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The Trial of the Chicago 7

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  • Title: The Trial of the Chicago 7
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The Trial of the Chicago 7 movie reviewIn a year which has seen both a rise of public protest and attempts by both state and federal to squelch freedom of assembly comes a timely film from writer/director Aaron Sorkin looking back at the anti–Vietnam War protesters known as the Chicago Seven. While jumping over large parts of the trial, and using flashbacks to reveal events out of order, The Trial of the Chicago 7 certainly takes dramatic license. As a result, it’s not a great trial movie, but is still an engaging and moving film.

Leading the protest of the 1968 Democratic National Convention which ended in police violence, Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen), Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne), Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp), David Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch), Lee Weiner (Noah Robbins), and John Froines (Danny Flaherty) were all charged with crossing state lines with the intention of inciting a riot. Also on trial was Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who despite not being present at the riots (or connected to the other defendants), found himself guilty by association for the inflammatory speech he gave that day.

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Over the Moon

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  • Title: Over the Moon
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Over the Moon movie reviewPearl Studios‘ Over the Moon feels very much like its first feature. As in Abominable, we’re introduced to a young female Asian protagonist struggling with the loss of a parent who goes off on an adventure and learns an important lesson. While hitting many of the same emotional notes, Over the Moon isn’t as successful or magical as Abominable. Our heroine this time is Fei Fei (Cathy Ang), struggling with his father’s choice to remarry four years after the death of her mother (Ruthie Ann Miles). Using a child’s logic, she decides if she can prove the truth of a the legend of the Chinese goddess of the Moon she can prevent the wedding.

Building her own rocket, because that’s the kind of movie this is where a smart girl can build a rocket out of garbage to reach the moon, with her rabbit and stowaway brother-to-be (Robert G Chiu), Fei Fei reaches the moon where she encounters Chang’e (Phillipa Soo) who comes off more moody pop star than legendary figure living in a bright land filled with candied creatures on the moon. In helping to give Chang’e what she needs, Fei Fei discovers a lesson about love, loss, and life. The film features a number of songs, although those about loss and moon pies turn out far better than those about math.

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A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

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  • Title: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
  • IMDb: link

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon movie review

Shaun the Sheep meets E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon when an alien lands outside of Mossingham. While it fails to reach the heights of 2015’s Shaun the Sheep Movie, Farmageddon works as a all-ages adventure playing on themes of the series including the give-and-take between the mischievous sheep (Justin Fletcher) and the farm’s sheepdog Bitzer (John Sparkes) as well as opening up world of Shaun the Sheep to a much wider and diverse universe.

As you would expect from a Shaun the Sheep feature, the stop-motion animation is top notch, and the story of Shaun getting into trouble with the lost Lu-La (Amalia Vitale) hits all the right emotional beats. Even the inclusion of a subplot involving an obsessed government agent (Kate Harbour) ends in warm feels. The film’s title comes from the amusement park the Farmer (Sparkes) has the sheep construct to make money off the alien craze that pops-up around town following the first sighting. There are plenty of nods and Easter eggs to sci-fi fans (my favorites being both the use of the use of the Close Encounters of the Third Kind music and the cameo from The Doctor).

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Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

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  • Title: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
  • IMDb: link

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm movie reviewIt’s been 14 years since Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan was a success in the United States. Unfortunately for the Kazakh television journalist Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen), the movie did not do so well at home leading to trouble for the would-be documentarian who was imprisoned for bringing shame on his country. As the sequel opens, Borat is given a second chance to redeem his honor, and that of his country, by presenting a gift to Vice Premier, er… Vice President, Mike Pence.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is very similar to Borat in setting Sacha Baron Cohen loose in public and letting the cameras roll. Because of the recognizability of the character at this point, there’s even a Halloween costume of him, Borat is forced to disguise himself over the course of the film whose primary target this time around is the Christian Right, Trump supporters, and the Republican Party who, as Cohen proves, don’t need much help to look foolish on film. Maria Bakalova co-stars as Borat’s daughter whose relationship with her father provides the emotional undercurrent of the film.

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Terminator: Dark Fate

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  • Title: Terminator: Dark Fate
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Terminator: Dark Fate movie reviewThe latest desperate attempt to breathe new life into the franchise is awkwardly inconsistent while pushing a laudable girl power message through a mine field of a plot that often blows up in the actors’ faces. Knocking off John Connor in the pre-credit sequence (which apparently cures his mother’s cancer?) creates a new timeline for Terminator: Dark Fate in which Skynet never rose but an almost identical artificial intelligence with time-travelling robots (lamely named Legion) comes to power. Set in the present, a Terminator (Gabriel Luna) and an enhanced soldier (Mackenzie Davis) are sent back in time. The target is a young woman (Natalia Reyes) who will grow to fill the void left by John’s death.

Ignoring all events after T2, the new timeline allows for the return of Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Skynet’s final Terminator now passing for human. Although it earns points for removing Terminator Salvation from continuity, the brain-melting Dark Fate is inferior in every way to Rise of the Machines which remains the only Terminator movie that thought out the lasting ramifications of time travel.

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