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: May 12, 2023
Wide (United States)
Book Club: The Next Chapter
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Limited (United States)
BlackBerry
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Adapting Jacquie McNish’s book, Johnson takes on a sprawling ensemble, multiple locations and the complexities of the tech boom with a fast-paced, indie rock fueled dramedy with a unique Canadian flair.
Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: A fascinating account of “that thing you owned before you got an iPhone.”
The Starling Girl
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Laurel Parmet makes her feature debut with a coming of age tale that expounds upon the destructiveness of Christian Fundamentalist repression across genders, families and generations. Eliza Scanlen…renders Jem’s blossoming sexuality luminous
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
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Polite Society
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
What’s Love Got to Do with It?
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Astrakan 79
Paulo Portugal @ Insider.pt [Portuguese]
- Excerpt: Há uma incessante procura de identidade que é inerente ao cinema de Catarina Mourão. Desde logo pela forma como usa a realidade e o arquivo pessoal de família. No fundo, a memória como um palimpsesto.
Paulo Portugal @ esquerda.net [Portuguese]
- Excerpt: Há uma incessante procura de identidade que é inerente ao cinema de Catarina Mourão. Desde logo pela forma como usa a realidade e o arquivo pessoal de família. No fundo, a memória como um palimpsesto
Chevalier
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Texan Reviews
De Humani Corporis Fabrica
Double Life
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: The stakes never rise high enough to wow the audience, but it’s a decent option for escapist melodrama on a rainy day of channel surfing.
Evil Dead Rise
Travis Burgess @ The Sacred Wall
- Excerpt: Evil Dead Rise’ continues the series’ masterful heritage of schlocky, exploitatative fun in all the right ways
Filhos de Ramsés
Paulo Portugal @ esquerda.net [Portuguese]
- Excerpt: Em estreia esta quinta-feira nas salas portuguesas, o filme desenrola-se num emaranhado cosmopolita onde o negócio do corpo se confunde com o tráfico e a contrafação e a religião com o charlatanismo.
The Five Devils
- Excerpt: The sophomore feature from director Léa Mysius—whose previous credits include co-writing Claire Denis’ Stars at Noon and Jacques Audiard’s Paris, 13th District—The Five Devils is an intoxicating exploration of love, identity, and memory, filtered through the eyes (and nose) of one very special child.
Giving Birth to a Butterfly
Shelagh Rowan-Legg @ ScreenAnarchy
Jesus Revolution
Bavner Donaldo @ Cinejour [Indonesian]
A Life on the Farm
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: while Harding tries to grab our attention at the onset with some of ‘Farm’s’ more lurid aspects, his documentary shifts into a more compassionate view of someone truly special.
Mal Viver / Viver Mal
Paulo Portugal @ Insider.pt [Portuguese]
- Excerpt: Mal Viver Mal: é este o enigma inexorável que nos aguarda ao combinar ambos os títulos dos filmes do díptico que o cineasta português João Canijo leva ao festival de Berlim. Com a particularidade de ambos os filmes serem exibidos em duas secções competitivas diferentes — Mal Viver na competição oficial, e Viver Mal, nos Encontros.
Margot
Paulo Portugal @ esquerda.net [Portuguese]
- Excerpt: Catarina Alves Costa conta a história da etnomusicóloga alemã Margot Dias que troca a sua vida burguesa na Alemanha, no final dos anos 50, pela cultura e expressão artística da minoria étnica moçambicana Maconde.
Nação Valente
Paulo Portugal @ Insider.pt [Portuguese]
- Excerpt: Na semana de comemoração do resgate da liberdade em Portugal, chega às nossas salas Nação Valente, a segunda longa metragem de Carlos Conceição. Por aqui se encena uma consistente e muito atual parábola sobre o vazio da guerra, a soberba imperial, ao mesmo tempo que se acenam os perigos e a vigilância do antigo regime, pelos sinais do recrudescimento da extrema direita
Out and About
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Now here is a little movie that deserves a big audience. This winner of three regional U.S. film festivals takes the simple premise of a walk in real time and turns it into a rumination on life…a must see gem.
R.M.N.
Allen Almachar @ The MacGuffin
- Excerpt: Mungiu holds a mirror at modern society, showing how tribalism and hive-mind thinking brings out the worst in people. While his film does not offer any answers, it takes the important step of admitting that there is a problem.
Sam Now
- Excerpt: A poignant and beautiful exploration that balances loss and hope in equal measure.
Sombras Brancas
Paulo Portugal @ Insider.pt [Portuguese]
- Excerpt: Em Sombras Brancas, reconhece-se em Vendrell o gosto pela evocação histórica, em particular, a personalidade autoral. É assim que cinco anos depois de Aparição, focado na vida e criação de Vergílio Ferreira, o produtor e cineasta se lança a um período, e obra particular, de José Cardoso Pires
Paulo Portugal @ comunidade de cultura e arte [Portuguese]
- Excerpt: Em Sombras Brancas, de Fernando Vendrell nasce de um período ligado à memória de um povo que viveu meio século de uma ditadura e soube revoltar-se. Isto foi há quase meio século. Há que recuperar esse espírito.
STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: a dynamic approach in allowing his subject to tell his own story…Guggenheim and Fox paint a portrait of a talented guy overcoming multiple hurdles by coming to grips with the left field blow of an incurable medical diagnosis usually reserved for those in their senior years.
Unrest
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: First things first: Cyril Schäublin’s UNREST is a gorgeous film. Pyotr and Josephine are really just two of the many faces we meet on-screen. And that’s fine since the film works best as a period-specific vibe.
You Can Live Forever
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: Watts and Slutsky do a very good job balancing their themes since this isn’t your usual coming-of-age film. They must treat the Jehovah community, homosexuality, and Marike’s tug-of-war to find a way through both with equal respect.
2022 Films
Minions: The Rise of Gru
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Burning Sea
Mark Leeper @ Mark Leeper’s Reviews
- Excerpt: Every year seems to bring a Scandinavian film about some sort of disaster or danger at sea or from the sea or underground and every one of them has been fairly realistic and fairly enjoyable, so I was looking forward to seeing THE BURNING SEA this year. But while the script has some new ideas I have not seen in disaster films before it does have a familiar plot.
Happy Ending
Bavner Donaldo @ Cinejour [Indonesian]
Spin Me Round
Mark Leeper @ Mark Leeper’s Reviews
- Excerpt: In SPIN ME ROUND, several managers of “Tuscan Grove” restaurants win a trip to Italy to the headquarters of their chain. Somehow it seems too good to be true.
