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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“Summer of Soul” and Winters of Discomfort
The Oscar nominated documentary from Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, “Summer of Soul,” is currently available on digital and DVD. It is a film which looks at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival and the world in which the concert series took place…. Read More ›
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Movie Review: “Dog” (2022)
You have almost undoubtedly heard the saying, “Chocolate and peanut butter — two great tastes that go great together.” Reese’s wasn’t wrong, the peanut butter cup is delicious, but there’s something important there in that idea at the saying’s core… Read More ›
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“Wayne’s Word” Parties on 30 Years Later
“Wayne’s World,” that “Saturday Night Live” sketch turned feature film series is celebrating an anniversary this year. Yes, the first of the two movies featuring Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar is now 30 years old. Naturally, there’s a new Blu-ray… Read More ›
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Movie Review: “Blacklight” (2022)
Liam Neeson, as we always note, has a very particular set of skills. It isn’t just Neeson’s on screen characters that do, it’s the man himself. The actor has the ability to portray aging killers with a heart of gold… Read More ›
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The Indie Family Drama that is Marvel’s “Eternals”
It is all too easy to sit there and get angry at the superhero genre for taking over the box office. It is all too easy to shake your fist at what the MCU has done to the world. But,… Read More ›
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Singing the Praises of “Encanto”
There is so much to love about “Encanto.” This is a film filled with great performances and tremendous songs. It is fun and funny. But, at its core, this is a movie that explores what it means to truly reveal… Read More ›
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Movie Review: “Sundown” (2022)
Some movies are stuffed to the gills, packed with quick cuts and a constantly shifting camera, overloaded with dialogue and characters and plot twist after plot twist. There is often a sense with such a film that they are trying… Read More ›
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Loving “Juice” but Struggling for Podcast Ideas
Normally when I sit down to watch a movie for a podcast, the idea of what that episode is going to be about strikes me as I watch. It hits like a bolt of lightning. However, that doesn’t always occur… Read More ›
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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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