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: Sep. 18, 2020
Wide (United States)
Infidel
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Limited (United States)
The Nest
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Nine longs years after his 2011 debut “Martha Marcy May Marlene” writer/director Sean Durkin returns with another unsettling film whose surface belies what lies beneath.
The Way I See It
Andrea Chase @ KillerMovieReviews.com
- Excerpt: bittersweet nostalgia for the Obama years tempered with barely suppressed rage at who is now leading this country.
Allyson Johnson @ TheYoungFolks.com
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: A massively entertaining documentary about a guy whose job gave him a front row seat to history.
2020 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
The Broken Hearts Gallery
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
I’m Thinking of Ending Things
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Words on Bathroom Walls
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
#Alive
Emmanuel Báez @ Cinéfiloz [Spanish]
- Excerpt: ‘#Vivo’ es una película de zombies #mediocre
The 11th Green
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: Warning: though there are many pluses, like watching Burke be Barack and contemplating the competing roles of ambition and basic human nature, the plot of “11th Green,” a golf reference, is so intricate and complex that it might take two views.
The Andorra Hustle
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: To be honest, there are so many factors, evasions, lies, circumstances, possible bribes, and competing interests, that I cannot fully understand or explain the convoluted plot of “The Andorra Hustle.”
Antebellum
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: While everything comes together in the film’s third act, this is the type of film that suffers upon reflection. Still its depiction of slavery presents real, vivid horror and its relevance in today’s troubling times is undeniable
Antebellum
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: This may be the most intelligent and provocative horror film of the year.
Blackbird
Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: We forget about Susan Sarandon the movie star as we watch her character struggling with simple things such as getting out of bed in the morning or going up and down a staircase. And we see the love deep within those big eyes as she interacts with her loved ones during her last weekend with them.
Born to Play
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: Lieberman builds suspense in the lead-up to each game, but she also promotes respect, support and interest in the phenomenal world of women football players.
Cargo
Herman Dhaliwal @ Cinema Sanctum
- Excerpt: There is a lot to love about how Arati Kadav marries mythology and science fiction. It’s a dynamic and imaginative debut that is tryly unlike anything you’ll find in Indian cinema today.
Centigrade
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Reviews
- Excerpt: The low-budget film is enhanced by its fine technical work, but stalled by its cold story that never quite warms up.
Children of the Sea
Allyson Johnson @ TheYoungFolks.com
Coastal Elites
Rich Cline @ Shadows on the Wall
- Excerpt: It zeroes in on politics, with only tangential references to Covid-19 or Black Lives Matter. Which makes it somewhat shouty
Cuties
Emmanuel Báez @ Cinéfiloz [Spanish]
- Excerpt: ‘Cuties’ desafía a la reflexión sobre la influencia del mundo digital en las niñas
Cuties
Herman Dhaliwal @ Cinema Sanctum
- Excerpt: Maïmouna Doucouré handles the material in a way that is artful, sensitive, yet bold and purposeful. While not flawless, it rings true and explores an aspect of growing up that has often been ignored.
Desert One
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: Barbara Kopple’s film on the 1979 attempt to rescue Americans captured inside the American Embassy in Iran is important for two reasons. First, it is a record of significance in American history. Second, it is a primer on all the things that could possibly go wrong in a sure-thing rescue mission.
The Devil All the Time
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: …such an over the top piece of southern fried Gothic it is difficult to tell whether [Campos] intended his faithful retelling as drama or black comedy…a problem of tone and perhaps overreach that Campos never gets his arms around
The Devil All the Time
Rich Cline @ Shadows on the Wall
- Excerpt: Watching it is like binging a grisly rural crime miniseries with so many intriguing characters and plot-strands that we’re not quite sure where to look
Earth
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: But when you watch the full movie it is hard to stay awake. The film team has forgotten the lives of their men and what was significant in their video captures. Long times are spent with a still camera focused on bare, dusty, repetitive earth moving.
The Eight Hundred
Rich Cline @ Shadows on the Wall
- Excerpt: The film ends up as a rousing historical spectacle rather than an involving journey. Still, there’s never a dull moment over the long running time.
Epicentro
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: But Hubert Sauper, one of the most famous and most respected documentarians in the world, has been identified as creating a new form of cinema coined “cinema du lien” – the cinema of contact.
Followed
C.H. Newell @ Father Son Holy Gore
- Excerpt: An unlikeable protagonist and messy story take away from a film that otherwise has compelling things to say about true crime entertainment and social media influencers.
Kajillionaire
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Watch as [Evan Rachel Wood] walks behind Jenkins and Winger like an Emirati wife, head down but fingers flying towards any pay phone coin return that crosses her path, her entire body language like a magician’s misdirection.
Killed My Wife
James Jay Edwards @ The Big Smoke America
Killed My Wife
Live from the Space Stage: A Halyx Story
James Jay Edwards @ The Big Smoke America
No Small Matter
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: “No Small Matter” gives many strong arguments, including data from early brain studies at the University of Washington, that prove early childhood education is the most important investment America can make for a strong, stable, successful country.
Nomadland
Allyson Johnson @ TheYoungFolks.com
One Night in Miami
Allyson Johnson @ TheYoungFolks.com
Rent-A-Pal
James Jay Edwards @ The Big Smoke America
Residue
Rich Cline @ Shadows on the Wall
- Excerpt: First-time writer-director Merawi Gerima takes a kaleidoscopic approach that’s more experimental than narrative, offering a storm of emotions that only occasionally connect with the audience
The Secrets We Keep
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: a thriller that keeps us guessing about Maja’s state of mind as well as the concept of vigilantism. While the film’s trailer emphasizes the more lurid aspects of the film (kidnapping, torture, war crimes), Adler’s execution is far more thoughtful
The Secrets We Keep
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: A first-rate adult thriller.
She’s in Portland
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Reviews
- Excerpt: It’s too bumpy to enjoy the ride.
Shiva Baby
Allyson Johnson @ TheYoungFolks.com
The Social Dilemma
Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: ** Spoiler Alert ** Social media is addictive.
Spiral
C.H. Newell @ Father Son Holy Gore
- Excerpt: A tense, terrifying ride, as well as a compelling look at intersectional queer fear(s) via a horror lens.
Under the Open
Allyson Johnson @ TheYoungFolks.com
We Have Boots
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: n 2020, the year of BLM, we now know the reason for the umbrellas – to protect the protestors from the tear gas and pepper spray used by the police to debilitate them. The boots are for walking for as long as it takes.
Wolfwalkers
Allyson Johnson @ TheYoungFolks.com
2019 Films
Rocks
Rich Cline @ Shadows on the Wall
- Excerpt: Conceived and workshopped with the young non-actors in the cast, this British film has a bright snap of real life to it from the start, capturing earthy rhythms and depicting lively characters in scenes that often feel more documentary than drama
