Reviews

The Bridge is one of the best anti-war movies I’ve ever seen. Certainly its about the futility of war, but it goes farther than that.

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Vinegar Syndrome’s DVD release of the 1969 Nazisploitation/sexploitation flick The Cut-Throats — limited to 1,500 copies — is a very basic one. It has a 2k restoration, along with the original trailer, and that’s about it.

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Spanish language beat-em-up Redeemer from director Ernesto Díaz Espinoza doesn’t quite make up in its action chops what it lacks in its screenplay.

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Beloved Sisters, out now on Blu Ray and DVD through Music Box Films, is a dull slog through Enlightenment-era Europe about two aristocratic sisters who fall in love with German writer Friedrich Schiller.

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Damian Szifron’s extraordinarily fun and twisted movie Wild Tales, out on Blu-ray tomorrow, was nominated for a best foreign language film Oscar earlier this year.

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Jurassic World is a bad impression of a Spielberg film. It rips off all of the bombast, but manages to capture none of the likability of the first one, instead resorting to basic fan service and overt nods to the original. Maybe worst of all, Jurassic World is stupid.

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Sophie Barthes removes any focus on Charles in her retelling of Madame Bovary. In doing so she undermines many of the strengths of Gustav Flaubert’s novel.

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Chappie, out on Blu-ray now, may be a mess, but it has a strange kind of staying power, amidst all the madness.

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Red Army, out on Blu-ray now, runs parallel to the events that led to the fall of the Soviet Union and reiterates Communist ideals through the sport of hockey.

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Whether you are new to Brian Wilson’s story or you are looking for an excuse to pull out your Pet Sounds vinyl, Love & Mercy is a well-crafted ode to an inspirational figure, and an entertaining and well-acted film.

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Feig’s ability to breathe fresh air into a somewhat stale concept bodes well for his and Ms. McCarthy’s expected reboot of the Ghostbusters franchise, which might very well succeed if it is as sharp and creative with its writing and comedy set pieces as Spy is.

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BASE Jumping founder Carl Boenish was fearless, but Sunshine Superman makes the mistake of taking the emphasis away from Boenish’s exciting, envelope-pushing film work to tell a story that doesn’t celebrate his cinematic risk-taking or convey the excitement of his skydiving stunts.

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Currently playing at the Seattle International Film Festival, and riding high on the laurels won at Cannes and the Caesars (Adèle Haenel won Best Actress at both), Love at First Fight is a light, interesting, gorgeous, and ultimately successful take on the familiar rom-com standard.

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Currently playing at the Seattle International Film Festival, A Blast is anything but, and only hints at something potentially special beneath all the misshapen debris.

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Showing at SIFF 2015 now, the doc License to Operate examines the volunteer organizations that have formed in L.A. in an effort to curb violence and create lasting lines of communications between the neighborhoods and civic officials (police included).

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