The Spool
@thespool.bsky.social
📤 317
📥 55
📝 330
Andrew Stanton's possible live-action comeback IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE is a disappointment on almost every level, reports
@ungajje.bsky.social
in his review.
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Meaning lost In the Blink of an Eye
When it comes to big-screen live-action features, Andrew Stanton has caught a bit of a raw deal. Multiple animated masterpieces of Pixar and several episodes of some of the best TV shows of the past…
https://buff.ly/902GiLt
2 days ago
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DTF St. Louis is a slow-motion suburban noir that suffocates and beguiles the audience, says
@ungajje.bsky.social
thespool.net/reviews/tv-r...
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DTF St. Louis is DTS (Down to Surprise)
Take this by way of a public service announcement. There are moments in DTF St. Louis’s first episode that are utterly suffocating. The opener is frequently so quiet, soft, and still. Viewers can feel...
https://thespool.net/reviews/tv-review-dtf-st-louis-hbo-2026-david-harbour-jason-bateman/
3 days ago
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1
1
@ungajje.bsky.social
admits THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME had no need for a second season, but its new go-round is nonetheless superior to the first, thanks in no small measure to Jennifer Garner getting to fight.
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The Last Thing He Told Me Season 2 hones its storytelling
Unlike far too many series, The Last Thing He Told Me provided a satisfying ending when Season 1 wrapped. There was a bit of a tease in the final moments. At a gallery, Hannah Michaels (Jennifer…
https://buff.ly/B4zkZJk
7 days ago
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1
1
PARADISE is back! It isn't quite as strange Season 1, reveals
@UnGajje.bsky.social
, but it makes up for it with an overall deeper grasp of the characters' emotions.
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Think twice before skipping Paradise Season 2
When Paradise ads started running late in 2024, they seemingly promised a rather straightforward, if elevated concept, murder mystery. The President of the United States, Cal Bradford (James…
https://buff.ly/PuKU59K
10 days ago
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PILLION is one of 2026's first must-watch films, argues
@sgorr.bsky.social
. Check out why in her review:
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Strap up and settle in for a ride with stunning dom-com Pillion
Pillion’s premise sets out to turn as many heads as star Alexander Skarsgård did in his leather halter-top ensemble at the film’s BFI premiere. Playfully referred to as a “dom-com”, it’s a peek into…
https://buff.ly/yLvxa1z
24 days ago
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2
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SCHOOL SPIRITS Season 3 returns this week and
@UnGajje.bsky.social
praises its ability to navigate new characters and plotlines without losing track of the main cast or overcomplicating the show's charms.
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School Spirits Season 3 honors the invisible
You can sometimes feel a show overcomplicating itself to keep going past its natural end. The prime example of this is Lost’s middle seasons, which many pointed to as wheel-spinning. Their case is…
https://buff.ly/XSGvaGR
about 1 month ago
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THE BEAUTY is a return to form for Ryan Murphy, but one needs to keep in mind all the good and bad that can mean, argues
@UnGajje.bsky.social
.
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The Beauty is a beast
My first real writing about television was recapping episodes of Nip/Tuck. I can’t recall exactly which season exactly. What I can say for sure is it wasn't early, when the series was at its best.…
https://buff.ly/vkzNORm
about 1 month ago
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Great acting can't save HIS & HERS from an ending that spikes all the interesting moral questions the series wrestles with until that point, argues
@UnGajje.bsky.social
.
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His & Hers? More like wild & unbelievable
It may not be fair, but endings often ruin an otherwise sound film or television series. Perhaps more than any other act, it is the final one that sends an audience out into the world happy, excited,…
https://buff.ly/zeSvwdq
about 2 months ago
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ICYMI, we had a split decision over at The Spool on
#PRIMATE
, the new ape-antics film now in theatres.
about 2 months ago
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PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION leaves
@UnGajje.bsky.social
feeling like he'd prefer a staycation.
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Don’t bother getting to know People We Meet on Vacation
People We Meet on Vacation has one of those deliciously perfect romantic comedy premises. Poppy (Emily Bader) and Alex (Tom Blyth) are mismatched strangers thrown together by the coincidence of both…
https://buff.ly/pVsVGqm
about 2 months ago
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While not without its problems, MAGELLAN successfully captures the scale of the explorer's life without elevating the man to a legend, says
@sgorr.bsky.social
.
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Magellan is an historical epic that eliminates the epic
If you walk into Magellan expecting a Filipino Master and Commander, you will walk out disappointed. The story of the famed explorer has all the makings of an historical epic. Years on the high seas.…
https://buff.ly/0hNeKle
about 2 months ago
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While the internet is obsessing over secret episodes,
@UnGajje.bsky.social
keeps his eye fixed on the
#StrangerThings
finale (so far), pointing out its visual shortcomings and emotional triumphs.
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Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 3 takes a messy, heartfelt bow
Not to open a review by making it all about me, but I love me an epilogue. Much like Rob Gordon, I can’t fully say if I have a propensity for wistfulness because of epilogues or a love of epilogues...
https://buff.ly/UIj544Q
about 2 months ago
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On the eve of
#StrangerThings
finale, check out
@UnGajje.bsky.social
's take on its Christmas Day penultimate set of episodes, a trifecta of installments that spun the show's wheels but nailed its emotional beats.
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Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2 get tangled
There’s a lot satisfying about Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2. Unfortunately, it happens alongside a lot of table setting and running in place. Part of what’s to blame lies with how (Netflix? The…
https://buff.ly/uovgAhO
2 months ago
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COUNTING CROWS: HAVE YOU SEEN ME LATELY? is a music doc made with skill, but
@UnGajje.bsky.social
can only mildly recommend it as it never finds the sweet spot where diehards and newbies can enjoy it in equal measure.
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Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately? reveals a piece of the band but it’s just a little piece
In the spirit of the band chronicled by director Amy Scott’s new documentary Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately? here’s a bit of naked vulnerability. I’m a massive Crows fan. Their first album,…
https://buff.ly/Lba0zWP
2 months ago
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@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social
sees DUST BUNNY as a unique gift to the next generation of film nerds, courtesy of two of the geniuses behind HANNIBAL.
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Dust Bunny a hopped up visual feast from Hannibal crew
Aurora (Sophie Sloan) has a monster of a problem. And it is living under her bed. This isn’t a metaphor. Nor is it some friendly critter that hangs with James P. Sullivan and Mike Wazowski. In…
https://buff.ly/PNceXo6
2 months ago
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Amanda Seyfried's all-in performance isn't enough to make all-too-predictable THE HOUSEMAID worth hiring, concludes
@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social
.
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Amanda Seyfried’s the hand that rocks too familiar The Housemaid
The job market’s tough for everyone, especially for The Housemaid protagonist Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney). Recently out on parole after a lengthy prison sentence, she needs a job and a place to…
https://buff.ly/GkjFAhk
2 months ago
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@sgorr.bsyk.social knows the premise of THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB sounds daunting. She urges everyone to see it anyway.
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The Voice of Hind Rajab is an essential awards season watch
I can’t pretend The Voice of Hind Rajab is easy viewing. It’s a daunting story of a five-year-old Palestinian girl trapped inside a car as Israeli forces close in while Red Crescent humanitarian aid…
https://buff.ly/m8rQunQ
3 months ago
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@UnGajje.bsky.social
doesn't think LITTLE DISASTERS is a big enough deal to earn the title "disaster," but he wants to be very clear that he thinks it is bad.
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Melodramatic Little Disasters frequently commits plot malpractice
Did you know everyone is just awful? That’s the de facto message of Little Disasters, the latest of what is an increasingly cookie-cutter subgenre that boasts all the trappings of prestigious…
https://buff.ly/8bpYXyU
3 months ago
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WAKE UP DEAD MAN, the latest
#KnivesOut
film, hits Netflix today. Look back at
@UnGajje.bsky.social
's review during its theatrical run to encourage you to schedule your weekend around seeing it.
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Wake Up Dead Man is worth resurrecting for
When you are winning, most will frown on changing the game plan. Talk to an expert, though, and they’ll tell you the best coaches are the ones who do exactly. They recognize when a winning formula is…
https://buff.ly/LWojoxL
3 months ago
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#Hamnet
opens wide today. Check out
@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social
's emotionally rich response to the film on The Spool now.
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Hamnet an emotionally aching achievement from Chloé Zhao
Anything can wield importance. An empty room? The setting of a child’s first steps. An old country song? The score for a first kiss. It is all a matter of perspective, emotion, and memory. For…
https://buff.ly/keU0Lm0
3 months ago
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@UnGajje.bsky.social
wrestles with JAY KELLY before ultimately concluding that its ambiguity is an advantage.
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Jay Kelly and the ambiguity of redemption
Hollywood loves a story about itself. Hollywood also loves a tale of a guy who’s successful but miserable because of that success. Jay Kelly, Netflix’s newest offering from director Noah Baumbach,…
https://buff.ly/PIOILbG
3 months ago
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After last night's Tonight Show special on
#StrangerThings
, why not revisit
@ungajje.bsky.social
's review of Season 5's first part.
thespool.net/reviews/tv-r...
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Now familiar Stranger Things Season 5 Part 1 still generates sparks
While there is more to television than openings and endings, one can get a long way by doing them well. Stranger Things Season 5 Part 1 effectively reminds audiences that those are two of the things t...
https://thespool.net/reviews/tv-review-strangers-things-season-5-part-1-netflix-2025/
3 months ago
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Rian Johnson breaks with his
#KnivesOut
formula some in
#WakeUpDeadMan
, delivering a film that balances its humor and twisty mystery with an earnest evaluation of faith and religion, says
@ungajje.bsky.social
.
thespool.net/reviews/film...
3 months ago
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Looking for a film to keep the entire family happy this post-Thanksgiving weekend?
@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social
says you can do worse than WICKED: FOR GOOD. Of course, you can also do better, namely with the franchise's first installment.
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Wicked: For Good is too slow, somber for own good
Typically, two-part movies are the opposite of the Beach Boys’ discography: better in the back half. The first parts of multi-installment movies shot back-to-back, like The Deathly Hallows or…
https://buff.ly/oznBaNd
3 months ago
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@sgorr declares Park Chan-wook's latest, NO OTHER CHOICE, a gift and one of the year's best. (See link in bio)
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No Other Choice but to love this darkly comic tale
The Ax, the American novel No Other Choice adapts, was written in 1997. It came on the tail-end of a period marred by corporate downsizing, with 6 million jobs slashed between 1987 and 1993. The…
https://buff.ly/o4vyDVo
3 months ago
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@UnGajje.bsky.social
praises A MAN ON THE INSIDE Season 2 for empathetically embracing another group too quickly shoved aside as being "outdated": liberal arts institutions. Not to get too punny, but there's no Sophomore slump here.
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A Man on the Inside Season 2 empathetically embeds in academia
Times are hard in higher ed. Well, times are tough all over, if we’re honest. But higher ed is in the midst of a decades-long struggle. People who happily attended colleges and universities and…
https://buff.ly/WWn368Q
3 months ago
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IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT is a masterpiece, declares
@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social
.
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Nothing accidental about the masterful It Was Just an Accident
OOne of the last interviews in Jafar Panahi’s 2015 feature Taxi centers on Nasrin Sotoudeh. In her brief screentime, the human rights lawyer talks about the psychological experiences of those…
https://buff.ly/p1yXOXK
3 months ago
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@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social
admires THE RUNNING MAN's rebel heart, but can't deny its leading man derails the whole thing.
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The Running Man has rebellious dreams, no drive
In his 2025 book One Day, Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This, author Omar El Akkad references a 2016 Roy Scranton essay. In it, El Akkad writes that the veteran “[confronts] the reality that…
https://buff.ly/a3aOsno
4 months ago
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@UnGajje.bsky.social
admits he's too old for BAT-FAM, but that doesn't mean the series doesn't have its charms.
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Bat-Fam is for the kiddos
We age in stages when it comes to television. Or at least that’s this writer’s theory. First, TV is just a collection of colors, shapes, and noises. Hopefully, your parents have selected pleasant…
https://buff.ly/8NiQWLQ
4 months ago
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@UnGajje.bsky.social
is here for the cheesy thrills of a NOW YOU SEE ME NOW YOU DON'T, a film that's short on logic but long on charm.
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Now You See Me Now You Don’t isn’t quite magical
One can imagine an incredible film about magicians that plays it entirely straight. A picture that relys entirely on the performers’ talents for sleight of hand and stagecraft. The magicians as con…
https://buff.ly/VL0do68
4 months ago
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There are so many things
@UnGajje.bsky.social
wants to tell you about
#Pluribus
. But, unfortunately, he can't. So he'll just tell you it's great.
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Many reasons to match Pluribus
In many ways, it is a familiar tale. Something has come to Earth and changed the population. Everyone still looks like people, but they no longer sound or act quite right. Think Invasion of the Body…
https://buff.ly/jpS2UL0
4 months ago
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@UnGajje.bsky.social
finds plenty to love in DOWN CEMETERY ROAD's lead performances but can't quite get over the failure to be the show it starts as.
buff.ly/Do3ZYQD
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Down Cemetery Road, not a bad thing to watch
Like so many massive conspiracies, the one at the heart of Down Cemetery Road unravels for the smallest of reasons. A museum conservationist, Sarah Trafford (Ruth Wilson), wants to bring a girl a…
https://buff.ly/cCoEiEq
4 months ago
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DIE MY LOVE showcases a Jennifer Lawrence at her most free, writes
@sgorr.bsky.social
.
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Jennifer Lawrence is edgy, raw in Die My Love
There’s something unflinching in the air these days when it comes to movies about mothers. If you found If I Had Legs I’d Kick You a rough ride, you’d better buckle up for Die My Love. Lynne Ramsay’s…
https://buff.ly/KZ2DtDY
4 months ago
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@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social
appreciates GOOD FORTUNE's Keanu Reeves' performance, but its low-key vibes eventually become more of a weakness than an advantage.
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Good Fortune has fleeting charms, pressing problems
Sometimes, a movie’s greatest asset is also a fatal drawback. Take the low-key, affable ambiance of writer/director Aziz Ansari’s new comedy Good Fortune. In this production, Ansari plays Arj, a man…
https://buff.ly/dB0ZIe4
4 months ago
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Skip the plane to Macau recommends
@UnGajje.bsky.social
as BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER isn't worth the trip.
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Fold on Ballad of a Small Player
If one’s biggest compliment for a film belongs to a mid-credits dance sequence that doesn’t really have much to do with the plot, it doesn’t bode well for the overall work. Unfortunately, Ballad of a…
https://buff.ly/RilnieI
4 months ago
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Despite an excellent Jacob Elordi,
@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social
finds Guillermo del Toro's FRANKENSTEIN adaptation entirely too rote.
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Frankenstein is a frighteningly familiar beast
Despite Aaron Eckhart’s definitive portrayal of Mary Shelley’s iconic beast in Yo, Frankenstein, filmmakers remain committed to realizing the gothic horror novel on-screen. The latest incarnation of…
https://buff.ly/aPd34cf
4 months ago
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Admitted Kathryn Bigelow-enthusiast
@UnGajje.bsky.social
comes away from A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE disappointed, comparing it to an unfinished in-class essay.
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A House of Dynamite fizzles when it most needs to explode
A House of Dynamite director Kathryn Bigelow has made her name essentially directing two very different kinds of films. Genre pictures like Near Dark and Strange Days mark the first half of her…
https://buff.ly/P4Pji6a
4 months ago
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Despite the challenges inherent in stretching a rom-com's appeal past the first blush,
@UnGajje.bsky.social
finds NOBODY WANTS THIS Season 2 still delivers, albeit with a few less jokes.
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Nobody Wants This Season 2 once again proves its title ironic
Romantic comedies rarely have sequels and with good reason. The kind of energy that makes rom-coms so enjoyable isn’t generally reproducible without diminishing results. At best, you end up with some…
https://buff.ly/1DtSUH4
4 months ago
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Harlan Coben offers his first original to TV series with LAZARUS on Prime Video.
@ungajje.bsky.social
suggests the writer might've done better to keep it to himself.
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Lazarus isn’t dead, not quiet lively
In the past decade, Harlan Coben has been adapted to television 19 times. With Lazarus (or Harlan Coben’s Lazarus as Prime Video stylizes it), he, along with Daniel Brocklehurst, has created his…
https://buff.ly/vKjeRCV
4 months ago
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In anticipation of the final episode of SLOW HORSES Season 5's final episode tomorrow, revisit
@ungajje.bsky.social
's review in which he compares it to the 92-93 Chicago Bulls.
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Slow Horses Season 5 stumbles for the first time
Last year, the team from Slough House went up against as close to a super villain as can exist in their universe, River Cartwright’s (Jack Lowden) biological father, Frank Harkness (Hugo Weaving). It…
https://buff.ly/eTYrgWK
4 months ago
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Slick but too quick to abandon its mystery, THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10 left
@ungajje.bsky.social
feeling soggy.
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The Woman in Cabin 10 needs a life preserver
The Woman in Cabin 10 belongs to a subgenre that goes back to the Vanishing Hotel Room urban legend. In it, a daughter leaves her sick mother in a hotel room to get out and get her medicine. By the…
https://buff.ly/SNCGON6
4 months ago
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THE LAST FRONTIER squanders any chance of being fun and instead gets bogged down in cliché, conspiracy, and melodrama, says
@ungajje.bsky.social
.
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Don’t waste a journey to The Last Frontier
There is something dramatically irresistible about the idea of a prisoner transport plane. Just ask Con Air and people’s stubborn insistence that that film is any good. I’m sorry, your nostalgia for…
https://buff.ly/6BFyJo2
5 months ago
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@ungajje.bsky.social
is a sucker for a Shane Black film and still thinks PLAY DIRTY could be dirtier and more playful.
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Play Dirty could stand to be a bit filthier, friskier
Writer-Director Shane Black, The Predator notwithstanding, is always a must-check-out. From establishing the brand of top-dollar screenwriters to writing-directing delights like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,…
https://buff.ly/Dx1GeCa
5 months ago
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ROOFMAN frustrated
@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social
with its inability to use its plethora of tools to deliver a strong film.
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Roofman teeters between entertaining and frustrating
Derek Cianfrance’s directorial career has centered on the grimmest personal stories imaginable. From Blue Valentine to The Place Beyond the Pines to his HBO miniseries I Know This Much Is True,…
https://buff.ly/bH6KXoL
5 months ago
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ARE WE GOOD? looks beyond Marc Maron's showbiz highs and lows to deliver an incredible film about life, grief, and how to balance the two, enthuses
@sgorr.bsky.social
.
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Are We Good? is a meditation on loss, grief, and life itself
“You’re gonna destroy me with this stupid movie that I let you do, that I’m resisting because you’re annoying,” says Marc Maron in the opening minutes of Are We Good? Even if you don’t know Maron’s…
https://buff.ly/CM4li6K
5 months ago
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@sgorr.bsky.social
has ebullient praise IF I HAD LEGS I'D KICK YOU, a film bold enough to make a movie about motherhood about a hard-to-like mother, not her relationships, and still convinces the audience to understand her.
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If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is a tale of motherhood with serious teeth
In 2025, an unlikeable mother still feels a little risky. Certain types of female selfishness and honesty can be hard for audiences to stomach. Just take a look at the deeply polarized reactions to…
https://buff.ly/5kss4PS
5 months ago
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@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social
praises every aspect of Paul Thomas Anderson's newest, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER. Check out her review now.
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PTA wins countless creative wars in One Battle After Another
Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s movies have never shied away from exposing that distinctly American decay. Anderson’s stories directly rebuke distinctly American visions of immaculate…
https://buff.ly/MLQDNYf
5 months ago
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THE LOST BUS left
@ungajje.bsky.social
with white knuckles, but its intense action can't hide paper-thin characters.
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The Lost Bus tensely careens with ciphers in the seats
Disaster, personified, proves The Lost Bus's best character. In a tick-tock of one harrowing aspect of California’s 2018 Camp Fire, Director Paul Greengrass and cinematographer Pål Ulvik Rokseth cast…
https://buff.ly/64f8DJH
5 months ago
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Too often HIM defaults to bland cliché when the film is begging to let its freak flag fly, reports
@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social
.
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Shockingly hollow HIM fumbles
In July 2009, a philosopher by the name of Adam Young waxed poetic in the song “Fireflies” about the instability of reality. Specifically, he pontificated \“I’d like to make myself believe/That…
https://buff.ly/cX8iZhw
5 months ago
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A BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY's self-consciousness repeatedly undermines its stars, attempts at romantic fantasy, says
@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social
.
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Snark interferes with taking A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
After helming a pair of quiet indies (Columbus and After Yang) focused on meditative conversations and complicated connections between people, director Kogonada leaps into the major studio cinema…
https://buff.ly/lF0FbA8
5 months ago
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