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Marona's Fantastic Tale

[ad_1] The title “Marona’s Fantastic Tale” promises a fantasy or fable, packed with dream visions, eccentric characters and world-changing events. But while this animated film from director Anna Damian delivers all that and more, nothing that happens in it would seem extraordinary if you …

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The King of Staten Island

[ad_1] Judd Apatow’s “The King of Staten Island” is designed to elevate the personality and career of Pete Davidson in much the same way “Knocked Up” played to Seth Rogen’s skill set and “Trainwreck” made Amy Schumer a star. It …

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Lazy Crossing Swords Can't Hit Its Targets

[ad_1] “Crossing Swords,” Hulu’s new adult animated series from John Harvatine IV and Tom Root of “Robot Chicken,” feels as though it was flung forward from a distant past. That’s not because of its story, which follows a young would-be …

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Da 5 Bloods

[ad_1] Spike Lee’s excellent “Da 5 Bloods” opens with Muhammad Ali and closes with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., two legends who are inextricably tied to the Civil Rights movement and Black pride. Lee uses them to highlight another commonality: …

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Artemis Fowl

[ad_1] It took 20 years for an “Artemis Fowl” movie to come out, and now that it’s here, the film itself feels like it’s in a hurry to be over already. After cycling through various directors and scripts, getting mired …

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Sometimes Always Never

[ad_1] Directors do make a difference. That seems a self-evident truth, but it’s sometimes interesting (or, if you want to be pedantic about it, instructive) to see that truth played out. Working with the director Michael Winterbottom, screenwriter Frank Cottrell …

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Into the Dark: Good Boy

[ad_1] The second season of the original monthly series of Hulu horror films under the banner of “Into the Dark” has tended more to quirky humor than genuine scares, and this has been mostly for the better. Chapters like “A …

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Aviva

[ad_1] A shape-shifting, fluid film that is more a feat of dance and choreography than of cinematic storytelling, “Aviva” is a start-to-finish strange, surprising and often arresting artifact. And that’s thanks to writer/director Boaz Yakin’s (“Remember the Titans,” “Uptown Girls”) …

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Infamous

[ad_1] If you’re going to check out the social media “Bonnie and Clyde” riff “Infamous,” do it for Bella Thorne’s performance. From the get-go she has the classically great presence of someone like Sandra Bullock, but with her own scraggly …

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The Surrogate

[ad_1] There are many layers of complex, sensitive, and controversial subjects in “The Surrogate,” but writer/director Jeremy Hersh never lets it get preachy. He keeps the focus on the characters and their struggles to reconcile one of life’s most painful dilemmas, …

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