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2/4
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The Howling
(1981)
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Nancy Scott
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It's all clearly intended as a send-up of horror movies, old and news. I just wish it did not try to outdo the new in its excess of blood and sexual exploitation. That's not parody. That's disgusting.
Posted Mar 18, 2026
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The Howling
(1981)
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Bob Stephens
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A witty, frightening and slightly sordid werewolf movie.
Posted Mar 17, 2026
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1/4
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RoboCop 3
(1993)
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Scott Rosenberg
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"RoboCop 3" doesn't even pretend to work out rationales for its mayhem.
Posted Mar 16, 2026
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Southern Comfort
(2001)
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Sonia Mansfield
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Focuses on the sweet and loving relationship of Robert and Lola. Southern Comfort is a compassionate and intimate look at these people's lives.
Posted Mar 12, 2026
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2.5/4
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RoboCop 2
(1990)
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Michael Sragow
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"RoboCop 2" displays the power of its craftspeople and performers mostly in fits and starts. It's like a skilled but erratic and padded-out portfolio.
Posted Mar 11, 2026
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Anastasia
(1956)
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Hortense Morton (Screen Scout)
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Certainly, Miss Bergman was a wonderful choice as the alternately tremulous and haughty pawn.
Posted Mar 06, 2026
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Phantom Lady
(1944)
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Hortense Morton (Screen Scout)
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The suspected husband role is smoothly played by Alan Curtis, and Ella Raines is lovely and sympathy-inspiring in her part.
Posted Mar 06, 2026
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2.5/4
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RoboCop
(1987)
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Michael Sragow
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This cyborg warrior fantasy is mostly, well, brutal and relentless -- even while it's imaginative and funny.
Posted Mar 05, 2026
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Breakfast at Tiffany's
(1961)
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Stanley Eichelbaum
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It is certainly the most captivating and hilarious film to come along all year, even if it is the goofiest.
Posted Mar 04, 2026
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2.5/4
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The Postman
(1994)
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Barbara Shulgasser
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[An] imperfect but well-directed film.
Posted Feb 22, 2026
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THX 1138
(1971)
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Stanley Eichelbaum
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It's a bleak, undramatic, incoherent science-fiction piece on a hum-drum theme of "1984" dehumanization.
Posted Feb 20, 2026
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2.5/4
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Pretty in Pink
(1986)
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Michael Sragow
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The director can't modulate the enemy-camp melodrama at the movie's core.
Posted Feb 14, 2026
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2/4
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Muppet Treasure Island
(1996)
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Barry Walters
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You could do a lot worse when it comes to kids' entertainment, but you can do a lot better. So can the Muppets.
Posted Feb 12, 2026
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3.5/4
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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
(2000)
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Jeffrey M. Anderson
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Lee did have enough sense to hire the great Yuen Woo-ping to choreograph the fight scenes. Those scenes alone are worthy of the excitement and praise that's being heaped upon this movie. But overall, it doesn't quite rank with other films of its kind.
Posted Feb 10, 2026
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Blonde Venus
(1932)
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Ada Hanifin
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"Blonde Venus" reveals [Marlene Dietrich] as the capable and versatile actress she really is. She was never more interesting, arresting, never more human.
Posted Feb 05, 2026
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Vanishing Point
(1971)
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Jeanne Miller
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"Vanishing Point" is a confusing and often dull drama.
Posted Feb 05, 2026
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Camille
(1936)
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Ada Hanifin
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One can't pass by this production without a word of genuine praise for scriptwriters Zoe Atkins and Frances Marion who made such a feeling and understanding adaptation of Alexander Dumas Fils' [Camille].
Posted Feb 04, 2026
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Days of Heaven
(1978)
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Stanley Eichelbaum
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It engages our eye, but our involvement ends there. A visually impressive but curiously sterile work, it's nevertheless important for making an original statement about America.
Posted Feb 04, 2026
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Arabesque
(1966)
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Stanley Eichelbaum
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Even those who might enjoy watching Sophia Loren will soon tire of her lady-of-mystery affections in Stanley Donen's thin and humdrum suspense comedy.
Posted Feb 04, 2026
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Ace in the Hole
(1951)
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Hortense Morton (Screen Scout)
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Author-director Billy Wilder must have made a vow that no one would go to sleep or walk out of the theater while this one was on the screen. No one will!
Posted Feb 03, 2026
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2/4
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House
(1985)
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Michael Heaton
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if you're looking for an out-loud, in-your-face sendup of those tired slasher films, "House" is just the package.
Posted Jan 30, 2026
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1/4
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North
(1994)
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Scott Rosenberg
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The movie resorts to a battery of unbelievably hackneyed devices to bring it story to a crisis.
Posted Jan 26, 2026
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2.5/4
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Misery
(1990)
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Michael Sragow
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Bates is so good at playing a psycho that you have to wonder if she has a brother named Norman.
Posted Jan 22, 2026
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The Day the Earth Stood Still
(1951)
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Hortense Morton (Screen Scout)
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A stellar cast makes all things seem possible.
Posted Jan 16, 2026
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Bite the Bullet
(1975)
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Stanley Eichelbaum
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"Bite the Bullet" might have been an exciting, off-beat Western, but loses its chance by dealing limply and slothfully with the unusual theme of an endurance horse race across 700 miles of rugged country.
Posted Jan 15, 2026
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The Magnificent Seven
(1960)
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Lawrence Marten
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"The Magnificent Seven," adapted from the Japanese samurai drama to suit the gun and a Mexican location, is exciting, plausible, and gives a graphic picture of the speed of the gunfighter's reactions and the tensions under which he lives.
Posted Jan 14, 2026
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2/4
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Stand by Me
(1986)
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Michael Sragow
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"Stand by Me" substitutes sentimentality for teen-movie zap. It's an ode to arrested preadolescence.
Posted Jan 14, 2026
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Gaslight
(1944)
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Alexander Fried
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For the most part, it sustains its suspense quietly and intently. At crucial moments, it has sharp punch, too.
Posted Jan 13, 2026
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A Place in the Sun
(1951)
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Hortense Morton (Screen Scout)
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It's a well-turned out drama with everything in its favor...cast, direction and story.
Posted Jan 13, 2026
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Alice in Wonderland
(1951)
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Hortense Morton (Screen Scout)
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It is more Disney than Carroll. And, as such is up to Disney's standard of gaiety and charm.
Posted Jan 08, 2026
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2/4
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A Few Good Men
(1992)
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Scott Rosenberg
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But beneath its spiffy dress uniforms, snappy dialogue, professions of sincerity and outbursts of high-mindedness, "A Few Good Men" is surprisingly skimpy; mostly, it's an empty exercise in courtroom theatrics.
Posted Jan 08, 2026
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The Sure Thing
(1985)
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Barbara Shulgasser
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Annoyingly like the old I Love Lucy show.
Posted Jan 08, 2026
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Confessions of a Nazi Spy
(1939)
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Ada Hanifin
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Anatole Litvak's meticulous casting contributes to the credulity of the action.
Posted Dec 31, 2025
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1.5/4
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Hook
(1991)
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Michael Sragow
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Spielberg's knack for carnival-like choreography has left him. The action is frenetic and indistinct: a no-ring circus.
Posted Dec 19, 2025
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2/4
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Christine
(1983)
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John Stark
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It isn't scary enough to be a horror film, nor is it funny enough to be a satire.
Posted Dec 17, 2025
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2/4
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The Abyss
(1989)
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Michael Sragow
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Even when it looks and tastes great, "The Abyss" isn't filling at all.
Posted Dec 09, 2025
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1.5/4
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Terminator 2: Judgment Day
(1991)
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Michael Sragow
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The rest of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" is a series of crushing fights and chase scenes punctuated with a smattering of cheap jokes and meretricious calls for world peace.
Posted Dec 09, 2025
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3/4
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The Terminator
(1984)
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Allan Ulrich
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Nobody said The Terminator was art; but polishing trash to a slick surface like this takes some measure of rare talent.
Posted Dec 08, 2025
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A Christmas Carol
(1984)
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Michael Dougan
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This movie is an emotional fireplace; the warmth of it seeps out and surrounds you and the glow turns your face ruddy with pleasure.
Posted Dec 04, 2025
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Journey Back to Oz
(1974)
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Jeanne Miller
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The musical score is not memorable, but it is lively and pleasant and the lyrics are literate and charming.
Posted Nov 25, 2025
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2/4
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The Wiz
(1978)
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Stanley Eichelbaum
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It's wastefully overproduced, so that every musical number is frantically busy.
Posted Nov 17, 2025
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1/4
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The Running Man
(1987)
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Craig Seligman
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All you have to do is look at Arnold Schwarzenegger's face to see how badly he wants to act. It's a little heartbreaking, really.
Posted Nov 06, 2025
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1/4
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Predator 2
(1990)
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Barbara Shulgasser
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Director Hopkins has an interesting approach to sound recording. Even the quietest moments of this film seem as if they were recorded in a bowling alley on a tournament night.
Posted Oct 31, 2025
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2/4
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Dracula
(1979)
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Walter V. Addiego
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"Dracula" is an expensively done-up, often visually attractive, disappointment, suffering from massive overproduction.
Posted Oct 23, 2025
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2.5/4
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From Beyond
(1986)
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Michael Sragow
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Gordon's scares are smarter than the average scares.
Posted Oct 20, 2025
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2/4
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Re-Animator
(1985)
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Barbara Shulgasser
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This film, presumably meant to be funny, is guilty of, forgive the locution, overkill.
Posted Oct 16, 2025
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Born Yesterday
(1950)
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Hortense Morton (Screen Scout)
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Thanks to the mobility of the camera, the film is not narrowed to the confines of junk dealer Crawford's palatial suite. We wander all over the national capital while newspaperman William Holden is trying to knock some sense into Billie's noggin.
Posted Oct 13, 2025
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Stephen King's It
(1990)
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Joyce Millman
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It's as invigoratingly scary as a wild roller coaster ride.
Posted Oct 09, 2025
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Stephen King's It
(1990)
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John Carman
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While the miniseries delivers a few good chills, it suffers from stiff direction, stutter-step pacing and an oddly long and serious treatment for what is at heart a childish tale.
Posted Oct 09, 2025
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4/5
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The Celluloid Closet
(1995)
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Barry Walters
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The Celluloid Closet brings the pioneering book and lectures of activist and scholar Vito Russo to a mainstream audience without diluting their revolutionary purpose.
Posted Oct 08, 2025
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