Tag: romance
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A Romance in Freefall: Zendaya and Pattinson Keep “The Drama” From Cracking Apart
Kristoffer Borgli’s “The Drama” turns male panic into a cracked romantic comedy held together by Zendaya and Robert Pattinson’s undeniable charm. The film spirals into dark comedy and narrative chaos, yet its performers keep the whole thing strangely touching.
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Slamdance 2026: ZUMECA: A FIRE LIT IN THE FIRST DAWN OF THE AMERICAS
Zumeca transforms a true story into a lyrical meditation on conquest, faith, and forbidden love. Through the bond between Miguel and the Taíno cacique Zumeca, the film reveals the intimate human cost of the first collision of cultures in the Americas.
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My Mother’s Wedding; Winter Vows in a House Filled With Memory
My Mother’s Wedding offers a tender winter portrait of three daughters returning home to witness their mother’s new beginning. Scarlett Johansson and Kristin Scott Thomas guide a story filled with warmth, legacy, and the courage to choose love again.
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Wuthering Heights: Emerald Fennell Turns the Moors Into a Fever Dream of Desire and Ruin
Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights delivers a fierce, sensual reimagining of Cathy and Heathcliff’s doomed romance, powered by Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi’s electrifying performances. This adaptation embraces passion, cruelty, jealousy, and generational fury with a boldness that leaves a lasting mark.
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Eternity Opens Its Doors: A Mostly Radiant Journey Beyond Time
Eternity offers a radiant exploration of love across lifetimes, carried by Elizabeth Olsen’s stirring performance. David Freyne crafts a poetic afterlife tale where devotion, choice, and self‑knowledge shape the path toward forever.
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Splitsville Finds Its Heart in the Wreckage of Desire
Splitsville explores the tangled threads of divorce, open relationships, and friendship with a tender, searching spirit. Dakota Johnson leads a cast that turns emotional chaos into a story filled with warmth, ache, and unexpected renewal.
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Dracula (2026) — A Crimson Hymn of Love and Salvation
Luc Besson’s Dracula transforms the legendary vampire into a romantic hero whose journey toward salvation unfolds through devotion, sacrifice, and eternal love. Caleb Landry Jones delivers a radiant performance in a film that blends gothic grandeur with a deeply Christian vision of redemption.
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Solo Mio Finds Grace in the Ruins of a Wedding Day
Solo Mio follows Kevin James through a luminous journey across Italy after a wedding day collapse becomes the start of something fuller. The film blends heartfelt comedy, spiritual reflection, and unexpected companionship into a story that celebrates renewal.
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“Send Help”: Sam Raimi’s Island of Gendered Mayhem and Corporate Punchlines
Sam Raimi’s Send Help blends horror, satire, and romantic chaos as Rachel McAdams transforms Linda Liddle into a corporate avenger forged by island survival. The film delivers a comedic exploration of gender roles, ambition, and the wild lengths required to seize power.
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A Tender Tangle: The Threesome Finds Fresh Light in Love’s Most Complicated Geometry
The Threesome delivers a heartfelt, emotionally rich spin on the romantic comedy, guided by Zoey Deutch’s radiant performance and Chad Hartigan’s gentle direction. Its sincere approach to pregnancy and love gives the film a warm, memorable glow.
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Sundance 2026: Maps of the Heart: Extra Geography Finds Its Own Bright Drift
Extra Geography follows two girls at an English boarding school as they navigate friendship, desire, and a summer assignment that reshapes their understanding of love. Marni Duggan leads a bright ensemble under Molly Manners’ warm direction.
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People We Meet on Vacation: A SUMMER OF RETURNING TO EACH OTHER
People We Meet on Vacation follows Poppy and Alex as they rediscover their bond across years of shared trips, missed chances, and heartfelt reunions. Emily Bader and Tom Blyth bring a warm, lived‑in chemistry to Brett Haley’s gentle, mixed‑to‑positive romance.
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Die My Love: A Fire in the Field
Jennifer Lawrence delivers a fierce, intimate performance in Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love, a story of desire, exhaustion, and a relationship stretched to its limits. The film blends emotional boldness with lyrical imagery, creating a portrait of motherhood and longing that lingers.
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Jingle Bell Heist: Diamonds, DNA, and Deck the Halls
This review of Jingle Bell Heist celebrates Olivia Holt’s standout performance and Michael Fimognari’s stylish direction. With clever twists, festive flair, and a comic tone, the film earns an B+ for its joyful blend of crime and Christmas. A holiday caper that sparkles with heart and humor, it’s a seasonal treat worth revisiting.
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Roofman: The Gospel of the Gentle Idiot
Derek Cianfrance’s Roofman gives Channing Tatum his most soulful role in years, blending true crime, comedy, and melancholy into a tender portrait of a lonely man trying to be good. It’s a mixed-to-positive miracle.
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Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall:
There is a quiet ache that runs through Winter Sprung Summer or Fall, a film that moves not with urgency but with the slow pulse of memory. Directed by Tiffany Paulsen and led by Jenna Ortega’s restrained, luminous performance as Remi Aguilar, the film traces the fragile arc of a relationship born in transit and…
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Caught Stealing: The Art of Losing Badly
Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing is a bruised valentine to New York’s underbelly, a film that stumbles, bleeds, and occasionally dances through its own wreckage. It’s a comedy of errors, so lacerating it leaves claw marks, a noir so drenched in absurdity it forgets to be cool. Austin Butler’s Hank Thompson is a man who can’t…
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On Swift Horses: The Ache Beneath the Gallop
Daniel Minahan’s On Swift Horses unfolds— a memory half-recalled—its edges blurred, its center pulsing with longing. The film is not so much a story but a quiet reckoning, a meditation on our lives in secret and the desires that gallop beneath the surface. Anchored by Daisy Edgar-Jones’ restrained yet emotionally resonant performance as Muriel, the…
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Eden: The Garden That Would Not Bloom
Ron Howard’s Eden is a fevered meditation on the fragility of paradise, a film that dares to ask whether utopia can survive the weight of human desire. It opens with a promise—a couple fleeing the corrosion of modernity, seeking purity on an island untouched by the world’s noise. Yet what unfolds is not a cleansing,…
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The Map that Leads to You; The Cartography of Longing
Lasse Hallström’s The Map That Leads to You is a film that badly wants to be your summer crush. It flirts with destiny, winks at heartbreak, and occasionally trips over its charm. Adapted from JP Monninger’s novel, it’s a story that knows its genre tropes but tries—earnestly, sometimes awkwardly—to elevate it into something archetypal. It…
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Meeting Ms Leigh: The Stillness Between Words
In Meeting Ms. Leigh, director R.S. Veira crafts a quiet meditation on the nature of love, memory, and the ache of being known. It is a film that resists movement, choosing instead to linger in the spaces where conversation becomes communion. Landen Amos plays Carter, a young writer adrift in search of meaning, and Jeanine…
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Freakier Friday: Earthquakes, Bake Sales, and the Song That Broke the Curse
Twenty-two years after the original Freaky Friday, Freakier Friday arrives with a cracked mirror and a full heart. It’s a sequel that doesn’t try to outdo its predecessor so much as reflect it—older, messier, and more generous. Lindsay Lohan returns as Anna Coleman, now a music producer and mother, and Jamie Lee Curtis as Tess,…
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The Naked Gun: “Lethal Nonsense: The LN Files”
The case opens with a bang—literally. A villain cracks a safety deposit box labeled “P.L.O.T. Device,” and from that moment, Akiva Schaffer’s reboot of The Naked Gun declares its allegiance to the absurd. Liam Neeson, our new LN, steps into the trench coat of Frank Drebin Jr., son of the original LN, Leslie Nielsen. The…
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The Fabulous Four: Old Wounds, Key West, and Cannabis Chocolates
Jocelyn Moorhouse’s The Fabulous Four is a collision of estranged friendships, botched wedding plans, and suspiciously potent edibles—all wrapped in pastel Florida chaos. If you’re looking for subtlety, keep moving. This film hits you with a glittery parasail and dares you to find depth beneath the sequins. Anchored by Bette Midler’s turbo-charged Marilyn and Susan…
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I Love You Forever” : and Other Words That Melt in the Mouth Like Cheese
Cazzie David and Elisa Kalani’s I Love You Forever is a rom-com that starts with a meet-cute and ends somewhere between a panic attack and a therapy session. It’s a millennial fever dream of dating disasters, emotional manipulation, and the kind of love that makes you question your own taste in men. The film opens…
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Smurfs: Blue Chaos in a White Wedding Dress
Chris Miller’s Smurfs twinkles with the kind of sugar-rush irreverence that only a fairytale built on mushroom houses and interdimensional wizards could deliver. This latest installment in the kaleidoscopic Smurfs franchise tosses canon into a blender, resulting in a comic, candy-colored mess that’s part triumph, part migraine. Somehow, it almost works. Rihanna voices Smurfs with…
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The Wedding Banquet: Chosen Families and the Grace of Disruption
Andrew Ahn’s The Wedding Banquet, a loose reimagining of Ang Lee’s 1993 classic, arrives with a modern ensemble and gentler tonal brushstrokes—less biting satire, more soft-spoken longing. Bowen Yang leads a vibrant cast that honors the original’s emotional stakes and stumbles through some of the newer melodrama. The film is a rich visual diary of…
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Marked Men: Rule + Shaw- Marked by Tenderness
In Nick Cassavetes’ Marked Men: Rule + Shaw, the familiar beats of a love long held, quietly yearned for, and finally unearthed are played like notes in a bittersweet melody. The romance between Rule Archer and Shaw Landon unfurls not with innovation, but with the kind of warm sincerity that softens even the most well-worn…
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Superman: Solar Messiah: A Kryptonian Reckoning
James Gunn’s Superman is a baroque cathedral of spandex and salvation—part cosmic opera, part gospel pamphlet. It’s a film where every punch echoes through dimensions, and every teardrop carries mythic weight. Starring David Corenswet as the Sun-borne savior and Nicholas Hoult as the malevolent mind behind his misery, the movie balances reverence for its comic…
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Chattanooga Film Festival: I Really Love My Husband: A Honeymoon of Doubt and Self-Discovery
G.G. Hawkins’ *I Really Love My Husband* (2025) is a dramedy that delves into the complexities of love, self-deception, and the gradual unraveling of a marriage. The film follows Teresa (Madison Lanesey), a newlywed who frequently insists—perhaps too often—that she truly loves her husband, Drew (Travis Quentin Young). As the couple embarks on a long-overdue…
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The Ballad of Wallis Island: A Poignant Tune of Nostalgia and Renewal
James Griffiths’ *The Ballad of Wallis Island* is a quietly affecting film that blends humor, melancholy, and the enduring power of music. Starring Tom Basden as the washed-up folk singer Herb McGwyer, the film follows his reluctant journey to a remote Welsh island, where an eccentric lottery winner, Charles (Tim Key), has orchestrated a reunion…
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La Cocina: A Fever Dream of Heat, Hunger, and the Ghosts of the American Dream
There is a rhythm to a kitchen, a pulse that beats beneath the clang of metal, the hiss of steam, and the barked orders that slice through the air like knives. Alonso Ruizpalacios’ *La Cocina* captures this rhythm with feverish intensity, weaving a tale of sweat-soaked survival in the heart of Times Square, where immigrant…
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Magpie: A Quiet Symphony of Longing and Love
Sam Yates‘s *Magpie*, now streaming on Hulu, is a film that gently flutters like the wings of its namesake bird, touching on themes of yearning, duty, and the bittersweet ache of connection. With Daisy Ridley at its luminous center, this quietly romantic drama explores the spaces between what we have and what we desire, between…
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Queer: A Lament for Love and Loss in the Shadows
Luca Guadagnino’s *Queer*, now streaming on Max, transcends traditional storytelling to offer a poignant meditation on themes of longing, obsession, and the subtle, often painful, intricacies of unfulfilled relationships. Drawing inspiration from William S. Burroughs’ semi-autobiographical novel, the film delves into the complexities of identity and human connection, presenting them through an intimate yet unflinchingly…
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Arthur Revisited: A Comedy Classic or Relic of Its Time?
Steve Gordon‘s *Arthur* (1981) is a delightful mix of laughs and touching moments. It stars Dudley Moore in a his star-making role as the lovable, always tipsy millionaire Arthur Bach. Moore brings the character to life, making him charming and a bit reckless, which pulled me into his extravagant, chaotic world. Alongside him is Liza…
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Snow White : A Reimagined Tale of Reflection and Renewal
In a realm where the magic of cinema knows no bounds, a bold reimagining of a timeless classic has made its grand debut: Disney’s live-action *Snow White*. Starring the talented Rachel Zegler as the enchanting princess and the formidable Gal Gadot as the chilling Evil Queen, this fresh adaptation aims to infuse new energy into…
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All We Imagine as Light: A Tapestry of Ephemeral Light
Movie Info: The light, the lives, and the textures of contemporary, working-class Mumbai are explored and celebrated by writer/director Payal Kapadia, who won the Grand Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for her revelatory fiction feature debut. Centering on two roommates who also work together in a city hospital–head nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and…
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Slamdance 2025: Banr”: A Heartfelt Exploration of Love and Memory in the Face of Alzheimer’s
Movie Info: After 40 years of devotion, an elderly couple faces a heartbreaking farewell—he succumbs to a heart attack, while she battles Alzheimer’s, trapped in a cycle of fragmented memories and a desperate search for her family, as love fades into unrecognition. Review: “Banr,” directed by Erica Xia-Hou, is a touching and deeply emotional film…
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The Gorge: A Cinematic Odyssey of Suspense and Heart
Movie Info: Two highly-trained operatives (Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy) are appointed to posts in guard towers on opposite sides of a vast and highly classified gorge, protecting the world from an undisclosed, mysterious evil that lurks within. They bond from a distance while trying to stay vigilant in defending against an unseen enemy. When…
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We Live in Time: Living Through the Ordinary and Extraordinary Moments
Movie Info: Almut (Florence Pugh) and Tobias (Andrew Garfield) are brought together in a surprise encounter that changes their lives. Through snapshots of their life together — falling for each other, building a home, becoming a family — a difficult truth is revealed that rocks its foundation. As they embark on a path challenged by…
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Bridget Jones 4- Mad About the Boy: A Touch of the Familiar
Movie Info: After jumping back into the dating pool, single mother Bridget Jones finds herself caught between a younger man and her son’s science teacher. Review: “Bridget Jones 4: Mad About the Boy,” directed by Michael Morris and streaming on Peacock, carries the familiar charm of the earlier films but struggles to escape the confines…
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Love Hurts: Kung Fu With Chop Suey Romance
Love Hurts: A Rollercoaster of Action and Romance Grade: C+ “Love Hurts,” directed by Jonathan Eusebio in his directorial debut, is a film that attempts to blend action and romance in a unique way. Starring Ke Huy Quan, Ariana DeBose, and Daniel Wu, the movie follows Marvin Gable (Quan), a former hitman turned real estate…
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“You’re Cordially Invited” – A Spirited Romp Through Wedding Chaos
Movie Info: When two weddings are accidentally booked on the same day at the same venue, each bridal party is challenged with preserving their family’s special moment while making the most of the unanticipated tight quarters. In a hilarious battle of determination and grit, the father of the bride (Will Ferrell) and sister of the…
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Matt and Mara”: A Study in Contrasts
Movie Info: When Mara (Deragh Campbell), a young creative writing professor, reunites with Matt (Matt Johnson), a charismatic, free-spirited author from her past, a chance encounter threatens to spin her life in a thrilling new direction. Bonded by their history and shared interests, the two grow closer, while Mara contends with her strained marriage to…
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Your Monster: Unveiling Humanity
Movie Info: Your Monster tells the story of the soft-spoken actor Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera), who is dumped by her longtime boyfriend (Edmund Donovan) while recovering from surgery and retreats to her childhood home to recover. With her future looking bleak, insult is added to injury when Laura discovers her ex is staging a musical…
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Sundance 2025: Sunfish and Other Stories on Green Lake: A Refreshing Slice-of-Life Journey
Movie Info: An anthology following the residents of a small town and the lake that binds them together. Review: **Sunfish and Other Stories on Green Lake **, directed by Sierra Falconer, is a charming and refreshing slice-of-life drama that premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. The film is a collection of four loosely interconnected…
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Sundance 2025: Plainclothes: A Gripping Tale of Duty, Identity, and Forbidden Love
Movie Info: A promising undercover agent assigned to lure and arrest gay men defies professional orders when he falls in love with a target. Review: Plainclothes,” directed by Carmen Emmi, is a compelling drama set in the 1990s that explores the intricate dynamics of duty, identity, and forbidden love. Inspired by true events, the film…
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Anora: “A Genre-Bending Win from Sean Baker”
MOVIE INFO: Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner ANORA is an audacious, thrilling, and comedic variation on a modern day Cinderella story. Mikey Madison (ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD) captivates as Ani, a young sex worker from Brooklyn whose life takes an unexpected turn when she meets and impulsively marries Vanya, the impetuous son of…
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Touch: A Cinematic Meditation on Memory and Loss
MOVIE INFO: A romantic and thrilling story that spans several decades and continents; TOUCH follows one widower’s emotional journey to find his first love who disappeared 50 years ago, before his time runs out. REVIEW: Baltasar Kormákur’s “Touch” is a film that oscillates between the profound and the mundane, much like the flutter of a…
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Wicked: A Spellbinding Cinematic Triumph That Defies Gravity”
MOVIE INFO: Wicked, the untold story of the witches of Oz, stars Emmy, Grammy and Tony winning powerhouse Cynthia Erivo (Harriet, Broadway’s The Color Purple) as Elphaba, a young woman, misunderstood because of her unusual green skin, who has yet to discover her true power, and Grammy-winning, multi-platinum recording artist and global superstar Ariana Grande…
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It Ends With Us: It Never Should Have Started With Them.
MOVIE INFO: IT ENDS WITH US, the first Colleen Hoover novel adapted for the big screen, tells the story of Lily Bloom, a woman who overcomes a traumatic childhood to embark on a new life in Boston and chase a lifelong dream of opening her own business. A chance meeting with charming neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid…
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Scrambled: A Sharp Tongue, Soft Belly Fertility Comedy
MOVIE INFO: Quintessential eternal bridesmaid Nellie Robinson (Leah McKendrick) constantly finds herself between weddings, baby showers, and bad dates. When she begins to feel like the clock is ticking and is faced with bleak romantic prospects, Nellie decides to freeze her eggs — setting her on an empowering journey to a brave new world where…
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Fly Me to the Moon: Faking It Until You Make It.
MOVIE INFO: Starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, Fly Me To The Moon is a sharp, stylish romantic comedy set against the high-stakes backdrop of NASA’s historic Apollo 11 moon landing. Brought in to fix NASA’s public image, sparks fly in all directions as marketing maven Kelly Jones (Johansson) wreaks havoc on launch director Cole…
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Sometimes I Think About Dying: Getting Around to Feels
MOVIE INFO: Lost on the dreary Oregon coast, Fran finds solace in her cubicle, listening to the constant hum of officemates and occasionally daydreaming to pass the time. She is ghosting through life, unable to pop her bubble of isolation, when a friendly new coworker, Robert, persistently tries to connect with her. Though it goes…
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Chattanooga FF: Cannibal Mukbang: Eating Human Life and Relationships
MOVIE INFO: Shy and looking for love, a man becomes smitten with an outgoing and mysterious woman, who, much to his surprise, reciprocates the attraction. As his feelings for her intensify, so does his unexpected submersion into the woman’s biggest fixation: the wild world of mukbanging. And with it, lots of bloodshed. REVIEW: The poster…
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Am I Ok?: Growing Up Not So Well in Your 30’s
MOVIE INFO: Lucy and Jane have been best friends for most of their lives and think they know everything there is to know about each other. But when Jane announces that she’s moving from LA to London for a job, Lucy reveals a deeply buried, long-held secret. As Jane tries to help Lucy sort through…
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Atlas: J Lo Shrugged
MOVIE INFO: A brilliant data analyst with a deep distrust of AI finds it may be her only hope when a mission to capture a renegade robot goes awry. REVIEW: With Jennifer Lopez alone in an A.I. mech suit for most of her sci-fi flick Atlas, it’s not a big surprise that the story writers…
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Blackbird, Blackbird, BlackBerry: Finding A Desperate Love in Middle Age Loneliness
MOVIE INFO: Etero, a 48-year-old woman living in a small village in Georgia, has chosen to remain unmarried. She cherishes her freedom, as much as her cakes. Her choice to live alone is often the cause of gossip among her fellow villagers. Unexpectedly, she finds herself falling into a passion with a man and is…
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Biosphere: A Buddy Romcom for the End of the World
MOVIE INFO: In the not-too-distant future, the last two men on earth must adapt and evolve to save humanity. REVIEW: Biosphere is a buddy film, rom-com and an end of the world (and I’m feeling fine) flick. Billy (Mark Duplass) and Ray (Sterling K. Brown) have been black and white decade long buds. The world…
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Mother of the Bride: Exes Confesses Their Messes
MOVIE INFO: REVIEW: The worst thing rom-coms do is bring exes back together. Mother of the Bride, starring Brooke Shields and Bejamin Bratt, is one of those exes confesses their messes disaster. The tropical destination this time around is Thailand. The misunderstandings are the same. The situations are the same. The arguing the same. The…
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The Idea of You: Being Swifty
MOVIE INFO: SynopsisBased on the acclaimed, contemporary love story of the same name, The Idea of You centers on Solène (Anne Hathaway), a 40-year-old single mom who begins an unexpected romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), the lead singer of August Moon, the hottest boy band on the planet. When Solène must step in…
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The Five Devils: The Scent of the Past
MOVIE INFO: Eight-year-old Vicky has a mysterious gift: she can recreate any scent she comes across, even that of her beloved mother Joanne. When her estranged aunt suddenly returns to town, the invocation of her fragrance plunges the young girl back in time to unravel a past replete with family secrets and queer romance. REVIEW:…
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Challengers: Set, Match, Love Me or Love Me Not
MOVIE INFO: From visionary filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, Challengers stars Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy turned coach and a force of nature who makes no apologies for her game on and off the court. Married to a champion on a losing streak (Mike Faist – West Side Story), Tashi’s strategy for her husband’s…
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Love, Divided: Breaking Down the Walls to Love
MOVIE INFO: Valentina is a pianist preparing for an audition. David is a games inventor who can only concentrate in complete silence. Separated by a paper-thin wall, they strive to live in harmony with each other. REVIEW: Love, Divided uses about a foot of separation to create rom-com charm. That’s the distance between the walls…
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Anyone But You: Another Much Ado About Nothing Rom-com
MOVIE INFO: In the edgy comedy Anyone But You, Bea (Sydney Sweeney) and Ben (Glen Powell) look like the perfect couple, but after an amazing first date something happens that turns their fiery hot attraction ice cold — until they find themselves unexpectedly thrust together at a destination wedding in Australia. So they do what…
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The Greatest Hits: If She Could Only Just Begun to Turn, Turn, Turn Back Time
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Harriet (Lucy Boynton) finds art imitating life when she discovers certain songs can transport her back in time — literally. While she relives the past through romantic memories of her former boyfriend (David Corenswet), her time traveling collides with a burgeoning new love interest in the present (Justin H. Min).…
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Musica: His Brain Is the Sound of Music
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TMATOES: Based on writer, director and star Rudy Mancuso, Música is a coming-of-age love story that follows an aspiring creator with synesthesia, who must come to terms with an uncertain future, while navigating the pressures of love, family and his Brazilian culture in Newark, New Jersey. REVIEW: Rudy Mancuso has had…
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She Came to Me: In the Throws of that Silly Love Addiction
MOVE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: SHE CAME TO ME is a truly modern romantic comedy, a multi-generational love story set against the iconic backdrop of New York: A composer suffering from creative block finds inspiration after a chance encounter with an unusual woman, a couple of bright teenagers fight to prove to their parents that…
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The Persian Version: The Road that Goes To and Away From Iran
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Leila is an Iranian American woman who strives to find balance and embrace her opposing cultures. When her large family reunites in New York City for her father’s heart transplant, she keeps everyone at arm’s length — until a secret is revealed. REVIEW: “I dreamed of being the Iranian Martin…
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All of Us Strangers: Souls Longing for the Impossible
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: One night in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, Adam (Andrew Scott) has a chance encounter with a mysterious neighbor Harry (Paul Mescal), which punctures the rhythm of his everyday life. As a relationship develops between them, Adam is preoccupied with memories of the past and finds himself drawn…
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Other People’s Children: Feeling the True Romance
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Rachel is 40 years old, with no children. She loves her life: her high school students, her friends, her ex, her guitar lessons. When she falls in love with Ali, she becomes attached to Leila, his 4-year-old daughter. She tucks her into bed, cares for her, loves her like her…
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Lisa Frankenstein: Putting the Pieces Together in the Wrong Places
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: A coming of RAGE love story from acclaimed writer Diablo Cody (Jennifer’s Body) about a misunderstood teenager and her high school crush, who happens to be a handsome corpse. After a set of playfully horrific circumstances bring him back to life, the two embark on a murderous journey to find…
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The Other Zoey: A Romcom Where You Wish for an Avalanche Before the First Kiss
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Zoey Miller (Josephine Langford), a smart computer major who thinks she has love all figured out, has her life turned upside down when Zach (Drew Starkey), a popular college soccer player, gets amnesia and mistakes Zoey as his girlfriend. Before she can reveal the truth, she meets Zach’s cousin, Miles…
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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe: Awakening to La Cultura de Corazon
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Resentful at the world, 15-year-old Aristotle Mendoza wants to blend in and be left alone, but the summer he meets free spirit Dante Quintana at the local swimming pool, everything changes. Dante is everything Ari isn’t, and his wanderlust for life and artistic spirit shake something loose in Ari; finally,…
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Fingernails: Pulling Them Off to Know Love’s Agony and Ecstasy
Movie info via IMDB: Anna (Buckley) increasingly suspects that her relationship with her longtime partner may not actually be the real thing. In an attempt to improve things, she secretly embarks on a new assignment working at a mysterious institute designed to incite and test the presence of romantic love in increasingly desperate couples. Review:…
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If You Were the Last: It’s About Time Screwball Gets Spacy
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Adam (Anthony Mackie) and Jane (Zoë Chao) are three years into a NASA mission that has gone very wrong: Their ship is broken and drifting between Jupiter and Saturn. Finding ways to pass the time as they become certain that no one is coming to save them, they argue over…
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No Hard Feelings: Getting to Hot to Trot Via the Old Slow Hand
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: On the brink of losing her childhood home, Maddie (Jennifer Lawrence) discovers an intriguing job listing: wealthy helicopter parents looking for someone to “date” their introverted 19-year-old son, Percy, before he leaves for college. To her surprise, Maddie soon discovers the awkward Percy is no sure thing. Review: Jennifer Lawrence…
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Killers of the Flower: Scorsese Stays on the Reservation
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Based on David Grann’s broadly lauded best-selling book, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is set in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror Review: Killers of the Flower…
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Love at First Sight: Statistically High Chance this Netflix Rom-Com Will Be Guaranteed Fresh
Movie Info via Rotten Tomatoes: After missing her flight from New York to London, Hadley (Haley Lu Richardson) meets Oliver (Ben Hardy) in a chance encounter at the airport that sparks an instant connection. A long night on the plane together passes in the blink of an eye but upon landing at Heathrow, the pair…
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The End of Sex: Killing It Softly in Anxiety
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: The End of Sex tells the story of a married couple (Emily Hampshire and Jonas Chernick) who are feeling the pressures of parenting and adulthood. After they send their young kids to camp for the first time, they embark on a series of comic sexual adventures to reinvigorate their relationship.…
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Sitting in Bars With Cake: A Semi-Weepy that Leaves a Good Taste in the Mouth
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Based on the cookbook Sitting in Bars with Cake by Audrey Shulman. Corinne convinces her baker best friend, Jane, to commit to a year of baking cakes and bringing them to bars with the goal of meeting people and developing confidence. Review: Sitting in Bars With Cake is based on…
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Past Lives: Life Won and Lost 8,000 Times
Summary via Rotten Tomatoes: Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life, in this heartrending modern romance.…
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Carmen: Authentic Priestess of a Community’s Soul
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: CARMEN is perhaps veteran director and accomplished actor Valerie Buhagiar’s most joyous film outing yet. Set in a sun-dappled village in Malta in the 1980s, Natascha McElhone gives a career-best performance as a 50-year-old woman finding a new start in life through romance. In a small Mediterranean village, Carmen has…
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Red, White and Royal Blue: A LQBTQ Princess Diaries
Summary via IMDB: Based on the Casey McQuiston Novel of the same name, this story focuses on Alex Claremont-Diaz, the First Son of the president of the United States and his rivalry with the young prince, Henry. After causing a major uproar at the older Prince’s Brother’s wedding, the two are forced to avoid a…
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Happiness for Beginners: From About Schmidt to Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Summary via IMDB: A year after getting divorced, Helen Carpenter, thirty-two, lets her annoying, ten years younger brother talk her into signing up for a wilderness survival course. It’s supposed to be a chance for her to pull herself together again, but when she discovers that her brother’s even-more-annoying best friend is also coming on…
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Asteroid City: Wes Anderson’s Pretty Little Turd
Summary via IMDB: Following a writer on his world famous fictional play about a grieving father who travels with his tech-obsessed family to small rural Asteroid City to compete in a junior stargazing event, only to have his world view disrupted forever. Review: Wes Anderson has always been meta, but with a purpose. In Asteroid…
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Sam and Kate: Starring Their Real Life Kids
Info via Rotten Tomatoes: A life-affirming family dramedy starring Oscar®-winners Dustin Hoffman and Sissy Spacek, Sam & Kate takes place in a small town in the heart of the country. Hoffman plays Bill, the larger-than-life father to Sam (Jake Hoffman), who has returned home to take care of his ailing dad. While home, Sam falls…
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Rye Lane: Getting Past All the Ex-Misses
Plot via IMDB: Two youngsters reeling from bad breakups who connect over an eventful day in South-London. Rye Lane, streaming now on Hulu, is a romantic comedy that succeeds by breaking all the rules of the genre and dating. Don’t spend the date talking about your exes is the big one, especially if you want…
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Puss in Boots- The Last Wish: Knowing the Last Cat Life Is Not Really the Final Curtain Call
Plot via IMDB: Sadly, Puss in Boots, the undaunted Spanish lover and hero, is now down to the last of his nine lives, a decade after the events of Puss in Boots (2011). And as if that weren’t enough, the unstoppable bounty hunter known as The Big Bad Wolf is after him. To restore all…
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Sundance: Slow
Plot via Sundance:Contemporary dancer Elena meets Dovydas when he is assigned to interpret via sign language in a class she is teaching to deaf youth. Their connection is immediate, kinetic, and frictionless. As they gravitate toward each other, resisting the forces and interventions of their separate daily lives, their bond deepens from platonic to romantic.…
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Sundance: All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Plot via SundanceTender caresses and enveloping embraces are portals into the life of Mack, a Black woman in Mississippi. Winding through the anticipation, love, and heartbreak she experiences from childhood to adulthood, the expressionist journey is an ode to connection — with loved ones and with place. Review notes: All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt…
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Sundance: Fair Play
Plot via SundanceHot off the heels of their new engagement, thriving New York couple Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) can’t get enough of each other. When a coveted promotion at a cutthroat financial firm arises, supportive exchanges between the lovers begin to sour into something more sinister. As the power dynamics irrevocably shift…
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Sundance: Mutt
Plot via Sundance:Feña, a young trans guy bustling through life in New York City, is afflicted with an incessantly challenging day that resurrects ghosts from his past. Laundromats, subway turnstiles, and airport transfers are the hectic background to this emotional drama that overlaps past, present, and future. Settling the disharmony of transitional upheaval in relationships…
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“Flavors of Youth” Explores the Essentials of Identity
Flavors of Youth points out how memory is essential to all identity. How it is the source of all art and creativity.
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“Disobedience” Is Too Good to Be Bad
Disobedience, a lesbian psychodrama romance set in an Orthodox Jewish community in North London, is Lelio’s follow up to A Fantastic Woman, and it is as stubbornly obedient as its title suggests it should be transgressive.
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“Set It Up” Pretty Much Knows It’s a Setup
Set It Up is so smart that it almost attains singularity, just not enough for the average Netflix viewer to be unchill with it.
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“All I Want” Tries to Get Pass “The Big Chill”
All I Want, a smart little indie co-written by the actress Melissa Center and debut director West Liang, is the millennial attempt to beat The Big Chill.
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Stepping “Outside In” to Free Themselves from Their Personal Prisons
Every director strives for honesty, but few achieve it so sincerely as Lynn Shelton does in Outside In.