Lights Camera Jackson

Movie Reviews, Entertainment News and Views from Lights Camera Jackson

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‘Bad Reputation’ Review

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It doesn’t happen often, but I love going into documentaries, especially bio docs, knowing little or nothing about the subject. Aside from a few iconic songs and a couple of other titles, I walked into the theater to see “Bad Reputation” a blank slate. I walked out with an encyclopedic knowledge and appreciation of the […]
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‘White Boy Rick’ Review

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It’s the kind of story you hear once or twice a year. Someone is plucked from their everyday life and, overnight, becomes a movie star. Richie Merritt was a 15-year-old Baltimore high school student with no resume – acting or otherwise. On a casting search, director Yann Demange chose Merritt to play the title character […]
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‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’ Review

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“Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” is the sequel – and prequel – to 2008’s “Mamma Mia!”, the screen adaptation of the Broadway musical phenomenon, based on the iconic Abba songs. “Here We Go Again” is a new, complex and more mature story involving the characters we’ve known, and sung/danced along with for the past […]
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‘Eighth Grade’ Review

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Comedian/singer-songwriter Bo Burnham has written and directed his first feature film. It’s not what you’d expect. “Eighth Grade” is a sophisticated, sentimental and surprisingly serious coming-of-age story that focusses on the final week of eighth grade for a quiet, socially awkward 13-year old.  Elsie Fisher (the voice of Agnes in the first two “Despicable Me” […]
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‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Review

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Marvel Studios has called “Avengers: Infinity War” “the cinematic event of a lifetime.” I’ll be the judge of that. Nearly 10 years to the day after the release of “Iron Man”, the film that started it all, just about everyone who’s part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe characters come together in “Infinity War”. Their goal? To […]
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‘March of the Penguins 2: The Next Step’ Review

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“Meet the remarkable Emperor Penguin… again.” That is narrator Morgan Freeman’s opening line from “March of the Penguins 2: The Next Step”, the follow-up to 2005’s groundbreaking, Oscar-winning nature documentary. This is a sequel we never knew we needed. I saw the original “March” at a crowded theater during the height of its theatrical run […]
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‘Annihilation’ Review

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“Annihilation” is writer/director Alex Garland’s follow-up to 2015’s fascinating, visionary Oscar-winning drama “Ex Machina”. This time he adapts Book One of the popular sci-fi Southern Reach Trilogy, creating the most riveting and thought-provoking film of the year so far. Natalie Portman is excellent as Lena, a biologist and Johns Hopkins professor who specializes in cell […]
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‘Paddington 2’ Review

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2014’s “Paddington” was a genuine surprise. The film adaptation of the iconic books about the lovable bear from the jungles of Peru had depth, heart and a fresh filmmaking style from writer/director Paul King. “Paddington 2” is a similar yet very different sequel – that hits nearly all the same marks. Paddington (again voiced by […]
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‘All the Money in the World’ Review

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“All the Money in the World” is based on the true story of the 1973 kidnapping of John Paul Getty III, the teen grandson of the richest man in the world, J. Paul Getty. The kidnappers (Italian radicals) initially ask for $17 million, but Getty, who lives in his elaborate London mansion, refuses to pay […]
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‘The Greatest Showman’ Review

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Hugh Jackman has been attached to the role of P.T. Barnum since 2009. And now the big-top musical “The Greatest Showman” has come to town. It’s five years since Jackman portrayed Jean Valjean in the film version of “Les Miserables”, in which all the songs were performed “live” – and a year after “La La […]
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