Category: The Twenty-First Century
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Arrival [2016] ★★★★
Filmmaker Denis Villeneuve follows up “Incendies“, “Prisoners”, “Enemy” and “Sicario” with his most ambitious movie yet. “Arrival” is a first rate science-fiction movie: Clever, completely immersive and hauntingly beautiful. In short: it’s a masterpiece. But artistic ambition can be a bitch in this day and age. Audiences seeking a straightforward story might complain about the…
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Allied [2016] ★★★
World War II movies have been around since…well World War II, that you start to wonder if there’s still room for more. But I have faith in director Robert Zemeckis (“Cast Away”, “Forrest Gump”) and I have nothing but admiration for Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard. They play intelligence officer Max Vatan and French Resistance fighter…
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![NDU INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL [2016]](https://tlkabtmovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/untitled-1.jpg?w=1024)
NDU INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL [2016]
It was such an exciting experience to attend this year’s edition of the NDU international film festival, sponsored by Bank of Beirut. The festival has been going strong since it was first introduced back in 2006, showcasing some of the finest young filmmakers in the country. I’ve been attending the festival for several years now, but…
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Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them [2016] ★★★½
Little did I dream when I first encountered the magical world of Hogwarts some 15 years ago (wow has it been that long?) that I would become so attached to Harry Potter and his friends, and enjoy the experience of revisiting this world every couple of years. “Now what?” was my first reaction when “Deathly Hallows…
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Shut In [2016] ★★
Tagline says “a heart pounding thriller” but all I saw was a thriller made by people who have never seen a real thriller before. Naomi Watts plays a widowed child psychologist who lives with her bedridden son. When one of the boys she’s treating goes missing one night, she becomes convinced that some kind of ghost…
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Trolls [2016] ★★★
They were everywhere when I was growing up: in movies, on TV, in toy stores. I’m talking about Trolls, the miniature creatures with colorful hair who spend most of their time singing and dancing. While mainly aimed at kids, this 2016 version of “Trolls” has enough classic songs to satisfy older audiences as well. Needless…
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American Pastoral [2016] ★★
Ewan McGregor’s directorial debut is a disappointing take on Phillip Roth’s Pulitzer-winning 1997 novel about a family man (McGregor) who finds his life spiralling out of control when his 16 year old daughter (Dakota Fanning) rebels by committing a terrorist act during the Vietnam War. On paper, you can’t go wrong with a family drama…
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Doctor Strange [2016] ★★★
It’s always refreshing to encounter a new kind of hero in this already overstuffed superhero cinematic universe. DC unleashed “Batman V Superman” and “Suicide Squad” earlier this year, while Marvel delivered one of their best movies yet: “Civil War”. Is there room for more? The answer is yes and he goes by the name of…
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Hacksaw Ridge [2016] ★★★½
Mel Gibson’s tribute to Private Desmond T. Doss, the man who single-handedly saved 75 wounded soldiers during the battle of Hacksaw Ridge in 1945 Japan, is nothing short of a triumph. Gibson also stages some of the best action scenes I’ve seen in a war movie, but that’s not the only reason why “Hacksaw Ridge” works…
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Ouija: Origin Of Evil [2016] ★★½
If you saw the horrible first movie back in 2014, then you’re probably trying to avoid this prequel, and understandably so. But to be completely honest, “Origin of Evil” is a much scarier film. For one, it has a decent story to tell and a genuinely creepy atmosphere. Sure it borrows a lot from “The…
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Boo! A Madea Halloween [2016] ★
10 thoughts that went through my head during Tyler Perry’s latest abomination “Boo! A Madea Halloween” (cool title, huh?). This can’t be as bad as all the previous Madea movies. I mean it’s a Halloween movie and it should be at least enjoyable. Right? Uh oh 5 minutes into this movie and I already cannot…
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The Accountant [2016] ★★★
It could have been a straightforward action movie with nothing new to offer, but “The Accountant” has a lot to offer, including a memorable performance from its leading man: Ben Affleck. He plays an accountant, but not your average accountant. Away from his boring job at a CPA office, he freelances as an accountant for some…
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Jack Reacher: Never Go Back [2016] ★★
It’s the curse of the sequels all over again. “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2” and “Independence Day: Resurgence” earlier this year, and now “Never Go Back”, the sequel to 2012’s “Jack Reacher also starring Tom Cruise. The first film wasn’t innovative in any way, but it was a highly entertaining action thriller and I…
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Inferno [2016] ★★½
It’s been a decade since Ron Howard’s big screen adaptation of the controversial “The Da Vinci Code” hit theaters and was met with a negative reaction from critics and audiences alike. “Angels & Demons” followed in 2009 and despite its muddled plot, it was a much more superior film. Now the third installment (once again starring the…
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The Girl On The Train [2016] ★½
From the trailer and synopsis you would think this is a solid thriller, much like David Fincher’s “Gone Girl” in which Ben Affleck’s wife disappears without a trace. But from the opening scene, something was off. “The Girl On The Train” is a tedious film; badly scripted, awkwardly acted, and just downright ridiculous at times.…
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USS Indianapolis: Men Of Courage [2016] ★
Id’ rather shoot myself in the foot than watch a Nicolas Cage movie these days. I know that. You guys know that by now. And yet, judging from the synopsis, you would expect a decent tribute to the crew of the USS Indianapolis, who were stranded in the Philippine Sea for five days after delivering the…
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Deepwater Horizon [2016] ★★
It’s the worst oil spill in American history. April 20, 2010, 35 miles off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico, a deepwater drilling rig explodes, killing 11 people and injuring many others. Director Peter Berg depicts the events leading up to the explosion, and I gotta tell you folks, I couldn’t care less for…
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Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children [2016] ★★½
Tim Burton’s “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” is a showcase for spectacular visual effects, a top notch production design, and endless movie references (I could swear the opening scene was straight out of Ed Wood’s “Plan 9 from Outer Space”. And look, there’s a tribute to Ray Harryhausen’s skeleton army from “Jason and the…
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Hell Or High Water [2016] ★★★½
The movie with the worst trailer also turned out to be one of the year’s finest crime dramas. Working from a fierce script by Taylor Sheridan (“Sicario”. Need I say more?), director David Mackenzie sucks us in with incredible skill. The movie opens with Chris Pine and Ben Foster (both absolutely sensational by the way)…
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The Magnificent Seven [2016] ★★★
Early reviews from the Toronto film festival dismissed this movie as a mere attempt to remake yet another Hollywood classic. I confess: I cringed at the idea at first. The 1960 film starring Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner and Charles Bronson (which in turn was based on Akira Kurosawa’s Japanese masterpiece “Seven Samurai”) stood the test of…
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