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ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: PURE ENTERTAINMENT

Film In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
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Ant-man is one of my favorite Marvel movies: it’s lighthearted but takes its origin story seriously. Every piece fits together, and by the time it’s done you’ve got a seemingly complicated jigsaw puzzle that makes perfect sense. What’s more, Marvel put its trademark out-of-the-box casting ideas to work, with Paul Rudd a delight in the title role, surrounded by talented costars. (I’m aware that the movie was beset with problems in the pre-production stage but I can only judge the finished product.) Here’s the surprising good news: lightning has struck twice. Everything I enjoyed about the first movie is repeated successfully. It’s funny, imaginative, full of action—not violent action—and knockout visual effects that serve the story. Five writers are credited but the result doesn’t feel like…

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I FEEL PRETTY

Contributors New Voices
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This post is a part of our New Voices Section. Written by Louisa Moore. An average woman with serious bouts of insecurity has a nasty fall at the gym and wakes up believing she is one of the most beautiful people alive. That’s the premise of “I Feel Pretty,” the new comedy starring comedian Amy Schumer. From the sound of it, you’d expect a series of mean-spirited jokes, rampant fat shaming, and other nasty gags. Instead of plunging into a chasm of negativity, the film takes the high road and delivers a genuinely touching, thoroughly amusing, and oftentimes comforting journey of finding one’s self esteem. The film’s strengths lie in its screenplay (by co-writers and co-directors Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein), a notably perceptive look at what…

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HEARTS BEAT LOUD

Contributors New Voices
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This post is a part of our New Voices Section. Written by Catherine Springer. So here’s the thing about summer. Yes, it’s a time for the big blockbusters, the movies with merchandise tie-ins and numbers after their titles, but there’s a little-acknowledged joy about summer that has nothing to do with superheroes and sequels: it’s the perfect season for adult movies. Normally, we equate summer movies with kids and big budgets, and it still is dominated by movies aimed at the restless youth and the overseas market, but the little-known secret of the movie industry is that summer is also the time for quality adult movies. The beginning of the year (Jan-April) is usually the dumping ground for movies that have come in below expectations…

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COME SUNDAY

Contributors New Voices
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This post is a part of our New Voices Section. Written by Robert Crosby. ‘God’s Not Dead (but there is room for doubt)’ There is a key distinction between films where faith is the message and films that deal with issues of faith. Come Sunday is very much the latter. Premiering at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and released by Netflix for streaming online, the latest from Joshua Marston (Maria Full of Grace) is a contemplative look at a real life figure whose struggle with his own faith impacts upon the relationships he has with those closest to him personally and professionally. Adapted from a This American Life feature from 2005, Academy Award nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) stars as Carlton Pearson, an African American evangelical preacher…

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Toni Collette is Brilliant in Heart-Stopping Horror Hereditary

Contributors New Voices
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This post is a part of our New Voices Section. Written by Carla Renata. After watching Stephen King’s Carrie, I vowed to never again watch a horror flick. Numerous nights on end are spent with lights on and one eye struggling to stay open at best.  At the urging of a fellow critic, I took a chance and screened Hereditary. Why?  Two of my favs Gabriel Byrne and Toni Collette were in it AND produced it, so I figured it wouldn’t be too bad.  WRONG! That nightlight has been on full-time duty for the last 24-hours. With his feature debut Ari Aster and a cast led by Collette and Byrne, let audiences experience a fly on the wall view as the family matriarch becomes unhinged with a chilling,…

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MY NEW BOOK: HOOKED ON HOLLYWOOD

Leonard Maltin
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It’s daunting to realize how long I’ve been writing about film history and how many fascinating people I’ve gotten to interview. When the folks at boutique publisher GoodKnight Books asked if I had any material for an anthology I realized I did: a number of interviews from Film Fan Monthly, which I started editing and publishing when I was 15, as well as interviews and research stories from my more recent publishing venture Leonard Maltin’s Movie Crazy. None of this had ever been collected in book form before. The result: Hooked on Hollywood: Discoveries from a Lifetime of Film Fandom, just published today! It’s been four years since my last book, the final edition of Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide, and I am genuinely excited about this new venture—in part because I’m working…

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LEAVE NO TRACE: ONE OF THIS YEAR’S BEST

Film Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
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Debra Granik is an exceptional filmmaker. Her output is small but each film is resolute and genuine. Her latest, Leave No Trace, maintains the high standards she set with Down to the Bone, which introduced us to Vera Farmiga, and Winter’s Bone, which served as a launch pad for Jennifer Lawrence. The known quantity in this harsh drama is Ben Foster, who gives a great performance as a shattered veteran who is raising his teenage daughter in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, hiding from “civilization.” He loves her but, if you will pardon the pun, he can no longer see the forest for the trees. A social worker makes a sincere effort to help them but Foster is beyond rational behavior and trusts no one—least of all a…

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