I AM NOT A WITCH

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“A blisteringly comic critique of hysterical misogyny that plays like a slightly stoned version of The Crucible out in the wild. Rungano Nyoni’s swaggeringly assured debut walks the line between inspired lunacy and abject devastation. I Am Not A Witch is a blast of absurdist outrage that’s seriously funny until all of the sudden it’s not anymore.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 09/28/2018

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THE BOOKSHOP

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“The novel’s themes are bluntly articulated, yet also too abstractly rendered to play out in a satisfying cinematic context. Stripped of Fitzgerald’s prose, the events as depicted don’t pack much dramatic punch. This is no slight on the source material, just a reminder that not every novel needs to be a movie. In fact, most of them probably shouldn’t.” – North Shore Movies, 09/27/2018

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BLAZE

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“Pitched somewhere between a tall tale and an expose, marinated in the whiskey and cocaine benders of outlaw country music’s juke joint fringe, it’s a richly ambivalent film about artistic expression as its own reward and the bad romance of our most destructive impulses. If a movie could smell this one would reek of old cigarette butts and stale beer.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 09/21/2018

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THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS

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“A kicky throwback to those mischievous, slightly sinister kids’ adventures Steven Spielberg proteges used to churn out on a fairly regular basis three decades ago. There’s a modesty to the film that’s becoming, and a real nimbleness to the visual wit. Funny how it took Eli Roth, of all people, to make the best Robert Zemeckis movie in ages.” – North Shore Movies 09/20/2018

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LIZZIE

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“Lizzie has got to be the most bloodless movie ever made about an ax murderer. Smothered in hushed whispers and gloomy shadows, this umpteenth exploration of Fall River’s notorious hatchet job sucks all the salaciousness out of its sordid story, leaving a bone-dry husk of period prestige. It’s a one-note movie and that note is room tone.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 09/19/2018

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MADELINE’S MADELINE

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“The camera is as unmoored as the character. There are no establishing shots in the picture, which simply drops us into scenes sometimes halfway through and trusts the audience will suss things out. The sound design is cluttered with loud clatters and hushed, rhythmic breathing exercises. We’re inside Madeline’s mind the whole time, and it’s busy in there.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 09/14/2018

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THE PREDATOR

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“This is an entertaining enough Friday night at the movies, but to say that the seams show is an understatement. Co-written and directed by cheeky genre deconstructionist Shane Black, it’s a hodgepodge of half-developed science fiction concepts, splattery set-pieces and Black’s specialty: tough guys talking shit. I really liked the shit-talking parts.” – North Shore Movies, 09/13/2018

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A SIMPLE FAVOR

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“There’s nothing for us to enjoy in the self-mockery. The flat staging and abject absence of visual style signal more contempt than amusement. Nobody’s taking this silly story seriously, but Feig is too prudish and (let’s face it) incompetent to provide any compensating sensual pleasures, the way De Palma or Fincher have in the past with similarly chintzy material.” – North Shore Movies, 09/13/2018

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THE WIFE

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“A tangy little bit of literary score-settling, taking the piss out of mid-century macho myths of what a Great American Writer was supposed to be. Staged in a deceptively dry fashion by Swedish director Björn Runge, the movie lulls you into a false sense of decorous complacency before the claws come out. The melodramatic second hour is simply delicious.” – North Shore Movies 09/13/2018

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MANDY

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“To summarize the plot of Mandy would probably take about two sentences and be entirely beside the point. This is an atmosphere picture steeped in dread, punctuated by heavy metal blasts of cathartic carnage. The movie isn’t just set in 1983, it feels like a memory of something you might have watched that year on late night cable after your parents fell asleep.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 09/11/2018

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