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Film Reviews
Film Review – The Lie
The distribution deal between Blumhouse and Amazon Studios involves the streaming release of four thrillers in the month of October, labeled “Welcome to The Blumhouse.” The release schedule groups them into pairs. The first two feature the excellent Black Box (2020) and the not so…
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Film Review – Black Box
Black Box (2020) is an ingenious sci-fi thriller that makes a lot out of a little. I don’t mean that as a backhanded compliment, but to illustrate that good storytelling doesn’t need to rely on big budgets or extravagant production value. In fact, many blockbusters…
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Film Review – On the Rocks
The premise of On the Rocks (2020) contains all the ingredients of classic screwball comedy. A woman develops a nagging feeling that her husband is having an affair. Egged on by her Lothario father, she begins to track her husband’s whereabouts in anticipation of catching…
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Film Review – 12 Hour Shift
12 Hour Shift is challenging to put into one genre; it flows between a dark comedy, horror/slasher, and workplace drama (is that a genre?). Written and directed by Brea Grant, it follows Mandy (Angela Bettis) as she settles into her long shift as a nurse in…
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Film Review – Possessor
Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor (2020) plays like a nightmare. There is a story here, and from a distance it contains elements that look familiar. But with Cronenberg’s writing and direction, it’s constructed with a dark and twisted vision. It’s a sci-fi/horror film that aims not to…
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Film Review – Ava
Ava (2020) is the cinematic equivalent of painting by the numbers. It follows the outline of the thriller genre so strictly that you have to wonder if this is some kind of deconstruction or parody. Almost every trope you can think of makes an appearance.…
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Film Review – Alone
As we continue to live our lives in varying degrees of isolation, it is only natural that films filmed prior to March 2020 may have the upper hand in preying on our enhanced fear and hyper-self-awareness. After the debacle of Unhinged, director John Hyams brings us…
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Film Review – The Devil All the Time
The title The Devil All the Time (2020) is an apt description for the story it tells. This is a brutal tale of despicable characters doing despicable acts to one another. Those that populate it are either the perpetrators of cruelty or the victims of…
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