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 19, 2023
Wide (United States)
Fast X
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Limited (United States)
Master Gardener
- Excerpt: In Master Gardener, Paul Schrader uses the curiously arch story of an ex-White Power killer hiding out as a gardener to deliver another story of a lonely avenger seeking absolution through violence.
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: The film at once feels like a retread of the filmmaker’s oeuvre while also being more idiosyncratic and hopeful than his prior work.
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
Book Club: The Next Chapter
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Champions
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Renfield
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Scream VI
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Sisu
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Tetris
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Artifice Girl
Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: High-concept sci-fi is bolstered by promising ideas and an outstanding performance by Tatum Matthews.
Black Barbie: A Documentary
Sarah Gopaul @ Digital Journal
- Excerpt: This documentary approaches a seemingly benign subject from a number of angles, putting human faces to a popular children’s toy.
BlackBerry
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: You’d be forgiven for wondering if this fictionalization would be a full on farce. Yes, it’s a comedy with comedic actors in traditionally serious roles, but it plays more like a Canadian THE SOCIAL NETWORK than a WALK HARD spoof.
The Blue Caftan
- Excerpt: …slow-moving but intense, gradually revealing the complexities of the main characters’ relationships.
Blue Jean
- Excerpt: Blue Jean is an assured feature debut by Oakley, who also wrote the screenplay.
Carmen
Allen Almachar @ The MacGuffin
- Excerpt: The acting, music, dancing, and production design are so effective that it was easy to sink into the dreamscape of it all.
The Disappearance of Shere Hite
Sarah Gopaul @ Digital Journal
- Excerpt: The documentary traces the major events of Hite’s career, marking the importance of her many conclusions, particularly as they refuted earlier studies or questioned established norms, as well as the emotional toll constantly defending her work took as her challengers attacked not only the integrity of her research, but her personally.
Film: The Living Record of Our Memory
- Excerpt: Digital is great in many ways, but it has one big drawback—it’s not a preservation medium.
L’ Immensita
- Excerpt: Miserable situations in real life can make for interesting drama on the screen, however, and newcomer Giuliana is more than up to the role of Adri, creating a complex portrait of a young person who is not sure about a lot of things but has a strong sense of self and a warm relationship with their family, father excepted.
In From the Side
- Excerpt: In from the Side looks great, the rugby action is convincing (the director must have recruited real-life rugby players as extras, since they clearly know how to play), and there are certainly a lot of handsome men featured in various states of dress and undress (if you like bearded guys, that goes double).
Joyland
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: While “Joyland” has become known as a romance between a married man and the trans dancer he begins to work for, it is actually far broader in scope, addressing how Pakistani patriarchy oppresses women and the LGBTQ community.
Kokomo City
- Excerpt: Shot in black and white, Kokomo City is organized around interviews with four black trans women—Liyah, Daniella, Dominique, and Koko Da Doll—which are interpreted with re-enactments, animations and other visual materials.
Linoleum
Gregory J. Smalley @ 366 Weird Movies
- Excerpt: On the plus side, ‘Linoleum’ has a gentle, Gaffiganesque charm and a resolution that tugs on susceptible heartstrings. So although it falls short of a general recommendation, if you are looking for the unusual combination of a puzzle movie with a tearjerking element, I’ll understand if you value this film highly.
Love Again
Joao Pinto @ Portal Cinema [Portuguese]
Motion Detected
One Fine Morning
Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: An understated portrait of a woman balancing the various demands of her life.
Other People’s Children
Christopher Reed @ Hammer to Nail
- Excerpt: The ending may at first seem bleak, but then Zlotowski keeps it going long enough to mellow the misery (the Gallified sounds of Antônio Carlos Jobim certainly help). Rachel is ultimately a woman proud to stand on her own two feet, a life filled with accomplishments behind her.
Pamela: A Love Story
Gregory Carlson @ southpawfilmworks.net
Periodical
Sarah Gopaul @ Digital Journal
- Excerpt: Whether you feel pretty in the know or that you have some holes in your knowledge, this is a must-see film that answers questions you may not have realized you needed to ask.
Please Baby Please
- Excerpt: This is a film that’s queer in every sense of the word, and it’s one wild ride indeed.
R.M.N.
- Excerpt: Cristian Mungiu’s thriller paints a painstaking picture of a fatally flawed system tearing a small Romanian village apart.
Satan Wants You
Sarah Gopaul @ Digital Journal
- Excerpt: It’s somewhat unfortunate the link between the book and Satanic Panic isn’t explored more deeply, but the efforts to shine a light on Smith and Pazder’s inadvertent role in its rise is eye-opening nonetheless.
Seven Winters in Tehran
Sarah Gopaul @ Digital Journal
- Excerpt: This is a compelling true crime narrative that unfolds nearly 10,000 km away, using the facts of the case to call attention to the disparaging state of the country’s women’s rights.
Showing Up
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: The result is a quiet comedy surrounding a high-strung introvert trying to be martyr and savior at once.
The Sixth Reel
- Excerpt: Busch, a well-known drag performer, has a sharp feel for the ridiculous and a well-practiced talent for embodying the essence of classic movie divas.
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: A great double-feature title to go alongside INTRODUCING, SELMA BLAIR: candid looks inside diseases as told by charismatic entertainers who can no longer be quite who they once were that prove powerful documents of humanity’s perseverance.
Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar
Kathy Gibson @ Access Bollywood
Unrest
- Excerpt: Taking its name from the crucial piece at the heart of the watches its characters spend their days laboring over, as well as the burgeoning feeling that these workers all deserve better than what they’ve got, Unrest is startlingly quiet and contemplative for a film concerning such revolutionary topics, shot in long, static takes that further emphasize its focus on the passage and usage of one’s time.
We Have a Ghost
Mark Leeper @ Mark Leeper’s Reviews
- Excerpt: WE HAVE A GHOST is a family-friendly (PG-13) horror comedy about a family that moves into a house with a ghost who tries to be scary, but is actually totally lost.
White Balls on Walls
Sarah Gopaul @ Digital Journal
- Excerpt: This is a surprisingly candid portrayal of an organization striving to be better and recognizing that embracing their discomfort is the only way to move forward.
The Worst Ones
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, former casting directors who worked with children, won the 2022 Cannes Un Certain Regard prize for their clever film-within-a-film which raises numerous ethical questions about exactly what they are doing here.
The Yellow Ceiling
Sarah Gopaul @ Digital Journal
- Excerpt: The women display incredible strength as they detail their experiences, reflecting on how it made them feel then and what they’ve realized in hindsight.
2022 Films
Avatar: The Way of Water
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Alice, Darling
Joao Pinto @ Portal Cinema [Portuguese]
The Last of the Winthrops
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: Deceit, even with kind intentions, has repercussions.
