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. 23, 2021
Wide (United States)
Joe Bell
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Old
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Limited (United States)
Mandibles
Andrea Chase @ KillerMovieRevews.com
- Excerpt: Never forget that Dupieux is as ruthless as he is brilliant.
Midnight in the Switchgrass
Jared Mobarak @ The Film Stage
- Excerpt: Horsnail and Emmett never provide anything that makes us question how we know everything will end anyway. So why not try and prevent your heroes from becoming pawns?
Settlers
Jared Mobarak @ The Film Stage
- Excerpt: The thing about withholding plot information is that you must generally divulge that which you’ve held back at some point. [Rockefeller] never does.
Val
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: [The filmmakers’] dreamlike, memory infused editing reflects the past in the present, in one extraordinary sequence bringing Kilmer’s mom alive again as her son enters her now empty house… With “Val,” Poo and Scott will have many reconsidering Kilmer, a man who has been true to himself.
2021 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
Black Widow
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
F9
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Forever Purge
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Pig
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Summer of Soul
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Tomorrow War
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Zola
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Cousins
Jared Mobarak @ The Film Stage
- Excerpt: It’s not easy to traverse [such] heavy emotions through interweaving crosscuts of three eras, but you wouldn’t know it the way Gardiner and Smith deftly handle the journey.
Die in a Gunfight
Jared Mobarak @ The Film Stage
- Excerpt: The whole is fast-paced despite its numerous exposition-heavy lulls and the production value and energy is nice to look at, but [you’re left] wanting more.
Escape Room: Tournament of Champions
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: Escape Room: Tournament of Champions is mindless entertainment at its finest.
Fear Street Part 3: 1666
Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: Most key actors play dual roles. And slasher horror scars our souls.
Great White
Jared Mobarak @ The Film Stage
- Excerpt: It takes itself seriously, provides the necessary stakes for audiences not to turn that severity into unintentional comedy, and uses logic instead of explosive theatrics.
The Hidden Life of Trees
- Excerpt: It can appear to be anthropomorphizing, giving them the attributes of humans. But by the end of this film, you might think that understanding trees on such human terms is not even close to doing them justice.
Hydra
Brent McKnight @ The Last Thing I See
- Excerpt: Lo-fi, with few frills, the action in Hydra is undeniable. If only there was more or the rest of the movie measured up in any way.
Jolt
Jared Mobarak @ The Film Stage
- Excerpt: Wascha [is] trying to buy more time than [he] already has [for sequels]. Maybe [it pays] off. Or maybe Jolt will forever be a marginally entertaining missed opportunity.
The Loneliest Whale
Jared Mobarak @ JaredMobarak.com
- Excerpt: More than 52, this adventure also becomes about Zeman’s affinity for whales since childhood. It’s his ambitions and his excitement that propel the narrative forward.
Moby Doc
Gregory J. Smalley @ 366 Weird Movies
- Excerpt: Pink Floyd: the Wall’ with a sense of humor.
Murder by the Coast
João Pinto @ Portal Cinema [Portuguese]
No Sudden Move
Sebastian Zavala @ Cinencuentro.com [Spanish]
- Excerpt: It shows that you don’t need big action sequences or a predictable story to develop something interesting and suspenseful.
River
Jared Mobarak @ The Film Stage
- Excerpt: You can’t have us invest in a human story only to figuratively (and in some cases literally) tell the characters to unceremoniously ignore it for something else.
Rurouni Kenshin
João Pinto @ Portal Cinema [Portuguese]
Scales
Jared Mobarak @ JaredMobarak.com
- Excerpt: It’s not enough for Ameen to merely expose that universal truth. She must also show the personal cost by pulling the curtain on what it is that’s really happening.
Silver Skates
João Pinto @ Portal Cinema [Portuguese]
Slalom
- Excerpt: It’s clear where Slalom is headed, and it wastes no time getting there—but what’s really interesting in Slalom is what happens in the remaining two-thirds of the picture, which takes an unexpected direction.
Slate
Brent McKnight @ The Last Thing I See
- Excerpt: Overall, Jo serves up a strong, entertaining, odd-enough-to-standout action film, and if Ahn Ji-hye becomes a big international action star, much worse things could happen.
Space Jam: A New Legacy
Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: There’s a moment where LeBron is flattered that Bugs Bunny knows who he is. More of that charm, please.
Space Jam: A New Legacy
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: LeBron James proves to have plenty of charisma onscreen, even if Daniel Day-Lewis doesn’t need to worry about being overtaken in the world-class acting department.
Space Jam: A New Legacy
- Excerpt: There may be a big, corporate, algorithm-like formula deciding that a quarter-century later it’s time for another “Space Jam,” but it’s good to see that the insouciant anarchy of Termite Terrace is still pure, unrepentant id.
Swan Song
Brent McKnight @ The Last Thing I See
- Excerpt: Topped off by one of the best performances of the year, this is funny and sweet, sad and joyous, simultaneously soul-crushing and life-affirming, and deeply, deeply human.
Sweat
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Writer/director Magnus von Horn’s film’s powerful portrayal of the addictive nature of social media and the way its psychologically tuned algorithms Impact self esteem is enough to make one want to swear off their platforms.
2020 Films
Wild Mountain Thyme
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Boy Behind the Door
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: …a frustrating mix of strong child performances in an above average production with the type of dumb moves from both victims and perpetrators that artificially keeps undercooked horror plots cranking along.
2019 Films
Lucky Chan-Sil
Bavner Donaldo @ Cinejour [Indonesian]
