Category Archives: Movies

Review: Midsommar

Posted on February 21, 2020 by philipbrasor

I’ll give hot horror director Ari Aster this much: He really knows how to set the stage for his twisty mischief. Like his earlier potboiler, Hereditary, Midsommar opens with a deceptively bleak slice of melodrama. Dani (Frances Pugh), a grad … Continue reading →

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Review: A Hidden Life

Posted on February 19, 2020 by philipbrasor

What’s immediately striking about Terrence Malick’s newest movie is that its premise does most of the work for him. Malick is known for imprinting a characteristic visual style and spiritual tone on all his stories, regardless of their provenance or … Continue reading →

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Review: 1917

Posted on February 14, 2020 by philipbrasor

Most bets were on Sam Mendes’s World War I epic to take the Best Picture Oscar at last week’s Academy Awards ceremony, but no one seems to be griping that he was robbed. I guess that most people who saw … Continue reading →

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Review: The Good Liar

Posted on February 8, 2020 by philipbrasor

The first thing that needs to be said about The Good Liar for those who look to reviews for recommendations is that it’s essentially a straightforward adaptation of what sounds like a trashy thriller novel made respectable by the casting … Continue reading →

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Review: Hustlers

Posted on February 7, 2020 by philipbrasor

The post-2007 recession will continue to supply movies and TV dramas with endless examples of capitalist venality and the resulting suffering of the masses, but so far there’s been what seems like an even divide between comedy (The Big Short, … Continue reading →

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Review: Knives Out

Posted on January 31, 2020 by philipbrasor

At this late date there’s little originality to be squeezed from the rind of the classic drawing room murder mystery epitomized by the work of Agatha Christie. Personally, I’ve always found the genre, with its strictly structured setups, carefully dropped … Continue reading →

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Review: La promesse de l’aube (Promise at Dawn)

Posted on January 30, 2020 by philipbrasor

When you look at the life of French novelist Romain Gary, there are a lot of incidental notes that could make for fascinating sidetrips by themselves. One is that he is the only French writer to have ever won the … Continue reading →

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Review: The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

Posted on January 24, 2020 by philipbrasor

It’s the slightest of serendipities to note that two days after the great Terry Jones died at the age of 77, another Terry who toiled in the same comedy group and, like Jones, a man who made a second career … Continue reading →

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Review: Horse Thieves

Posted on January 20, 2020 by philipbrasor

The unwieldy title of this feature film from Kazakhstan that was trotted out for film festivals is The Horse Thieves, The Road of Time, which is far too much information and points to a loss of clarity as to what … Continue reading →

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Review: The Aeronauts (Into the Sky)

Posted on January 19, 2020 by philipbrasor

About the only way to approach Tom Harper’s two-handed adventure film is as a problem in search of a solution. Though based thinly on a true story (or, more exactly, elements from several true stories), the film’s adventure component is … Continue reading →

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