Tag: Romance

Licorice Pizza is an Ode to Young Love That Teaches Universal Lessons For Any Age

Coming of age stories can teach us a lot about human behavior and the latest film from Paul Thomas Anderson is no exception. Licorice Pizza takes us to the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s as Gary Valentine (Cooper…

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Cyrano’s Performances and Dynamic Score Create a Treat for Fans of Musicals (Middleburg Film Festival)

In late 2019, Erica Schmidt wrote and directed an Off Broadway adaptation of Cyrano that starred her husband, Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage. After its successful run, the musical has been brought to the big screen by…

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Red Rocket is a Black Comedy Entertaining Enough to Mask The Stench of Its Protagonist (Middleburg Film Festival)

In life, we run into people of all varieties. Some are nicer than others, some smarter than others, but everyone just wants their piece of the pie. In chasing success, some people take a path that’s more morally…

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Aaron Sorkin Hits Stride as a Director with the Well Crafted Being The Ricardos

It’s best not to, but many films suffer the misfortune of being prejudged before anyone has ever seen one frame. Whether it’s preconceived notions about the director or performers, issues with the subject of the film, or brand…

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West Side Story’s Technical Prowess and New Generation Talent Don’t Outweigh Its Overfamiliarity

Remaking art that the public loves is always a tall task, much less when the art being reimagined is universally hailed as a classic. If anyone is capable of tackling such a challenge, it would be legendary director…

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Passing: Wherever You Go, There You Are (Sundance Film Festival)

The issue of identity in the United States has always been a pressing issue and it shows no signs of slowing down. The matter of which racial, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic, or other group a person belongs will…

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How It Ends’ Moments of Comedic Wit Too Sparse to Lift the Film Overall (Sundance Film Festival)

Films taking a comedic look at the day the world realizes it is coming to an end have seen steady production and release over the past decade and it honestly makes perfect sense. Exploration of what people would…

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Coming 2 America Revisits the Familiar and Stands On Its Own….Just Sans the Comedy

Following up an undeniably classic film with a sequel is probably the hardest landing to stick in the movie business. Doubly so if you attempt it a decade or more after the original’s release. The graveyard of failed…

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Malcolm & Marie: On Relationships, Personal and Professional

No one ever said love is easy. In the latest film from director Sam Levinson, we follow a couple in Hollywood who learns this the hard way during one late night at home. Malcolm (John David Washington), a…

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Wonder Woman 1984: success, lies, and ambitious mistakes

After three years and numerous COVID-related delays, the long awaited sequel to the 2017 landmark hit film Wonder Woman has finally arrived. Due to circumstances beyond the filmmakers’ control, this film is being seen as a sort of…

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