Film critic and host of the Arthouse Garage podcast. Member - SEFCA
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The First Wave 2021
“Emotionally wrenching” doesn’t begin to explain what it’s like to watch The First Wave. With astounding levels of access to hospital rooms and patient’s homes, documentarian Matthew Heineman has crafted a harrowing look at the first three months of the pandemic in New York City.
“I didn’t realize I was holding on to all that.”This is what one subject of the film utters near the story’s close, and nothing could more perfectly capture how I felt watching this documentary.…
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Flee 2021
I had the great pleasure of watching Flee yesterday as part of the Hot Springs International Film Festival. It documents the true account of a refugee named Amin telling his story for the first time, unfolding in beautiful animation. Emotionally overwhelming at times, Flee’s unpredictable narrative structure and shocking chain of events make it easily one of the most memorable films I’ve seen all year.
The film gives a human face to the type of story usually told in news…
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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom 2018
There’s a few good things about this movie. Chris Pratt. The dinosaur visuals. Some thrilling action. That one upside down shot of the raptor climbing in the window was pretty great.
But everything else was...not great. So over the top, no subtlety in ANY aspect of it. Predictable action scenes. Ridiculous and unbelievable choices made by multiple characters. I can’t fault the actors much because I think most of the problems were script-level issues. But just really not a great movie. I liked the previous Jurassic World more than most, but this one was a real clunker.
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A Separation 2011
The plot here is so meticulously crafted but unfolds in such a seemingly effortless way, that the emotional impacts (which are many) really snuck up on me.
There are many wonderful things about the movie, but the most wonderful is Sarina Farhadi's crushing performance as Termeh. She deserves whatever awards she got, and all of the ones she didn't.
