Category: The Twenty-First Century
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Demolition [2016] ★★
There are some good moments in Jean-Marc Vallée’s movie about a man trying to deal with the loss of his wife in the most unusual ways. Jake Gyllenhaal plays that man, an investment banker who randomly starts sending complaint letters to a vending machine company. These letters soon turn into a series of confessions about his…
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The Boss [2016] ★½
Pairing likable actress Kristen Bell (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall”) and the funny Melissa McCarthy (who was hilarious in last year’s “Spy”) as the title character in “The Boss” would seem like a perfect setup for yet another instant hit. Right? Wrong. The result is a painfully unfunny film and that’s putting it mildly. McCarthy plays a…
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Hitchcock/Truffaut [2015] ★★★½
Fascinating documentary is a must-see for every cinephile out there. Film Historian Kent Jones aims high and succeeds with flying colors as he takes us back to 1962, when a young Francois Truffaut asked Master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock to sit for an 8 day interview. And what an interview it was! We get to…
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![10 Cloverfield Lane [2016] ★★★](https://tlkabtmovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/10c_1-sht_online_teaser_alt1.jpg?w=831)
10 Cloverfield Lane [2016] ★★★
I never thought I’d be reviewing a sequel to J.J Abrams’ 2008 surprise monster hit “Cloverfield”, but here we are. “10 Cloverfield Lane”, this time directed by Dan Trachtenberg has literally come out of nowhere. It was only back in January that the studio released a mysterious trailer announcing the movie. The reason? To keep…
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My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 [2016] ★½
It took me a few days to actually sit down and write a review about “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2”. Was I trying to convince myself that what I witnessed wasn’t a disaster? Perhaps. But it was. It really was. The first movie was released back in 2002, and while it didn’t reinvent the…
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Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice [2016] ★★★
The wait is over. The superhero event of the year is finally here. “Batman V Superman” emerges as a blockbuster that is compelling, well crafted and perfectly cast. As someone who had no idea what to expect from Ben Affleck as the caped crusader, I now emit a huge sigh of relief. Without spoiling too much,…
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Eye In The Sky [2016] ★★★
Director Gavin Hood scores a bullseye in this moral debate on drone warfare that is both thought provoking and incredibly suspenseful. Helen Mirren is dynamite as a British army colonel ordering a U.S military drone to target a Somali terrorist organization. Sounds like a routine task? It isn’t. That’s because Alia, a young Kenyan girl,…
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The Witch [2016] ★★½
Despite its critical acclaim (89% on Rotten Tomatoes is a damn near perfect score for a horror movie), I didn’t fully appreciate writer-director Robert Eggers’ debut “The Witch”. It has so many good elements, including beautiful cinematography and a superior, haunting score by Mark Korven. The story is quite intriguing as well: it’s 1630 and…
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13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi [2016] ★★½
First the good news: this is better than most of Michael Bay’s movies (if not all). In paying tribute to the six American security operators who fought bravely during an attack by Islamic militants on September 11 2012 in Benghazi (that’s in Libya, just in case), Bay has managed to stage some pulse pounding action scenes…
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The Other Side Of The Door [2016] ★½
Dull, uninspired horror movie about a mother who learns of an ancient ritual that will bring her dead son back for one last goodbye. There’s only one catch: she mustn’t open the door that separates the dead from the living or else all hell will break loose. Does she end up opening it anyway? Duh. Derivative…
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Kung Fu Panda 3 [2016] ★★★
I watch every movie with a “3” in its title expecting the worst. But it seems that the people behind “Kung Fu Panda 3” have managed to break the curse. This sequel is as colorful and as entertaining as the previous installments and I couldn’t be happier to report that. Jack Black scores yet another…
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The Divergent Series: Allegiant [2016] ★★
I don’t know about you but I’ve reached a point where I can’t tell the difference between “The Divergent” series and “The Maze Runner” series anymore. These movies seem awfully similar to me and to be honest, it’s becoming redundantly redundant. Even the fact that the final chapter is being divided into two parts for…
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Zootropolis [2016] ★★★½
I’m a sucker for Disney movies. But while I enjoyed most of their recent features (“Frozen”, “Big Hero 6”), I can’t remember the last time I loved a Disney animated movie as much as I loved “Zootropolis” (or “Zootopia” in the States). It evokes the best qualities of classic Disney, while adding fresh elements that seem damn…
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London Has Fallen [2016] ★½
Instead of “Prepare for bloody hell”, tagline should read “You paid money to see the same movie…twice”. I’m not kidding. “London Has Fallen”, the sequel to 2013’s “Olympus Has Fallen“, is exactly the same plot, except it’s set in London. Talk about being original! Just to be clear though, I’ve got nothing against a good…
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45 Years [2015] ★★★
Charlotte Rampling received a well deserved Oscar Nomination for her quietly devastating performance in “45 Years”, a well made drama about a couple getting ready for their 45th wedding anniversary. A few days before the party, the husband (Tom Courtenay) receives shattering news from Switzerland about a former girlfriend who went missing some 50 years…
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Kings Of Egypt [2016] ★½
“Please make it stop!” I kept shouting at the screen as I suffered through this endless CGI-driven crap-fest starring Gerard Butler as a merciless God who is ruling the once peaceful Egypt with an iron fist. Now it’s up to a mortal hero (Brendon Thwaites, clueless) to team up with Game of Thrones’ Nicolaj Coster-Waldau…
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Zoolander 2 [2016] ★½
Somebody owes me an explanation. I left “Zoolander 2” wondering how bad things happened to two of my favorite comedians, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. What the hell happened dudes? You guys were funny in the first “Zoolander” movie back in 2001, and I still have fond memories of 2004’s “Starsky and Hutch”. So why…
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Risen [2016] ★★½
Biblical movies range from epic (“Ben-Hur”) to just plain terrible (“Son of God”). “Risen”, the latest from director Kevin Reynolds (“Waterworld”), falls somewhere in between. It’s a well made film starring Joseph Fiennes as Clavius, the fierce Roman militarist who had a mission to prove that Jesus didn’t rise from the dead and that he…
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Trumbo [2015] ★★★
Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”) is terrific and worthy of his Oscar nomination, playing Dalton Trumbo, the famous screenwriter who joined the Communist party in the 1940’s and was blacklisted in Hollywood. As a result, he lost his job and fortune, forcing him to use a pseudonym to write Oscar winning movies like “Roman Holiday” and “The…
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Hail, Caesar! [2016] ★★½
The Coen brothers’ love letter to post-WWII Hollywood is no match to their older films, but it has a great cast and enough production values to keep you amused for a while. It paints an evocative picture of Hollywood and the methodology of filmmaking from that era, while offering solid roles for Josh Brolin and Georges Clooney,…
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