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The Ghosts of Showbiz Past Haunt ‘LAST NIGHT IN SOHO’

Dashed dreams and grubby hands reveal themselves to be the stuff of Edgar Wright’s nightmares in the stylish throwback Last Night in Soho. A ghostly haunter with one foot in the modern zeitgeist and one squarely in raging 1960’s London, Wright’s first foray into the horror grapples between serious social horrors and pure genre thrills, delivering a thoroughly entertaining slice of Giallo exploitation that warns of the temptation of nostalgia. Read More

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‘THE FRENCH DISPATCH’ Is An Inaccessible Patchwork of Withering Pretension

Structured like a New Yorker zine and just as wryly smug and pandering to the self-proclaimed intelligentsia, The French Dispatch is an ego-driven misfire for visionary director Wes Anderson who has done little more than projectile vomit his signature quirk on the screen in thick gobs, forgetting to actually make a movie along the way. Read More

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Sweat and Tears: Villeneuve’s Breathtaking Space Opera Epic ‘DUNE’ Rules

Behold! Denis Villeneuve has adapted Frank Herbert’s iconic 1965 science-fiction novel Dune with all the might and majesty of a true maestro. A verifiable fireworks-show of audio-visual brawn and storytelling prowess, Dune as translated by Villeneuve is a rare cinematic treat that implodes on the screen, sucking audiences into a dizzying vortex of feuding empires, space zen, and chosen-one heroics, resulting in one of the most electrifying science-fiction space operas of this generation and one of the very best films of the year. The only knock against it – and it is a reasonably-sized knock – is that this first film in the planned (but not yet green-lit) two-parter only encompasses half the total story, leaving viewers desperate for a conclusion that may or may not come to fruition. Read More

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Loose Slasher Sequel ‘HALLOWEEN KILLS’ Defines Overkill

David Gordon Green’s 2018 rendition of Halloween, a sequel/reboot that revitalized Michael Myers for the arthouse horror generation, did almost everything right. His reimagining of the franchise, in a sequel that stemmed directly from John Carpenter’s 1978 original while actively dismissing the string of disappointing sequels and Rob Zombie’s grizzled remakes from the canon, leaned into the portions of the story that made Myers such a lasting horror icon. There was actual character development present here, an understanding of what made this character so deeply unsettling, plenty of tension-filled kills, and a good lick of irreverent humor to be found in the proceedings. If Halloween is The Shape perfected, Halloween Kills is what happens when complacency sets in almost immediately and the franchise begins to flatline well before its expiration date. Read More

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Vile Men Are Always the Heroes of Their Own Story in Medieval Court Drama ‘THE LAST DUEL’

The Middle Ages, a vast period of cultural and intellectual bankruptcy. A thousand years of decline spent spilling blood in the soil over God, king, and country. The hoi polloi, excited by the rage of religious fervor, cheered for bread and circus and no circus promised more drama than a duel to the death. This is where we find ourselves at the start of Ridley Scott’s latest sword and sandal epic, The Last Duel, with two men, each believing God and the truth is by their side, equipping plates of armor and squeezing into chainmail, squires readying their steads, prepared to square off in an arena until one man claims the other’s last breath. All to prove that their truth is the truth. There’s no better way to prove veracity than by bloodletting – under God’s benevolent eye. Read More

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Lonely Icelandic Parents Pull the Wool Over Their Own Eyes in Bizarre Creature Feature ‘LAMB’

First-time director Valdimar Jóhannsson has created something strikingly odd with his auspicious debut feature, Lamb, a part-creature feature, part-ruminant relationship drama about a pair of grieving parents who adopt a half-lamb, half-human baby. At times darkly funny – the human-lamb hybrid child has that effect – but played throughout as deadpan serious by its minimalist cast (led by the always impressive Noomi Rapace of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo acclaim), Lamb is a thought-provoking curio that begs questions about humankind’s need to command the natural world and their own lesser urges – and their inability to do so. Jóhannsson’s vision is strange but singular, adopted in kind by the exact studio that genre-defying fare like this ought to be adopted by, A24, though I remain unconvinced that it necessarily adds up to the kind of menacing profundity intended. Read More

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Psychosexual Fever Dream ‘TITANE’ Pushes All the Right Buttons

It’s worth prefacing my thoughts on Titane by reminding readers that Julia Ducournau’s Raw was my favorite film of 2017. Darkly funny and completely uncompromising, that cannibal coming-of-age horror sunk its teeth in deep to unspool a surprisingly thematic story of sexual appetites, family politics, and genetic disposition. I loved every minute of Ducournau’s irreverent storytelling; her evident hunger to show up fully formed with her debut film, and her reveling in the national bloodlust that is the French New Extremity movement revealed a filmmaking talent of untold potential. Read More

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The Dumbest Superhero Franchise Out There is Back – and Much Improved – With ‘VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE’

In a superhero market defined by over-saturation, whatever the hell Sony is doing with Venom is entirely its own beast. The first installment from maligned director Ruben Fleischer was a wacky misfire that floundered critically but made piles of money, amassing nearly a billion dollars worldwide. My complaints with the 2018 clunker started with the childish script and spiraled all the way down through the weird performances, mismashed tone, off-putting direction, and juvenile needle drops. I ultimately flunked the film and dreaded its sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Much to my surprise, not only is this follow-up not an abomination but it’s actually pretty fun? Read More

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‘NO TIME TO DIE’ Kills Off Daniel Craig’s Reign as 007 in Sullen, Disappointing Fashion 

With No Time to Die, Daniel Craig’s run as gentleman spy James Bond has reached its final stop. And it’s with a heavy heart that I tell you that Craig’s last turn as 007 is a lumbering swan song at best; a heaving disappointment all in all, lacking in wit, memorable spectacle, even semi-logical villainy, and sensical plotting. For a near-three hour capstone to the Daniel Craig era of James Bond, No Time to Die is both overly-plotted and undercooked, too short on whizzbang set pieces and long on trying to tie up all the loose continuity of his run. It is, in a phrase, more than past the moment to let this particular iteration of the character go. It is indeed time to die.

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‘THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK’ and the Crushing Weight of Legacy

“Remember when is the lowest form of conversation,” Tony Soprano once remarked around a table of champagne, lobster shells, Paulie Walnuts, and some one-night-only broads. Despite his seeming disdain for callbacks to the good ole days, Tony Soprano remained a man often ruled by nostalgia. His admiration for the Gary Cooper generation, the strong silent type who took their licks quietly, informed the impending storm of dread that drove him repeatedly to the therapist’s chair. Whatever the New Jersey mafia had become under his watch, it surely couldn’t measure up to the hay days of the shy guys of his father’s generation. Read More