Author: FOCUS Newspaper

Bright Idea, Dark Tunnel

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August Blu-ray Releases

Paramount: Baywatch (2017) (**) The usual reliable presence of Dwayne Johnson can’t even save this big screen adaptation of the fondly remembered series of the 80s/early 90s. The best that can be said is that it’s tolerable....

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Waking Up 44

September 3, 2017 some time…well before dawn. Not to be confused with “sometime” well before dawn; as in, some notable event that occurs occasionally at a particular time before sun-up. But rather some time, as in an actual...

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Good Time (***) R

I must admit that I quite enjoy seeing a matinee idol type using his or her celebrity status to tackle unconventional projects that likely wouldn’t get financed without the star’s involvement. This is certainly the case with...

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Rate Your Experience

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Crown Heights (** ½) R

Director Matt Ruskin’s (The Infiltrator) new film Crown Heights tells a story that we’ve seen many times before and in many other incarnations and not breaking much new ground in the process. It’s the story of a man wrongfully...

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Big Splash Fundraiser, Oct. 7

Hickory – Splash event on Lake Hickory from 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. at Wittenburg Access (89 Wildlife Access Rd., Hickory, NC) and the Hickory Regional Airport (3101 9th Ave. Dr. NW, Hickory, NC). This fund-raising event...

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Wind River (***) R

Writer-director Taylor Sheridan, following hot on the heels of the commercial and critical success of his much-heralded directorial debut from last year, Hell or High Water, has returned with his follow up, Wind River. When one...

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Ask G

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13 Minutes (***) R

There have been so many WWII era movies that another one hardly makes a blip these days. What sets the new German import 13 Minutes apart from so many others is that it dramatizes a story that most have either read about or, at...

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Ask G

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Detroit (***) R   

Oscar winning director Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) is back with her latest film based on historical events, Detroit, and it’s a welcome return to form. After a five-year layoff since her last film Zero Dark Thirty, Bigelow...

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Annabelle: Creation (** ½) R

Annabelle: Creation, the latest in Warner Brothers/New Line’s Conjuring franchise, is about as good as you could hope in the second film outing featuring the demonic doll of the film’s title. The character was first introduced...

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Ask G

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A Ghost Story (**) R

I guess it’s a good thing I’d already heard about the now infamous pie-eating scene in director David Lowery’s film A Ghost Story. If you haven’t heard about it yet then allow me to indulge you. It’s a sequence running nearly...

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Atomic Blonde (**) R

Consistency has always been a litmus test as to whether a film passes or fails on my terms. Take the latest graphic novel/comic book adaptation Atomic Blonde, for instance. Here is a film where in one scene a character gets...

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Maudie (***) PG-13

The life and times of folk painter Maud Lewis forms the basis of Irish filmmaker Aisling Walsh’s biopic Maudie, a quietly affecting tale that is more than elevated by the performances of its two leads, Sally Hawkins and Ethan...

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Dunkirk (** ½) PG-13

It’s usually a good barometer as to how emotionally invested I am in a film when I repeatedly have to remind myself not to let my mind drift and to focus on what’s at hand. I mention that due to the fact that I can’t recall the...

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Hot And Bothered

The days begin rather early here at the House o’ Saw during the course of the average 40+ hour workweek. The morning is greeted (and despised) by the eldest member of the clan (yours truly) rising sometime shortly after 5 am and...

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The Hero (***) R

Sam Elliot is a great actor, no question about it. I’ve often wondered what kind of career he’d have had if things had gotten started for him about thirty years earlier. As luck would have it he was just starting out as the...

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The Big Sick (*** ½) R

The critical darling of last winter’s Sundance film fest, The Big Sick, has finally arrived and I’m pleased to report that it lives up to any and all expectations. This is yet another wonderful example of a studio-Amazon Studios...

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June Blu-ray Releases

By Adam Long Lionsgate: Dirty Dancing (2017) (**) The recent made for TV redo of this beloved 80s milestone is even more ammunition in the argument against remakes. It does add nearly twenty minutes to the original’s running...

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Baby Driver (*** ½)

Writer/director Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver is a welcome change in the sea of sameness that passes for mainstream cinemas these days. With the preponderance of super hero extravaganzas and sequels that litter multiplexes on a...

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The Beguiled (**)    

Director Donald Siegel’s 1971 film The Beguiled has always been one of the undiscovered classics of its decade in my humble opinion. In spite of the iconic Clint Eastwood getting top billing in the film, and the fact it was...

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All Eyez on Me (** 1/2) 
R

Nearly twenty-one years after the death of actor-rapper Tupac Shakur, the long awaited biopic detailing his brief and troubled life has finally arrived. One would think that a project with such a long gestation period couldn’t...

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ASK G

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The Mummy

If there’s one thing to admire about the latest version of The Mummy (as if we needed another Mummy movie) it’s the film’s star, Tom Cruise. He’s fifty-six years old now and technically eligible for AARP status. Stop for a...

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The Lovers

I really like Debra Winger and I’ve missed seeing her onscreen in the sixteen years since we last saw her in a theatrical feature. Her superb performance in The Lovers­—one of the best things about the film and something that...

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Wonder Woman (** ½) PG-13

Ever since I was kid I’ve always thought the character of Wonder Woman was one of the dullest in the entire lot of DC comics. I mean, when you think about it what is it that makes her so special? You’d be hard pressed to name...

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