Even an iconic director cannot overcome a radical gimmick...…
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Possibly a top 5 movie of the year. Definitely a top 10 movie though.…
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Goofy, dumb, and fun....and makes sense this time.…
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As a film, this is a somewhat routine affair. A familiar kind of storyline done to the utmost extent. In lesser hands, this would have been a flat-out boring movie but it never is. The third act is where it really gets great, showing the harsh realities of the perceptions of women’s sports no matter how excellent the athletes are in the sports that they play, and what awaits these Olympic athletes when they get home if they live in…
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A lot of things work for this film. Amy Adams is a surefire Oscar nominee for Best Actress, and the screenplay might get a lot of love too. This is a very honest and realistic depiction of what it’s like to be a single mom in 2024. This is a very emotionally ugly film a lot of the time. But if you’re going to depict the practical impossibilities of a “traditional” type of marriage, then the ugliness needs to be…
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Without question one of the best films of 2024. Extremely powerful stuff here. Jude Law has got Oscar nominations for less impressive work than what he does in this film and Nicholas Hoult might be a shoo-in for Supporting Actor nominations in the future. The script is absolutely incredible as well. Word around the campfire was that when it came to this film it was kind of a throwback to the William Friedkin days of crime thrillers and it’s a…
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Shaky cam was really adorable…back in 2008. When Paul Greengrass used it incessantly it made sense because it was the visual style for THE BOURNE TRILOGY. Any other usage of shaky cam since the last Jason Bourne movie has been borderline hotshot bull****. The first act of BIRD was super duper shaky in the most egregious and unnecessary way, and I was borderline on the verge of walking out. However, in the second act, the film recovers very well, and…
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I’m just resigned to the fact that I just don’t understand Pedro Almodovar’s work as a whole. He always manages to make beautiful-looking films with amazing performances… but more than half of the time his characters don’t have any arcs, and his stories feel glacially slow. I defy anybody to watch this film and tell me that these characters change in any way whatsoever throughout the course of the film. I try really hard with Almodovar flicks. I really do.…
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This story of two Palestinian cousins trapped in a purgatory-esque side of Athens is nothing short of incredible. The only issue with this film is that I wish it wasn’t so heavily influenced by MIDNIGHT COWBOY. Respectfully, there’s so much stuff in this movie that is directly borrowed from that movie that it feels like a remix of a really, really, old song. Mahmood Bakri and Aram Sabbah give very complex, Oscar-level performances and director Mahdi Fleifel is an incredible…
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