MovieSorter

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Blindspotting
OK 66 Points 2018

Oaktown gets its closeup in Oakland-native Daveed Diggs’s Blindspotting. Diggs cowrote the movie with costar Rafael Casal, a Berkeley native. So they know the Town, including its many contradictions. Unfortunately, their film stumbles often, coming across as a clumsy imitation of Atlanta, Don…

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A Star is Born
Very Good 83 Points 2018

Bradley Cooper & Lady Gaga got themselves the best Star is Born of the past half-century. Think about it, Cooper & Gaga beat Kristofferson and Streisand all to hell, he the better actor, she the better rock singer.

Nevermind that Cooper’s major moviestar turn as a rootsy rockstar with a ragi…

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WikChip Video A Star is Born Moment
A Quiet Place
Really Great 83 Points 2018

A Quiet Place is a primo horror movie for non-horror fans, such as John Krasinski & Emily Blunt. He wrote, directed and starred in this 90-minute masterpiece. She “only” stars in it, meaning he directed his real-life wife in the movie’s cruel crucible of silence. Interesting choice for a couple…

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WikChip Video Watch after seeing A Quiet Place
Ready Player One
Great 83 Points 2018

Ready Player One is plenty of fun, yet is leavened by SciFi seriousness. It’s also kind of a cult movie, yet worked for a newbie like me. The more pop culture you know, especially 80s pop culture, the more fun it is.

Steven Spielberg’s best SciFi in 25 years is often an extended visual tickl…

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WikChip Video Hundreds of Easter Eggs, yikes
Blade Runner 2049
Great 66 Points 2017

One needn’t be familiar with Blade Runner minutiae to find Blade Runner 2049 gripping from the start, thought provoking by the middle and shattering at the end. Yep, this terrific sci-fi sequel works for newbies.

Thus, it’s not just an aficionado’s treat. It’s meat for the masses. Somehow th…

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WikChip Video No, it's not a bust. It grossed ¼ bil...
Megan Leavey
Very Good 83 Points 2017

This is a damn good Iraq War movie, apolitical and told through the eyes of Marines who walked through the sands of hell. Plus, it’s a great Marine Corps movie overall. So why did it flame out at the theaters?

Start with the bad title. Megan Leavey is easy to say once you hear it, but is kin…

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WikChip Video The real Megan & Rex at Yankee Stadium
Molly's Game
Very Good 66 Points 2017

Molly’s Game contains large doses of glamorous sin, sans sex, even though the women are all super sexy. The lack of sex, consensual or #MeToo, makes this R-rated flick rather tame as sexy movies go. That said, Jessica Chastain surely got good money to gamely play the sexy and intrepid Molly Blo…

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WikChip Video Glamorous Sin, Sans Sex
Clive Davis: Th...
None Yet 0 Points 2017
Get Out
Really Great 83 Points 2017

Get Out melds edgy African-American humor with classic horror movie tropes, the admixture delivered with near Hitchcockian mastery. That’s how Jordan Peele’s brilliant movie brings the Black Lives Matter sensibility to horrific life. The conceit is not that whites don’t care if blacks live or d…

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WikChip Video The multifaceted Mr. Peele
Guardians of th...
Great 83 Points 2017

Vol. 2 is a great time at the mall multiplex, if not the nearly perfect blockbuster experience that Vol. 1 was. Faint praise perhaps, but then this first sequel has nearly impossible shoes to fill, as the origin movie was so effortless in its joyous affectations. Still, a great blockbuster like t…

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WikChip Video Kurt Russell & Friend