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: Jul. 10, 2020
Limited (United States)
Palm Springs
Aaron Neuwirth @ We Live Entertainment
- Excerpt: Here’s a terrific film that manages to subvert a particular sub-genre of film, and deliver on being an ambitious romantic comedy.
We Are Little Zombies
GregoryJ. Smalley @ 366 Weird Movies
- Excerpt: It wrings a surprising amount of depth from its short attention span style, and a surprising amount of empathy from its tale of children whose defining characteristic is that they have no emotions.
2020 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
The Assistant
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Da 5 Bloods
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Irresistible
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The King of Staten Island
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Miss Juneteenth
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Beach House
Beverly Questad @ The Film Stage
- Excerpt: While it remains a success, what that apocalyptic world says about our own is heady enough to have facilitated dealing with [the characters’] personal drama too.
Beats
Herman Dhaliwal @ Cinema Sanctum
- Excerpt: I was quite charmed and affected by it. It has a very big heart, one that beats as hard and loud as the music itself.
Browse
Disclosure
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: Terrific doc unpacks trans representation in Hollywood, unspoken attitudes about gender, sexuality, and race that most people, trans and cis, may never have clocked before… ideas that affect us all.
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: Across the screen fun music bursts — enough to quench many fans thirsts. Hooray for comedies like this; it put me in a state of bliss!
Extro
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: an affectionate and amusing send-up of the Japanese film industry …a sweet and funny homage to the big dreamers whose importance to the film industry is often overlooked.
Family Romance, LLC
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: It becomes clear that while some of Family Romance’s fakery and lies are harmless, those which deceive the recipient or are delivered to clients who get lost in illusions result in serious ethical and moral concerns.
Family Romance, LLC
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: A marvelously strange and perplexing meta meditation on human connection and ritual, on fact and fiction, on emotional truth. An existential cinematic rabbit hole as only Werner Herzog can deliver.
Greyhound
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Star Hanks…takes such a realistic approach to his material, leaning heavily on Naval acronyms and jargon, that he risks losing the casual viewer, but together with director Schneider keeps the fleetly paced film focused on the strategy of battle.
Greyhound
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: One of the year’s bigger disappointments.
Greyhound
Aaron Neuwirth @ We Live Entertainment
- Excerpt: This is an action-heavy feature that’s occasionally quite riveting but certainly handled with an authentic touch.
Hamilton
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: An immersive experience that made me feel like I was sitting on the stage, with everything unfolding around me.
Hamilton
- Excerpt: Almost exactly five years after its Broadway premiere, this sparkling, energetic, every-bit-worth-the-wait film has been given to the public on the Disney+ platform.
Homewrecker
- Excerpt: There is no question: Homewrecker is the most uncomfortable movie you’ll ever see.
House of Hummingbird
Herman Dhaliwal @ Cinema Sanctum
- Excerpt: Bora Kim tackles familiar ideas in a way that is incredibly empathetic, warm, and tender. A deeply moving portrayal a girl’s loneliness and longing for something better at a moment of significant change.
Joan of Arc
Beverly Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Basically, “Joan of Arc” is an unusual presentation. It’s as if Dumont has deliberately broken every rule of good story-telling in cinema.
John Lewis: Good Trouble
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: There may not be a more inspiring non-fiction film this year.
My Spy
Aaron Neuwirth @ We Live Entertainment
- Excerpt: Even in a trite film such as this, Bautista’s comic timing proves to be worthwhile to some degree.
The Old Guard
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Director Gina Prince-Bythewood (“Love & Basketball,” “Beyond the Lights”) knocks her first action movie out of the park, her background in romance coming into play in the most startling and deeply meaningful way here.
The Old Guard
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: There’s plenty of bruising action, but this fantastic slice of comic-book pulp emphasizes the humanity of its immortal heroes. Gina Prince-Blythewood elevates the familiar with emotional authenticity.
The Old Guard
Aaron Neuwirth @ We Live Entertainment
- Excerpt: That it is handled with bullets, battle axes, and bruises that heal quickly makes for a fun jolt of action coming at audiences the right way.
The Outpost
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: The Outpost is one of the very best war movies of recent years.
The Outpost
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Reviews
- Excerpt: It’s a good realistic war drama if you want to see how the war in Afghanistan is going.
Relic
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: “Relic” attempts something different and if it doesn’t entirely succeed as horror it does move us.
Relic
Runner
Beverly Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: The power of Guor’s story is that we have a choice. We can let that oppression, trauma, and pain consume us or we can let it propel us to something positive.
Seahorse: The Dad Who Gave Birth
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: This vital documentary about a trans man’s pregnancy shatters stereotypes along all sorts of vectors, and underscores the fact that however atypical our lives may be, we have more in common than not.
Tommaso
Beverly Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: At center, there is a feeling that Ferrara believes that love is what gives a person meaning, worth, and value. So, his greatest fear is that he is unlovable.
The Truth
Andrea Chase @ KillerMovieReviews.com
- Excerpt: As the often wildly funny drama plays out, lies are told to convey the truth of feelings, truths are unspoken for the same reasons.
Wira
Herman Dhaliwal @ Cinema Sanctum
- Excerpt: Wira offers some satisfying action that is brutal, but not gruesome, and it is anchored by a story that, while not the most unpredictable, is filled with characters that are easy to root for.
Working Man
Beverly Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Written by Robert Jury, this is a gifted presentation that gently probes the human psyche and its response to sadness and tragedy. How we can still rise, despite the encumbrance of events not our fault, is the guts of Jury’s investigation.
2019 Films
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: Astonishing: sometimes oddly beautiful but mostly like sci-fi horror. An anti-meditation nightmare, a call to arms if only we were ready to finally address our thoughtless impact on planet Earth.
Benzinho/Loveling
Paulo Portugal @ insider [Portuguese]
It Must Be Heaven
Paulo Portugal @ insider [Portuguese]
To Kid or Not to Kid
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: Documentarian Maxine Trump’s charming diary of deciding whether to have a baby does not shy from the most taboo of topics as she explores the cultural garbage that childless-by-choice women endure.
