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: Jun. 25, 2021
Wide (United States)
F9
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Limited (United States)
I Carry You With Me
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Intimately shot by cinematographer Juan Pablo Ramírez, who finds magic in natural light and artfully obscured compositions, the time shifting film makes a strong statement about U.S. immigration through a personal lens of sacrifice and oppression.
Too Late
Shelagh Rowan-Legg @ ScreenAnarchy
Werewolves Within
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: …offers a few laughs and nothing like a real scare, but it sure proves Sam Richardson can anchor a film and that nice guys don’t always finish last.
Brent McKnight @ The Last Thing I See
- Excerpt: A taut whodunnit, a quirky collection of characters, a few monsters, and a couple standout performances, and Werewolves Within should satisfy horror fans, amateur sleuths, and those looking for a laugh in equal measure.
Aaron Neuwirth @ We Live Entertainment
- Excerpt: Hey, did director Josh Ruben just sneakily deliver the best video game-to-movie adaptation?
- Excerpt: Josh Ruben continues to make a name for himself in the horror-comedy game with his adaptation of ‘Werewolves Within’, which employs a supremely-affable ensemble cast, a goofy premise, and plenty of directorial gags to monstrously-amusing effect. Continue to keep a close eye on this guy, he’s apt to transform into a big-timer one of these lunar rotations.
Zola
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: it is a huge disappointment that given her hand in writing the screenplay (along with playwright Jeremy O. Harris and director Janicza Bravo (“Lemon”)), Zola’s voice has been largely lost, the film losing its fizz after the initial rush of new friendship.
2021 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
Chaos Walking
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The Courier
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Godzilla vs. Kong
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The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard
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In the Heights
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Luca
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12 Mighty Orphans
- Excerpt: The film’s lessons are not only delivered, they’re repeated and underlined to the point where even the most uncritical fan will beg for mercy.
12 Mighty Orphans
Ainbo: Spirit of the Amazon
Sebastian Zavala @ Cinencuentro [Spanish]
- Excerpt: You can tell that it was made by people who are passionate about their work and this story in general, which helps to make up for some of its most notable shortcomings.
Ali & Ratu Ratu Queens aka Ali & The Queens
Bavner Donaldo @ Cinejour [Indonesian]
All the Streets are Silent: The Convergence of Hip Hop and Skateboarding (1987-1997)
Brent McKnight @ The Last Thing I See
- Excerpt: Fans of hip hop and skateboarding-particularly from this ten-year stretch-will find much to love. For others, mileage may vary, though the filmmakers still craft a compelling, at times bittersweet portrait of a specific time and place.
Catch the Fair One
- Excerpt: A vicious saga of exploitation and vengeance, ‘Catch the Fair One’ is a blood-splattered and grounded thriller that suffers from being oppressively bleak even as it directs focus towards an important and under-discussed topic.
Censor
C.H. Newell @ Father Son Holy Gore
- Excerpt: What I personally take away from Censor most of all is that trauma can warp the way a person sees the world, sometimes to the detriment of their better sense and at the expense of social freedoms.
Clean
- Excerpt: Adrien Brody was involved on nearly every level in the conceptualization and realization of brooding revenge-thriller ‘Clean’ but with its ugly aesthetics, empty grittiness, and ridiculously hacky story of a garbage man named Clean “taking out the trash”, you really have to wonder why. Being unintentionally funny at least makes it watchable but otherwise, yikes.
A Crime on the Bayou
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: While the title of her documentary suggests a lurid true crime story, what we get instead is the eye-opening account of how one brave black man’s refusal to accept guilt where there was none…made its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court…
A Crime on the Bayou
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: A delicately elegant documentary tale of an inconsequential moment that illustrates how abominably Black Americans have been treated in their own country, and of the friendship that grew from it.
Fatherhood
Fatherhood
Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: If you love movies from the heart, you can’t beat this one.
Gaia
LFG
Charlie Juhl @ Citizen Charlie
- Excerpt: The biggest difference between the U.S. Men’s & Women’s Soccer Team is not the skeletal structure nor unequal pay – it’s that the women actually win
LFG
- Excerpt: This isn’t a deep investigation into the particulars of the USWNT’s case, more a robust summary with a healthy dose of rah-rah feminism. But as a portrait of one of the higher-profile fights to close the gender pay gap, it gets the job done with gusto.
The Novice
- Excerpt: A thrilling character study about an obsessive athlete and her self-destructive drive, Lauren Hadaway’s ‘The Novice’ explosively flips the sports drama on its head.
The Reason I Jump
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: An extraordinary cinematic experience that immerses us into the personal landscapes of profoundly autistic, nonverbal young people. The empathy it engenders is deeply felt and enormously eye-opening.
Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer
- Excerpt: Never strident, never glib, this is a compelling film that is unflinching in what it wants to say about the past and the present.
Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: A straightforward yet shrewdly incisive work of journalism, a cutting history of white America’s backlash against Black progress. This is history that is not yet past, and must be reckoned with.
School’s Out Forever
The Sparks Brothers
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Wright’s labor of love may be guilty of a fan’s over indulgence, but his subjects will charm the pants off of you, make you laugh and amaze with their creativity and sheer endurance.
Sweet Thing
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: …if this one doesn’t make a star of [Rockwell’s] eldest, Lana, the right people aren’t paying attention.
Ultrasound
- Excerpt: From the very first frame, the mysterious science-fiction midnighter from Rob Schroeder sets out to dazzle and bewilder audiences with a magic trick of a film. Smart and captivating, ‘Ultrasound’ comes fastened to committed performances from a game cast and a perplexing plot that leads to a resoundingly clever conclusion.
Wild Men
- Excerpt: Starkly funny and wholly original, the sensational Danish dark comedy ‘Wild Men’ sees a forty-something father in the midst of a midlife crisis wander into the wilderness to unwittingly befriend a drug smuggler and run from the police. An outstanding cast of characters and sparkling writing makes this one Tribeca’s best debuts.
2020 Films
Monster Hunter
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Tenet
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