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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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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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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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IR Film Review: IF [Paramount]

The idea of imagined friends has been the texture of some fantasy films. It can be used as a metaphor of self or an element of dealing with trauma or crisis. Writer/Director John Krasinski after making "A Quiet Place" and "A Quiet Place, Part II" wanted to likely make something different but that is an interesting build in jumping from one genre to another. He very much succeeds in certain ways with “IF” while he starts to tow the line on some others.

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Film Reviews Tim Wassberg Film Reviews Tim Wassberg

IR Film Review: KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES [20th Century Studios]

The intention of a "Planet Of The Apes" film is to give the notion of perspective pertaining to the notion of the greater good...and the contemplation of conscience. With the newest installment, "Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes", it is about going beyond the ideal of what Caesar was, and his connection to the human race. What the new film does is remind that the aspects of history and memory fade over time and become jumbled by those living it.

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