for fans of the genre.
2023 Films
American Fiction
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Anatomy of a Fall
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The Creator
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Fallen Leaves
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The Killer
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Killers of the Flower Moon
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Napoleon
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Past Lives
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Priscilla
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Rustin
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Society of the Snow
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The Zone of Interest
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Animal
Kathy Gibson @ Access Bollywood
El Conde
Samuel Castro @ El Colombiano [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Pensar que los políticos son unos chupasangres que se alimentan de nosotros no es, digamos, una novedad.
The Eternal Memory
Samuel Castro @ El Colombiano [Spanish]
- Excerpt: ¿Qué somos si no la suma de nuestros recuerdos? ¿Y qué queda de nosotros cuando esos recuerdos se van desvaneciendo? Esa pregunta recorre las imágenes de “La memoria infinita”, el documental estrenado en Netflix hace unos días, dirigido por Maite Alberdi
Last Summer
Samuel Castro @ El Colombiano [Spanish]
- Excerpt: La cámara se va a quedar observando en ciertas escenas y durante varios minutos el rostro de cada uno de los tres personajes principales, sin cortes, en un ejercicio que es excitante e incómodo por partes iguales.
The Persian Version
- Excerpt: a fine cast and creative storytelling ensure this is a journey that people from all walks of life can latch on to.
