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Movie Reviews Reviews of new movies, classic and art films, foreign films, and popular movies. Featuring Bob Mondello, Kenneth Turan, David Edelstein, and Mark Jenkins.

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Ethan Hawke as Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon.

Ethan Hawke as Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon. Sabrina Lantos/Sony Pictures Classics hide caption

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Sabrina Lantos/Sony Pictures Classics

A once-in-a-'Blue Moon' Broadway breakup

Before there was Rodgers and Hammerstein, there was Rodgers and Hart. Richard Linklater's new film meets lyricist Lorenz Hart on the night he's watching his partnership with composer Richard Rodgers fade away.

A once-in-a-'Blue Moon' Broadway breakup

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Ethan Hawke as The Grabber in Black Phone 2.

Ethan Hawke as The Grabber in Black Phone 2. Sabrina Lantos/Universal Pictures and Blumhouse hide caption

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Sabrina Lantos/Universal Pictures and Blumhouse

Pop Culture Happy Hour

In ‘Black Phone 2,’ The Grabber is dialed in

Grabbers gonna grab, even from beyond the grave. In Black Phone 2, Ethan Hawke returns from the dead as the serial killer who hides behind a demonic mask. It’s four years later, and the siblings (Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw) who survived the Grabber’s killing spree are having a hard time with things. They head off to camp to investigate Gwen's psychic nightmares of the Grabber's early victims.

Black Phone 2 And What’s Making Us Happy

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Channing Tatum in Roofman.

Channing Tatum in Roofman. Paramount Pictures hide caption

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Paramount Pictures

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Channing Tatum charms his way into big trouble in ‘Roofman’

In the new movie Roofman, Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst ooze with their signature charm and chemistry. Tatum plays an exceptionally savvy military veteran who robs fast food joints by entering through the rooftops. Eventually he gets caught and sent to prison, but he’s able to escape and hides out in a Toys “R” Us for several months undetected. Obviously, he can only survive on M&Ms and keep up the ruse for so long before the roof comes crashing down on him. Consequences!

Roofman

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Andrew Garfield as Hank and Julia Roberts as Alma in After the Hunt.

Andrew Garfield as Hank and Julia Roberts as Alma in After the Hunt. Amazon MGM Studios hide caption

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Amazon MGM Studios

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Julia Roberts shines in the muddled 'After the Hunt'

In the new movie After The Hunt, Julia Roberts plays a Yale professor who finds herself in a hard place when one of her star students (Ayo Edebiri) makes an allegation against another faculty member (Andrew Garfield). Who’s telling the truth? Who’s the victim? Is there a victim? Directed by Luca Guadagnino (Challengers, Call Me by Your Name) the film poses a lot of questions. But are any of them answered?

After the Hunt

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Jennifer Lopez in Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Jennifer Lopez in Kiss of the Spider Woman. Roadside Attractions hide caption

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Roadside Attractions

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Kiss of the Spider Woman' features great drama and meh music

Jennifer Lopez stars in the new film adaptation of Kiss of the Spider Woman. Set in an Argentine prison, one man (Tonatiuh) tells his cellmate (Diego Luna) the story of his favorite old Hollywood musical, starring the silver screen goddess he worships – that’s J. Lo. The musical is packed with glitz, glamour and songs written by Kander and Ebb, the minds behind Cabaret and Chicago.

Kiss of the Spider Woman

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A House of Dynamite. (L-R) Anthony Ramos as Major Daniel Gonzalez and Abubakr Ali as Specialist Dan Buck in A House of Dynamite.

Anthony Ramos plays a major at an Alaskan missile outpost in A House of Dynamite. Eros Hoagland/Netflix hide caption

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Eros Hoagland/Netflix

Every moment pops in the nuclear thriller 'A House of Dynamite'

A single nuclear warhead, of unknown origin, is heading toward the U.S. mainland in Kathryn Bigelow's new Netflix film. It's an unnerving scenario — but it's also thrilling to watch.

FA Film Review: A House of Dynamite

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Tonatiuh and Diego Luna as Molina and Valentín, respectively, in Kiss of the Spider Woman. The new film is based on the Broadway musical of the same name, itself based on the 1976 book by Manuel Puig.

Tonatiuh and Diego Luna as Molina and Valentín, respectively, in Kiss of the Spider Woman. The new film is based on the Broadway musical of the same name, itself based on the 1976 book by Manuel Puig. Roadside Attractions hide caption

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Roadside Attractions

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Kiss of the Spider Woman' works, even when the music doesn't

Jennifer Lopez is the marquee name, but this adaptation of the Kander and Ebb Tony-winning musical belongs to Tonatiuh and Diego Luna.

Greta Lee in TRON: Ares.

Greta Lee in TRON: Ares. Leah Gallo/Disney hide caption

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Leah Gallo/Disney

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Reality bytes in ‘TRON: Ares’

TRON: Ares is the third film in the franchise, and this time flips the script: Instead of humans entering the digital world, this movie sees human-shaped artificial intelligence programs entering our world. Starring Jared Leto, Greta Lee and Evan Peters, is TRON: Ares an upgrade from the previous movies?

TRON: Ares And What's Making Us Happy

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Julia Roberts stars as Alma in After the Hunt.

Julia Roberts stars as Alma in After the Hunt. Yannis Drakoulidis/Amazon MGM Studios hide caption

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Yannis Drakoulidis/Amazon MGM Studios

This #MeToo melodrama isn't great, but Julia Roberts' performance is

Roberts plays a Yale professor whose life unravels after one of her colleagues is accused of sexually assaulting a student. After the Hunt is an academic potboiler that muddles its central issue.

FA: Film Review: After the Hunt

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America Ferrera and Matthew McConaughey in The Lost Bus.

America Ferrera and Matthew McConaughey in The Lost Bus. Apple TV+ hide caption

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Apple TV+

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Matthew McConaughey drives ‘The Lost Bus’ through a raging fire

In the new movie The Lost Bus, Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera play a bus driver and a teacher who have to transport more than 20 kids to safety when evacuation orders roll in from a wildfire. Based on the 2018 Camp Fire in California, the movie is a harrowing drama, a climate warning, and a disaster film all in one. It’s streaming on Apple TV+.

The Lost Bus

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Dwayne Johnson in The Smashing Machine.

Dwayne Johnson in The Smashing Machine. Eric Zachanowich/A24 hide caption

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Eric Zachanowich/A24

Pop Culture Happy Hour

‘The Smashing Machine’ lets ‘The Rock’ cook, and it smells like awards season catnip

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Emily Blunt star in the new sports biopic The Smashing Machine. Johnson plays Mark Kerr, a UFC champion who is reeling from his first major loss in the ring and confronting an addiction to painkillers. Directed by Benny Safdie (Uncut Gems), the wrestling drama pulls out all the classic moves in the awards season playbook. We can smell what The Rock is cooking – but is it a hearty meal?

The Smashing Machine And What's Making Us Happy

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Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain.

Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain. Focus Features hide caption

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Focus Features

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Looking back at ‘Brokeback Mountain’

This year marks 20 years since Brokeback Mountain hit theaters. The film starred Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two sheep herders who fall in love in a place and time that keeps them apart. Before its release, Hollywood considered it a huge risk. It went on to be a critical and box office success, but it also made a lot of folks so uncomfortable they made cheap jokes about it for years. Today, its legacy is a tough one to untangle.

Brokeback Mountain 20th Anniversary

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Leonardo Dicaprio in One Battle After Another.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays a former political militant who's gone into hiding in One Battle After Another. Warner Bros. Pictures hide caption

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Warner Bros. Pictures

Prescient and political, 'One Battle After Another' is one of the year's best films

Paul Thomas Anderson's action thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio is a loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's Vineland. It weaves zany dark comedy, sociopolitical satire and controlled narrative chaos.

FA: Film Review: One Battle AfterAnother

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Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another.

Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another. Warner Bros. Pictures hide caption

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Warner Bros. Pictures

Pop Culture Happy Hour

‘One Battle After Another’ is revolutionary — and revelatory

One Battle After Another is an action-thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor and Sean Penn. DiCaprio plays a washed up ex-revolutionary searching for his missing daughter while raging against the machine. In this case, the machine is unabashedly racist, xenophobic, and corrupt. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the ensemble also includes Regina Hall and Benicio del Toro.

One Battle After Another And What's Making Us Happy

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Elizabeth Berkley in Showgirls.

Elizabeth Berkley in Showgirls. Murray Close/United Artists/ Supplied by Online USA, INC./Getty Images / Handout hide caption

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Murray Close/United Artists/ Supplied by Online USA, INC./Getty Images / Handout

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Revisiting 'Showgirls', 30 Years Later

Showgirls stars Elizabeth Berkley as a Vegas dancer trying to move up from a seedy club to a glamorous hotel show. Paul Verhoeven’s NC-17 movie was a notorious flop, but it is now considered a camp classic and a window into a moment of moral panic. Showgirls turns 30 this year, so today we’re revisiting our conversation about the film.

Showgirls

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Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell in A Big Bold Beautiful Journey.

Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell in A Big Bold Beautiful Journey. Matt Kennedy/Sony Pictures hide caption

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Matt Kennedy/Sony Pictures

'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey' opens a magical door ... to nowhere

Kogonada's film about lonely strangers traveling together in a car with a magical GPS wants to engage in heady conceits. But not even Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie can save a script this hopeless.

FA: Film Review; A Big Bold Beautiful Journey

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Marlon Wayans in Him.

Marlon Wayans in HIM. Universal Pictures hide caption

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Universal Pictures

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Body horror and elite athletes make a grisly pairing in ‘Him’

In the new horror film HIM, Tyriq Withers stars as a young football player who has a chance to be trained by his idol, played by Marlon Wayans. As they train at a mysterious facility in the desert, it becomes clear early on that greatness might not be worth the price. From director Justin Tipping and produced by Jordan Peele, the film takes some big swings you may not fully see coming.

Him And What’s Making Us Happy

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