Month: October 2018

An Emotional Portrait of Addiction, Beautiful Boy Captures Our American Moment

************************This review contains a mild spoiler**************************** “When I discovered drugs my world went from black and white to technicolor. I can never give that up.” Beautiful Boy is based on the real-life memoirs of father and son David…

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Why Suspiria is an Enduring Horror Cult Classic

Suspiria is the 1977 cult classic Eurohorror film made by legendary director Dario Argento. In the film we follow Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) an aspiring ballerina who travels to Germany from the United States to attend the best…

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Can You Ever Forgive Me? Explores The Human Need for Recognition and Acknowledgement

Can You Ever Forgive Me? follows the life of biographer to the stars Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy) as she suffers through a career downturn, no longer able to secure publishing for her work in a changing literary landscape….

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The Hate U Give Explores the Complicated Journey toward Identity for Black Youth

“Know your rights. Know your worth.” The center of The Hate U Give’s universe is Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg), a 17 year old high school girl with one foot each in a different world — the inner city,…

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Bad Times at the El Royale’s Momentary Thrills Can’t Save It

Bad Times at the El Royale takes place in a formerly luxurious motel that is now down on its luck run-down hotel that sits on the border between California and Nevada. One fateful night, seven strangers, Father Flynn…

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First Man Reignites the Wonder and Awe of Space While Cementing Damien Chazelle as Perhaps Hollywood’s Greatest Director

“[Space Exploration] allows us to see things that maybe we should’ve seen a long time ago.” First Man is the latest film from Oscar winning director Damien Chazelle, a biopic following astronaut Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) as he…

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A Star is Born: Bradley Cooper Puts on the Performance of a Lifetime in an Emotionally Powerful Film

A Star is Born finds us on tour with country-rock superstar Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) who, after stumbling into a bar on drag night, discovers former waitress and aspiring singer/songwriter Ally (Lady Gaga). After convincing Ally to join…

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Hold the Dark Makes a Statement about Man’s Brutal Nature but Does So Too Quietly

************************This review contains spoilers**************************** “When resources are scarce or when there are unnatural stressors, the young will be killed in order to preserve the pack. It’s called savaging.” Hold the Dark takes us to a fictional remote village…

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