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. 21, 2023
Wide (United States)
Barbie
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Oppenheimer
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
2023 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Asteroid City
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Joy Ride
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Master Gardener
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
No Hard Feelings
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
100% USDA Certified Organic Homemade Tofu
- Excerpt: Here’s a film about body satisfaction that raises more questions than it answers.
Afire
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: AFIRE is beautifully orchestrated with so many glimpses of joy and laughter from afar as Leon angrily watches, too embarrassed to ask to join and too prideful to admit the errors of his way.
August at Twenty-Two
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: a small but relatably honest film about stumbling into adulthood.
Bird Box: Barcelona
Allen Almachar @ The MacGuffin
- Excerpt: [The film] introduces some interesting ideas about faith and redemption, I just wish it had more of a chance to explore them.
Black Ice
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: Davis does well to never let the good or bad overpower the complexity of the full picture so his audience realizes things are simultaneously moving in the right direction while still being a long ways away from “fixed.”
Christopher at Sea
- Excerpt: Quite a Voyage
The Deepest Breath
Allen Almachar @ The MacGuffin
- Excerpt: The film is not just an examination of an extreme sport, but an exploration of two people learning to live for themselves and each other.
The Diplomat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ Spirituality & Practice
- Excerpt: An eight-part series revealing the multiple challenges faced by a woman ambassador.
Earth Mama
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: depicts the horrible injustices of an uncaring system while giving us a face of someone utterly deserving of support.
A Good Person
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ Spirituality & Practice
- Excerpt: Touching story about three people who are able to face addiction and grief through their kindnesses to each other.
IB71
Kathy Gibson @ Access Bollywood
Idiot Fish
- Excerpt: It only takes one lie
L’ Immensità
Bavner Donaldo @ Cinejour [Indonesian]
Infinity Pool
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: More than an exercise in calling out greed and perversion, the filmmaker uses his art to give it shape. He approaches the subject with a similar apathy as his characters—presenting a cesspool of drugs, sex, and violence from a position of complacency.
Nimona
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: [Nimona is] exactly the sort of counterculture hero we need right now. Someone to remind the world that being different than the status quo isn’t a shortcoming. It’s a strength.
Once Upon a Time in Uganda
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: “Once Upon a Time in Uganda” works best illustrating the workings of this madcap bunch of filmmakers and their resulting work, clips of which are shown masked with a matte of a 70’s era tube TV
Pipes
- Excerpt: Grin and bear/bare it
Showing Up
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ Spirituality & Practice
- Excerpt: A thoughtful drama about the importance of the practice of attention in an artist’s life.
Sound of Freedom
Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: A compelling action thriller that relies on traditional storytelling techniques.
Theater Camp
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: the filmmakers both poke fun at the eccentrically committed staff and ground their film with emotional resonance and truly talented kids
- Excerpt: “Theater Camp” is a true labor of love from people who are former theater kids. They love the children who somehow know from birth that they were born to be performers, and seem to bypass the world of Raffi, JoJo, pop, and rock but know all of the songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Stephen Sondheim by the time when they’re still collecting from the tooth fairy.
They Cloned Tyrone
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: a racial take on John Carpenter’s “They Live” that is smart and funny while also boasting a fabulous cast and craft.
WHAM!
Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: More than a captivating documentary about the pop music duo. It’s an uplifting portrait of a great friendship.
Yes I Am: The Ric Weiland Story
- Excerpt: His own words reveal Weiland to be thoughtful and even a bit philosophical, someone who took seriously the obligation to accomplish something with his life and his talents, but who also took great delight in his friends and liked to have a good time.
You Hurt My Feelings
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ Spirituality & Practice
- Excerpt: n insightful comedy about the epidemic of lying and the lack of trust afoot on all levels of society.
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: Keeping a little mess involved isn’t always a bad thing and I do believe YOU HURT MY FEELINGS could have benefited from more. The film can therefore feel a bit too perfect in its cause and effect, but the comedy sells itself.
2022 Films
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
2021 Films
Hemingway
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ Spirituality & Practice
- Excerpt: A fascinating documentary on the life of the writer, revealing character qualities we connect to spiritual practices.
