Lights Camera Jackson

Movie Reviews, Entertainment News and Views from Lights Camera Jackson

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‘Blackbird’ Movie Review

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Director Roger Michell has tackled a variety of topics in his films: movie star romance (“Notting Hill”), TV news (“Morning Glory”), FDR’s fascination with hot dogs (“Hyde Park on Hudson”) and now… assisted suicide. “Blackbird” is a remake of the 2014 Danish film “Silent Heart”. Susan Sarandon plays Lily. She’s a wife and mother for […]
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‘Da 5 Bloods’ Review

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2018’s “BlacKkKlansman” re-ignited Spike Lee’s career. It also earned him his first competitive Oscar (for co-writing the screenplay). There’s always a lot of on the line with the follow-up to a critically lauded film. Unfortunately, Lee’s newest (and first as director for Netflix) “Da 5 Bloods” isn’t nearly as focused or impactful. The best thing […]
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‘End of Sentence’ Review

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Indie drama “End of Sentence” is one 2020’s most frustrating movies. And it has nothing to do with the central performances of lead actors John Hawkes and Logan Lerman. They play father and son Frank and Sean Fogle. The mild-mannered Frank is outside the gates to greet the high-strung Sean when he’s released from an […]
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‘Little Women’ Review

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Actress Greta Gerwig broke through as a writer/director with 2017’s “Lady Bird” – an original, funny, grounded, growing-up dramedy. With her follow-up, Gerwig provides a fresh look at an all-time classic. However, her attempt at modernizing “Little Women” may have been a little too ambitious. To shake-up a story that’s already been told time numerous […]
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‘Uncut Gems’ Review

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On the surface, the role of Howard Ratner in “Uncut Gems” may seem like a major departure for Adam Sandler. The man behind such goofy comedies as “Happy Gilmore”, “Grown Ups” and… “Jack and Jill” (!)… is in a dark, twisted, high-stakes A24 indie. But in a lot of ways, “Uncut Gems” is not dissimilar […]
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‘Waves’ Review

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“Waves” doesn’t completely crash, but it doesn’t provide much of a rush, either. This low-key family drama packs nearly a dozen crucial life elements into a single story. Unfortunately, writer/director Trey Edward Shults (“It Comes At Night”) doesn’t gives us anything fresh or insightful about any of them.  Shults continues a recent trend by playing […]
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‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’ Review

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Five years after the first “Maleficent” shook-up the classic “Sleeping Beauty” story, Angelina Jolie’s horned villain is back. Well, sort of. Jolie’s character doesn’t really have much of a presence in her own sequel. That’s just one of the many problems with “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil”. As was the case last time, Maleficent is somewhat […]
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‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ Review

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Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film is not just a love letter to Tinseltown – it’s a full-blown marriage proposal. “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” is his look at the motion picture and TV industry in 1969, through the eyes of both fictional characters and real people who lived during that time. This blending is one […]
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‘Missing Link’ Review

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“Coraline”, “ParaNorman”, “The Boxtrolls” and “Kubo and the Two Strings” all raised the bar when it comes to the medium of stop-motion animation. Each challenged storytelling conventions. Each took visual risks that paid off. And they all held firm against the temptation to please audiences of all ages. Unfortunately, Laika Animation’s fifth feature, “Missing Link”, […]
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‘Us’ Review

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Jordan Peele spent years crafting “Get Out”. In his 2018 Best Original Screenplay Oscars speech, he remarked that, “I stopped writing this movie about 20 times because I thought it was impossible.” But once you’ve made a hit movie, now comes the real hard part: the studio (in this case Universal) wants you to quickly […]
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