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| EFC STATS |
| Movies Listed: |
32639 |
| Total Ratings: |
249914 |
| Total Reviews: |
28577 |
![[194266195 Hits]](/cgi-bin/gd.cgi?194266195)
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| SECRET GARDEN, THE (2020) |
"Think Twice."
Peter Sobczynski says... "Up until now, there have been no fewer than five film adaptations of “The Secret Garden,” the 1911 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett that has gone on to become one of the most-beloved classics of children’s literature. Although I cannot say that I have seen all of them, I am a great admirer of the 1993 version from Agnieszka Holland, which was nicely acted, visually striking and boldly embraced the darker themes present in the original text, and the 1949 version with Margaret O’Brien and a young Dean Stockwell is not without interest either. However, there have been enough versions of it over the years (and I am not even counting the various TV and stage adaptations that have cropped up) so that anyone electing to put the story through its paces once again had better find a new angle or approach to the material in order to make it come alive, the sort of thing that Greta Gerwig did to transform her version of “Little Women” into perhaps the definitive adaptation of that often-filmed book. Unfortunately, the result here is a clunky and dispiriting work that just never clicks, especially in the areas where it elects to ignore the text and go its own way with generally dismal results." (more)
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| GREYHOUND |
"No-frills, drum-tight, but minor."
Rob Gonsalves says... "Maybe, like me, you’re in just the right mood for something like "Greyhound," a taut, exciting, no-nonsense war movie that weighs in, less the end credits, at one hour and twenty-three minutes." (more)
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| PAINTED BIRD, THE |
"Well-crafted, but a rough sit."
Rob Gonsalves says... "An intense and prolonged experience about the inhumanity of war, "The Painted Bird" might take its rightful place as the most prestigious endurance test since 1985’s "Come and See."" (more)
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| SECRET, THE: DARE TO DREAM |
"BS On The Bayou"
Peter Sobczynski says... "For those of you who had either forgotten about it or have until now remained blissfully unaware of its existence, “The Secret” was a self-help book by Rhonda Byrne that managed to spawn an entire cottage industry back in the mid-2000s after Oprah Winfrey publicly endorsed it. The popularity certainly wasn’t the result of its underlying thesis, which was little more than reheated Norman Vincent Peale-style piffle about how if you really desire something in life and think really hard about how much you want it, the universe will snap into ask-and-ye-shall-receive mode. After a few years, the craze died down and I had assumed that it vanished to the grand metaphorical closet where all the pop cultural embarrassments of that period are tossed away and quickly forgotten. And yet, for reasons that I am at a loss to explain, along comes “The Secret: Dare to Dream,” a film that takes its inspiration, for lack of a better word, from the book’s teachings, for lack of a better word, and jams them together into a film that also seems like a refugee from about 15 years ago and not just because that was around the last time that one might normally have seen the likes of Katie Holmes and Josh Lucas scoring top billing in a film." (more)
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| SHE DIES TOMORROW |
"The Sun Will Not Come Out. . ."
Peter Sobczynski says... "Amy Seimetz’s “She Dies Tomorrow” is a low-fi horror movie that seems to have everything going for it—a simple but undeniably gripping premise, strong performances across the board, a screenplay that resists succumbing to the usual gene cliches at every turn and a quietly haunting visual style that adds just the right touch of understated dread to the proceedings. And yet, while I admire it for all of those reasons, I found myself unable to really get involved with what was going on as I was watching it. The whole thing is more like an intellectual exercise and while it does work on that particular level, the end result simply left me cold and too far removed from the proceedings." (more)
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| YES, GOD, YES |
"Are You There, AOL? It's Me, Alce. . ."
Peter Sobczynski says... "My guess is that if you are female, Catholic (current or otherwise) or spent your adolescent years during those bygone years when AOL was all the rage, many aspects of “Yes, God, Yes” will resonate with you with pinpoint clarity. However, even if you do not happen to fall into any of these categories, there is still much to enjoy about the film." (more)
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| RENTAL, THE |
"BnB BS"
Peter Sobczynski says... "Marking the directorial debut of Dave Franco, “The Rental” is a film that starts off as a low-fi relationship drama in the vein of the work of Joe Swanberg (which makes sense since he co-wrote it with Franco), ends as a gory horror film and fails to impress at either end of the occasion." (more)
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| CARMILLA |
"Blood Red Is The Warmest Color"
Peter Sobczynski says... "Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1872 novella “Carmilla” is arguably the most famous vampire-related tale not named “Dracula” (it actually predates Bram Stoker’s creation by 26 years) and over the years has inspired, directly or otherwise, any number of screen versions, including “Vampyr” (1932), “Dracula’s Daughter” (1936) and “The Vampire Lovers” (1972), to name just a few. The reason for its long-running popularity and influence is not especially difficult to divine—the story of a young and innocent maiden being pursued by a more worldly woman who turns out to be a vampire provided filmmakers with a gateway to delve into lesbian-related themes under the guise of being a horror film and, perhaps more importantly, allowed them to mix those two most exploitable of ingredients—sex and violence—into one package. Of course, things have changes and it is no longer necessary to bring in the supernatural as an excuse to explore a Sapphic-themed narrative. In response to that, writer-director Emily Harris has now presented us with an adaptation of “Carmilla” that has essentially eliminated all of the supernatural elements in order to present a more straightforward take on the material. The result is a film that is conceptually interesting and undeniably stylish but which, ironically, has now been rendered bloodless, like a grad school paper on the original story brought only nominally to life." (more)
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FILMS I NEGLECTED TO REVIEW: KINKS AND CLINKS
by Peter Sobczynski |
| "Please enjoy short reviews of "Amulet," "Fisherman's Friends," "The Great Unified Theory of Howard Bloom," "Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful," "Most Wanted" and "Radioactive."" (more) |
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'WHAT'S WITH YOU, KID? YOU THINK THE DEATH OF SAMMY DAVIS LEFT AN OPENING IN THE RAT PACK?'
- Mel, Clueless
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