Category: Movie Review

BLENDED (2014)

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BLENDED

Directed By: Frank Coraci
Written By: Ivan Menchell & Clare Sara
Cinematography: Julio Macat
Editor: Tom Costain 

Cast: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Bella Thorne, Kevin Nealon, Terry Crews, Wendi Mclendon-Covey, Shaquille O’Neal, Joel McHale, Abdoulaye N’Gom, Jessica Lowe, Braxton Beckham, Emma Fuhrmann, Alyvia Alyn Lind, Allen Covert, Dan Patrick, Tim Herlihy, Alexis Arquette, Lauren Lapkus, Michael Buscemi, Rob Moran, Jonathan Loughran 


After a blind date gone horribly wrong, Jim and Lauren agree they never, ever want to see each other again. Well, that’s all about to change when the two find themselves and their respective families (including children) all stuck together in one suite at an African Safari vacation spot.

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ZAZIE DANS LE METRO (1960)

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zazie1

Directed By: Louis Malle
Written By: Louis Malle & Jean-Paul Rappeneau
Based on the Novel By: Raymond Queneau
Cinematography: Henry Raichi
Editor: Kenout Peltier 


Cast: Catherine Demongeot, Phillipe Noiret, Hubert Dechamps, Carla Marlier, Annie Fratellini 


With her mother away for the weekend, a brash and precocious ten-year-old country-girl sets out to explore Paris during a Métro strike, under her uncle’s not-so-watchful eye. Can a little girl cause so much chaos in the heart of the city?

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FORBIDDEN GAMES (1952)

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forbiddengames

Directed By: Rene Clement
Written By: Jean Aurenche, Pierre Bost & Francois Boyer
Based On The Novel By: Francois Boyer
Cinematography: Robert Juillard
Editor: Roger Dwyre 


Cast: Georges Poujouly, Brigitte Fossey, Jaques Marin 


A girl of perhaps five or six is orphaned in an air raid while fleeing a French city with her parents early in World War II. She is befriended by a pre-adolescent peasant boy after she wandered away from the other refugees, and is taken in for a few weeks by his family. The children become fast friends, and the film follows their attempt to assimilate the deaths they both face, and the religious rituals surrounding those deaths, through the construction of a cemetery for all sorts of animals. Child-like and adult activity are frequently at cross-purposes.

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ANNABELLE (2014)

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DSC_1454.dng

Directed By: John R. Leonetti
Written By: Gary Dauberman
Cinematography By: James Kniest
Editor: Tom Elkins 


Cast: Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, Alfre Woodard, Tony Amendola, Brian Howe

John Form has found the perfect gift for his expectant wife, Mia – a beautiful, rare vintage doll in a pure white wedding dress. But Mia’s delight with Annabelle doesn’t last long. On one horrific night, their home is invaded by members of a satanic cult, who violently attack the couple. Spilled blood and terror are not all they leave behind. The cultists have conjured an entity so malevolent that nothing they did will compare to the sinister conduit to the damned that is now… Annabelle.

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THE BAD BATCH (2017)

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badbatch

Written & Directed By: Ana Lily Amirpour
Cinematography By: Lyle Vincent
Editor: Alex O’Flinn 


Cast: Suki Waterhouse, Jason Momoa, Diego Luna, Yolonda Ross, Keanu Reeves, Jim Carrey, Giovanni Ribisi 

A love story set in a community of cannibals in a future dystopia. In a desert wasteland in Texas, a muscled cannibal breaks one important rule: don’t play with your food.

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YOUTH (2015)

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youth

Written & Directed By: Paolo Sorrentino
Cinematography By: Luca Bigazzi
Editor: Christiano Travaglioli
Production Design: Ludovica Ferrario 


Cast: Harvey Keitel, Michael Caine, Paul Dano, Rachel Weisz, Jane Fonda, Madelina Diana Ghenea, Chloe Pirrie 


Fred and Mick, two old friends, are on vacation in an elegant hotel at the foot of the Alps. Fred, a composer and conductor, is now retired. Mick, a film director, is still working. They look with curiosity and tenderness on their children’s confused lives, Mick’s enthusiastic young writers, and the other hotel guests. While Mick scrambles to finish the screenplay for what he imagines will be his last important film, Fred has no intention of resuming his musical career. But someone wants at all costs to hear him conduct again.

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SWISS ARMY MAN (2016)

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Swiss

Written & Directed By: The Daniels (Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert)
Cinematography By: Larkin Seiple
Editor: Matthew Hannam
Music By: Andy Hull & Robert McDonnell 


Cast: Paul Dano, Daniel Radcliffe, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Shane Carruth, Andy Hull 


A hopeless man stranded on a deserted island befriends a dead body and together they go on a surreal journey to get home.

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OUT OF TIME (2003)

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outoftime1

Directed By: Carl Franklin
Written By: Dave Collard
Cinematography By: Theo Van De Sande
Editor: Carole Kravetz-Aykanian 

Cast: Denzel Washington, Sanaa Lathan, Eva Mendes, Dean Cain, John Billingsly, Arain Ash, Alex Carter, Robert Baker, Terry Loughlin 


This film is so cliche ridden it feels like a quicken version of a noir story down for television. That takes place in the bright daylight of Florida instead of some belated landscape with everyone in suits and dresses. Instead of tropical wear.

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ATLANTIC CITY (1980)

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Atlantic City

Directed By: Louis Malle
Written By: John Guare
Cinematography By: Richard Ciupka
Editor: Suzanne Baron 

Cast: Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Kate Reid, Michel Piccoli, Robert Joy, Mary Alice, Robert Goulet, Wallace Shawn, Hollis McLaren 


Dreams. Becoming an Atlantic City croupier will help Sally realize her dream of going to Monte Carlo, a symbol of the glamorous life that has been evading her since escaping from Saskatchewan a decade ago. Lou dreams that he was a great mobster in the old days. Grace came to Atlantic City for a Betty Grable look-alike contest and stayed to become the wife of a mobster. A brief visit to Atlantic City by Sally’s estranged husband will change the course of the lives of Sally and Lou.

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