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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
(2024)
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Joey Morona
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The "long-awaited" sequel to "Beetlejuice" is nothing more than a series of forced memory pops designed to conjure up feelings of nostalgia. But what happens when you realize the original may not have been as good as you remember?
Posted Sep 04, 2024
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Alien: Romulus
(2024)
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Joey Morona
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The scariest Alien movie in decades: a chaotic, no-holds-barred ride that won’t make you smarter but might keep you up at night.
Posted Aug 14, 2024
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Alien Resurrection
(1997)
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Joanna Connors
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For all its visual imagination and classic themes, Alien Resurrection is more fascinating than it is enjoyable... But for what he manages to inject into the formula, Jeunet has made the best Alien of the bunch.
Posted Aug 06, 2024
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Deadpool & Wolverine
(2024)
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Joey Morona
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Deadpool & Wolverine is an absolute blast: an action-packed, hilarious, heartfelt and inventive love letter to Marvel fans 25+ years in the making.
Posted Jul 23, 2024
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Twisters
(2024)
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Joey Morona
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'Twisters' generally goes down smoothly thanks in large part to Glen Powell, the reigning 'Rizz King of Hollywood.'
Posted Jul 17, 2024
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Twister
(1996)
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Joanna Connors
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Crichton has unparalleled showman's instincts. He knows exactly what will sell on TV, in bookstores and at the movies, and what sells at the movies is what you can't create on TV: amusement-park thrills. So Twister delivers them. And how.
Posted Jul 16, 2024
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When Harry Met Sally...
(1989)
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Joanna Connors
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Reiner and Ephron deftly thread Casablanca through Harry and Sally's on-again, off-again relationship.
Posted Jul 12, 2024
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Jaws
(1975)
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Emerson Batdorff
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There's a pretty fair novel called Jaws that someone should turn into a movie some day. The current movie of the same name bears little relationship to the book, and is just another horror-action picture in which personal revelation plays no part.
Posted Jul 02, 2024
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Inside Out 2
(2024)
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Joey Morona
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Though not as personal or interesting as Turning Red, Pixar's latest is still a smart, entertaining and engaging coming-of-age story.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
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Challengers
(2024)
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Joey Morona
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Subversive, provocative and playful, Challengers is ultimately undermined by a bonkers ending.
Posted Apr 24, 2024
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Almost Famous
(2000)
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Joanna Connors
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In Crowe's generous telling, Almost Famous expands from the "me" to the "we," becoming the autobiography of an entire generation.
Posted Mar 26, 2024
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Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
(2024)
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Joey Morona
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'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire' is dragged down by its obsession with the past. If the franchise is to continue, its caretakers could learn something from another 'Frozen' and let it go.
Posted Mar 20, 2024
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Drive-Away Dolls
(2024)
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Joey Morona
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Weird, queer and unapologetically unserious, Drive-Away Dolls is disposable and inexplicable fun.
Posted Feb 21, 2024
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Dune: Part Two
(2024)
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Joey Morona
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I could watch Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya stare into each other’s deep blue eyes all day.
Posted Feb 21, 2024
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Bob Marley: One Love
(2024)
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Joey Morona
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Seems more interested in deifying its subject than going any deeper than a surface-level examination of the man behind the music.
Posted Feb 13, 2024
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Argylle
(2024)
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Joey Morona
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No, Taylor Swift did not write the source material for "Argylle." That much becomes obvious fairly quickly as Swift has never written anything as unserious and ridiculous as this.
Posted Jan 31, 2024
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Mean Girls
(2024)
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Joey Morona
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Two decades after the original came out, in a world where everybody is too online, the cautionary tale of Mean Girls is more timely than ever. And now you can dance to it.
Posted Jan 10, 2024
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American Fiction
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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American Fiction takes great pleasure in making fun of the kind of awards bait Hollywood routinely puts out. The fact that the film turns out to be exactly that isn’t just ironic. It’s brilliant.
Posted Jan 09, 2024
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The Color Purple
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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Melodramatic, hopeful and richly entertaining, the new The Color Purple is epic filmmaking. It’s the movie you remember seeing in 1985, but also one that feels brand new.
Posted Dec 21, 2023
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Poor Things
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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Poor Things is a singular experience. Powered by the intoxicating and fearless Emma Stone, the film is full of life: dark, funny, curious, whimsical, weird -- and wildly libidinous.
Posted Dec 19, 2023
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Wonka
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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Wonka's message is old-fashioned and somewhat corny. But in an extraordinary film like this one, it goes down smooth like chocolate.
Posted Dec 13, 2023
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Maestro
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic is a stylish and intimate portrait of a complicated love story.
Posted Dec 06, 2023
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The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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Like the Hunger Games themselves, the film isn’t so much entertainment as it is an exercise in survival.
Posted Nov 15, 2023
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Next Goal Wins
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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The latest from director Taika Waititi is at times an incoherent, hastily produced mess. Yet, the movie’s charms are hard to resist.
Posted Nov 14, 2023
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Smoke Signals
(1998)
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Joanna Connors
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The handsome Beach and the very amusing Adams anchor an ensemble of terrific actors, including Tantoo Cardinal as Victor's spirt-weary mother, Farmer as the troubled, guilt-ridden Arnold Joseph, and Irene Bedard as Suzy Song.
Posted Nov 08, 2023
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The Marvels
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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Campy, weird, confusing and yet oddly moving.
Posted Nov 08, 2023
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Foe
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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The twist is so sneaky, in fact, the film might require a second viewing to fully appreciate (detest?) the level of manipulation at work here.
Posted Oct 18, 2023
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The Exorcist
(1973)
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John Petkovic
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The Exorcist accomplishes what so few horrormeisters save Stephen King have managed: It sets sin and salvation not in the realm of graveyards and goblins, but in day-to-day life.
Posted Sep 29, 2023
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A Haunting in Venice
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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Branagh’s Venice is indeed chilling, dark and full of secrets, but he fails to populate it with an interesting mix of characters and motives.
Posted Sep 12, 2023
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Traffic
(2000)
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Joanna Connors
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In an ensemble of more than a dozen major roles and a hundred speaking roles, not a single performance misfires. [A stand-out is] Del Toro, whose quiet, intent, soulful performance should at last make him a star (if there is justice in this world).
Posted Sep 08, 2023
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Haunted Mansion
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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Haunted Mansion's message about the need for human connection in the face of overwhelming grief is compelling and emotional. But it gets shortchanged by a corny and mostly frightless ghost adventure.
Posted Jul 25, 2023
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Oppenheimer
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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A deeply moving and incredibly haunting story of a complex man.
Posted Jul 19, 2023
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Barbie
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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Barbie is a modern fairy tale that speaks to the current moment where individuality is under attack and does it with humor, optimism and depth. I laughed, I cried, I didn’t stop smiling until the credits rolled.
Posted Jul 19, 2023
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Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One is classic, edge-of-your-seat summer escapism. It's strong enough to stand on its own, but also leaves the audience wanting more without getting too cute about it.
Posted Jul 11, 2023
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Magnolia
(1999)
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Joanna Connors
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If Magnolia is, ultimately, a failure, at least it's a vibrant, grand, reckless failure.
Posted Jun 30, 2023
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Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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Harrison Ford proves to be game as ever as the fedora-wearing, snake-fearing adventurer, but the unmistakable spark of Indy’s creators is sorely missing.
Posted Jun 27, 2023
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Armageddon
(1998)
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Joanna Connors
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Obviously, Armageddon is to summer movies what Long Island Iced Tea is to summer parties. So drink up, offer many toasts to the genius of Bruce Willis, and don't even think about how you'll feel m the morning.
Posted Jun 20, 2023
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The Flash
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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Is The Flash an incoherent, overly meta, IP show & tell mess, or is it one of the most inventive and crowd-pleasing films in years? If the multiverse has taught us anything, it’s that multiple things can be true at the same time.
Posted Jun 13, 2023
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Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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The seventh film in the franchise offers up the best of both worlds: compelling emotion and intense, white-knuckle action. Now there’s a concept!
Posted Jun 06, 2023
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Shooting Stars
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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LeBron James' origin story is at once extraordinary and ordinary: an old-fashioned, feel-good sports drama about five lifelong friends.
Posted Jun 01, 2023
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The Little Mermaid
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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The unlikeliest modern love story of the year.
Posted May 22, 2023
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Fast X
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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A hell of a thrill ride, with insane action, an unhinged villain and a jaw-dropping ending.
Posted May 17, 2023
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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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Vol. 3 is mostly dark and dour, which only makes the series’ signature elements of goofy humor, ridiculous scenarios and too-cool-for-school soundtrack stick out like a sore thumb.
Posted May 01, 2023
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B
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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
(2008)
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Clint O'Connor
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Ford's charm helps make Crystal Skull greater than the sum of its parts.
Posted Apr 12, 2023
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Scream VI
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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An elevated example of how the franchise has perfected its formula of intense thrills, unexpected twists and cheeky winks to tired horror movie tropes. Stab, rinse, repeat.
Posted Mar 08, 2023
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Creed III
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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Jordan has taken the classic underdog story and flipped it on its head while giving Creed the heroic arc worthy of a trilogy.
Posted Mar 01, 2023
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The Truman Show
(1998)
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Joanna Connors
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The Truman Show is that rare thing, a provocative movie that is at once deeply thoughtful and hugely entertaining.
Posted Feb 14, 2023
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Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
(2023)
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Joey Morona
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A sensory overload of a movie that has its charms but ultimately leaves you feeling empty inside.
Posted Feb 14, 2023
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The Big Lebowski
(1998)
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Joanna Connors
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Leave it to Joel and Ethan Coen to wake up a drowsy movie genre with a bucket of ice water, a giant alarm clock and a fistful of No-Doz. The Big Lebowski... injects a mammoth syringe of adrenaline lunacy directly into the overdosed heart of film noir.
Posted Jan 24, 2023
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Avatar: The Way of Water
(2022)
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Joey Morona
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Perhaps the most immersive moviegoing experience ever, I could get lost in the world of Pandora all day... or at least for 3 hours and 12 minutes.
Posted Dec 13, 2022
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