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NIGHTSTREAM 2020: ‘DINNER IN AMERICA’ Is An Aggressive Outsider Love Story That’s Punk As F*ck

Before punk officially died, it traversed the Midwestern suburbs. Rebellious teenagers found solace in the head-banging misanthropy of the music, what with its promotion of anti-establishment ideals and the “fuck you mom and dad” messages raging through boomboxes nationwide. Patty (Emily Skeggs) isn’t what you would traditionally call “rebellious” but the punk lives within her. Gangly, geeky and clumsy, she moshes quietly in her room. Patty squirrels this part of herself away from her ultra-square conservative family but when convict punk-rocker Simon (Kyle Gallner) bursts into her life like the Kool-Aid Man, everything changes.  Read More

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Brilliantly Offbeat ‘KAJILLIONAIRE’ A Singular Work of Weirdo Wonder 

Everyone wants to be a kajillionaire but not Robert (Richard Jenkins), Theresa (Debra Winger) and Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Woods). They just want to skim enough off the top to make ends meet. And skim they do. From mail theft to check forgery, stealing bottles of Voss from the First Class section to hawking free massage coupons, this nuclear trio of grifters is always on the scent of their next scam. But with the clock ticking on a $1,500 debt, the criminal parents turn to a new recruit, taking an outsider under their wing to one-up their grifts, much to the chagrin of the socially awkward Old Dolio.  Read More

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‘ANTEBELLUM’ Connects the Dots Between Black Past and Present

It was all a dream. A nightmare rather. But co-writer and director Gerard Bush ran with the nightmare nonetheless, developing his vision of a slave named Eden with co-writer and director Christopher Renz into the provocative, pointed and somewhat problematic dystopian thriller that is Antebellum. Antebellum, which refers to the period right before a civil war (especially the American Civil War), is a movie with a lot on its mind.  Read More

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A Family Plagued by Ambition Suffers Silently In Brooding Drama ’THE NEST’

It wasn’t until about halfway through The Nest that I started to question what the latest film from Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene) was really about. Best described as an uncomfortable familial drama, Durkin’s feature is set in the high-stakes world of status chasing. Perched in the periphery of a patriarch’s quest for large sums of money from his Trans-Contential business dealings, The Nest’s emotional center is a family suffering the ambitions of a father and his vacuous pursuit of wealth and status.  Read More

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X-Men Franchise Dies A Final Death With Disposable Super-Teen Flick ‘THE NEW MUTANTS’

Fox’s often venerated (and occasionally lampooned) X-Men quasi-continuity goes out with a whimper with the young-adult-led nonstarter that is The New Mutants. The 20-year old franchise has seen watermarks high and low, witness to its share of failed entires (The Last Stand, Origins: Wolverine and Apocalypse to name a few offenders) balanced out by a handful of genre-defining classics (X2, First Class, Logan). At the end of the era comes not a new low so much as a defeated shrug, as there has never been an entry that felt more identity-drained and inert than Josh Boone’s final death knell. But that’s not necessarily the sole fault of the writer-director.  Read More

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Blockbusting Bore ‘TENET’ Revels In Nolan’s Worst Instincts

Christopher Nolan’s fascination with time as a storytelling variable is well-documented throughout his filmography. In his breakout indie hit Memento, the story of John G and his murdered wife ran backwards with consecutive scenes taking place before what we have just watched; with Inception, dreams within dreams meant that different levels of the film’s universe occurred at different speeds creating a kind of temporal layer cake; and most recently, Dunkirk saw a major military event unfold over land, sea, and air in a matter of a week, a day and an hour, respectively, the various timelines intersecting and blending into one another. And the less said about Interstellar, wherein Nolan got all mushy over time and love, the better. This obsession with time as a resource and narrative centerpiece has finally gotten the best of Nolan in Tenet, an overblown blockbuster absolutely suffocated by tricks, bloated by exposition and wholly lacking in a human touch.  Read More

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Suburban Sci-Fi ‘VIVARIUM’’s Solitary Metaphor Is Stretched Way Too Thin

“I don’t like the way things are. It’s horrible.” Little did Vivarium screenwriter Garret Shanley know how piercing this sentiment might be when his film about a couple forced into seclusion was released. No one could have predicted that in the midst of the film’s rollout, the world over would be forced into mandated seclusion. Schools shuttered. Concerts, political rallies, and festivals pinched off. Everyone shut into their whatever square footage their budget affords. At least Jesse Eisenberg’s Tom and Imogen Poots’ Gemma have access to toilet paper. Read More

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Inflammatory and Ultraviolent ‘THE HUNT’ Triggers Both Sides of the Aisle 

Originally scheduled for release in September of last year, Craig Zobel’s satirical modern spin on “The Most Dangerous Game” factored political divisions into the equation to decidedly contentious results. The Hunt became so controversial that its release was pulled indefinitely when the President (in a totally characteristic ego trip of a move) slammed the film, calling it “a tremendous disservice to our country” and threatening that “we’re going to be very tough with them.” Soon after, the death threats came flying.  Read More

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Surprise! Intimate Abortion Procedural ‘NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS’ a Very Somber Ride

The not-so-chipper premise of Eliza Hittman’s Sundance premiere Never Rarely Sometimes Always involves a teenage Pennsylvania girl and her cousin commuting to the Big Apple in order to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Viewers used to the seriocomic approach to the abortion flick (Obvious Child and Juno are probably the best examples of modern mainstream movies on the subject) may find Never Rarely Sometimes Always a startlingly somber and even oppressive affair, the film from Hittman shying away from any flirtation with taking the matter any less than extremely seriously at any given intersection. Not that most people associate abortions with a good laugh but, man, this movie is just about as unrelentingly unpleasant and heavy as they come.  Read More

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Sad Affleck: The Movie, ‘THE WAY BACK’, a Dour Character Study Dressed Up as a Sports Drama

My man Ben Affleck just can’t catch a break. His career has been a series of precipitous rises and steep plunges. From a breakout Oscar win with Good Will Hunting to the critical depths of Gigli in his whole Bennifer period, onto his comeback directorial streak (which ended in a Best Picture win for Argo) which then led into a second slump following his turn as Batman in the largely maligned DCEU. Ben’s trajectory is like the stock market during a pandemic. It just can’t decide whether to float or flounder. Read More