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Movie Reviews Reviews of new movies, classic and art films, foreign films, and popular movies. Featuring Bob Mondello, Kenneth Turan, David Edelstein, and Mark Jenkins.

Movie Reviews

In 'A Quiet Place: Day One', Lupita Nyong'o makes silence golden

Lupita Nyong'o in A Quiet Place: Day One. Gareth Gatrell/Paramount Pictures hide caption

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Gareth Gatrell/Paramount Pictures

Pop Culture Happy Hour

In 'A Quiet Place: Day One', Lupita Nyong'o makes silence golden

In the post-apocalyptic world of A Quiet Place, aliens kill anyone who makes a sound, forcing humans into a near-silent existence. The new movie A Quiet Place: Day One takes us back to the beginning, but this time through the eyes of a terminally ill cancer patient played by the excellent Lupita Nyong'o.

In 'A Quiet Place: Day One', Lupita Nyong'o makes silence golden

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In 'Kinds of Kindness,' the cruelty is the point

Emma Stone in Kinds of Kindness. Yorgos Lanthimos/Searchlight Pictures hide caption

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Yorgos Lanthimos/Searchlight Pictures

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In 'Kinds of Kindness,' the cruelty is the point

Kinds of Kindness is a weird, dark, and bleak film. It's directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things) and it re-teams him with Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe, along with Jesse Plemons. Each actor plays different characters in three different stories — which all involve someone going to extreme measures to regain something they've lost.

In 'Kinds of Kindness,' the cruelty is the point

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Mother and daughter Janet (Julianne Nicholson) and Lacy (Zoe Ziegler) share a slow New England summer in Janet Planet.

Mother and daughter Janet (Julianne Nicholson) and Lacy (Zoe Ziegler) share a slow New England summer in Janet Planet. Courtesy of A24 hide caption

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Courtesy of A24

Sharply funny 'Janet Planet' perfectly captures the feel of a long, hot summer

Writing and directing her first film, playwright Annie Baker exhibits uncanny powers of observation. Not much happens in this mother-daughter movie, but something momentous seems to have taken place.

Sharply funny 'Janet Planet' perfectly captures the feel of a long, hot summer

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Lily Gladstone's 'Fancy Dance' is a road trip worth taking

Lilly Gladstone in Fancy Dance. Apple TV+ hide caption

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Apple TV+

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Lily Gladstone's 'Fancy Dance' is a road trip worth taking

The new film Fancy Dance offers something all-too-rare on screen: contemporary Indigenous perspectives, front and center. Lily Gladstone plays a woman trying to keep it together under stressful circumstances. Her sister's gone missing, and she steps in to look after her young niece (Isabel Deroy-Olson). The pair take what turns out to be a rocky road trip and a unique bonding experience.

Lily Gladstone's 'Fancy Dance' is a road trip worth taking

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Jesse Plemons plays three different characters in Kinds of Kindness — an effort that won him the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Jesse Plemons plays three different characters in Kinds of Kindness — an effort that won him the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival. Atsushi Nishijima/Searchlight Pictures hide caption

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Atsushi Nishijima/Searchlight Pictures

Yorgos Lanthimos exhausts his ideas, and his audience, in 'Kinds of Kindness'

Fresh off of Poor Things, director Lanthimos' three-part dark comedy about domination and free will feels like a lazy and self-admiring riff — punctuated by the occasional crude shock.

Yorgos Lanthimos exhausts his ideas, and his audience, in 'Kinds of Kindness'

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June Squibb's 'Thelma' is the wrong grandma to mess with

June Squibb and Fred Hechinger in Thelma. Magnolia Pictures hide caption

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Magnolia Pictures

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June Squibb's 'Thelma' is the wrong grandma to mess with

Financial scams are an unfortunate phenomenon, but what happens when a fraudster messes with the wrong grandma? The very fun action-comedy Thelma imagines exactly this scenario. The movie stars June Squibb as a woman scammed by someone pretending to be her grandson. She then enlists her old friend (the late Richard Roundtree) to help get her money back.

June Squibb's 'Thelma' is the wrong grandma to mess with

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We debate the sweatiest movie of all time

Is Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing the sweatiest movie of all time? Anthony Barboza/Getty hide caption

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Anthony Barboza/Getty

Pop Culture Happy Hour

We debate the sweatiest movie of all time

Whether they're lightly perspiring, gently glowing, or soaked through from sweltering, people in the movies sweat a lot. But what movie has had people sweat the very most? With summer underway, we are debating what is the sweatiest movie of all time — including Do the Right Thing, Dog Day Afternoon, Y tu mamá también, and Body Heat.

We debate the sweatiest movie of all time

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Joy and Anxiety (voiced by Amy Poehler and Maya Hawke) meet in Riley's head in Inside Out 2.

Joy and Anxiety (voiced by Amy Poehler and Maya Hawke) meet in Riley's head in Inside Out 2. Disney/Pixar hide caption

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Disney/Pixar

New emotions emerge in 'Inside Out 2' — including nostalgia for the original film

Inside Out 2 catches up with protagonist Riley at age 13, just as Anxiety enters her emotional life. But despite its many pleasures, the film lacks the emotional wallop of the original.

New emotions emerge in 'Inside Out 2' — including nostalgia for the original film

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'Inside Out 2' is a Pixar sequel worth celebrating

Amy Poehler as Joy and Maya Hawke as Anxiety in a scene from Inside Out 2. Pixar hide caption

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Pixar

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'Inside Out 2' is a Pixar sequel worth celebrating

Pixar's Inside Out introduced us to the core emotions inside an 11-year-old girl named Riley. We met Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), and Anger (Lewis Black). In Inside Out 2, Riley is experiencing puberty and a whole new crop of emotions have popped up. Most notably Anxiety (Maya Hawke) who has literally bottled up Riley's original core emotions and sent them hurtling into the back of her mind, where they plot to get back and set things right.

'Inside Out 2' is a Pixar sequel worth celebrating

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Clockwise from top left: Inside Out 2, Thelma, Twisters, Hit Man, Fancy Dance and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.

Clockwise from top left: Inside Out 2, Thelma, Twisters, Hit Man, Fancy Dance and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. Disney/Pixar, Magnolia Pictures, Universal Pictures, Netflix, Apple TV+, Netflix hide caption

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Disney/Pixar, Magnolia Pictures, Universal Pictures, Netflix, Apple TV+, Netflix

These are the 19 movies we're most excited about this summer

Comedies, action-adventures, coming-of-age tales, animation — plus that sweet, sweet movie theater air conditioning. There's something for everyone at the multiplex; our critics can help you choose.

'Am I OK?' is a coming-out movie for adults

Dakota Johnson in the film Am I OK? Emily Knecht/Max hide caption

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Emily Knecht/Max

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'Am I OK?' is a coming-out movie for adults

Am I OK? is a about what happens when you finally come to accept your sexuality much later in life than many do. It stars Dakota Johnson and Sonoya Mizuno as two women in their 30s who have been best friends a long time. But Johnson's character is grappling with the possibility that she's queer – and with the fact that her most treasured friendship is in trouble. Directed by Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne, it's streaming on Max.

'Am I OK?' is a coming-out movie for adults

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Glen Powell's 'Hit Man' won't kill you, but he may seduce you

Adria Arjona and Glen Powell in Hit Man. Netflix hide caption

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Netflix

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Glen Powell's 'Hit Man' won't kill you, but he may seduce you

Netflix's entertaining dark comedy Hit Man is not about a hired killer. It's about a guy who pretends to be a hired killer. Director Richard Linklater co-wrote this film with movie star of the moment, Glen Powell. Based very loosely on a real guy, Powell plays a mild-mannered professor who also works undercover for the police as a fake hitman.

Glen Powell's 'Hit Man' won't kill you, but he may seduce you

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Viggo Mortensen plays Holger Olsen in The Dead Don't Hurt.

Viggo Mortensen plays Holger Olsen in The Dead Don't Hurt. Marcel-Zyskind/Shout! Studios hide caption

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Marcel-Zyskind/Shout! Studios

'The Dead Don’t Hurt' is a tender love story and a subversive Western

You can’t immediately tell whether this film is trying to be an old-fashioned Western or a revisionist one. It was written and directed by Viggo Mortensen, who stars alongside Vicky Krieps.

'The Dead Don’t Hurt' is a tender love story and a subversive Western

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We debate the best fictional bands

Rosario Dawson, Tara Reid, and Rachael Leigh Cook in Josie and the Pussycats. Moviestore Collection Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo hide caption

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Moviestore Collection Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

Pop Culture Happy Hour

We debate the best fictional bands

Sometimes, our favorite musical artists are too good to be true because they're sprung from the imaginations of Hollywood screenwriters. But what makes a fake band great? Today, we are debating the best fictional bands in TV and film — including from Mamma Mia!, Josie and the Pussycats, It's Your Move, and Miami Connection.

We debate the best fictional bands

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Enea Sala (center) plays the young Edgardo in Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara.

Enea Sala (center) plays the young Edgardo in Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara.
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Anna Camerlingo/Cohen Media Group

'Kidnapped' tells the historical horror story of an abducted Jewish child

Edgardo Mortara was just 6 years old when Italian authorities took him away from his family in 1858. Kidnapped is a true story steeped in Roman Catholic antisemitism.

'Kidnapped' tells the historical horror story of an abducted Jewish child

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'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' goes full throttle

Anya Taylor-Joy in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Warner Bros. Pictures hide caption

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Warner Bros. Pictures

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'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' goes full throttle

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is packed with bone-crunching practical stunts and lots of gnarly, diesel-powered chase scenes. It also shows a commitment to worldbuilding that grapples with themes of feminism, environmentalism, and humanity. Directed by George Miller, the prequel film tells the story of a Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy), who was taken from her home as a girl, raised to be a warrior in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and now seeks revenge on an evil warlord (Chris Hemsworth).

'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' goes full throttle

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