Tag Archives: Drama

T.I.M. (2024)

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Now Streaming Exclusively on Netflix.

It’s a tale you’ve seen a thousand times by now. It’s as old as Frankenstein. A tech device or system meant to benefit us ultimately becomes our worst enemy and takes on sentience. I saw two last year with the awful “Margaux” and the fun “M3GAN.” Now with studios hoping to garner the same success as the latter we get “T.I.M.” Spencer Brown’s science fiction thriller doesn’t bring anything new to the table, nor does it re-invent the wheel. Despite Georgina Campbell giving her all, “T.I.M.” is pretty much dead on arrival as a flat, dull, and irritating thriller about an obsessed AI.

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Saltburn (2023)

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Now Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Barry Keoghan presented such a heartbreaking and nuanced performance in “The Banshees of Inisherin,” it’s pretty excellent to see how much he’s snuck up on movie fans over the years. “Saltburn” is that movie that he might be known for, for a long time because while that might seem like a slight, it’s astonishing how good he is here. Keoghan is wonderful at playing the chameleonic Oliver Quick. Keoghan portrays such a layered and complex protagonist whose shades of morality are often at odds with what the audience is allowed to perceive.

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Full Time (2023)

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Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Éric Gravel’s drama is a movie filled with so much tension and suspense, yet it’s a movie that has no actual villain. There’s no criminal or abusive spouse or corrupt officer. All there is is time that constantly seems to be working against our protagonist Julie. In a world where being a single parent becomes tougher and tougher, Gravel has offered audiences easily the most universally relatable drama in a very long time. Despite its setting, “Full Time” is wonderful often emotionally exhaustive exploration of a single parent, Julie, who is tasked with trying to keep her world above water. This becomes even harder as she’s tasked with caring for two children, both of whom are demanding of her constant attention.

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Five Great Movies Featuring Pools

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Pools have almost always been interesting elements in films and television, from movies like “Sunset Boulevard,” “Poltergeist,” and “Gremlins” to famed TV shows like “Breaking Bad.” Since “Night Swim,” Bryce McGuire’s horror tale centered on a swimming pool is currently in theaters, I thought I’d list five great movies centered on or prominently featuring swimming pools. What are some of your favorites? What did you think of “Night Swim”?

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Soul (2020)

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In Limited Re-Release on January 12th, preceded by the Sparkshort “Burrow.” Check Local Listings.

Also Streaming on Disney Plus, and Available in Stores.

While watching “Soul,” two things came to mind. It’s amazing how much the movie reminded me of Chuck Jones’ “The High Note,” and Norton Juster’s “The Dot and the Line.” Both films perfectly articulate the power of music, and sound and the joy and pain that can come with it. Down to its basest, “Soul” is very much a movie about the power of music and the passion that can arise from it that transcends life and death. It’s probably one of the most unusual animated films from “Soul” in that animation style is so different from anything we’ve seen before or will see after.

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Night Swim (2024)

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It’s always good to see an indie success story and Bryce McGuire’s is the latest. After delivering the pretty creepy short “Night Swim” in 2014, McGuire was able to develop it in to a feature film and, ironically, mid-way through it I found myself thinking “This would work better as a short.” I wasn’t trying for sarcasm, it’s just that “Night Swim” presents only a seed of a potentially scary horror film that never actually feels fully fleshed out or extensively realized. Its penchant for ambiguity is its big downfall as it’s a victim to so many of the typical haunted house tropes, banal fake outs, and clumsy ghost scares, without ever trying to re-invent the wheel.

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