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. 8, 2022
Wide (United States)
Thor: Love and Thunder
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Limited (United States)
Both Sides of the Blade
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: …it is difficult to get emotionally involved in a love triangle whose central character is so self-centered she shoves her desire for another man in her partner’s face. And yet, Denis’ refusal to spoon feed us her trio’s back story keeps us engaged
Murina
- Excerpt: Director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic made a splash at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival with Murina, winning the prestigious Camera d’Or for Best First Feature. Executive produced by Martin Scorsese, Murina combines the sinister tension of noir with the emotional agony of coming of age to tell the story of one young woman’s attempts to escape the future laid out for her.
2022 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
The Black Phone
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Cha Cha Real Smooth
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Elvis
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Minions: The Rise of Gru
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Mr. Malcolm’s List
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
RRR
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Top Gun: Maverick
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Beba
Jared Mobarak @ The Film Stage
- Excerpt: She’s documenting ebbs and flows of an identity still in progress so we can relate our own to its highs and lows. Her goal was to begin a deeper dialogue around our “innate correlation.” By never pretending to be anything but herself, she succeeds.
Clara Sola
Jared Mobarak @ JaredMobarak.com
- Excerpt: Mesén delivers a subtle yet powerful drama matching Araya’s memorably innocent yet determined performance. It uses the magical realism inherent to being a vessel for God as a metaphor for what her awakening entails.
Delikado
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: Malakunas and his team have created a brave film, pointing a finger at corrupt politicians and revealing a cartel business far more dangerous than drugs.
Echoes of the Empire
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: Lieberman, Hoard and their team have painstakingly researched the history and modern times of the Mongol people. “Echoes of the Empire” is the third documentary in their trilogy of Asian studies.
Fire of Love
Marilyn Ferdinand @ Alliance of Women Film Journalists
- Excerpt: Director Sara Dosa pays tribute to the pioneering work of Katia and Maurice Krafft, scientists who got as close as possible to upwards of 200 active volcanoes, photographing and filming eruptions, taking samples and readings of lava and gases, and creating books and movies to pay the bills and spread information to lay audiences and scientists alike. Much of the film is composed of the footage they shot themselves.
Fire of Love
Jared Mobarak @ JaredMobarak.com
- Excerpt: While [the Kraffts’] work therefore speaks for itself, Dosa’s documentary brilliantly speaks for them.
Flux Gourmet
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: [Strickland’s] films are often creepy if not downright horrific yet can also be perversely funny, both the case with his latest, a film that’s had me breaking out in giggles for the last 24 hours.
Flux Gourmet
Jared Mobarak @ JaredMobarak.com
- Excerpt: With insane anecdotes, psycho-sexual hang-ups, and overwhelming sensory cues via kitchen close-ups and deafening industrial sound, Flux Gourmet is as unique an experience as any of Strickland’s films. A bit shallower perhaps, but no less captivating.
The Forgiven
Jared Mobarak @ JaredMobarak.com
- Excerpt: How we get there isn’t perfect, but the sentiments are never confused. Fiennes doesn’t become a different man by the end. He’s merely ready to admit who that man is.
Girl in the Picture
Allen Almachar @ The MacGuffin
- Excerpt: The film understands that, when it comes to real life tragedy and loss, the crime is not always (and probably shouldn’t be) the main attraction.
Good Madam
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Jenna Cato Bass has crafted her own Apartheid spin on Jordan Peele’s “Get Out,” with a new, delicious twist.
Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: The in-depth look at how the titular tune worked its way from obscurity to ubiquity is a testament to the power of music.
Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: In Cohen’s life as in his music, there is a cycle of renewal and growth, both spiritually and psychologically.
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between
Kirsten Hawkes @ Parent Previews
- Excerpt: As teen romances go, this is comparatively low on sex and high on long-term perspective.
The Long Night
Jared Mobarak @ The Film Stage
- Excerpt: Everyone involved does the best with what they’re given, perhaps saving The Long Night from being even more forgettable. The script does none of them any favors by fearing its own mythology and hiding it in a way that makes it seem like it has none.
The Long Walk
Gregory J. Smalley @ 366 Weird Movies
- Excerpt: The background Buddhism, and the presence of the mundane and the mystical in the same frame, will put viewers in mind of Thailand’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul, although Do’s work is a more plot-driven and less audaciously poetic.
Murder at Yellowstone City
Jared Mobarak @ The Film Stage
- Excerpt: I won’t lie and say I expected what started as a slow-paced drama to devolve into an all-out gunfight. The path’s convoluted, but not entirely unwelcome since zero sequel aspirations means everyone becomes expendable.
Official Competition
Allen Almachar @ The MacGuffin
- Excerpt: Oscillating between a dark comedy and drama, it examines the quirks and eccentricities of its characters as they clash toward one shared goal.
The Princess
Kirsten Hawkes @ Parent Previews
- Excerpt: This is an angry, violent movie and the only interesting question it leaves behind is how on earth it wound up in Disney’s portfolio.
The Princess
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: Even at a relatively brief 94 minutes, I found myself feeling relieved when it was done because the monotony became oppressive.
The Princess
Brent McKnight @ The Last Thing I See
- Excerpt: Rapunzel by way of The Raid
Revealer
Jared Mobarak @ The Film Stage
- Excerpt: A heartfelt parable wrapped within a bloody and profane, 80s-aesthetic package.
Rubikon
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: A shallow story about a complex theme.
Shin Ultraman
- Excerpt: “Shin Ultraman” is a great sci-fi film, elaborate in all of its aspects, and one of those movies that definitely deserves to be watched on the big screen.
The Sky Is Everywhere
Gregory Carlson @ southpawfilmworks.net
A Taste of Whale
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: A sad, haunting melody with the plaintive cries of seagulls screeching far overhead introduces this fabulously told story of survival, barbarism, community, and tradition juxtaposed to protest and poison in the isolated Faroe Islands of the North Atlantic and Norwegian Seas.
2021 Films
Resident of Alice
- Excerpt: “Resident of Alice” is a true gem of a film, and one of the most interesting Japanese indie dramas we have seen this year.
Soup and Ideology
- Excerpt: This, however, is the only issue with “Soup and Ideology” which emerges as a rather interesting film, particularly in the way a personal story is implemented to talk about historic trauma, identity, and the concept of Zainichi Koreans in general.
2020 Films
Go Back
- Excerpt: Granted, some plot holes, particularly on the way some twists of the movie seem somewhat far-fetched, do exist, but in general, “Go Back” emerges as a rather interesting and entertaining movie that shows the way genre cinema should follow.
