Category Archives: John Magaro

Past Lives (2023)

past lives movie posterThe most intimate and tender movie of the first half of 2013 will land on the end-of-year top ten list for many. Past Lives, Celine Song’s feature debut, is a masterclass in storytelling, character development, and the subtle intricacies that subversive themselves in big and small relationships. Past Lives will undoubtedly be recognized during awards season, even with a nontraditional early summer release date.

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Overlord (2018)

Any great movie year needs a variety of different types of movies:

  1. You have to have massive heavyweights during Oscar season.
  2. You need to exclude a handful of movies from contention simply because there isn’t enough room. These would be movies that, during a normal, might not just be considered for a nomination but might win some. These are movies that, when you look at your Top 10 list at the end of the year and don’t see that film’s title, make you scratch your head until you see the list of titles there instead, and then you say to yourself, “Okay, that makes sense.”
  3. A great movie year needs to have at least one memorable comedy and one memorable horror.

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The Big Short (2015)

Completely flying under the radar in an otherwise crowded December release schedule (Star Wars Episode VII: The Force AwakensConcussionJoy, The Hateful Eight, The Revenant) is Adam McKay’s (Step Brothers, The Other GuysThe Big Short, a movie that is neither short on star power or storytelling. While most will find this movie riveting, it will, unfortunately, hit a little too close to home for many viewers. This movie, while at times challenging to understand, will leave you dumbfounded that what happened actually happened not in some far-off land in a time long ago, but right here in our own backyard just a few years ago. I promise not to explain this movie and then talk about some of the pros and cons. I will do my absolute best not to provide spoilers in this review.
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