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Film Reviews Tim Wassberg Film Reviews Tim Wassberg

IR Film Review: VENOM - THE LAST DANCE [Marvel/Sony]

The perspective on a current Venom film is usually a bunch of random scenes with the possibility of maybe some interesting character work smelted inside in some way shape or form. The question is how does this integrate into a bigger fabric or does it? “Venom: The Last Dance” does nothing really to bring this to bear.

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Film Reviews Tim Wassberg Film Reviews Tim Wassberg

IR Film Review: NEVER LET GO [Lionsgate]

The progression of a horror film that is both in the mind and on the ground is an interesting juxtaposition. The problem with “Never Let Go” is that it never quite defines what it is. Mama (Halle Berry) and her children are seemingly the only survivors of a world gone mad. But the actual perpetrator, even in the finale, doesn’t quite come to bear.

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Tim Wassberg Tim Wassberg

IR Film Review: THE CROW [Lionsgate]

The essence of “The Crow” is always going to be shadowed by Brandon Lee. “The Crow” [1994] was a product of its time and had a mythical edge of sorts to it which is understandable which was only heightened by its circumstances. The new iteration starring Bill Skarsgard and directed by “Snow White and the Huntsman” helmer Rupert Sanders is remarkably beautiful in many ways.

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Tim Wassberg Tim Wassberg

IR Film Review: ALIEN - ROMULUS [20th Century Studios]

“Alien: Romulus” tries deftly to walk the line but has the odds stacked against it. Its greatest attributes are its two would-be leads in Cailee Spaeney and David Jonnson as Rain and Andy respectively who each have their own approach but in their own relationship work against the ideal of what we expect.

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Film Reviews Tim Wassberg Film Reviews Tim Wassberg

IR Film Review: TRAP [Warner Bros]

The essence of an M. Night Shyamalan film rests many times where the filmmaker is in his own head and where that path might take him. With ”Trap,” there is a weird essence of dual personality not unlike his lead character Cooper (played by Josh Hartnett) who begins the movie taking his daughter to a concert. The irony is the way it is built.

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Film Reviews Tim Wassberg Film Reviews Tim Wassberg

IR Film Review: DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE [Marvel/Disney]

The new R-rated Marvel offering within “Deadpool & Wolverine” isboth interesting, surprising, funny, intense but also very scattered. There is still a scrappy nature to Deadpool but oddly enough what starts out as more subversive becomes less so as it goes along. While there is a kind of dance to this especially with the two leads,  it becomes more about Jackman/Reynolds than about Deadpool/Wolverine.

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Film Reviews Tim Wassberg Film Reviews Tim Wassberg

IR Film Review: TWISTERS [Universal]

The aspect of creating a néw perspective on “Twister” 30 years after the original is a different conundrum. Weather has changed. Technology has charged. But people really haven’t. While this version in “Twisters” might be more woke per se, it doesn’t quite have the jolt of fun the original had. Whether this has to do with the actors involved or the differing directors is hard to say.

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Film Reviews Tim Wassberg Film Reviews Tim Wassberg

IR Film Review: FLY ME TO THE MOON [Apple/Sony]

The initial texture of “Fly Me To The Moon” has some interesting tendencies. Scarlett Johansson is brought in as a PR spinner to help make NASA a cool, well-oiled machine. The irony or play of the element within the story is what gives it pause. Realistically, in the character build and execution, it makes total sense and as a character piece, it is very contextual. But to build such a large scale film around this kind of story is an interesting risk

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Film Reviews Tim Wassberg Film Reviews Tim Wassberg

IR Film Review: INSIDE OUT 2 [Pixar/Disney]

The aspect of the original "Inside Out" was the uniqueness of approaching emotions inside the mind as a sense of self. However, there was a sense of the unknown in the first movie where it was making the mythology as it was building the world. "Inside Out 2" is, in some ways, more complex but in other ways less so.

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