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: Jan. 13, 2023
Wide (United States)
Skinamarink
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Expanding (United States)
A Man Called Otto
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: It’s ultimately redundant since OVE is so effective. But it’s pretty good where English-language remakes are concerned.
2023 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
Kitchen Brigade
M3GAN
Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: The killer doll movie gets a new member.
- Excerpt: The 2nd Annual JanuScary Special kicks off with M3GAN! A solid sci-fi horror movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Worth a watch for the dancing scene alone lol.
The Old Way
2022 Films
Armageddon Time
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Avatar: The Way of Water
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Babylon
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Emergency
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Emily the Criminal
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Good Night Oppy
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Lightyear
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
X
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power
Mark Leeper @ Mark Leeper’s Reviews
- Excerpt: A description of the various aspects of showing a woman on the screen as it is in the visual language of women in films: subject/object, framing, camera movement, and lighting.
Breathing Happy
Gregory J. Smalley @ 366 Weird Movies
- Excerpt: … it is provocative—almost perverse—to make a recovery movie that plays like a psychedelic trip movie.
Hit the Road
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: As heartbreakingly raw in its depiction of a family confronting an uncertain future apart as it is effusively alive with love’s joy, [it] takes us through remote desert villages en route to the Iranian-Turkish border in search of a promise of freedom.
The Invitation
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: It lives or dies by how much you’re willing to just hang with the cast as they chew scenery and pretend we didn’t already know what’s really going on.
Living
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: While perhaps less weighty in its drama, these decisions do allow Nighy to be the central driving force above plot (an Oscar nomination should be forthcoming). LIVING is about Williams learning the lessons shared rather than the lessons themselves.
Loving Highsmith
Mark Leeper @ Mark Leeper’s Reviews
- Excerpt: A biography of the author Patricia Highsmith, with particular emphasis on her lesbianism.
On the Count of Three
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: [The film] propels us forward for an eighty-six-minute thrill ride with tension constantly being ratcheted up for what seems like a perpetually postponed release. It’s a wake-up call that’s unafraid to acknowledge the complexity of existential terror.
The Pale Blue Eye
- Excerpt: The 2nd Annual JanuScary Special continues with The Pale Blue Eye! Harry Melling and Christian Bale deliver in this creepy murder mystery.
Phone Bhoot
Kathy Gibson @ Access Bollywood
The Pupils
Bavner Donaldo @ Cinejour [Indonesian]
Saint Omer
- Excerpt: Inspired by Diop’s personal experiences attending the trial of Fabienne Kabou, who was convicted of the same crime in 2016, the film explores the myriad complex issues at the heart of the case—race, the immigrant experience, generational trauma, motherhood—with incredible empathy, elevating what may at first appear to be a standard legal drama to something quite extraordinary.
Spoiler Alert
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: In the end it’s an effective tearjerker with solid and stable marks across the board (extra points for the supporting cast thanks to Sally Field and Bill Irwin stealing scenes as Kit’s parents).
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched
Mark Leeper @ Mark Leeper’s Reviews
- Excerpt: An 194-minute documentary on “folk horror” in cinema, an amazing in-depth study that every folk horror fan should see.
