Lez Bomb Movie Review

November 9, 2018 (updated November 16, 2018)

Coming out films are often stories filled with struggle and pain. The writers and directors generally fill the hearts and minds of their audiences with some of the trauma that a person who’s in love with the same sex oftentimes goes through. This isn’t the case with ‘Lez Bomb.’ This is a comedic take on how Lauren, played by the writer/director herself, Jenna Laurenzo, marches up that hill with a family who simply won’t listen. She’s nervous. She’s scared. However, she also feels confident enough in their acceptance that she chooses Thanksgiving to tell them the big news. Maybe she figures the tryptophan will relax them enough. If that doesn’t work, there’s plenty of wine.

On Thanksgiving morning, before other arrivals, Lauren finds a moment alone with her mother, Rose (O’Connell), to tell her who she really is. Rose, playing a caring mother with naïve tendencies, doesn’t really give Rose any reason to fear telling her but she’s simply too busy to give her daughter any of her attention. She’s running around the kitchen like a chicken with its head cut off. Very much like a television sitcom, this scene along with many others following, felt contrived. Lauren finds out that her parents have been looking at her social media accounts and have short-sightedly mistaken a friendship with her male roommate, Austin (Brandon Micheal Hall), as the relationship she’s trying to hide. They also believe she’s pregnant. Even though Lauren is an adult and they like Austin, this suddenly becomes a problem, one of which her father, George (Pollak), threatens Austin’s life unless he officially brings the relationship to light. As the movie continues, what is revealed isn’t what poor Lauren is trying so desperately to shed light on, but instead how insane her family is. They stumble over one another, refusing to hear the other and throughout the film, and sabotage what Lauren wants to accomplish.

There are funny moments; you’ll laugh and you can thank Bruce Dern, who plays Lauren’s grandpa, and Cloris Leachman, who plays Josephine, for a lot of that. However, for the most part, the comedy feels less instinctive than forced and strained rather than composed. In ‘Lez Bomb,’ we have a comedy but often a comedy of errors. A woman is desperately trying to come out to her parents and is stopped at every turn. She tries over and over to inform them that the friend she has with her means much more to her than they realize and as she quietly takes it, you want to be her voice. It’s frustrating to watch. I wanted to like it more but I thought the characters were weak and some of the situations they were put in too sophomoric to accept.

*Opens Friday, November 9 In Theatres and on VOD

In Phoenix at AMC Arizona Center 24

Burning Movie Review

November 8, 2018 (updated November 16, 2018)

In ‘Burning,’ director Chang-dong Lee brings us a mystery centered around a secret love triangle of sorts. It’s based on the short story called ‘Barn Burning’ by William Faulkner which is about conflict, control and honor. It’s about the decision to do what’s right in the name of justice or to be loyal to family. The book is narrated by an unnamed third person and in the film, also about justice, the audience feels as if they’re an unnamed witness to something sinister. The story unravels rather gradually, even lethargically, but you’re compelled to stay with it simply by the look on the main characters face. In fact, it’s already being considered for an Oscar at the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film this year. Not new to him and not bad for a man who only has six directing credits.

South Korean actor, Yoo Ah-in, makes a wise choice in playing Jong-su, the protagonist of the story who bumps into old chum from school named Shin Hae-mi (Jong-seo Jeon) and ends up falling in love. He’s stunned with her beauty and by the fact that she’d even look at him with him only being a farmer’s son. He tries to impress her by telling her that he went to college for creative writing and plans on being a novelist. He listens as she tells him the difference between the ‘Little Hunger’ and the ‘Great Hunger’ and how desperately she has the Great Hunger; so much so that it’s calling her to Africa. The Little Hunger is merely a person who’s hungry. The Great Hunger is someone wishing to know why we live, who genuinely wants to know what the meaning of life is. He goes to her place to have sex and meet her cat who he’s agreed to feed while she’s on her trip. The cat respectfully declines an invitation to meet him but he agrees to feed it because at least he gets to be in her room and among her things. Her room is a mess but it’s not as bad as his. She finally returns from Africa without his ever meeting her cat. When he goes to pick her up, she has a new friend with her by the name of Ben. Playing Ben, our antagonist is Steven Yeun from ‘The Walking Dead’ and ‘Sorry to Bother You,’ who’s actually making his debut in Korean cinema with the role.

Ben is wealthy and cultured and immediately a threat to Jong-su. They all get to know one another better and Ben confesses to Jong-su that he likes to burn down people’s greenhouses for no other reason than to rid the world of them so they can be replaced with something better. When Haemi disappears, Jong-su starts an investigation where all roads lead to Ben. What unravels next is an engaging riddle about who Ben really is and where has Haemi gone. Jong-su may have to get his hands dirty but he’s prepared to find out the answers to both of those questions.

I really liked the characters, the performances, I liked the movie in total but not the length. We meet some characters that are hardly worth knowing which unquestionable slows the process down. Jong-su’s father is in jail and Jong-su has an insignificant conversation with his lawyer, played with perfect timbre and measure by Seong-kun Mun, about the stubbornness of his father and about Jong-su’s writing. This doesn’t help the narrative one bit. There are other characters that float in for reasons that take up time when what they’re telling us would and could have been taken care of through different, and shorter means. It wasn’t necessary to tell this story in the two and a half hours that it took to watch. I enjoyed the film but had it been cut to expedite its development, it would have been that much more provocative. Regardless, ‘Burning’ pays off if you stick with it so see it this weekend at a theatre near you.

*OPENING HARKINS CAMELVIEW

The Long Dumb Road Movie Review

November 7, 2018 (updated November 16, 2018)

‘The Long Dumb Road,’ a buddy comedy, has poor Nathan or ‘Nat’ (Revolori) in a pickle from the very beginning. Nat is a young naïve photographer on his way to give it a go in L.A. via art school. He doesn’t know how to say the word no, which gets him into trouble when he meets Richard (Mantzoukas) who wouldn’t take no for an answer in the first place.

Nat’s car breaks down right at the same moment this trashy, grungy, unkempt, mess of a mechanic is losing his job. This is the perfect set up for your typical on the road indie-comedy and though common-place, at least its stars aren’t. Luckily, the pair both need what the other has in that Nat needs his car to get going and Richard needs to be driven somewhere. Where it is Richard needs to go becomes less and less clear as the road grows further behind them. He tells Nat he only needs a ride forty-five miles up the road. That forty-five miles turns into his being Nat’s buddy on this trip across the country. Though often frustrated with being taken advantage of, Nat gets what he needs from Richard, too. Without him, he’d never get the fatherly advice about sex Richard freely gives or get to experiment with drugs for the first time. Of course, he’d probably not get into the trouble Richard seems to draw to him either.

Nat has lived a very sheltered existence and finds it easy to blossom shadowing his new extremely extroverted companion. Nat has, up until now, been capturing life through his camera lens and is happy to be finally getting into the action yet is still very timid. Richard wants to crack the foundation Nat has built for himself by ‘ripping the condom off’ his mind. Revealing very little about who he really is, Richard doesn’t want to be put under the microscope but gives enough away to show that he does have a softer side. He’s critical of himself, worried he’s aging and that he’s ugly. He also admits that there’s a girl from high school that he’s never gotten over. This little sidetrack becomes one of the biggest mistakes in the film. Quite frankly the aforementioned revelations make you look at Richard’s character differently. As it grows from loser to invaluable trailblazer with crucial guidance, his very essence no longer makes sense. This is especially the case if he’s suddenly a simple-minded dolt. Some of the more outrageous parts of the script are based on the Richard we first meet and does not gel with the Richard we see toward the end. The comedy is intact but the loyalty to the part is lost. While Richard becomes more of a buffoon, the role turns the audience off from what they liked about him in the first place. However, the real Richard does show up again at the very end making you almost forgive the error.

The generation gap between the two is the most developed and most impressively explored part of the journey. They’re both student and scholar on the road to wherever life takes them at this point. It’s sometimes entertaining, sometimes implausible like when they decide to, out of nowhere, visit the woman Richard never got over. She, not even remembering him, lets him into her house? Not likely to happen, nor is this necessary. ‘The Long Dumb Road’ has some fabulous cameos, amusing dialogue and some lively characters that move in and out but nothing good stays for very long. There just isn’t enough gas in the tank to get you from point A to point B without you wanting to get up and wander off on occasion. It’s a bit too absurd to be believed at times but the jokes that hit their target and the performances do save it from a don’t see to a watch at home.

The Secret Life of Pets 2 – Trailer

November 7, 2018 (updated November 7, 2018)

Just when you think you’ve got them figured out… THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2

The Secret Life of Pets 2 will follow summer 2016’s blockbuster about the lives our pets lead after we leave for work or school each day. Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and his longtime collaborator Janet Healy will produce the sequel to the comedy that had the best opening ever for an original film, animated or otherwise.

The Secret Life of Pets 2 will see the return of writer Brian Lynch (Minions) and once again be directed by Chris Renaud (Despicable Me series, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax).

www.thesecretlifeofpets.com

Cast: Lake Bell, Hannibal Buress, Dana Carvey, Harrison Ford, Tiffany Haddish, Kevin Hart, Pete Holmes, Garth Jennings, Ellie Kemper, Nick Kroll, Bobby Moynihan, Patton Oswald, Jenny Slate, Eric Stonestreet

Director: Chris Renaud

Co-Director: Jonathan Del Val

Writer: Brian Lynch

Producers: Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy

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In Theaters June 7 2019

http://www.fandango.com

A Private War Advance Movie Screening

November 5, 2018 (updated November 5, 2018)

Movie Screening Summary

In a world where journalism is under attack, Marie Colvin (Rosamund Pike) is one of the most celebrated war correspondents of our time. Colvin is an utterly fearless and rebellious spirit, driven to the frontlines of conflicts across the globe to give voice to the voiceless, while constantly testing the limits between bravery and bravado. After being hit by a grenade in Sri Lanka, she wears a distinctive eye patch and is still as comfortable sipping martinis with London’s elite as she is confronting dictators. Colvin sacrifices loving relationships, and over time, her personal life starts to unravel as the trauma she’s witnessed takes its toll. Yet, her mission to show the true cost of war leads her — along with renowned war photographer Paul Conroy (Jamie Dornan) — to embark on the most dangerous assignment of their lives in the besieged Syrian city of Homs.

DIRECTED BY
Matthew Heineman

WRITTEN BY
Arash Amel

BASED ON
Marie Brenner’s 2012 Vanity Fair article “Marie Colvin’s Private War”

PRODUCED BY
Basil Iwanyk, Marissa McMahon, Matthew George, Matthew Heineman, Charlize Theron

CAST
Rosamund Pike, Jamie Dornan, Stanley Tucci, Tom Hollander

https://www.instagram.com/aprivatewar

https://www.aprivatewarfilm.com

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Movie Screening Date: Tuesday, November 13
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Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Advance Movie Screening

November 5, 2018

Movie Screening Summary

“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” is the second of five all new adventures in J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World™. At the end of the first film, the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) was captured by MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America), with the help of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escaped custody and has set about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings. In an effort to thwart Grindelwald’s plans, Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) enlists his former student Newt Scamander, who agrees to help, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world.

https://www.fantasticbeasts.com

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Movie Screening Date:Wednesday, November 14^th
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Tucson, Arizona

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Movie Screening Date: Wednesday, November 14^th
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Las Vegas, Nevada

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Movie Screening Date: Wednesday, November 14^th
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Movie Screening Date: Wednesday, November 14^th
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Viper Club Movie Review

November 2, 2018 (updated November 16, 2018)

‘Viper Club’ is dedicated to the ‘many international conflict journalists and human aid workers who put themselves in harm’s way, as well as their families back home.’ Right away, we jump into E.R. nurse Helen’s (Sarandon) story. Her journalist son Andy was in Syria when he was kidnapped by terrorists looking to make millions for his safe return. She has already been in contact with the FBI and Homeland Security who promise her that it’s their ‘top priority’ to get him back safe and sound. They also tell her not to talk to anyone as they rifle through her emails to make sure she’s not making any sort of contact with the terrorists in an attempt to pay them for his release. They want to control every step of the operation with no money exchanging hands. Paying ransom is against the law and she would be jailed if she does. Getting nowhere, she’s frustrated, heartbroken and disappointed with the lack of progress. She explains that a jail sentence would be welcomed to living life without Andy. She’s told to keep Andy’s kidnapping to herself but is unable to and has already contacted the people she and Andy trust most.

Andy’s friends get her in touch with Charlotte (Falco), whose son Leo was returned after she collected donations from sources willing to help her with her predicament. Helen is told about the ‘Viper Club,’ an unofficial organization of international journalists and some gracious, incredibly wealthy people who might be willing to help. The journalists in the network speak of who they had met while in captivity and are able to give everyone some insight on what the prisoners go through. This usually helps when the richest of the rich decide it’s time to open up their wallets but isn’t easy on the mother’s to hear. Helen, strong through it all, is constantly assaulted by memories of when they argued or of Andy as a child while at the same time reads to a child who’s laying in a hospital bed in a coma. There’s a fascinating juxtaposition going on as the two mothers fight for the same thing; one able to provide comfort to the other while one is left screaming inside.

Helen is told the terrorists want 20 million dollars for Andy’s return. Without this money, Andy will surely be killed so with some urging, she decides to make a video about what has happened to her son and pleads to the terrorists not to hurt him. She looks into the camera lens and informs his captors that she will scrape together every penny that she has and get them what she can. The video is picked up by cable news and spreads like wildfire. Luckily, through Charlotte’s connections, money starts pouring in.

The film is entertaining and measured. The score is simple and elegant and appropriately touching in moments when the audience needs to be reminded of this mother’s struggle. As I mentioned earlier, Helen is strong but Sarandon might have played her too apprehensively, too withdrawn because you don’t feel for Helen the way you should when someone is experiencing this much agony.

‘Viper Club’ is conceptually full of good intentions but its execution lacks a self-reliant appeal needed to make it the must-see it could have been. What happens at the end is emotional and an incredibly effective way to end a film like this which is exactly the same way it started, palpable and bold. Not much explanation needed. In these trying times we’re in, the storyline it covers is reason enough to watch.

Suspiria Movie Review

November 2, 2018 (updated November 16, 2018)

‘Suspiria,’ a remake of the 1977 cult classic of the same name, is a psychological thriller more than it is a horror. After watching, you’ll have an uneasy feeling in your gut for what it is you witnessed so the film does handle the responsibility of manipulating your state of mind quite well. However, it’s too long for no other reason than ego and indulgence on the part of the director, Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name). The performances were strong but even they can’t keep you interested for two and a half hours when the director constantly takes you in different directions, asking more effort on the part of the viewer to keep up than he may have originally bargained for. Movies are meant to be entertainment AFTER a long hard day of work, not be an addition to the workload. That said, if you can handle the length and get through an ostensibly uninteresting German psychiatrist character who doesn’t quite belong, there is a lot here. This being the case, I’d like to note that ‘Suspiria’ isn’t for those without an imagination. With its plot points perhaps incorrectly framed leading occasionally to boredom, it may take a lot out of you but what you’ll get in return if you’re willing to commit, is worth consideration. It does attack your faculties at first, but you’ll appreciate it more and more once you leave the theatre and it hits you as to exactly what it is you just observed. It’s unnerving, chilling and rather grotesque… but in a good way.

The story is, on the surface, about the experiences of Susie Bannion (Johnson) a dancer from America who goes to Berlin to dance with the famous Helena Markos Dance Company. When we finally get to the dancing in the film, you’ll be mesmerized by the power of it, the choreography and the performances. This is also when the true reason for the company to exist is revealed.

Susie comes at a time when a girl named Patricia (Chloë Grace Moretz) leaves the troop and Madame Blanc (Swinton), the woman who wrote and is directing the piece, is looking for her replacement. Susie is just that person. At this point in the film, you’re becoming aware of what the women who run the dance company are. They’re witches and once taken into the coven, you’re needed for a purpose and you’re not to leave. As Susie dances, we’re made blissfully aware of what happens if you try. This scene hooks you because with every step she performs, she jerks and manipulates the body of someone attempting to escape and it’s not a pretty sight.

Since we already know that the witches in this school of dance are more concerned with finetuning their witchcraft rather than churning out gifted students to graduate and live happy lives, you feel cheated out of the reason for staying but the dance sequence toward and the climatic ending itself will more than atone for Guadagnino’s mistake in revealing too much too soon. Artistically, the film is beautiful. The images are frightening. The cinematography is outstanding. What plays in your mind as you toy with whether or not the film is a nightmare someone can’t escape or a fight between good and evil is a direct result of how well it’s shot.

At times it’s tedious but other times it’s brutal and worth the dark halls you must meander through. Regardless, it’s satisfyingly imaginative so saddle up if you’re pleased more by artistry than by instantaneous indulgences. On the big screen is the way to see ‘Suspiria’ but might I suggest a matinee if you wouldn’t be happy when it lags.

Bohemian Rhapsody Movie Review

November 2, 2018 (updated November 16, 2018)

Bryan Singer, known for Superman Returns, X-Men and The Usual Suspects was the perfect choice to make a movie about Queen. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who could have caught and ceremonious displayed the man Freddie Mercury was, with such concentrated effort on Queen’s stunning and charismatic music at the same time, as Bryan Singer. They were outstanding performers with phenomenal talent but what you never knew about the band off stage, most especially their inventive and creative lead singer, is gloriously shown here. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is a must-see. Rami Malek, who plays him, embodies Freddie so well it’s almost eerie to see. Singer bookends the film with Queen’s epic performance at Live Aid and watching Malek’s Mercury brings both joy and sorrow… for what we had and what we lost.

The film establishes for us the timeline that took Queen to rise to the top of the charts around the globe. They start out as a common club band who were headed nowhere. Freddie, a man desperately searching for a way to escape who he is and become who he knows he can be, reaches out to them when they lose their lead singer. They look him over and aren’t interested until he opens his mouth and blows them away with his surprisingly extraordinary set of pipes. On stage, the audience looks at him the same way the band did and weren’t inclined to give him a chance either until he impresses them with his stage presence, versatility and his ability to hit the high notes and hold it.

While this is a biopic about Queen, and it does include their brilliant songs throughout the entire film, Singer gets more deeply involved in Freddie than the other individual members. Singer knew, as Freddie knew, there was no Queen without him.

Since it examines what brought Freddie to this point and where it leads him just as much as it covers the group entirely, it might feel as if you’re invading his personal space but it only tackles what he would have allowed… only what you may have already known. It’s very respectful of who he was, while at the same time, removing the thinnest of veils for us to see who he loved, what he was able to give and how little he needed in return.

‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is an absolute delight. This is a fantastic tribute to Freddie, it’s a good night out at the movies and practically an opera on its own. If you’re not a Queen fan when you walk into the theatre to find your seat you will be by the time you stand up and walk out. The cast gives this dramatic script life while at the same Rami Malek brings Freddie Mercury back to life for just a moment. It’s not a stretch to assume he’ll be up for an Academy Award for his performance. You’ll love Mike Myers as Ray Foster, the man whose shortsightedness let them get away. Also, when you get home, watch Queen at Live Aid. It’s uncanny how very well the actors and filmmakers were at reproducing that moment for you.

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The Nutcracker and the Four Realms Movie Review

November 2, 2018 (updated October 31, 2018)

“The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” is a new Disney movie based on a (very old) story from 1816 called “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”. So the ‘House of Mouse’ finally gets to work on the ‘Mouse King’. The famous music by Tchaikovsky is based on this story, and some of his memorable themes are also in here. The story has evolved over these years, and now it has the main character Clara going into the realm of a fantasy world to fight evil and make things right. Similar story patterns are found in “The Chronicles of Narnia” and “Alice in Wonderland, as well as finding adventure like ‘Indiana Jones’. So call it — “Indiana Clara and the Realm of Naria in Wonderland”…

In 18th century London, Clara Stahlbaum (Mackenzie Foy) is missing her dead mother, and her father, Mr. Stahlbaum (Matthew Macfadyen), does not know how to deal with it. On Christmas Eve, the family goes to visit Clara’s godfather, named Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman). He is an inventor, like Clara, and he sends her out to solve a mystery. But she goes straight into a new fantasy dimension, a land of Four Realms. She meets the rulers of three of the Realms: Land of Snowflakes, Land of Flowers, and Land of Sweets. The Sugar Plum Fairy (Keira Knightley) acts as her guide to the new world. But the Fourth Realm is off-limits. It ruled by Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren). But the Sugar Plum Fairy says Ginger is nothing but an evil tyrant, bent on the destruction of all four Realms.

Clara gets some help from a friendly border guard, and some mice who seem at first to be evil, but then come around to being her best ally. Clara finds out that she was the first one to come to this magical place. Her deceased mother had also come to the land as a child, and she became the Queen. So Clara is officially named the returned Princess. But there is deception afoot. When one of the current rulers becomes obsessed with being the Ruler of all the Realms, she plots against the other rulers, and against Clara. But Clara proves that she is a clever girl after all. Using her scientific knowledge and her skills at design, she makes an alliance with the other Realm rulers, including the Mouse King. They all work in unison to stop the destructive power of the Tin Soldier Army – led by.. Well you will just have to see the movie to find out who that is…

This movie adaptation is just one in a string of versions and revisions to the original story. This one downplays the excellent music of Tchaikovsky to instead rely on a serviceable soundtrack from James Newton Howard. But the basic issue is the lack of originality and the failure to add anything new or fresh to the story. So many themes and plot devices, up to and including some of the screen imagery, have all been done before. This version has two directors and two writers, so there must have been some conflict in the overall concept and execution.

Mackenzie Foy is a perfect Clara, with her wonderful expressions and knowing glances. But Keira Knightley really takes a shine to the Sugar Plum Fairy and gives the role a deliciously off-kilter performance. She starts off so sweet and kind, and before you know it, she is ready to take no prisoners. She has a crazed range between overly too-sweet BFF and turns into a loony power-obsessed Fairy. Helen Mirren does okay in a limited role, and Morgan Freeman only has an extended cameo appearance.

This one would be a pleasant time to spend with the kids or grandkids. There is just enough of the classical ballet and music that the older fans will remember how wonderful the original really was. Of course, the real test is whether this movie can stand up to the best Nutcracker adaptation ever – “Care Bears Nutcracker Suite”!

Lez Bomb Movie Review

Burning Movie Review

The Long Dumb Road Movie Review

The Secret Life of Pets 2 – Trailer

In Theaters June 7 2019

A Private War Advance Movie Screening

Movie Screening Summary

Advance Movie Screening For A PRIVATE WAR

Phoenix, Arizona

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Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Advance Movie Screening

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Advance Movie Screening For Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Phoenix, Arizona

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Tucson, Arizona

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Las Vegas, Nevada

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Albuquerque, New Mexico

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Viper Club Movie Review

Suspiria Movie Review

Bohemian Rhapsody Movie Review

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms Movie Review

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