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A Kinder 'Cruella'? Film Reimagines The Dalmatian Villain With Spotty Success

Friday, May 28, 2021

Emma Stone gives her all in a tricky role as the puppycidal fashionista of Disney's Dalmatians franchise. Cruella isn't a bad movie, but it fails to make its protagonist bad enough.

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Gripping Marital Drama 'Killing Of Two Lovers' Is Brooding But Never Dull

Friday, May 21, 2021

Every era has its own great end-of-a-marriage movie. This psychologically raw film, about a small-town Utah couple who agree to a trial separation, is ours.

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Amy Adams Is The Best Thing In An Otherwise Mechanical 'Woman In The Window'

Friday, May 14, 2021

A woman with agoraphobia becomes embroiled in her neighbor's drama in a new thriller based on Dan Mallory's novel. Adams is very good — but the movie doesn't prove entirely worthy of her.

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'The Disciple' Is Triumphant, Even As It Tells A Story Of Failure

Wednesday, May 05, 2021

A young man from Mumbai aspires to be a great classical singer — but he's an erratic performer at best. The Disciple is a richly layered story of artistic struggle.

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Bittersweet Film 'About Endlessness' Highlights Life's Humor And Despair

Friday, April 30, 2021

A priest loses his faith. A woman breaks the heel of her shoe. A couple visits their child's grave. Life unfolds as a series of stylized, bone-dry comic sketches in Roy Andersson's sublime new film.

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A Gay White Teen Struggles To Exist In Apartheid South Africa In 'Moffie'

Friday, April 23, 2021

The brutal and mesmerizing new film takes place in South Africa in 1981, where 16-year-old Nicholas is coming to grips with his homosexuality in an environment that couldn't be more hostile to it.

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In 'The Father,' Anthony Hopkins' Mind Is Playing Tricks On Him — And On You

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Few films have gone as deeply into the recesses of dementia as The Father. Hopkins plays a man whose mind has become a prison — and we're trapped right alongside him.

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'Quo Vadis, Aida?' Reckons With The Devastating Legacy Of The Bosnian War

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

A tense new film, set in the town Srebrenica, conveys the terror of the events of July 1995, where more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslims were murdered by the Bosnian Serb Army.

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'Raya And The Last Dragon' Is Not Entirely New, But It's Refreshing Nonetheless

Friday, March 05, 2021

Disney's first animated film to feature Southeast Asian characters follows a young girl's quest to recover the pieces of a magical jewel. The film has an emotional power that sneaks up on you.

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In 'Nomadland,' Discover The Joy And Sorrow Of The Road Less Traveled

Friday, February 19, 2021

Frances McDormand plays a widow who travels the U.S. taking on work wherever she can find it in a new film based on Jessica Bruder's 2017 book. Nomadland understands loss in a way that few movies do.

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'Judas And The Black Messiah' Is A Tense Thriller About The Black Panther Party

Friday, February 12, 2021

A powerful new film focuses on the last year in the life of Fred Hampton, the chairman of the Black Panthers' Illinois chapter, who was only 21 when he was killed during a raid planned by the FBI.

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These International Films Demonstrate The Power And Persistence Of Love

Friday, February 05, 2021

Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time is a dizzying noir that never heads where you expect. Two of Us is a crafty thriller that touches on elder abuse and LGBT couples' rights.

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'The Little Things' Is A Star-Studded, Old-School Serial Killer Thriller

Friday, January 29, 2021

Set in the 1990s, this slickly made drama starring Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto may look like a retread, but it feels more like a weirdly enveloping trip down memory lane.

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In 'White Tiger,' A Dickensian Rags-To-Riches Story Turns Psychological Thriller

Friday, January 22, 2021

In this adaptation of Aravind Adiga's 2008 novel, a young man defies the odds by escaping poverty in a rapidly globalizing India. The White Tiger is a dark satire — with an eat-the-rich ethos.

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'Promising Young Woman' And 'Pieces Of A Woman' Examine Trauma And Revenge

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Two new films center on the lingering effects of trauma and tragedy. Carey Mulligan is woman bent on revenge in Promising Young Woman; Vanessa Kirby is a mother whose baby dies in Pieces of a Woman.

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A Terrific Year For Smaller Films: Critic Justin Chang Pairs 10 Favorites From 2020

Thursday, December 24, 2020

Even though most of us stayed away from movie theaters, 2020 was a banner year for independent narrative films, feature-length documentaries and pictures of all types and genres from overseas.

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'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' Is A Parting Gift From Actor Chadwick Boseman

Friday, December 18, 2020

Boseman died of cancer in 2020, not long after he finished shooting this adaptation of August Wilson's play. His final screen performance — as a troubled trumpet player — ranks among his best.

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An Immigrant Family Is Reunited After 17 Years In The Sweetly Moving 'Farewell Amor'

Friday, December 11, 2020

The film opens in an airport where a man greets the wife and daughter he hasn't seen in years. Farewell Amor is a deeply empathetic story about the struggles and anxieties of one immigrant family.

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Exquisitely Detailed And Impeccably Made, 'Mank' Is A Dazzling Feat

Monday, December 07, 2020

David Fincher's new film is a playful weave of fact and fiction as it reimagines the story of Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz in the years that inspired the Hollywood masterpiece.

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'Happiest Season' Is Cinematic Comfort Food For The Holidays

Monday, November 30, 2020

In this endearing farce, Kristen Stewart plays a woman planning to meet her girlfriend's family and propose marriage. The problem? The girlfriend's never actually come out to her folks.

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