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: Mar. 26, 2021
Wide (United States)
Nobody
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Limited (United States)
Shoplifters of the World
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Texan Reviews
- Excerpt: Shoplifters of the World is a love letter to both The Smiths and their fans.
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: The best thing about “Shoplifters of the World” is its soundtrack, but despite the film’s flaws it has an endearing quality.
Six Minutes to Midnight
- Excerpt: The concept is intriguing, mostly because it is a World War II story that we haven’t heard before; Izzard apparently spent years researching the school alongside the curator of the Bexhill Museum before writing the script. Yet despite this impressive undertaking, the end result is not much more than your standard spy thriller: solid, yet unremarkable.
2021 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
Chaos Walking
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The Courier
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I Care a Lot
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Bombay Rose
Herman Dhaliwal @ Cinema Sanctum
- Excerpt: While certain elements might initially seem alienating or inexplicable, especially if you’re not super aware of some of the cultural nuances, Bombay Rose is an evocative and inspired piece of animation.
Boss Level
Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: An absolute blast of nonstop action.
City of Lies
Charlie Juhl @ Citizen Charlie
- Excerpt: City of Lies is outstanding at provoking outrage and an urgent sense of anger at the LAPD. However, the dialogue is so coarsely written and shoddily edited together, this should not be the final work on trying to piece together how and why Death Row Records corrupted LAPD cops to allegedly murder Biggie Smalls.
Deadly Illusions
Joao Pinto @ Portal Cinema [Portuguese]
The End of Us
- Excerpt: Henry Loevner and Steve Kanter’s ‘The End of Us’ effectively stages a mumblecore breakup movie in the maw of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than using the pandemic as a jumping off point, the virus is a central element, which will lead to varying mileage depending upon how much viewers crave more panny in their lives.
Executive Order
- Excerpt: A disruptive social thriller where a newly-minted Brazilian law forces all black folks to relocate back to Africa,Lázaro Ramos’ ‘Executive Order’ is an entertaining and explosive commentary on racial relationships in governance. The pièce de résistance is the incendiary performances from Alfred Enouch, Adriana Esteves, and Seu Jorge.
The Fallout
- Excerpt: A vital work that puts the school shooter epidemic into focus, ‘The Fallout’ is an audacious, explosive debut from writer-director Megan Park that makes way for a remarkable performance from Jenna Ortega. Heart-pounding, honest, and at times even hysterical, this is the very best of SXSW’s narrative feature competition.
The Feast
- Excerpt: This gothic folk horror slow-burn possesses intrigue in spades though may leave some viewers wanting more from its relatively opaque mythology. As far as this dinner guest goes, I found ‘The Feast’ a deliciously uneasy slice of disquieting folklore.
The Fever
Gaia
- Excerpt: Making its mark on the eco-horror field, Gaia forgoes deep character development to focus on larger themes of man vs. nature, all underscored by a chilling sense of unease. The hallucinogenic visual effects are often stunning as is the expert creature design. Carel Nel as a crazed survivalist really pops.
Happily
Derek Deskins @ Edge Media Network
- Excerpt: By the time you reach the end of “Happily,” all that is left is a series of abandoned ideas, potential character arcs, and a return to relative normalcy.
Here Before
- Excerpt: Andrea Riseborough mic drops another outstanding performance in Stacey Gregg’s remarkably unnerving ‘Here Before’, an Irish domestic psychological thriller about a mother convinced that her deceased daughter has returned in the form of her wee new neighbor.
Jakob’s Wife
- Excerpt: ‘JAKOB’S WIFE’ is a total vamp-camp gas with a laugh-out-loud script that’s executed to soul-sucking perfection by the combination of Barbara Crampton and Larry Fessenden. Bloody, fun, and shamelessly ridiculous, Travis Stevens has made a gleeful tribute to vampire’s enduring legacy in the horror genre and highlighted why they make for sure good comedy.
Keep an Eye Out
Herman Dhaliwal @ Cinema Sanctum
- Excerpt: Your enjoyment on Keep An Eye Out will depend on how much you can get on Quentin Dupieux’s wavelength, though this is probably his most accessible and hilarious absurdist exercise to date.
Keep an Eye Out
- Excerpt: While Keep An Eye Out is only a brisk 73 minutes, the storyline contains enough surrealist silliness to fill a film twice as long. A comedy that is both eccentric and efficient? Sign me up!
Locked Down
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: Ejiofor and Hathaway are game, but they’re grasping for something solid, and don’t find it. A deeply unsatisfying novelty artifact of the pandemic that fails to create a necessary sense of transgression.
The Mauritanian
Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: Tahar Rahim gives a compelling performance in this drama that details a shocking abuse of human rights.
Moxie
Joao Pinto @ Portal Cinema [Portuguese]
Music
Joao Pinto @ Portal Cinema [Portuguese]
Not Going Quietly
- Excerpt: A masterful character study and politically activated documentary about ALS-stricken activist Ady Barkan, ‘Not Going Quietly’ is a powerful and overwhelmingly emotional story of a heroic man honing the power of his voice just as he begins to lose it – and the rest of his physical abilities – to an absolutely debilitating disease.
Offseason
- Excerpt: ‘Offseason’ is a skeletal whisper of an idea (daughter of cult-esque escapee reckons with family legacy on a haunted island) that just never finds its groove or flower as a horror story. The fact that it feels long at less than 90 minutes speaks to how thematically and narratively barren the latest from Mickey Keating ultimately is. Big disappointment.
Quo Vadis, Aida?
Slaxx
Slaxx
- Excerpt: Slaxx isn’t aiming for the Oscars, unless “best socially conscious midnight movie” has become a category and I somehow missed the memo. But it’s a lot of fun, and at 77 minutes does not overstay its welcome.
Slaxx
Herman Dhaliwal @ Cinema Sanctum
- Excerpt: As silly as Slaxx gets, it’s clear that is has quite a bit on its mind. Elza Kephart proves herself more than capable at balancing the weird and outrageous with thoughtful theming.
Sound of Violence
- Excerpt: Destined to be hated by many and cherished as a cult classic by others, ‘Sound of Violence’ is an off-the-rails hoot where a deranged musician tortures people to make the ultimate club-thumping beat. The only way to satisfy her craving for sonic perfection: lots and lots of violence. If you’re not laughing, you’re definitely watching it wrong.
Stray
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: A bittersweet, multilayered vérité portrait of the street dogs of Istanbul. Startlingly immersive, howling with moral questions about what we owe these creatures of intelligence, dignity, and feeling.
The Swedish Boys
James Wegg @ JWR [Swedish]
- Excerpt: A varied collection of shorts that includes a few third wheels
Truth to Power
Beverly Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: “Truth to Power” showcases the results of Tankian’s mission.
Witch Hunt
- Excerpt: ‘Witch Hunt’ struggles to execute an allegorical deathblow to real-life systemic prejudice but manages to remain a worthwhile watch for those who want their witchcraft served with a slice of political commentary.
The Yellow Wallpaper
- Excerpt: It is a mark of Gilman’s genius that she manages to pack a feature-length film’s worth of feminist commentary and gothic atmosphere into such a succinct little story, and her critique of men’s misguided attempts to diagnose and treat women’s health problems — both mental and physical — remains tragically relevant to this day. So, it’s no wonder that “The Yellow Wallpaper” has been adapted for the screen multiple times in the past.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
- Excerpt: The problem is not that Snyder has brought this in at four hours, it is that he cannot pace his run time or resist indulging himself. Why have one hero shot per scene when five will do?
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
Herman Dhaliwal @ Cinema Sanctum
- Excerpt: Zack Snyder’s Justice League is not a perfect film, but it’s the kind of ambitious, bold, weird, and indulgent piece of filmmaking we rarely get in modern blockbusters.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
Diego Salgado @ SOFILM [Spanish]
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
Sebastian Zavala @ Cinencuentro [Spanish]
- Excerpt: With its excessive length, better-developed heroes, and easier-to-follow story, it’s an epic, thrilling, bloated, and self-indulgent blockbuster.
2020 Films
Ammonite
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Another Round
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Dick Johnson Is Dead
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The Father
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Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
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Minari
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News of the World
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Nomadland
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One Night in Miami
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Onward
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Promising Young Woman
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Relic
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Sound of Metal
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Time
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The Trial of the Chicago 7
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Bad Impulse
Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: This clever thriller impressed me with its timely theme, suspenseful presentation, and shocking ending which includes a last shot that’s absolutely unforgettable!
The Dissident
Beverly Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: When a master who-done-it is also a master documentary, a gripping film of uncommon depth is born.
Hunger Ward
Beverly Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: A cruel conflict in the poorest Gulf country has strafed a culture and its people with the assistance of the US since 2015.
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan
Kathy Gibson @ Access Bollywood
Stray
Beverly Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: In the end, Elizabeth Lo has created a thoughtful documentary, not just about the life of a stray dog in Turkey, but about how the world treats its refugees, its homeless, and its poor and powerless.
Tapeworm
James Wegg @ JWR [Swedish]
- Excerpt: How do we survive?
2019 Films
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
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Mouthpiece
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: The internal monologue that modern women have with ourselves gets externalized in this audacious and absolutely brilliant dramedy. Poignant, vulnerable, and almost shocking, in the best possible way.
