Film Review Tag

Clinton Olsasky: ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ Reviewed

When it comes to race, Hollywood has a long and uncomfortable history of romanticizing and oversimplifying American history, often transplanting Black experience into the reductive points of view of white characters. From "Gone with the Wind" to "Green Book," ostensibly Black-informed stories have too often been whitewashed, wringing out the authenticity, beauty and pain of Black realities.   Fortunately, "Judas and the Black Messiah" breaks away from this trend. The historical drama, which focuses on the betrayal...

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Des Moines Double Feature: ‘Mean Streets’ & ‘The Irishman’

Want to know which movies are worth your time? The Des Moines Film Society has you covered, with the Des Moines Double Feature! In this series, we highlight two movies that pair well together, revealing aesthetic and thematic insights about each other.   This week, we’re shining a spotlight on two masterful films from opposite ends of Martin Scorsese’s incomparable career: “Mean Streets,” from 1973, and “The Irishman,” from 2019. Although separated by nearly a half-century of...

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Des Moines Double Feature: ‘Jojo Rabbit’ & ‘Pain and Glory’

Want to know which new movies are worth your time? The Des Moines Film Society has you covered, with our new series: the Des Moines Double Feature! Every so often, we'll be recommending two of the best movies currently playing at Des Moines-area theaters.   This week, we're highlighting two vastly different films from two singular artists working at opposite points in their respective careers: the wildly irreverent satire "Jojo Rabbit," from upstart director Taika Waititi, and...

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‘The Farewell’ Reviewed: An Honorable and Honest Deception

It’s not easy saying goodbye.    Writer-director Lulu Wang confronts this uncomfortable truth, ironically enough, through a series of lies and deceptions in “The Farewell” (A24), her incredibly poignant ode to the shifting nature of family, culture and life itself.   Inspired by Wang’s own family experience (or, “based on an actual lie,” as the opening title card playfully puts it), “The Farewell” follows a Chinese-American family who decides not to tell their grandmother that she’s been diagnosed with...

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‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’ Reviewed: Reframing the Cinematic Superhero

“People are more than just one thing.”   When a displaced and grieving man by the name of Jimmie Fails admits this simple truth, it feels like a moment of genuine epiphany that, sadly, will never seep into his city’s collective consciousness. In that moment, Fails is, in a way, set free because he is no longer defining himself by a single story or a single purpose. But at the same time, he knows that his own...

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‘Toy Story 4’ Reviewed: Embracing a Toy’s Impermanence

When “Toy Story 4” (Pixar/Disney) was first announced back in November of 2014, the response from fans could best be described as cautious curiosity, rather than full-blown anticipation.    And for good reason.    After all, the creative team at Pixar had already closed the book on their most beloved film franchise, with the heartrending climax of “Toy Story 3” (2010) bringing every man, woman and child in the world to tears. Did there really need to be a...

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