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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“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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Movie Review: “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain”
We like to put things in neat little boxes, to label them. This includes movies as categorize such as comedy or drama or action or sci-fi or horror or whatever. Often however, as we all know, attempting to impart such… Read More ›
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A Little Shouting About “Scream”
Okay, fine, Halloween was last week. We admit that, but also refuse to accept a world in which we can’t discuss a horror movie in November. Heck, the fifth “Scream” movie–which is not so cleverly titled, “Scream”–is being released this… Read More ›
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Tuesday the 26th: Josh vs. Jason
It may have taken decades to get there, but I’ve finally watched the first eight “Friday the 13th” movies. Yes, only the first eight — they’re the ones set Paramount released this year (the other two in the original series… Read More ›
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Rebecca Hall’s Performance Powers “The Night House”
We have, somehow, reached mid-October, and that means it’s time for horror movies (not that you can’t watch them any time). Out today on Blu-ray is “The Night House,” a mediocre haunted house film made quite good due to the… Read More ›
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Movie Review: “Halloween Kills”
**editor’s note: This is one of those instances where we will discuss portions of the movie’s climax. It is impossible to talk about the biggest place “Halloween Kills” goes wrong without a discussion of the climax because that is where… Read More ›
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Movie Review: “Son of Monarchs”
At one point in Alexis Gambis’s new film, “Son of Monarchs,” the lead character, Mendel, ghosts his girlfriend. Eventually he reconnects with her and instantly acts very badly over a dinner. Seemingly without explanation, this issue evaporates and the two… Read More ›
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Now That it’s Out, was “Free Guy” Worth the Wait?
Do you ever sit there for months on end waiting for a new movie or game or book or album to come out? How often does all that anticipation, all that build up, find you disappointed when the thing finally… Read More ›
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Movie Review: “No Time to Die”
One of the most interesting aspects of Daniel Craig’s time as James Bond is the push-and-pull it has offered between the traditional and iconoclastic versions of the character. The delicate balancing act has not always been a successful one for… Read More ›
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“Breakdown” vs. “Hardball”: Direct vs. Meandering
The Kurt Russell movie, “Breakdown,” knows what it’s about: this is the story of one man doing everything he can to rescue his wife after she is kidnapped. That’s it. The Keanu Reeves movie, “Hardball,” doesn’t know what it’s about:… Read More ›
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Movie Review: “Titane”
It is the rare film that can make one both cringe in horror and cry in sympathy while still being utterly, off-the-wall, bonkers. This year’s Palme d’Or winter, “Titane,” is just such a film. Written and directed by Julia Ducournau,… Read More ›
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Movie Review: “Mayday” (2021)
More and more, people complain about hearing movie “spoilers.” The complaint that has gone hand-in-hand with the seemingly ever-increasing presence of massive event movies. Interestingly, audiences are lied to on a regular basis for these movies, with things like trailers… Read More ›
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