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Movie Reviews
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Film review: ‘Life of the Party’
The formulaic film aspires to be both a raucous college comedy and a sweet story about a middle-aged woman learning to get her groove back. Neither thread is entirely satisfying, but what works does so because of Melissa McCarthy’s immensely likable presence.
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Film review: ‘Racer and the Jailbird’
Michaรซl R. Roskam’s film tries to blend a flashy crime-thriller with somber romantic drama as it tracks the relationship between an affluent race car driver and a career criminal with a heart of gold named. But it fails.
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Film review: ‘Tully’
Charlize Theron plays Marlo, an overwhelmed 40-something wife and mother of two children, with a third on the way. Fearing for his sister’s well-being, Marlo’s brother hires night nanny Tully — a
millennial Mary Poppins.
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Film review: ‘Ready Player One’
“Ready Player One” takes place within the digital world of the OASIS, a world without any rules or physical constraints. But it makes for a film lacking in real human connection, which is a problem when that turns out to be one of the story’s key themes.
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Film review: ‘Pacific Rim: Uprising’
The appeal of the “Pacific Rim” films is right there in their gloriously dopey premise: giant robots fighting giant monsters. If reading that sentence doesn’t immediately fill you with a sense of, “Yes, that sounds like a splendid way to spend two hours in a dark movie theater,” you’re probably wise not to waste your […]
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Film review: ‘A Wrinkle in Time’
“A Wrinkle in Time” arrived in theaters heavy with the weight of expectation. As an adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s beloved 1962 sci-fi novel and the first $100 million movie from a black female director, the film serves as quite the challenge for director Ava DuVernay. Add in the fact that the material she’s adapting has […]
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Film review: ‘The Insult’
Directed by Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri (“The Attack”), “The Insult” is a thorny morality play about life in the Middle East, as a minor altercation between two men ends up in a court case that ignites long-simmering tensions and anger which eventually threatens to tear their country apart. Tony (Adel Karam) is a hot-headed but […]
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Film review: ‘Annihilation’
Director Alex Garland follows up “Ex Machina” — his excellent, Oscar-winning examination of man and machine — with another challenging sci-fi mind-bender. Based on a trilogy of novels by Jeff VanderMeer (though veering significantly from that source material), “Annihilation” follows the members of an expedition team sent to explore a mysterious, reality-warping zone known as […]
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Film review: ‘Game Night’
Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams star in the hilarious action-comedy “Game Night,” as sweetly devoted, charmingly competitive married couple Max and Annie. The pair delight in hosting game nights for their friends (Billy Magnussen, Sharon Horgan, Lamorne Morris, and Kylie Bunbury), inviting the couples over for a light-hearted evening of wine and a few rounds […]
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The 5th Annual Lubies
Oscar night’s arrival this Sunday means that it’s finally time for everyone’s real favorite movie celebration: the annual Lubie Awards, CITY’s Oscar alternative highlighting some of the year’s best — but sadly overlooked — films and performances.
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Film review: ‘Black Panther’
Disney’s choice to release Marvel’s “Black Panther” during Black History month was both cynical and smart. The company identified an underserved film-going population and gave them a $200 million hero, exploiting the annual celebration of black excellence to pad the stats for its latest blockbuster — the first black-directed Marvel adaption with a mostly black […]
