Movie Reviews

September 5

  • Title: September 5
  • IMDb: link

At only 94 minutes, September 5 is a surprisingly short and concise look back at the events of the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics through the lens of the ABC Sports team who were on the ground and on the air when the incident occurred putting them at the forefront of the coverage. Director Tim Fehlbaum‘s film stays with our newsmen covering their actions and perspectives as events unfold in real time, fighting to stay on the air and keep the coverage, and not providing the audience any information not uncovered by the team.

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A Real Pain

  • Title: A Real Pain
  • IMDb: link

Most notable for Kieran Culkin‘s performance, A Real Pain stars Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg (who also wrote and directed) in and odd couple pairing as cousins visiting Poland after their grandmother’s death hoping to reconnect with their Jewish heritage and feel closer to her one last time. Starting out with a Holocaust tour group the pair find themselves shown around Poland landmarks ranging from restaurants to a concentration camp with an eclectic group who include Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Liza Sadovy, Daniel Oreskes, and Kurt Egyiawan, before moving off on their own to find their grandmother’s home.

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Nickel Boys

  • Title: Nickel Boys
  • IMDb: link

Presented from a first-person perspective with the camera acting as the eyes of our protagonist, Nickel Boys is a hard film to review both in terms of subject matter and in how the story is framed for the audience. The technique certainly allows the film to stick out, even when the person whose perspective unexpectedly shifts between our main character Elwood Curtis (Ethan Herisse) who finds himself in a reform school after being in the wrong place at the wrong time and Turner (Brandon Wilson) who he meets at Nickel Academy. 

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A Complete Unknown

  • Title: A Complete Unknown
  • IMDb: link

“You’re kind of an asshole, Bob.”

There’s a scene between Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) and Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) after their first night together that sums up the themes of the movie succinctly. Returning to music over her, while also offering an offhand dismissal of her work, Bob still brings her back to his bed through his songwriting. In a nutshell, just as Ms. Baez so eloquently puts it, Bob is indeed an asshole. However, he’s one hell of a talented asshole.

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Nosferatu: A Symphony of Silly Nonsense

  • Title: Nosferatu
  • IMDb: link

Once a serious horror movie has you giggling at it, it’s almost impossible for it to win you back. A scene at the opening of Nosferatu features a young woman’s bedroom being breached by a creature appearing in shadow (which is captured on the film’s poster). It’s a cool effect, seeing the outline of our vampire only shown in the shadow of the bellowing curtain. For me, it’s the first, and sadly last, creepy moment of the film. And once you can’t take the film that so desperately needs to be taken seriously, Nosferatu devolves quite quickly into silly nonsense.

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