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. 25, 2020
Wide (United States)
Shortcut
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Limited (United States)
Ava
Rich Cline @ Shadows on the Wall
- Excerpt: Director Tate Taylor can’t resist a nonstop barrage of cliches as the story slickly flits through a series of glamorous international locations
Kajillionaire
Charlie Juhl @ Citizen Charlie
- Excerpt: Miranda July makes her most accessible film yet about the most inaccessible of characters
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: The movie makes you laugh and breaks your heart at the same time.
- Excerpt: Miranda July’s oddball opus ‘Kajillionaire’ uses quirk to speak to the distancing of humanity from itself, creating a weirdly tender and wholly otherworldly dramedy that’s lit up by great performances.
Last Call
Jared Mobarak @ JaredMobarak.com
- Excerpt: Where one-take dramas often lose their propulsive drive, this is a tight 77-minutes composed of a continuous fight or flight adrenaline rush whether dialogue is spoken or not.
Misbehaviour
Rich Cline @ Shadows on the Wall
- Excerpt: With vivid characters and pointed situations, the film keeps the audience entertained while reminding us that the battle for equality is still being fought
Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: Is this a celebration or denunciation of beauty pageants? I’m confused but I do know that actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw is an absolute delight.
2020 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
Antebellum
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Miss Juneteenth
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Mulan
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Palm Springs
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Personal History of David Copperfield
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Radioactive
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Relic
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The Rental
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Tenet
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Unhinged
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Blackbird
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: The to-die-for cast can’t quite save this melodrama from its trite obviousness, in which rage and grief are matters of tasteful, upscale lifestyle. But they at least they make it passingly watchable.
Blackbird
Jared Mobarak @ The Film Stage
- Excerpt: As sweet as it is devastating, we feel the swirl of emotions and relate to the resonant push and pull between love asking for time and knowing there’s none left.
Cargo
Kathy Gibson @ Access Bollywood
The Crimes That Bind
Joao Pinto @ Portal Cinema [Portuguese]
David Byrne’s American Utopia
Jared Mobarak @ JaredMobarak.com
- Excerpt: I just can’t say that the finished product is essential beyond its purpose of transferring a once-in-a-lifetime experience to the masses.
The Devil All the Time
Emmanuel Báez @ Cinéfiloz [Spanish]
- Excerpt: ‘El Diablo a Todas Horas’ es un relato de maldad y corrupción que no adquiere fuerza por un guion débil
The Devil All the Time
Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: Murder as many people you like in a movie and nobody bats an eye, but kill a dog and you’ve gone too far. You have been warned.
Enola Holmes
Charlie Juhl @ Citizen Charlie
- Excerpt: Unconnected with the larger Sherlock world, Enola relies more on idiosyncratic quirks and twitchy editing at the expense of a more quixotic mystery to solve.
Feels Good Man
Jared Mobarak @ JaredMobarak.com
- Excerpt: This is a densely packed film that both entertains via Furie’s empathetic quest to redeem his creation and educates with a very necessary lesson in meme culture and online behavior.
Get Duked!
Jared Mobarak @ The Film Stage
- Excerpt: Doff may have thrown in a kitchen sink of clichés, but he knows exactly how to marry them together. The result is an endearingly uproarious affair.
H Is for Happiness
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: Offbeat portrait of an unconventional girl is all over the place, sometimes detouring into the cringeworthy, as it tries to depict the emotional familial confusion its tween protagonist is navigating.
Host
C.H. Newell @ Father Son Holy Gore
- Excerpt: Host is a lean, mean digital Gothic chiller best watched with the lights on.
Malasana 32
Joao Pinto @ Portal Cinema [Portuguese]
Monsoon
Rich Cline @ Shadows on the Wall
- Excerpt: Director Hong Khaou continues on from the delicate beauty of Lilting with this gentle, finely crafted exploration of personal history and identity
The Nest
- Excerpt: This well-acted follow-up feature from Sean Durkin is a ruminant deconstruction of ambition at the cost of a family’s emotional well-being. ‘The Nest’s measured pace and subtle themes may leave some viewers wondering at its meaning but those willing to emotionally engage with Durkin’s work may find themselves helplessly dwelling on exactly that.
Nomadland
Jared Mobarak @ JaredMobarak.com
- Excerpt: A family is formed by way of a philosophy. New friendships are therefore a delicate process of boundaries and understanding. Zhao doesn’t compromise that truth.
Residue
Shelagh Rowan-Legg @ ScreenAnarchy
- Excerpt: Residue frames how a place of beauty and family and friendship, one where people looked out for each other, has become strained, slowly being stripped apart.
Rogue
Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Reviews
- Excerpt: A low-budget action B pic, armed with explosions and concern for animal abuse in wildlife.
Spiral
- Excerpt: Spiral is a mysterious act of dread and atmosphere that also taps into the inherent horror of being different in a world that isn’t ready to accept that.
Synchronic
Jared Mobarak @ The Film Stage
- Excerpt: Where I could forget the genre element in [previous films] to latch onto the people therein, the opposite proves true here. While still objectively enough, I [did want] more.
Ten Minutes to Midnight
C.H. Newell @ Father Son Holy Gore
- Excerpt: Beneath the blood and teeth are timely issues about women in the entertainment industry.
Wolfwalkers
Jared Mobarak @ The Film Stage
- Excerpt: A gorgeous journey towards compassionate enlightenment on behalf of a people seeking the same for themselves.
Z
C.H. Newell @ Father Son Holy Gore
- Excerpt: The lasting effect of the film is in its allegory of how mental illness attaches itself to us, to the point we sometimes find comfort in it.
2019 Films
The Journey to China: The Mystery of Iron Mask
Bavner Donaldo @ Cinejour [Indonesian]
Years and Years
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: I’m obsessed with this British miniseries following one family through a dystopian 2020s. It’s completely harrowing, very nearly soul-crushing. Yet I cling to its tenuous optimism and profound beauty.
2018 Films
Alex Strangelove
Joao Pinto @ Portal Cinema [Portuguese]
The Hows of Us
Bavner Donaldo @ Cinejour [Indonesian]
