Author Archives
Josh Lasser is a freelance entertainment reporter/critic. His work has appeared in print, online, and perhaps one day in book form.
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“The Last Duel” and the (Continued) Rise of Streaming
While it was always true that great movies didn’t necessarily find the appropriate reception at the box office, now, with the rise of streaming and a seemingly unending pandemic, we believe that we’re seeing a growing shift in how movies… Read More ›
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Movie Review: “Hotel Transylvania: Transformania”
Although some of the advertising promises for “Hotel Transylvania: Transformania” to be the final “Hotel Transylvania” film, such an inducement did not, apparently, convince Adam Sandler to return as the voice of Dracula. Yes, after three entries in the series,… Read More ›
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Movie Review: “Italian Studies”
As the end credits roll in writer-director Adam Leon’s new film, “Italian Studies,” the character played by Vanessa Kirby is given the name “Alina Reynolds.” She does go by this name for a little while in the movie, but until… Read More ›
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Imagining “Antlers 2: Ordinary People”
Keri Russell and Jesse Plemons are just fine in Scott Cooper’s horror movie, “Antlers.” Jeremy T. Thomas is just fine as well. The story has some chills and some good visuals and an interesting, if too little explored, idea behind… Read More ›
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“The French Dispatch” and “Ron’s Gone Wrong” or, Ending when You’re done
On this, our final podcast episode of the year, we’re going to take a look at two different movies that were released to blu-ray and streaming this month: “The French Dispatch” and “Ron’s Gone Wrong.” One of these movies tells… Read More ›
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Movie Review: “Sing 2”
What is it that we expect of a sequel? If characters from one movie return for a second, should what happened to them in the first matter? Can motivations from the original, motivations that put the entire plot of the… Read More ›
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Howling at “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Movies are not obligated to provide us with good, moral, individuals. They can show us bad individuals and they are under no obligation to tell us that the characters are bad. None at all. Instead, it is up to us,… Read More ›
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Movie Review: “Rumble”
Although the assumption was not always correct, once upon a time it was easily believed that if a movie was switched from a theatrical release to VOD, or never given a theatrical date in the first place, it was going… Read More ›
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Movie Review: “Benedetta”
George Costanza famously once said, “it’s not a lie if you believe it.” Paul Verhoeven’s latest movie, “Benedetta,” may not deal with anything quite so mundane as trying to beat a polygraph test on whether or not someone watches “Melrose… Read More ›
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Movie Review: “American Sicario”
Some movies do not tell a single story, they tell two or three or more (or none!). Such movies can often display a sort of hybrid sensibility, more easily swinging between various emotions depending on which story is front and… Read More ›
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What About Beatty?
A few weeks ago we talked about Tom Cruise and for good reason. After all, the man is Tom Cruise and a classic movie star. This week, therefore, we’re going to talk about someone slightly more classic (or, at least,… Read More ›
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“Shang-Chi” and the Legend of the Fourth Phase
Marvel has not done a great job with putting compelling villains on the big screen. The number of truly interesting ones can be counted, probably, on one hand, and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” is no different…. Read More ›
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Movie Review: “A Boy Called Christmas”
All too many Christmas movies are infused with a saccharine sweetness – a cloying, fake, forced sense of happiness and joy. Every year there are new entries into this disappointing cadre of works and 2021 is no exception, one only… Read More ›
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On “Vanilla Sky,” the Tom Cruise one Where…
We desperately tried with this week’s episode to not do the whole “Tom Cruise is the last great movie star” thing, and we kind of(?) accomplished that. I mean, we make an argument that he’s a great movie star, but… Read More ›
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Movie Review: “Black Friday” (2021)
We have all heard of the horrors of working retail on Black Friday, and some television series, like “Superstore,” have depicted the event. What the Cloud 9 employees did not have to deal with, however, was an alien invasion. That’s… Read More ›
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Movie Review: “Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road”
Sometimes a movie’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness (or perhaps vice versa). Directed by Brent Wilson, “Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road,” puts the Beach Boys legend front and center and in doing so offers us a glimpse at… Read More ›
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Movie Review: “India Sweets and Spices”
Written and directed by Geeta Malik, “India Sweets and Spices” takes a fictionalized look at one wealthy Indian community living in New Jersey. It is a movie that succeeds in being touching and funny and rather cutting. Slightly messy, slightly… Read More ›
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Fun-Size “Candyman” too Constricted by its Wrapper
There’s a general sense about “fun-size” candy bars that there is in fact very little that’s fun about them — they are, simply put, not terribly enjoyable. They offer the sense of what is there in a regular-sized bar, but… Read More ›
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Movie Review: “Clifford the Big Red Dog”
As I have said before (as have many others), movies are magic. Movies have the ability to transfer us to a new world, to show us new and amazing things about our world, to offer up stories of heartbreak and… Read More ›
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Avoiding “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”
What is it to tell the story of someone’s life? What does that mean? Surely it is a great responsibility and no one wants to do a shabby job. Sometimes, however, shabby is exactly how a biopic ends up. This… Read More ›
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