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25 Best Movies of the 2020’s You Probably Haven’t Seen

Somehow, we’re already halfway through the 2020s. The world’s still on fire, the algorithms and A.I. have taken over, my readership is down (people love video, and yet, here I remain), and despite the fact that there is continued chatter about the death of cinema… great movies keep slipping through the cracks. While big franchise I.P. garbage continues to dominate the cultural conversation, there’s been a steady stream of bold, bizarre, and beautiful films flying under the radar. Whether they had a tiny theatrical run, got buried on streaming, or just never hit your watchlist, these are 25 films from this chaotic half-decade that you probably haven’t seen — but absolutely should. Read More

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Bold and Boundless ‘BLACK BEAR’ Boggles the Brain

What begins inauspiciously as a nervy tableau about an unhappily married couple unmoored by the arrival of a duplicitous and tempestuous female boarder soon spins into a bizarre anti-anthology that breaks as many rules of traditional-storytelling as it can in its bewildering and enchanting 104 minutes. Writer and director Lawrence Michael Levine (Wild Canaries) sets out to defy the logic of filmmaking grammar, having his principal cast play variants of different characters without stopping to explain the leaps from one storyline to the next. In essence, Black Bear refuses to be caged. To any one style, to any one genre, to any one story. In a nutshell, it is a relationship drama meets a dark comedy meets an artistic deconstruction meets a survival story. Though certain to confuse and frustrate viewers looking for a more linear and easy-to-define cinematic experience, Black Bear remains a daring and boldly-acted pièce de résistance from a filmmaker disinterested in falling in line and fully committed to braving the wilderness of going it alone.  Read More