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A darkly funny thriller about a chance encounter that spirals into something more complicated, It Was Just An Accident balances mystery, tension, and surprising emotional weight. When I was at university, our theatre department put on a production of Death And The Maiden. I was on the stage crew at that point, working towards being…
A quirky comedy about a controversial experiment testing nature versus nurture, Birthmarked is an enjoyable watch, even if it never fully capitalizes on its clever premise. Films about parenting are incredibly common. It is a hugely relatable topic for many people, and there are all kinds of angles to take. Whether the twins were separated…
A tender science-fiction drama about a household robot who begins to develop human emotions, Bicentennial Man is far sweeter and more profound than I expected. Robin Williams had an incredible career in comedy, but his more serious roles are my favorites. As husband Chris Nielsen in What Dreams May Come, he tugged at our hearts,…
A fun and campy film about a girls’ boarding school on the verge of closing, St. Trinian’s is a high-spirited watch with lots of familiar faces. I have to admit, I love a good YA film. Teens being teens or adolescents finding their way, it’s a different, more nostalgic level of maturity that is often…
Based on the childhood of food writer Nigel Slater, Toast is an intimate coming-of-age story focused on the bittersweet and delicious moments with his parents and challenging stepmother. My first introduction to Freddie Highmore was in the 2001 miniseries The Mists Of Avalon. Once an adorable and tiny King Arthur, he has grown up on…
A dazzling fever dream, Moulin Rouge!, about a poor writer who falls in love with a courtesan in France, is full of amazing music, colors, and style. I watched this movie when it first came out in theaters in 2001, but I only saw it that once. Then, when a version of Moulin Rouge! got…
A painfully awkward film about selfish humans who keep androids of themselves to do everything they don’t want to do, Robots purports to be a romantic comedy, but it’s just not funny. Every once in a while, you come across a movie that could be cute. You have a gut feeling that it might not…
A fantastic musical film about a bloodthirsty plant that gets its owner to keep feeding it, Little Shop Of Horrors features a great cast and is packed with earworms. When Little Shop Of Horrors was first released on VHS tape, my friends and I were obsessed with it. We planned a performance of our own,…
A quiet film about an older man who decides to walk across England to save his friend in hospice, The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry encourages you to think about the small things. It is always fun for me when I start a movie and realize that I’m with friends. Jim Broadbent, who I have…
A stylistic Tarantino film about an actor and his stunt double in the 1960s, Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood will make you look at Tinseltown in a whole new way. The first Quentin Tarantino film I ever saw was Pulp Fiction. I watched it in the movie theater and promptly returned for a second…
Filled with theatricality, Blue Moon, about lyricist Lorenz Hart on the night former partner Richard Rodgers opens Oklahoma! with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein, is like watching a play in three acts. I was raised on the likes of Rodgers and Hammerstein. If The King And I wasn’t playing, Carousel was on. If it was too silent…
A modern Cyrano story where a sweet but inarticulate teen asks a quiet nerd to help him write letters to the girl he loves, The Half Of It is a cute YA watch. Whether you’ve read the 1897 play of Cyrano de Bergerac or not, the story is a familiar one. A man is in…
