Category: The Twenty-First Century
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Ordinary Love [2020] ★★★
I was reluctant to see this film when I first saw it playing in theaters this week. I didn’t think a movie about a couple dealing with cancer was something I needed to experience right now. But having heard all the good buzz, I finally caved in. This is a well-crafted drama that has all…
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Sonic The Hedgehog [2020] ★★½
Ok ok, I might be a little bit biased here, but this live-action version of one of the most influential video games of the 90’s is actually…fun? I know, I’m a bit surprised myself. But get this: as someone who grew up with the blue hedgehog (I pretty much owned every Sonic game on the…
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Birds Of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn) [2020] ★★★
Doubters can relax: this is the Harley Quinn movie we’ve all been waiting for. 2016’s “Suicide Squad” briefly introduced us to this flamboyant character (at least on the big screen), but “Birds of Prey” moves things forward in ways you don’t always see coming. It’s a colorful, over-the-top and often hilarious film that rarely pulls…
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Uncut Gems [2019] ★★★½
To say that “Uncut Gems” is Adam Sandler’s best movie in years would truly be the understatement of the year. But here’s the thing: when he’s not being a goofball in lazy, recycled comedies, Sandler can act. For further proof, check him out in Paul Thomas Anderson’s underrated “Punch-Drunk Love” or in Judd Apatow’s “Funny…
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Little Women [2019] ★★★★
I didn’t think I’d care for another version of “Little Women”, but now that I’ve seen what writer-director Greta Gerwig has managed to achieve, I have to apologize. This is a beautiful film from start to finish, a staggering achievement from a filmmaker that doesn’t play by the rules. How can a story written by…
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Just Mercy [2019] ★★★
Jamie Foxx plays a man wrongfully convicted of a murder he did not commit. Michael B. Jordan is the lawyer who vowed to clear his name and get him out of death row. That’s “Just Mercy” in a nutshell, a straightforward but deeply touching film that you need to experience before it gets lost in…
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The Gentlemen [2020] ★★★
After “King Arthur” and last year’s “Aladdin”, Guy Ritchie finds himself revisiting old grounds in “The Gentlemen”. It’s not the director’s best work, but it has all the right ingredients to satisfy his loyal followers. A great ensemble cast? Check. An intriguing story? Check. Richie’s usual trademark? Double Check. In telling the story of how…
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![The Best [reviewed] Movies of the Decade 2010 – 2019](https://tlkabtmovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/featured-image.jpg?w=1024)
The Best [reviewed] Movies of the Decade 2010 – 2019
If you had told me in 2010 that I would be sitting here 10 years later compiling a list of my highest rated films of the decade, I would have probably laughed and stopped listening. And yet here we are. It’s been one hell of a ride, with over 2000 reviews written. Not every film…
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Bad Boys For Life [2020] ★★½
It doesn’t reinvigorate the genre or take the franchise in completely different directions, but “Bad Boys For Life” has a pair of live wires that would make any action flick rise above the routine. I’m talking about Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, who are still just as entertaining to watch as they were 25 years…
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Like A Boss [2020] ★
This painfully unfunny comedy, courtesy of Miguel Arteta, is easily the worst film of the decade so far. Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne are wasted as Bffs who run a small, local cosmetics company. Enter Claire Luna (Salma Hayek, so bad), a giant in the industry who offers to cover their huge debts, as long…
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Richard Jewell [2019] ★★★
Simply put, “Richard Jewell” is director Clint Eastwood’s best film since 2016’s “Sully”. Yep, Eastwood, 89, is still out there making films that resonate with audiences in 2020. It’s a thing to admire, but I expect nothing less from the man who gave us “Gran Torino”, “Invictus”, “American Sniper” and “Sully” in the span of…
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Parasite [2019] ★★★★
Like a powerful punch to the gut. That’s how Bong Joon Ho comes at you with his latest cinematic masterpiece “Parasite”. It’s a thing of beauty and terror; a bold and audacious look at the gap between the haves and the have-nots as seen through the eyes of a Korean family living in a miserable…
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Jojo Rabbit [2019] ★★★
It doesn’t always hit all the right notes, but there’s something charming and irresistible about this World War II satire, courtesy of Taika Waititi. “Jojo Rabbit” is just as quirky as it sounds, as we follow Johannes “Jojo” Betzler, a 10-year-old German boy who also happens to be a die-hard Hitler fan. One day, he…
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The Grudge [2020] ★½
It’s January, which means we either get an Oscar contender or a movie that nobody asked for. Case in point: “The Grudge”, a lazy attempt at reviving a franchise that was dormant for many years now. Still, I gave this film a chance to prove me wrong, especially with Sam Raimi being a producer on…
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1917 [2019] ★★★½
I don’t use the word “immersive” lightly, but that’s probably the best way to describe Sam Mendes’ masterful “1917”. From the first frame to the last, Mendes and his cinematographer, the legendary Roger Deakins, have managed to pull-off the impossible: follow two soldiers (in what seems to be one continuous take) through uncharted territory as…
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The Farewell [2019] ★★★
I ended the year with a movie and I’m starting my 10th year on this blog with a review about it. “The Farewell”, written and directed by Lulu Wang and starring Awkwafina in a superior performance, is a film that you need to experience. In telling the story of how a Chinese woman living in…
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The Lighthouse [2019] ★★★
As someone who didn’t fully embrace Robert Eggers’ directorial debut “The Witch”, I thought his latest effort was a much superior exercise in psychological terror. “The Lighthouse”, co-written by Eggers and his brother Max and starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as lighthouse keepers trying to maintain their sanity while living on a remote island,…
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The Two Popes [2019] ★★★
It’s the news that rocked the world back in 2013: Pope Benedict stepped down as the head of the Catholic church, leaving millions in doubt, before his successor Pope Francis emerged as an unlikely savior. And the rest, as they, is history. But what exactly went on behind closed curtains? This is where “The Two…
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Bombshell [2019] ★★½
“Bombshell” flirts with greatness so many times, it’s a shame it never truly reaches its full potential. It has an important story to tell, no doubt about that, and just the right actors to carry it through. But there’s still something missing. Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie play the women who dropped a…
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Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker [2019] ★★★
It’s the epic conclusion we’ve all been waiting for. The “Star Wars” saga comes full circle in “The Rise of Skywalker”, a film many deemed “impossible” to make, following its controversial predecessor. Having enjoyed the new trilogy so far (yes, including “The Last Jedi”, and if this makes me part of a minority, then so…
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