Rotten Tomatoes-approved Film Critic. Also known as that handsome Asian guy you see in the cinema with a mask on.
Maika tells the story of Hung (Truong Phu), an 8-year old boy who is grieving over the loss of his mother who had died almost a year ago due to a severe illness. One would think that this type of emotional baggage is bad enough. However, it not only rains but it pours. His best…
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Cha Cha Real Smooth tells the story of 22-year old Andrew (writer/director Cooper Raiff), a recent college graduate who is stuck in his own purgatory before adulthood. Stuck in a dead-end job selling fast food and back living with his family including his mother (Leslie Mann), his step-father (Brad Garrett) and his younger brother David…
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Set-in present-day Hollywood Hills, Something in the Dirt tells the story of two neighbours Levi and John (Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead), who both meet after Levi had recently moved into an apartment, following a large amount of predicaments. The two strike up a quick camaraderie as they exchange life stories, intimate secrets and their…
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Alice tells the story of its titular character played by Keke Palmer, a slave who has spent her entire life enslaved in a rural Georgia plantation. Like many of her family members, she yearns for freedom. Her recently wedded husband Joseph (Gaius Charles) plots an escape for the entire plantation but the plan backfires due…
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Set in 1950’s Britain, Living tells the story of Mr. Williams (Bill Nighy), a veteran civil servant who works every day in a meticulous and repetitive fashion in a government office while leading a group of colleagues to help him out. His work ethic and reputation are well known around the inner circle but the…
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Leonor Will Never Die tells the story of its titular character Leonor Reyes (Sheila Francisco), a once successful screenwriter in the Filipino film industry. Now, she is an aging mother who is struggling to keep her household in check. Desperately trying to recapture past glories as a path to escapism, she discovers a newspaper advertisement…
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Speak No Evil tells the story of a Danish family who are having a vacation in Tuscany, Italy. They meet a friendly and jovial family who are from the Netherlands. They both share common interests, they both have children the same age but most importantly, it is the polite camaraderie that they share that makes…
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Emergency tells the story of two best friends, the academic and accomplished Kunle (Donald Elise Watkins) and the jovial and casual Sean (RJ Cyler). After all the stresses of school, the two are determined to make school history by being the first Black students to complete the legendary frat party tour. With a laid-out plan,…
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Belle tells the story of Suzu, a jovial yet emotionally withdrawn high schooler who is distraught over the loss of her mother. She bears a seething hatred due to the lack of understanding as to why her mother performed such an act of self-sacrifice. Hating her position in her life, she retreats to a vast…
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House of Gucci is the second 2021 film from acclaimed filmmaker Ridley Scott. The first was the medieval drama The Last Duel, which was about a true story involving a woman who was fighting for her voice to be heard after being sexually abused in a tyrannically and patriarchal society. The second is about a…
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The Tragedy of Macbeth is the latest film from Joel Coen of the Coen Brothers; best known for their works that are singular in vision, unique in meshing genres and humorous in their own idiosyncrasies. For his latest film, he is working solo for what is the umpteenth adaptation of the titular Shakespearean play. Many…
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Set in 1973 San Fernando Valley, California. Licorice Pizza tells the story of Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman), a TV show actor and high schooler who is smitten with the school photographer/volunteer Alana Kane (Alana Haim). The two are aware of the elephant in the room in terms of them being together; being the vast 10-year…
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The term “video game film adaptation” often makes people shudder. But what is it with film adaptations based on video games? Why is it that so many have earned such a horrible reputation? Is there a code that needs to be cracked? A formula to get right? What exactly can we do to achieve a…
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The French Dispatch tells a series of stories through a framework of a newspaper publication known as The French Dispatch. The framework begins with the death of Arthur Howitzer Jr. (Bill Murray), the editor of said publication and we follow the stories of the final farewell issue; which consists of three major articles, a minor…
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Zola tells the story of the burgeoning relationship and eventual disintegration between Aziah “Zola” King (Taylour Paige), a confident yet downtrodden waitress and part-time stripper and Stefani Jezowski (Riley Keough), an unreserved and blundering stripper. They serendipitously meet one another in the restaurant where Zola works and the two become fast friends through many shared…
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“He’s just a man, Peter. Only another man.” – Rose (Kirsten Dunst) Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons star as Phil and George Burbank; brothers who work as reputable cattle ranchers. George is a simple, upstanding and honest man while Phil is boastful, malevolent and manly. While Phil is happy with their routine of continuing the…
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“We all break the rules we set for ourselves in the end.” – Genvieve (played by Nathalie Richard) Joanna Scanlan stars as Mary, a widow who is undergoing a period of grief after the sudden death of her sea captain husband Ahmed (Nasser Memarzia). Going through his belongings to attain some sort of closure, she…
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“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” – Anonymous According to writer/director Apitchatpong Weerasethakul’s latest film Memoria, the answer to the question above is a resounding yes. The acclaimed filmmaker is best known for works including Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His…
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“You never even asked me if it was true!” – Tonyah (played by Thomasin McKenzie) Essie Davis stars as the titular role of Bunny King; a poverty-stricken mother of two who is struggling to fight the social system to get her kids back. During her battle, she crosses paths with her niece Tonyah, who is…
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Julia is the latest film by documentary filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen. They are best known for their acclaimed works such as RBG and My Name is Pauli Murray; studies of renowned trailblazers who have contributed so much to the world and have shattered social norms in order to do so. The latest subject…
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The Medium tells the story of a Thai documentary team who are travelling to the region of Isan to follow the life of the local medium Nim (Sawanee Utoomma). She claims that she was possessed by the spirit of Ba Yan, a deity that the people of Isan worship and a significant presence in Nim’s…
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True Things is the sophomore effort from filmmaker Harry Wootliff, whose first film was Only You (not the film with Marisa Tomei); a romantic drama about the trials and tribulations of a couple who have to contend with adulthood, parenting and generational differences due to their distance in age. For her latest film, Wootliff is…
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France is the latest film from filmmaker enfant terrible Bruno Dumont; whose filmography is, for the lack of a better term, peculiar. His body of work shifts into many forms of storytelling in ways that they can never be encapsulated in restricted genre terms. From films exploring the idiosyncrasies of life with his debut film…
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Burning is the latest documentary from filmmaker Eva Orner, an acclaimed documentarian who has covered subjects within Australia like the awful treatment of asylum seekers in Chasing Asylum as well as producing many well-received works like Taxi to the Dark Side. Now she explores the 2019-20 Australian bushfire season with her latest project. Burning is…
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The V/H/S franchise has returned. The franchise revolves around the subgenre of found-footage and is led by the renowned horror genre website Bloody Disgusting. So far, we have had three anthologies headed by numerous acclaimed directors including Gareth Evans, Timo Tjahjanto, Ti West, David Bruckner, Adam Wingard and many more. The critical reception of the…
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Set in 19th century France, The Mad Women’s Ball follows Eugenie (Lou de Laage), a young, wealthy lady of the manor who feels institutionalized within family and gender expectations. Her father expects her to be married off to a husband while she wants to travel, go on adventures and learn new things like her brother…
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You Are Not My Mother tells the story of Char (Hazel Doupe), a struggling teenager who is living a self-sheltered life, drifting through school with good grades despite the bullies, all while having to take care of her mother Angela (Carolyn Bracken) and grandmother (Ingrid Craige). Her relationship with her mother is distant, after a…
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Murina follows Julija (Gracija Filipovic), a 16-year old girl living with her parents on an island that many would consider to be a heavenly paradise. With an endless summer maintained by daily chores of fishing in beautiful vistas, it sounds like the perfect place to live. But underneath the façade lies something that is anything…
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Pig tells the story of Rob (a wonderfully subtle Nicolas Cage), a former renowned chef turned truffle hunter who resides in a cabin deep in the forest who makes a living by hunting for truffles with the help of his valuable foraging pig. He sells the truffles to young supplier and friend Amir (a stellar…
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Saloum tells the story of three mercenaries Chaka (Yann Gael), Rafa (Roger Sallah) and Minuit (Mentor Ba) who are tasked to extract a Mexican drug dealer Felix (Renaud Farah) and his cargo of gold and drugs away from the chaos of the government overthrow of Guinea-Bissau and transfer to Dakar, Senegal. But when their means…
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