This banner for a review features Benjamin Voisin and Lyna Khoudri in "Carême," now streaming on Apple TV+.

‘Carême’ Season 1, Episode 2 Review: Blackmail

What happens throughout this episode is, in the very best sense of the word, adult. Carême’s understanding that people’s motivations and people’s desires do not necessarily reflect their best selves is unknown in American art. But the French are perhaps more capable of acknowledging the gap between their best and …

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This is a banner for a review of Episode 1 of Carême, The Infernal Machine on Apple TV+.

‘Carême’ Season 1, Episode 1 Review: The Infernal Machine – Whipped Cream and Other Delights

The sumptuous Carême hits two basic needs for a high-end television series. One is for sex, but the other is rarer in fictional television: food porn. This combination is an absolutely wonderful idea, because god knows our appetite for something good to eat doesn’t always get its due from a …

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This is a banner for a review of Justin Kurzel's miniseries, The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

‘The Narrow Road To The Deep North’ Review: Justin Kurzel’s Uncomfortable Truth about WWII

Australian auteur Justin Kurzel adapts Richard Flanagan’s novel to harrowing effect in The Narrow Road to the Deep North. The adaptation blends a harrowing tale of a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp with a war-bound love story and a modern tale of surviving the trauma. The series doesn’t wait to set up …

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This is a review of the spy movie, The Amateur.

‘The Amateur’ Movie Review: Can Revenge Heal Grief?

I consider James Hawes’ feature directorial debut, One Life, one of the most memorable films of its release year. Based on the director alone, expectations for his sophomore effort were already high. Add to that The Amateur being a spy thriller starring Rami Malek – whose career-best performance remains his …

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‘Pedro Páramo’ Movie Review: Rodrigo Prieto’s Disappointing Take on a Literary Classic

In his essay Defense of an Adaptation, French film critic and co-founder of the historical film magazine Cahiers du Cinema André Bazin states that a literary adaptation for the cinema is impure. He points out how dependence on another medium affects filmmaking and how leaning over another source material, either …

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I've Never Wanted Anyone More Movie Review

‘I’ve Never Wanted Anyone More’ Is a Love Letter to a Love Story (Film Review)

Director José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço’s I’ve Never Wanted Anyone More is the latest entry into a very, very long tradition – 250 years and counting, in fact. The film is a loose modernised adaptation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 1774 episolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (indeed the …

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The November Man Movie Review - vizio

‘The November Man’ Review: Pierce Brosnan in another Cold War Style Thriller

Pierce Brosnan became an action icon when he portrayed the most iconic secret agent, James Bond. Throughout his four films with the franchise, he appeared in some of the most popular films of the recent era, including Goldeneye. Lately, Brosnan has engaged in action flicks as an experienced agent who …

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A Good Girls Guide to Murder TV Review copy

‘A Good Girls Guide to Murder’ Has Child-Lock On (Review)

In 2019, author Holly Jackson released the YA fiction novel A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder to critical acclaim. It went on to win 2020’s British Book Awards Children’s Fiction Book Winner of the Year and, as with most award-winning novels, it was soon picked up for a television adaption. …

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Wicked Movie Review

‘Wicked’ Review: Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-Butera Shine in a Riveting Musical Experience

It’s all too easy to get swept up in the exaggerated hype surrounding a highly anticipated blockbuster, especially these days when initial reactions to such films often take on a clickbait tone and are packed with buzzwords studios love to plaster on posters, trailers, and more. Directed by Jon M. …

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Say Nothing TV Review

‘Say Nothing’ Review: A Powerful Drama About the Limits of Memory

Based on the bestselling book by Patrick Radden Keefe, Say Nothing rockets viewers back to 1972 Belfast with an explosive opening scene. The miniseries employs different framing devices to Keefe’s nonfiction tome, but both work to great effect. Widowed mother of ten Jean McConville (Judith Roddy) sends her eldest daughter …

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‘Nickel Boys’ Review: An Important Piece of Cinema (LFF)

From the moment the programme for the London Film Festival was announced, Nickel Boys quickly became one of my most anticipated films of the entire festival. Not only did the film receive positive reviews after its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival at the end of August, but its …

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‘The Room Next Door’ Movie Review – A Disappointment (Venice)

It’s depressing to realize someone is coasting on their reputation instead of using their talent, and in fact making so little use of their talent that their reputation becomes suspect. This is the sorry state of affairs after seeing The Room Next Door, written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, that …

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The Outrun Movie Review

‘The Outrun’ Movie Review: Rote Evocation of Astonishing Memoir

Amy Liptrot’s breathtakingly poignant and unsparing memoir The Outrun has been acclaimed by critics and adored by readers across the world since its 2016 publication. Eight years later, the book loses none of its effect – the description of a very personal journey through familial mental illness, addiction, substance abuse, …

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