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Disney just can’t quit the realistic CGI animals. Since 2016’s “The Jungle Book,” it’s the less magical, the better when it comes to speaking and singing critters at the House of Mouse. Lovable cartoons have been swapped for claws, fangs and beady eyes on nearly expressionless faces, and, without fail, the trick is always more …
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Actors, have I got an audition monologue for you! Let’s set the scene: The world is crumbling, there’s violence in the streets and you’re a sadsack peon who’s led a meaningless life. So one day, you decide, “I give up,” and go on a bloody rampage through the city. Got it? Here are your lines. …
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Does a film need to be based on a comic book to be a comic book movie? Not anymore! The genre has become so ubiquitous on-screen that original flicks are snapping up its capes-and-world-domination tropes to tell new tales. Netflix’s enjoyable “Project Power,” which is not inspired by any graphic novel, joins the club with …
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Has Rob Zombie directed “The Secret Garden”? Sure, the 1911 book’s roots lie in gothic literature, shrouded in gloom, but I have never watched an adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel and repeatedly thought, “Is someone going to get murdered?!” Until now. Everything screams horror. The giant Yorkshire manse that the orphaned Mary Lennox (Dixie …
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Whoever put the new film “The Secret: Dare To Dream” on their vision board should be locked up. Inspired by the kooky 2006 positive-thinking book by Rhonda Byrne, the movie has Katie Holmes play a Louisiana crab fisherman whose life is forever changed by a traveling gent who spouts New Age wisdom. This schlock belongs …
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Regina Hall is always extraordinary — even in projects that are mediocre. When the actress takes on comedies, such as the new “Tijuana Jackson: Purpose Over Prison” and the much better “Support the Girls,” she treats every line with the high-stakes seriousness of a breakup. Hall gives consistently real performances that are, as a result, …
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You probably don’t know what “The Kissing Booth 2” is, but trust me — it’s bigger than Jesus. It is a Netflix teen phenomenon: the rare sequel of a film that holds a dismal 17% score on Rotten Tomatoes and then sets up yet another sequel. It’s long, dumb and there’s nothing below these high-school …
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Dave Franco’s directorial debut, “The Rental,” is about two brothers who go on vacation with their girlfriends. Huh. I wonder what inspired that. Franco, who you might know from the movies as Zac Efron’s hard-drinking party boy pal, makes a stronger impression off-camera than he generally does on-screen, here turning out a sophisticated, well-paced and …
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The new heist movie “Easy Does It” features two men and one note. A pair of small-time criminals named Jack (Ben Matheny) and Scottie (Matthew Paul Martinez) are scoring pennies with petty swindles, such as rigged street fights, when they learn of a secret fortune waiting for them in San Clemente, California. Their lives will …
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If you think the black-and-white Czech film “The Painted Bird” will fulfill your monthly boring-art quota, just wait until the scene in which a nympho gets it on with a goat! Oh, the movie is brilliant without a doubt, but it’s dotted with such shocking moments, and there isn’t a whiff of pretentiousness to be …
Disney just can’t quit the realistic CGI animals. Since 2016’s “The Jungle Book,” it’s the less magical, the better when it comes to speaking and singing critters at the House of Mouse. Lovable cartoons have been swapped for claws, fangs and beady eyes on nearly expressionless faces, and, without fail, the trick is always more …
