Operation Avalanche
Sep22

Operation Avalanche

What if the moon landing was staged? It’s not a new thought, of course, but one that has been lit by its fair share of flints. Still, filmmaker Matt Johnson’s enthusiastic exercise in revisionist history is kettle-popped with strangeness.

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Marguerite
Apr01

Marguerite

Marguerite is a spinning top that whirls, without self-propulsion, until she runs out of fingers to twirl her. The madness of encouragement in the face of defeat.

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The Hateful Eight
Dec25

The Hateful Eight

Crude Grit Starring: Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson Review written by Robert D. Patrick Beginning with a suffocating, taut score that is so tight it leaves rope burns, Quentin Tarantino’s blood flecked roadshow of cigar masticating hate refuses to bury the lead. The dialogue, per usual, is a cat’s cradle of gasoline and saliva charged machismo. Every garish syllable spewed is a sizzling wick for future carnage. To say too...

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The Big Short
Dec24

The Big Short

Bale of Slay Starring: Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale Review written by Robert D. Patrick Upon first inspection, there’s no possible way that Adam McKay, director of such films as Anchorman and The Other Guys, had this movie in him. The slinger of saliva and suds, McKay is known for the “Brozone Lair” genre – infantile buddies with anger problems. And, come to think of it, maybe The Big Short – a film about...

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Youth
Dec24

Youth

The Abandonment of an Audience Starring: Michael Caine, Paul Dano Review written by Robert D. Patrick Paolo Sorrentino is a gifted filmmaker, capable of sweeping, operatic moments that swell and crash. The quietest moments, after these emphatic visuals, stew in their own power like sea foam. There is bombast in his brush strokes, and because of his imperious aesthetic, much of his films become polarizing and cold. But what to do with...

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Legend
Dec24

Legend

Multiplici-ZzZzs Starring: Tom Hardy, Tom Hardy Review written by Robert D. Patrick Legend may be billed as a liquor-lacquered, knuckle-thumping barrage of brogue and barrels, but the film has a neutered temperament and a barely palpitating heart. Tom Hardy is present, growling in a thick cockney accent that would put curdled milk to shame. But behind the frame of this classic car are the pedals of a Big Wheel. Director Brian...

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Brooklyn
Nov18

Brooklyn

Not Starring Cillian Murphy Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen Review written by Robert D. Patrick Flushed with pastel dust and cobalt skies, director John Crowley’s Brooklyn is swathed in a cinder-like charm. There is hardly a moment when the film doesn’t feel pastoral, wide, and free of boundaries. Most of this is due, of course, to Saoirse Ronan’s inherent kindness and verisimilitude. The actress, who has...

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The Visit
Sep10

The Visit

Old Man Take a Look at My Knife Review written by Robert D. Patrick Starring: Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould Homemade cookies and the warm, intense scents of cloves have been the tinder of horror stories since Hansel and Gretel. The unassuming guise of coziness hides a jack-o-lantern smile, and a venomous agenda. Here, writer/director M. Night Shyamalan drills into our subconscious fear of age, and the curious maladies that come with...

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Digging For Fire
Aug28

Digging For Fire

  Improvised, corkscrewed dialogue and loose body language. The mumblecore moniker wraps itself around director Joe Swanberg’s existential opus about the suppressed desires of a modern adult couple. The contemporary malaise of thirty-somethings has been explored, ad nauseam, recently. Here, however, we are not tracing the lines of a disheveled manchild whose confidence bobs and weaves through a plume of weed smoke....

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Aloha
May28

Aloha

And John Krasinki Starring: Emma Stone, Bradley Cooper Review written by Robert D. Patrick If Aloha had been insufferable, the headline would have been different. “Ha, Why Me?”, “Lei Me Down to Sleep,” or “Oh, no! Ahhh!” But Cameron Crowe’s wistful, sun-strafed luau of the soul came breaking into the shoreline, all foamy and comforting. Aside from a few dramatic footnotes with very obvious...

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