Movies

There are people who devote their lives to predicting who will win at the Academy Awards. That’s not me. Here’s my completely unscientific but absolutely accurate list of who should win an Oscar in 2024. Actor in a Leading Role: Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers) Second pick: Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction) Actor in a Supporting Role:
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A loving family with a hardworking father build a wonderful home next to his place of work for convenience and security in The Zone of Interest, an unsettling and unique drama set against the backdrop of the screams and furnaces of Auschwitz.  The Oscar contender focuses squarely on the ability to look away and compartmentalize
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In the space thriller I.S.S., Russia and the U.S. unleash nuclear war while the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station watch from above. Then come the orders: take command from the other side, by any means necessary. It’s a great premise from director Gabriela Cowperthwaite and writer Nick Shafir, one that is brought
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Wow. Just wow. Ava DuVernay’s Origin, based on Isabel Wilkerson’s bestselling book “Caste,” is a searing examination of systemic racism on a global scale. Powerful, moving, and beautiful, Origin is easily one of the best movies of the year. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor delivers a fantastic performance as… Pulitzer Prize-winning Isabel Wilkerson… who is enlisted to write
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Hot sexy magical kings aren’t all bad, but they aren’t all good either. That’s the theme of Wish, the amusing Disney movie that may not be the Mouse House’s next animated classic but has enough music, humor, and weird talking animals to satisfy kids and parents alike. Wish is about a 17-year-old girl named Asha
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In Migration, a timid mallard duck who sounds a lot like Kumail Nanjiani leads his family on a reluctant adventure to Jamaica so his son can hook up with a bird he met for two minutes, resulting in random hijinks and moderate entertainment value. By no means an animated classic by parental measures, it still
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In Ridley Scott’s epic Napoleon, no real animals were harmed during shooting, but animals–and people–are blown and sliced to bits by the dozen. The audience, thankfully, goes unharmed, as the movie serves as a satisfying piece of historical entertainment. Napoleon’s greatest strengths are its numerous battle sequences, which are executed with precision and visual panache.
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For a movie that sure has absolutely no right in being any good, Wonka sure is a delight. No one asked for a prequel to Charlie [Willy Wonka] & the Chocolate Factory–the idea, frankly, is obnoxious. Yet the movie, from Paul King–the director behind the equally delightful Paddington movies–works, and it works wonderfully well. Boasting
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Yorgos Lanthimos is a fucked up individual. Thankfully he’s also brilliant and one of the most fascinating filmmakers working today. His latest, Poor Things, may be the best of his career, a twisted, darkly funny, superbly acted, and incredibly unique adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s novel, which of course I haven’t read because why would I
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I would die a happy man if Rebecca Ferguson spoke to me just once using the Voice. Then again, I can die a happy man having now seen the incredible Dune: Part Two twice in the span of a week.  Yes, Denis Villeneuve has done it: gifting audiences with a visceral, vibrant, and violent sci-fi
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Nicolas Cage gives a dream-level performance in the imaginative Dream Scenario, a movie that for a while transcends reality until its nightmarish third act sets in. Kristoffer Borgli writes and directs the picture, which is about a boring, nobody of a college professor who finds himself at the center of worldwide fame and attention after
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Eli Roth has referred to himself as “horror master” in the past, but Thanksgiving may be the director’s first good movie. Incredibly gruesome and thoroughly entertaining, this holiday-themed slasher may not be perfect, but it’s well worth watching in a crowded theater. A year after a Black Friday fiasco that caused the brutal deaths of
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I watched The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes at a really nice theater. A Dolby Cinema. Nice visuals. Great sound. Semi-reclining scenes with large armrests and cushy cushions. About an hour into this Hunger Games prequel, I thought: this is really nice. I’m really comfortable. Should I take a nap? I’m pretty
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