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: Sep. 1, 2023
Expanding Wide (United States)
Bottoms
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Limited (United States)
Mr. Jimmy
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: It is an incredible story and one marvels at the level of detail Sakurai goes to, learning about the ‘texture’ solder in an amp gives to the music or how the wear on a pickup guard might influence things.
Perpetrator
Shelagh Rowan-Legg @ ScreenAnarchy
2023 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
Blue Beetle
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Gran Turismo
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Oppenheimer
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Rye Lane
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Ashkal
C.H. Newell @ Father Son Holy Gore
- Excerpt: Chebbi’s film is political Gothic that reckons with the present state of Tunisia by grappling with the past.
Before, Now & Then
- Excerpt: Set in late 1960s Indonesia, during the turbulent period of political upheaval that followed the Indonesian National Revolution, the film is a veritable feast for the senses, serving up lush visuals, evocative music, and poignant performances that are no less powerful for their subtlety.
Between Two Worlds
Andrew Wyatt @ Riverfront Times
Brightwood
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: [Elcar pivots to horror] to prove the metaphorical circles of carnage we put ourselves through don’t always have an exit ramp. Whether voluntarily or not, we become comfortable in the chaos.
Cairo Conspiracy
Paulo Portugal @ Insider.pt [Portuguese]
- Excerpt: Talvez não se tenha feito ainda uma abordagem tão aberta e esclarecedora ao tema das lideranças político-religiosas do Egipto quanto esta incursão do sueco, de descendência egípcia, Tarik Saleh. Ou até em outro país muçulmano. Provavelmente, porque essa ousadia por certo chocaria a montante com as previsíveis vibrações de censura.
Fremont
Golda
Andrea Chase @ KillerMovieReviews.com
- Excerpt: In a film that is spare, Golda is the center, and the camera keeps its lens on Mirren with an intimacy that is never static, allowing her a performance that relies little on words. Nor does it need to.
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: GOLDA isn’t therefore a bad film. It’s simply a forgettable one save its central performance (although even that shouldn’t make much of an impact during awards season).
Christopher Reed @ Hammer to Nail
- Excerpt: Golda is at its best in the tense tête-à-tête encounters between Meir and her Cabinet, or Meir and Kissinger, highlighting the way realpolitik always complicates action.
Mutt
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: That these characters can exist in that murky area of confused feelings without having to lose themselves in easy vilification is a testament to the empathy with which Lungulov-Klotz utilizes throughout his story.
Mutzenbacher
Our Father, The Devil
Sarah Gopaul @ Digital Journal
- Excerpt: The film does not unfold predictably as Marie grapples with the person she was, the person she thought she’d become and the concept of forgiveness, struggling with whom she must forgive and debating if it’s warranted.
Piaffe
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: It can be very slow and is always weird in the absurdness of the sensorial fetishes that result, but you cannot deny its singular passion to provoke, arouse, and entertain.
Revoir Paris
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: A deeply humane, delicately constructed journey through trauma and recovery that cuts like a knife and soothes like a hug, somehow, miraculously, managing both bundles of feeling at the same time.
Scrapper
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Writer/director Charlotte Regan…won the 2023 Sundance Grand Jury World Cinema prize with her feature film debut, which in many ways is like the joyous, equally inventive counterpart to Charlotte Wells’ more melancholy debut “Aftersun.”
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: A singular portrait of a girl full of verve and personality. An astonishing feature debut from Charlotte Regan, with a film as cheeky and imaginative, as pleasantly messy and chaotic, as its heroine.
Shortcomings
Streetwise
Theater Camp
Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: Quite simply one of the funniest movies of 2023.
Trader
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: What follows is a one-woman show of the highs and lows of luck, skill, and ruthless exploitation. Murray [puts] everything she has into the role. You love to despise her. You want her to win even as you realize the steep price being paid by us.
You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah
Allen Almachar @ The MacGuffin
- Excerpt: A fun and entertaining tale of a person wanting to grow up and realizing what that entails.
- Excerpt: The film is a love letter to the agonies and messiness of the kids on the brink of maturity. And it is a love letter from Adam Sandler to his family.
