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New Release Reviews

New Release: Clementine

Still recovering from a recent breakup, Karen (Otmara Marrero) drives to her ex’s unoccupied, secluded lake house. She breaks in by hurling a rock through a window and makes herself at home. The next evening, a young woman named Lana (Sydney Sweeney) emerges from the forest, looking for her dog. She asks for a ride, […]

Categories
New Release Reviews

New Release: X

The psychosexual thriller has survived many iterations, from the highbrow (Eyes Wide Shut, 1999), to the gloriously over-the-top (Dressed to Kill, 1980), to the painfully dated (Jade, 1995). Scott J. Ramsey’s X (2019) is something of a Frankenstein’s monster, borrowing a bit from Kubrick’s final masterpiece (masked orgies, recurring mirror imagery) and a lot from […]

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Brilliant Failure Reviews

Brilliant Failure: Tom Tykwer’s Exuberant, Overwhelming Perfume (2006)

Inspired by and adapted from the novel of the same name, Perfume (2006) by Tom Tykwer is an offbeat thriller with oversaturated cinematography. The most illuminating aspect of film is its ability to impress, shock, and stimulate the minds of the audience, but movies such as Perfume lose their essence in pursuit of marketability and visual effects. In […]