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Screens

<i>Virgin River's</i> Washed-out Humboldt

Screens / By Jennifer Fumiko Cahill

Virgin River's Washed-out Humboldt

(January 23, 2020) Reviews VIRGIN RIVER. Last week I treated myself to a deep dive into the roiling drama of the Romance Writers of America, a professional organization undergoing a page-turner of...

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Screens / By John J. Bennett

The Virtues of Just Mercy

(January 16, 2020) Reviews JUST MERCY. While Just Mercy, the latest from director and co-writer Destin Daniel Crettin (Short Term 12, 2013; The Glass Castle, 2017), adapting Bryan Stevenson's memoir with Andrew Lanham,...

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The <i>Grudge</i> isn't Worth Holding Onto

Screens / By John J. Bennett

The Grudge isn't Worth Holding Onto

(January 9, 2020) Reviews THE GRUDGE. Having emerged from what has disconcertingly become a New Year's tradition of spending the holiday and the week bracketing it, sick abed, I recoiled, mole-like, from an...

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Screens / By John J. Bennett

Diamonds in the Rough

Uncut Gems and Little Women

(January 2, 2020) Reviews UNCUT GEMS. New York City represents much of what is fascinating, romantic and terrible about the American experiment. At least to a soft, rural-raised Left Coast boy, the...

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Screens / By John J. Bennett

End of Empire

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Bombshell and Cats

(December 26, 2019) Reviews STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER. A friend recently referred to me as the Star Wars Grinch — for the sake of full transparency, he said it in a...

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Screens / By John J. Bennett and Jennifer Fumiko Cahill

No Good Deed

6 Underground and Richard Jewell

(December 19, 2019) Reviews 6UNDERGROUND. More than six years ago, I reviewed Pain & Gain (2013) and, in so doing, established that I will not, whether out of actual enjoyment or simple contrarianism,...

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Screens

Long Goodbyes

The Irishman and Marriage StoryBy John J. Bennett

(December 12, 2019) Reviews THE IRISHMAN. This is not exactly a new release. But as art and entertainment now live deathlessly — like identity, real or manufactured, and all of our malfeasance...

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Screens / By Jennifer Fumiko Cahill

Knives Out is Razor Sharp

(December 5, 2019) Reviews KNIVES OUT. Classic mystery fans are an odd lot. We gleefully watch fancy people in drafty estates stab, shoot, garotte, bash, poison and shove one another down ornate staircases....

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Screens / By Jennifer Fumiko Cahill

Life Underground

Parasite's ugly truth

(November 28, 2019) Reviews PARASITE. We are truly living in a golden age of scammers. Behold the sea of catfishing schemes, the jet-setting Anna Sorokin enjoyed on the tabs of rich Manhattanites by...

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Screens / By John J. Bennett

Buckle Up

Ford vs. Ferrari is a well-engineered ride

(November 21, 2019) Reviews FORD VS. FERRARI. Motorsport in the middle 1960s stood on the precipice of change: still hewing to its daredevil origins, it remained delicate and brutal, homebuilt and homicidal. It...

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<i>Doctor Sleep's</i>
Diminishing Returns

Screens / By John J. Bennett

Doctor Sleep's Diminishing Returns

And Last Christmas' gifts

(November 14, 2019) Reviews DOCTOR SLEEP. Stephen King famously hates Stanley Kubrick's version of his novel The Shining (book 1977, movie 1980). It's not my place to say he's wrong but ......

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Screens / By John J. Bennett

All Hail

Dolemite is My Name and The King

(November 7, 2019) Reviews DOLEMITE IS MY NAME. To fans who identify Eddie Murphy by his early movies — 48 Hrs. (1982), Trading Places (1983), Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and Coming To...

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Screens / By John J. Bennett

Surrounded by Monsters

Zombieland 2 and The Laundromat

(October 24, 2019) Reviews ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP. I liked Zombieland (2009) well enough: Its clever, comic tone, distinctive characters, strong performances and self-assured but restrained visual style made it stand out. Enough so...

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Screens

Meeting Your Connection

Jexi and El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie

(October 17, 2019) Reviews JEXI. Writers have been trying to get a handle on the notion of artificial intelligence — giving it an assortment of names, down the decades — for, oh, the...

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Screens / By André Cramblit

Through the Eyes of Native Activists

Kevin McKiernan's From Wounded Knee to Standing Rock

(October 11, 2019) I started my review of From Wounded Knee to Standing Rock: A reporter's journey, screening at the Eureka Theater on Oct. 19, with some trepidation because of its local connection....

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Screens / By John J. Bennett

Joker's House of Mirrors

(October 11, 2019) JOKER. I am aware of the ex post facto politicization of Joker but I have not — will not — wade into that swamp. All art is a product of...

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